[ 6 ] 2010

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"I was named after my granddad, but my parents started calling me Rocky because grandfather was still alive when I was growing up so they wanted to avoid confusion."

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The moment Dempsey Johannsson stepped off the plane in Canada, she immediately regretted not having refused it from the start. To start off, she had jetlag, she was sore all over from sitting in a plane for hours, and she was even starting to miss Australia.

It was winter time in the foreign country, which meant she immediately felt the chill of the brisk morning air on her face, hitting her like tiny ice needles. She also was not equipped to withstand such low temperatures and she slowly felt her body freezing to death. She was small and petite, which made her body succumb easier to the cold. But then there was also the fact that she had lived in the United States her entire life, particularly in the areas where it was usually warm year round. Then, when she moved to Australia to train in the garden for two years, Arthur and the caregivers usually kept the temperatures moderate.

Now she would have to adapt to the extreme cold, and she had no clothes for that type of weather. As they walked through the airport terminal to grab their luggage, Rocky saw the trembling thirteen year old walking beside him, her hands rubbing up and down her arms as she hugged herself to keep warm. He rolled his eyes at what he could only describe as weakness coming from her. He was used to the cold by now, having lived in Canada his entire life, except for the three years that he was in training. To him, the low temperatures of a Montreal winter were nothing.

He had promised himself that his first trainee would learn through the process of tough love. Nothing would be handed to them. He would try to avoid having to help her as much as possible because it was his belief that people learned best through struggling. It was how he learned to fight when he was in the garden, and it was how he had learned to hunt shifters in his home country. But as he continued to side glance at her, walking beside him silently, and shivering more and more violently with each passing second, his heart melted for the thirteen year old. Her teeth were chattering so hard that he almost thought they would reach a breaking point. He was fourteen, soon to be fifteen in the upcoming weeks, and he could not believe that he was already at the mercy of some little girl he had just met. The thought was ridiculous to him. Where had his resolve gone? 

But then again, he had never really been around girls to begin with. He had been ten when his parents died in a car accident when the family was headed up a snowy mountain at a resort. Rocky had been the only survivor, and Arthur took him in when he most needed someone. He moved to Australia to train in the garden for two years, and then he trained in the field for another year with James, one of the original hunters currently on the team. He and Naileah had been the very first two to join the hunters. As Rocky had soon learned, they all had tragic backstories just like he did. Now he was practically fifteen, had been hunting in Canada for about two years on his own. He was amazed at how quickly time seemed to pass. It was already five long years without his family, and he still missed them every day.

Sure he met girls here and there. He was required to enroll at a high school by day, and hunt shifters by night. He had classmates who tried to talk to him--invite him to parties, out to the movies, or to go eat some place nearby. But he didn't have time for that normal teenager stuff. He didn't have time for a social life, nor did he really want one.

Rocky Paris didn't believe in love or even feelings of attachment. If he could avoid having friends, he would do so. What was the point of friends? --If the people he loved or could grow to love were bound to leave him eventually. The loss of his family had been too painful for him and he didn't want to have to go through that again. That was why he couldn't understand why a thirteen year old girl he had just met was making his heart thump like a child. 

Ignoring his brain and its internal scolding, telling him not to get involved, he instead paid attention to his heart. She slipped his coat off his shoulders with a sigh and held it out in his hand for her to take, both of them stopping in the middle of the terminal as people tried to walk around them now. "If you're cold you can take my coat." He said to her in a voice that was barely above a murmur as he looked away from her. He could not face her, not right then. His cheeks burned with shyness, although in that cold weather, it was hard for it to show on his face. His auburn hair swept over his face and covered his eyes from view as he held his head low.

Dempsey was pulled away from her thoughts about not liking the new country and she looked at the coat in his hand in surprise. The only two other boys she had ever interacted with were Dieter and Michael, back when she had been in the garden. She and Michael were constantly at each other's throats, even though they loved each other like siblings in their own way. With Dieter it was a different story. She felt like she was always pretty nice to him because he was her very first crush, and he was nice to her  too. But as it turned out, he had rejected her politely, admitting to her that he was indeed crushing on two previous people who had been in the garden with him. He liked Elaine and Paul, but had mentioned to Dempsey that he was a little more keen on Paul, who was more exotically foreign and had a charming accent. He also mentioned that Paul reminded him of home because Dieter had lived in Mexico half of his life. 

To her it was strange to have a boy be so nice to her like that, like Rocky was being at the moment. She took the coat from him and wrapped it around her shoulders, thanking him with a silent nod. 

Outside of the airport was a black car waiting for them. A driver that Arthur had hired to get them to their home, which like with James was an abandoned warehouse in the outskirts of Montreal. The driver was to drop them off and return to pick them up the next morning to take them to school. Since Dempsey was still only thirteen, she was to attend the middle school that was close by to where Rocky went to high school. Dempsey didn't mind it. At least it was some form of stability, if even for a year. 

She was a bit nervous to return to the United States on her own and to start hunting. She wondered if she would be able to handle such an important job. 

-

During their first days of training, Rocky had long since dropped the tough love approach when teaching her. 

