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Chapter 7
NOAH
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AS THE SUN STARTEDto rise over the horizon, we were inside packing up whatever we could for the days ahead. It wasn’t bad enough that the evil had to be eradicated from the earth we now had to go traipsing through who knows what in search of a relic. One that I still didn’t believe was the gatekeeper of evil souls.
Grabbing up the backpacks, I opened the door to set them on the porch. Stretching the kinks out of my back from sleeping on the floor all night. I just about popped a disc from whipping around so fast when I was greeted with a neighing followed by a braying. There stood a majestic black stallion and a jackass that was hooked up to a sleigh full of blankets.
I leaned against the doorjamb and scratched my head. “Ah...Ava. We have guests.”
“What?” she said, as she zipped up her coat and threw a black cape over her shoulders. I looked down at her as she stopped beside me, and when a grin appeared on her lips, I knew instantly they were already friends.
“Oh my God, it’s Casper!” She squealed and bounded off the porch, throwing her arms around the horse’s neck.
Never in my life did I think I would be jealous of an animal, but there I was, watching with envy as she cooed and stroked its shiny black coat all while welcoming the horse with open arms.
“Friends of yours?” I asked.
“Yes. This handsome fellow always went with me on earlier trips.”
I pushed away from the doorjamb and walked over to them. “I take it the Jackass is for me. An inuendo from Satan I suppose?”
In answer the animal in question started braying at me in a way that made me think that it was Satan in disguise laughing his ass off.
She nodded. “Yeah probably.”
“Figures. Well, at least we don’t have to walk. I’ll just get our gear while you two get reacquainted.”
By now Bones and I had decided that we were going to be friends. Calling him over to me, he patiently stood there while I put his sweater on him then promptly jumped into the sleigh, making a nest in the blankets while I pulled the door closed.
I turned to see Ava with one foot in the stirrup, swinging her leg over the horse’s rump before settling herself onto the well-oiled saddle. If I hadn’t seen it with my own eyes, I would never have believed it; horse and rider became an extension of the other. I stood there momentarily transfixed as Casper danced under her as if he were welcoming an old friend. And for the first time since seeing her, shelookedliked a killer dressed all in black with the sword and staff crisscrossed over her back. She scared the hell out of me, and I wasn’t entirely sure if that was a bad thing. I mean it was clear as day that she wanted nothing to do with me. The love we once shared died on her end, the day we did, so why yearn for something that will never be again? I decided I’d just lust after her instead.
I took hold of the saddle horn, and as I stepped in the stirrup the Jackass sidestepped, causing my foot to slip and me to fall flat on my face in the snow.
“Enough of that Zues!” Ava warned the animal in a soothing voice while she looked at me like I was the one that was at fault.
Standing up, I brushed myself off. The more I was around Ava the weirder things were getting. I warily approached the animal and like I expected it to answer me, muttered under my breath. “You are named after a Greek god?”
