Three. Three lives to alter forever. Three immortals that must survive training and meet Paragon standards before the Elders and Founder. If not, I may as well find three poor sods and end them there.

I had options. Go for the criminals that are lethal for all the wrong reasons and unleash them upon this world–but there is a reason Cordius never fell into that trap. Other Elders had and they usually wound up making too much noise... Or ending up rogue assets–like me.

Or I take the most challenging path. To put myself into situations where I could find a doomed mortal doing good. A mortal condemned to death and change their fate. But they could still turn on me... such was the risk and the reason why Elders chose a batch not three. I was insane for even trying, Vanilla knew it. The only reason he let me was that curiosity to be disproven. Nothing likely pleases him more after so many centuries.

Then there was the question of Selena in all of this. 

An alliance? For what end... Did she seek more power from Paragon or simply freedom from it? She was most intrigued by my outcome that much was sure. But curiosity alone was not enough to drive an Elder to such lengths, she had something else deeper behind those golden eyes.

The sudden eruption of cheers caught my attention from my brooding edge upon the rooftop.

The lawyers and their clients had spilt themselves across a penthouse rooftop that had quickly become a party. I did not want to be in their sights when the evening turned a bit more... explosive. So I sprawled myself out across the neighbouring rooftop and bounced a calf on my knee watching them. I scaled the side of it faster than their trip up in the elevator.

For all purposes, Quinn had yet again not been lying when she said she was enjoying her evening without me. If it wasn't for the occasional glances at her phone for one particular message of course... 

I sighed and glanced at the sky that held no stars.

She was right to be mad at my accusation of course but she was not worth risking. Especially with blonde Elders roaming between the shadows with far too much interest. I should tell her. But that would involve her more than she already was. She would want a plan of attack in some form, or worse... She'd offer to be one of the three.

I stopped bouncing my leg.

Yes, telling her was out of the question. I shuddered at the thought. Quinn stood before that table with Vanilla gazing into the green-gold of her eyes. They'd end her out of principle. 

A champagne bottle went off to my left and I watched them pouring out generous glasses over the square fire pit. The orange glow turned Quinn's tanned skin to bronze. She laughed with them, drinking in the freedom of mortality and a night that would never occur again. Beautiful because it was so very temporary. I smiled lightly as I watched her from the darkness. A perfect painting of how I saw us both. A life I wanted her to have.

She'd never agree because she could never understand. I would never let her become this timeless monster. Forced to find novelty again and again after all those you'd loved have left the earth entirely. 

There was a slight disturbance in the painting. A fight had broken out between two drunken males. I sighed deeply as I watched them get in each other's faces and the mortals all crowded them to intervene or goad the fight on. There was always one after all. I smelt the blood from here when a fist connected a nose and cursing rang out. I smirked as the other was thrown into a pool and the tension seemed to evaporate in the party. Mortals morphed from anger to fear to elation in the blink of an eye. Then they were throwing themselves into it fully clothed.

I enjoyed watched Quinn toe the line around it for as long as she could before that suit of hers was as drenched as the rest of them. Lawyers... honestly.

The one good thing about this turn of events was that it seemed to sober up the most part of the crowd. The chill of London winter air on sodden clothes was enough of a slap out of inebriation. Mortals were soon thanking whatever poor owner had allowed this to happen on their roof and began departing. Quinn hugged the sodden owner and he thanked her more firmly with a hand shake–no doubt on the winning side of her case today. I watch her sway slightly before sweeping up her heels and wandering towards the lift in just her shirt and skirt.

I chuckled to myself before drawing up my phone.

"Evening Ma'am." 

"Evening Jamerson, apologies for the long shift tonight." I answered.

"Not at all, ma'am. It's what you pay me for." He countered with humour in his voice.

I snorted, "Last ask of the night. Quinn is about to come out the front door drenched head to toe... could you..."

"She'll be home in twenty minutes." He confirmed, without missing a beat. "Will you be joining us?"

"You're a man I couldn't work without." I answered, "I'm around the corner." I lied, ending the call and pocketing the phone as I strode towards the alley facing side of the building. I let myself drop two floors before catching the metal of a fire escape and vaulting from it to a window sill below. I dropped the remaining floors and landed in a heavy crouch. The stone cracked slightly, but it was better than dropping eight floors onto it. 