She had stolen his heart and he wanted nothing more than to protect the girl he had been assigned to train for one year. Instead he had her watch him from afar on several occasions because he didn't want her getting hurt, always telling her to make sure she was at a safe distance. He'd have her at the top of buildings, keeping an eye on everything, and watching his every move. But Dempsey was more reckless and always wanted to help him. She also felt that she could learn more by being part of the action. Often times she'd get a closer position when he was hunting shifters and watched him with awe, amazed at how quick he moved and how much stronger their species were than them. 

On one of their night outings, they had been trying to catch a shifter who was known to strangle women to death and then he'd brutally abuse their lifeless bodies. He had been known all over the news as  the Montreal Strangler. Dempsey saw the frustration and anger in Rocky's face when he was able to get away. But it had been his first attempt and they had known from the start that there was a chance he might be able to escape. The police in Montreal had been tracking him as well, but since he was a shifter with supernatural abilities, it was easy for him to evade them. It had been one of Rocky's most important assignments up until then.

Dempsey placed a hand on his shoulder and offered him reassurances in an attempt to make him feel better. "Just because you didn't catch him today doesn't mean you won't catch him next time."

Through gritted teeth, he said to her, head low and voice full of defeat. "I know. Its just that I think of all those people he's hurting, those women. And it reminds me of my mother and my two sisters. I would murder anyone who could even dare to think of hurting a single hair on their heads with my own hands." He looked down at his hands shaking in anger, and she felt that. She felt his powerlessness, his anger. It may have not been his mother or his sisters, since they had perished years prior in a car accident. But all of those circumstances had made him stronger, and made him swear to protect people from the shifters. That was why he had joined the hunters in the first place. He saw the way those powers could also have the ability to make people bad. He saw the way people could be corrupted. And the bad people needed to be stopped. 

As a smile formed on her lips slowly, she thought of an idea that could serve to cheer him up. "Why don't we just take a break tonight?"

He quickly tried to shoot down her idea, which was something he hardly ever did, and it took her by surprise. Rocky usually spoiled Dempsey and let her do whatever she wanted, except when they were out in the field. That was when he seemed to become the protective older brother to her. "There's a killer at large in Montreal and you want to just take a break tonight?" He thought the idea was rather daft even though he hadn't heard the rest of it yet. She had only been in Montreal a couple of weeks, and it seemed Rocky seemed to grow taller and taller by the day. He was only fifteen and was already nearing six feet. While Dempsey was only around five feet and one inch. She had to tilt her head back far to get a good look at him. But that was the case with most of the male hunters she knew. Dieter also seemed to be very tall, and so did Arthur. They were like skyscrapers around her. Elaine was more of an average height at five foot four. But even then, she was taller than Dempsey.

She eyed him with an expression that feigned being offended. "I'm trying to help you feel better." When he said nothing to her, she continued. "Lets get some junk food and then go up to the roof top of the warehouse. Then we can look up at the stars together and have a slumber party."

Dempsey was surprised when Rocky actually went along with it in the end. They went to a convenience store in the area and bought all kinds of junk food--from chips and candy to soda. Then they caught an Uber back to the warehouse where they lived. The driver had been confused when he dropped them off. Two young teenagers, asking to be dropped off at an abandoned warehouse. "Are you sure this is where you want me to drop you off?" He asked them for what seemed to be the hundredth time.

They both nodded and he was on his way. 

The two entered the warehouse and used the side fire exit on the second floor to climb up to the roof--Dempsey first, and Rocky right behind her. He didn't let her go after him anymore since the first day when he showed her the rooftop and she slipped and fell from the second floor stairs. Sure hunters could heal extra quickly, but he was sure it had been painful to fall like that. 

Dempsey grinned as she spread out all the snacks on a blanket for them to choose from, while Rocky set up another one for them to lay down, and a last one for them to keep warm. Dempsey grabbed a bag of chips and laid down by his side. When she offered him from the bag she was eating from, he crinkled up his nose in disgust and gave a shake of his head. "I don't know why you like those things. They'll give you stomach ulcers." He pointed out.

She gave a nonchalant shrug of her shoulders. "Hot Cheetos are the best. You're just a hater, Rocky. Hm...Rocky? Is that short for something? Or did your parents name you after the boxer from that old movie?"

He bit down on his lip, debating on whether or not he should tell her the story behind his name, and therefore the secret as well. It could go one of two ways--she could either like it, or she could think it was dorky and laugh at him. But he had a soft spot for her anyway, and he knew he could never resent her for it. "My actual name is Rockefeller." He finally confessed with a sigh escaping his lips. "I was named after my granddad, but my parents started calling me Rocky because grandfather was still alive when I was growing up so they wanted to avoid confusion. Then when he died it kinda just stuck. No one eve called me by my real name again."

Dempsey thought about it for a moment. "That does sound like an old person name."

"What about you?" He poked her cheek with his index finger. "Your name is a last name too."

She rolled her eyes at that. "I suppose it is."

-

thank you all for reading this pretty filler ish chapter.

i have to go downstairs and cover the reception desk while our receptionist gets his lunch. so i will see you all in a bit. i have a pretty chill day today. i finished my appointment for the day and i just have files to organize.

but in my down time i might write some more. thank you all for the love and support you have given this series. it means the entire world to me.

-clary