There was something very peaceful about sunset over Lourdes, something calm and reassuring. And that was something Nat definitely needed tonight. She lingered by the window of the apartment's living room, curtain twitching as though she might be able to see Rhys on the street, or Abaddon's minions coming for them. Glancing over her shoulder, her eyes fell on Adam as she frowned. She didn't like this inactivity, this inability to do anything. They hadn't found Rhys through conventional means, which only left Adam's spirit walk. As the sun lowered, casting long shadows over the city, Nat paced back and forth before the window, waiting anxiously for any sign that her companion had found success.
Adam sat as still as stone on the floor of the hotel room, legs crossed, hands folding neatly on his lap. He looked at peace, like he was sleeping or meditating, but though there was an expression of complete calm on his face, his body was only the vessel which allowed his spirit to walk upon the Earth. Leaving that vessel behind, surrendering his consciousness to his spirit self, to walk outside his body, was a skill he'd learned and perfected after many years of practice and experience. It was a skill he'd learned from his uncle, who had been a Shaman, and it had served him well in the past, but he knew it wasn't without its own risks, and he had learned only to attempt it when it was absolutely necessary.
Though to Natalya, it might appear that Adam was doing nothing but sitting and having a snooze, only his physical self was there with her in the hotel room. The part of himself that was spirit, his consciousness, as it were, was no longer there, stretching his mind, willing himself out of his body, consciously searching for that other soul that he knew as his heart-brother.
It wasn't so much searching with his eyes or his senses, but with his heart, his will, that part of him that loved Rhys like a brother and was drawn to him like a magnet. Adam knew life was like a web, with many souls crisscrossing that web, each touching the other's life in one way or another. Sometimes the lines that crossed were weak and severed easily, sometimes they were strong and lasted a lifetime or more. Such was the link between Adam and Rhys, stretching out for years, a strong connection, like that of kin, one Adam could feel in the physical world as well as the astral one. It was along that gossamer line that connected the two of them that Adam's astral self searching, reaching out for his heart-brother with heart and soul and mind, feeling his way, more than searching with five senses. Once he felt he made a connection, he'd move in that direction until he reached his destination.
As he passed through the world of spirit and dreams, Adam was assailed on all sides with temptation. He was being stalked through this realm of unreality, his own hopes and dreams and desires mingling with the reaching power of the one who sought him out, seeking to trap his soul here while reality moved on without him. Faces from his past, his present; events he regretted or wished to relive; every what if moment that had ever passed him by; they played out all around him, clouding the path, calling him to step away from his heart-brother and stay with them.
It wasn't easy for him to focus on the object of his quest, distracted on all sides by his own past, mistakes, triumphs, tragedies, one thing or another trying to pull him away from his reason for searching, from his purpose, some more than others, sheer force of will driving him onward.
"Ignore them." The voice was familiar, characterised with the quiet confidence she'd shown him since the day he'd arrived in France. Natalya - or at least, a form of her - was walking beside him, dark eyes focused upon his face. Every detail was perfect, from the tumble of brown curls to the familiar scorch mark on the skirt of her black coat. She walked in step beside Adam, one hand reaching to squeeze his arm. "They only want to distract you."
He wasn't sure if it really was Natalya and if it was, how she'd gotten there, but he took the words to heart, forcing the distractions from his mind and focusing his attention on the goal of finding Rhys, his heart tugging him in a certain direction, as if moving toward a light at the end of a tunnel.
Her hand was warm on his arm, smoothing down to entwine her fingers with his as she walked beside him in silence, unassuming, undemanding. "Are you sure this is such a good idea, Adam?" Her other hand was undoing the buttons of her coat, revealing the crimson silk underneath.
Adam gave the woman a sidelong glance, eyes traveling to the buttons of her coat and the hint of silk beneath, sensing that she was trying to distract him in some way from his task and wondering just who she was. He was not so stupid or naive not to realize she was not what she seemed. She couldn't be Natalya; Natalya was in love with Rhys and wasn't interested in him. "Who are you?" he asked, as he continued toward the spark in the not so far away distance that he knew was Rhys, somewhere out there.
And the demon who walked with him was not so foolish as to pretend she was anything but a distraction. "I am what might be," she said, Natalya's voice throbbing with that all American accent Adam was far more comfortable with. Her hand left his for a moment to cast the heavy coat aside, showing off the slow sway of hips beneath thin silk. "What should be, somewhere in your darkest desires. What harm is there in tasting what might have been?"
Adam's mind suddenly went over all the should bes and should have beens and what ifs of his past. Lovers both dead and still living, as well as those who never were. He'd made his choice about his life long ago and made peace with the decision not to get attached, choosing to devote his life instead to focusing on his purpose in life and his chosen career path, choosing the more difficult path in life. Rather than being one of the millions who went through the motions of life, he had chosen for his life to have a greater meaning and purpose, that of serving and helping his fellow man, rather than just existing. "You're trying to distract me."
Her smile was sultry, sensuous, everything the true Nat's smile would never be for him. "You cannot tell me you have never imagined how it might have been, had you been on that flight to Paris," the seductive facsimile purred softly, drawing her fingertips down the line of his spine as she stepped close to his arm. The scene played itself out before him, obscuring the path he was following; but this time, it was Adam on the plane, wrapped in Nat's arms, struck with the same instant need he had warned Rhys against feeling.
That scene obscuring his path gave him more pause than her attempts at seduction. He watched the scene play out for a moment, part of him feeling the stirrings of desire, regret, jealousy even, while another part of him - that part which was connected to Rhys on a more spiritual level - pushing those very human feelings aside to focus on the bigger picture and the greater good. "The past can't be changed. I have no regrets." Though he knew in his heart that that was not quite true.