I flicked my collar up and emerged around the corner to open the back door of Jamerson's car. I propped myself against it with crossed arms and watched the entrance of Quinn's building with amusement.

When she finally exited the lift she was struggling to type something into her phone. She didn't even notice me as she stood there trying to remember how to contact her driver. A couple passing her stared as she dripped water onto the pavement and shivered.

I cleared my throat.

She continued typing and even danced between her feet in the cold. I grinned and shook my head.

"Quinn Adams! Your taxi awaits."

She flinched and dropped her heels. Then she frowned at me for a moment before a glare took her features. 

"I'd rather walk home!" She blurted back, turning on her heel unsteadily and doing just that. I palmed my face and put my head into the door.

"Give me a moment." I told a very amused Jamerson and shut the door.

I swiped her heels from the pavement as I jogged to match her pace. 

"If your plan is to freeze out here you've only got a few more minutes." I said calmly as I matched her stride and watched shaking get worse.

"You called–me a liar!" She hiccuped, and I fought all of my self control not to grin again.

"So fight me about it in the car?" I asked, grabbing her waist before she went face first over the curb into the road. 

"You're fre-ezing!" She protested, but at least she wasn't trying to physically fight me over it.

"Okay we're going to do this the hard way..." I murmured, dipping under her before her slowed senses could catch up and sweeping her into my arms.

She hiccuped again and glared up at me in my arms. This time the grin did win. 

"I don't-t forgive you."

"But you are adorably angry." I added, and watched as Jamerson ran around the side of the car and got the door open. I dropped him a nod and carefully placed her inside.

"If she throws up in the car I'll buy you a new one." I muttered, walking around the door and hearing Jamerson laugh loudly as he took the driver seat.

"My heels!" 

I briefly shut my eyes in exasperation.

But of course Cinderella cannot attend the ball without her slippers. She was doing it on purpose now I could practically hear the smirk in her voice from here... I swiped them off the floor and returned to the car. But not before opening her door and presenting them to her formally.

"Thank. You." She said curtly, plucking them from my hands with less of a shiver.

"Only for you, Adams." I said, as she slowly closed her door making my smirk return. I slid into the back seat on the opposite side and caught Jamerson's eye.

"Will that be all, ma'am?" He asked.

"Yes." Quinn answered, with a satisfied smile. Jamerson wisely remained silent and began driving. Quinn however, propped her feet onto my lap and leant against the window. 

"Comfortable?" I asked.

"Not yet. You were an ass tonight."

"I was." I admitted.

"So, what happened?" She asked, surprisingly lucid all at once. I suddenly had to wonder how much of the night Quinn was playing at drunken ignorance merely to ignore me and appease her clients. 

At least the shivering was real. She was still dripping pool water onto the seats and now my lap. I watched her a longer moment, listening to her breathing and enjoying the streetlights that flashed her green eyes brighter every few seconds.

"Nothing good." I said quietly.

Flashes of all of those mortals in that cell raced through my mind like fresh ink on the morning paper. Their fear was bleeding black across the folds of the page. Now they were all dead.

She chewed the side of her lip and glanced out the window.

"Here I was celebrating how amazing my day was and you..."

"Still don't have an excuse to accuse you of lying to me." I answered flatly, then she met my eyes. "–I'm sorry, Quinn."

She nodded, "Me too."

"For what?" I asked in confusion.

"For being... as obnoxious as possible for the last few hours." She sighed.

"It was definitely more than a few hours–"

She threw a heel at my head and I laughed. I felt her hand wind its way into my own as she turned her head against the window. I thought she wanted to watch the streets pass us by at this late hour. But her eyes closed and her breathing steadied and her heartbeat calmed. I stared at our interlocked hands and drifted my thumb over the back of hers carefully.

When we pulled up to her house I thanked Jamerson before carefully pulling her from the car with me. It wasn't until he had rounded the corner that I noticed Quinn had no jacket. Which meant she had no keys. I sighed for what felt like the hundredth time this evening and silently cursed skywards.

"Quinn." I murmured, to her in my arms.

She simply smiled in her half drunken dreams and curled closer to my chest. 

"Nothing is ever easy with you..." I murmured low, before securing her against me with one arm and checking the streets were clear. Not a mortal in sight.

I launched us up to her first floor balcony above the white stone of the townhouse. My foot went through another one of her flower pots. I cursed. Well, we could smooth that over tomorrow. I glanced upwards and saw the outline where tile began to meet stone. I'd have to land right if I didn't want to go through her roof... I aimed our next jump and landed on short outcropping of stone before it met the chimneys. The moon was half emerging through the clouds now and Quinn continued to doze in my arms.

I made short work of the rest of the decent, however I would need to hire her a landscaper to fix the holes I had just put into her garden upon landing.

Her back door to her kitchen was predictably still open and thankfully avoided me breaking any other part of her house. I kicked my shoes off by her door and took her upstairs. The faster she was in warmer clothes and away from my icy form the better.

I lay her against the side of her bed before going for her closet. I dragged out two sets of clothing for us and dropped to a knee before her. I took the side of her face in my hand.

"Hey. You're drenched, so can you help me get you out of these clothes or are you going to be a difficult lawyer–"

She interrupted me by leaning forward and kissing my lips.

"Sleep, immortal..."

"We're not there yet." I smiled at her slowly, inches away. I was losing her again. I sighed and started unbuttoning her shirt swiftly. I pulled one of her t-shirts from behind me and helped her arms through it. 

"Aren't you forgetting my bra?" She giggled, leaning her head against my shoulder.

"It seems like you can undress yourself, mortal." I accused, leaning back.

"Not as fun..." She mumbled, smiling and opening her eyes slowly to watch me.

"You're impossible."

"Yep." She popped the "p" with her lips.

"Fine." I said simply, leaning forward quickly and snapping the back of her bra with one finger.

"Fletcher!" She protested with a giggle.

"Seems like you have no care for preserving them." I answered, placing my hand against her hips right where the beginning of her skirt was. Suddenly Quinn became much more alert and wriggled out of my grip.

"No, no, no not this one!" 

I stood from her with a victorious smile and unbuttoned my own shirt faster. I felt her eyes on me as it fell from my shoulders and I turned for her t-shirt.

"Well now I'm enjoying this for a different reason."

"You wouldn't take advantage of me while I'm so vulnerable..." I drawled, looking down at her. I took my own bra off and let it drop to the floor as she gazed over the curves of me.

"I totally would." She blurted, grinning and crawling off her knees to meet me face to face. She slowly drew her hands up to run her fingers along my collarbones and up the sides of my face. I watched her calmly and she paused.

"Unzip me, would you?" She asked innocently.

I gave her a lazy smile and dropped her a nod. She turned her back to me and I dutifully unzipped the back of her skirt and slipped it off her, leaving my hands on her waist.

"Thanks." She answered, stepping close to me so our chests could meet. Her t-shirt kept her protected from the cold of my skin but she didn't seem to care much. Her lips were but a breath from my own but I was going to get her into the warmth of her bed even with all the temptation in the world. 

"Shorts are on the bed." I murmured onto her lips.

"Do I need them?"

"Yes." I answered, hooking my thumbs into her underwear and slipping in down past her knees so she could step out of them.

"Are you sure?" She whispered, threading her fingers through my hair and looking down at me as she did the other night. I had to physically swallow the desire that tightened my throat as I rose back safely to her eye level.

I grabbed the shorts from her bed and pressed them into her hands before she could drive me further from sanity. I felt her eyes on my back as I changed back into a pair of her sweats and t-shirt. When I turned to face her she was safely clothed and already wrapping her arms around my waist. 

"Bed, now. Lawyer." I spoke into her neck.

"Fine. Not detective."

"Oh no, she's lost her wit." I told her, as I took her weight away and hooked her legs around me. She laughed as I walked us back to the bed and dropped us under the covers.

"Don't worry, Fletch I'll warm you up." She smirked, kissing me intently.

I kissed her back intently making her sigh my name after a few seconds before I pressed her back into the pillows with a serious look in the darkness.

"Sleep."

"Yes, yes..." She grabbed my chin and secured my lips once more, carefully brushing them before lying back down and dragging my head down against her chest. "I wish I could have dragged you into that pool." She sighed, making me chuckled against her.

"Despite your state... I would have enjoyed it." I answered her.

Listening to the steady beat of the heart I recognised so well. Relaxing into the warmth that ran straight into my bones from her. I slipped further and further into sleep that evaded me for so long... My breathing began to match her own and we both slept wrapped in each other's arms.