"Lying to yourself causes nothing but heartache," she murmured to him. As the scene before them changed to a repeat of the reunion in the Louvre, again with Adam in place of Rhys. She was showing him himself, wrapped up in Natalya's arms, the recipient of her affection, her lusts, her love. There was no Rhys to compete with; no Rhys at all to obscure her view of Adam. The hand she held in hers was guided to her, meeting not silk, but hot, bare skin as that dress slithered from her body to the dream world path behind them.
Conflicted, obviously distracted by this unexpected predicament, which he wasn't quite sure came from his own mind or from some outside influence, he paused again, teetering of the path, turning to find a very desirable woman in the guise of Natalya standing there beside him, offering herself openly, welcoming him to do with her what he would. But this was not what he'd expected or had been searching for. Still, he had to admit she was tempting, and there was no Rhys around to compete with for a change.
Adam sat as still as stone on the floor of the hotel room, legs crossed, hands folding neatly on his lap. He looked at peace, like he was sleeping or meditating, but though there was an expression of complete calm on his face, his body was only the vessel which allowed his spirit to walk upon the Earth. Leaving that vessel behind, surrendering his consciousness to his spirit self, to walk outside his body, was a skill he'd learned and perfected after many years of practice and experience. It was a skill he'd learned from his uncle, who had been a Shaman, and it had served him well in the past, but he knew it wasn't without its own risks, and he had learned only to attempt it when it was absolutely necessary.
Though to Natalya, it might appear that Adam was doing nothing but sitting and having a snooze, only his physical self was there with her in the hotel room. The part of himself that was spirit, his consciousness, as it were, was no longer there, stretching his mind, willing himself out of his body, consciously searching for that other soul that he knew as his heart-brother.
It wasn't so much searching with his eyes or his senses, but with his heart, his will, that part of him that loved Rhys like a brother and was drawn to him like a magnet. Adam knew life was like a web, with many souls crisscrossing that web, each touching the other's life in one way or another. Sometimes the lines that crossed were weak and severed easily, sometimes they were strong and lasted a lifetime or more. Such was the link between Adam and Rhys, stretching out for years, a strong connection, like that of kin, one Adam could feel in the physical world as well as the astral one. It was along that gossamer line that connected the two of them that Adam's astral self searching, reaching out for his heart-brother with heart and soul and mind, feeling his way, more than searching with five senses. Once he felt he made a connection, he'd move in that direction until he reached his destination.
As he passed through the world of spirit and dreams, Adam was assailed on all sides with temptation. He was being stalked through this realm of unreality, his own hopes and dreams and desires mingling with the reaching power of the one who sought him out, seeking to trap his soul here while reality moved on without him. Faces from his past, his present; events he regretted or wished to relive; every what if moment that had ever passed him by; they played out all around him, clouding the path, calling him to step away from his heart-brother and stay with them.
It wasn't easy for him to focus on the object of his quest, distracted on all sides by his own past, mistakes, triumphs, tragedies, one thing or another trying to pull him away from his reason for searching, from his purpose, some more than others, sheer force of will driving him onward.
"Ignore them." The voice was familiar, characterised with the quiet confidence she'd shown him since the day he'd arrived in France. Natalya - or at least, a form of her - was walking beside him, dark eyes focused upon his face. Every detail was perfect, from the tumble of brown curls to the familiar scorch mark on the skirt of her black coat. She walked in step beside Adam, one hand reaching to squeeze his arm. "They only want to distract you."
He wasn't sure if it really was Natalya and if it was, how she'd gotten there, but he took the words to heart, forcing the distractions from his mind and focusing his attention on the goal of finding Rhys, his heart tugging him in a certain direction, as if moving toward a light at the end of a tunnel.
Her hand was warm on his arm, smoothing down to entwine her fingers with his as she walked beside him in silence, unassuming, undemanding. "Are you sure this is such a good idea, Adam?" Her other hand was undoing the buttons of her coat, revealing the crimson silk underneath.
Adam gave the woman a sidelong glance, eyes traveling to the buttons of her coat and the hint of silk beneath, sensing that she was trying to distract him in some way from his task and wondering just who she was. He was not so stupid or naive not to realize she was not what she seemed. She couldn't be Natalya; Natalya was in love with Rhys and wasn't interested in him. "Who are you?" he asked, as he continued toward the spark in the not so far away distance that he knew was Rhys, somewhere out there.
And the demon who walked with him was not so foolish as to pretend she was anything but a distraction. "I am what might be," she said, Natalya's voice throbbing with that all American accent Adam was far more comfortable with. Her hand left his for a moment to cast the heavy coat aside, showing off the slow sway of hips beneath thin silk. "What should be, somewhere in your darkest desires. What harm is there in tasting what might have been?"
Adam's mind suddenly went over all the should bes and should have beens and what ifs of his past. Lovers both dead and still living, as well as those who never were. He'd made his choice about his life long ago and made peace with the decision not to get attached, choosing to devote his life instead to focusing on his purpose in life and his chosen career path, choosing the more difficult path in life. Rather than being one of the millions who went through the motions of life, he had chosen for his life to have a greater meaning and purpose, that of serving and helping his fellow man, rather than just existing. "You're trying to distract me."
Her smile was sultry, sensuous, everything the true Nat's smile would never be for him. "You cannot tell me you have never imagined how it might have been, had you been on that flight to Paris," the seductive facsimile purred softly, drawing her fingertips down the line of his spine as she stepped close to his arm. The scene played itself out before him, obscuring the path he was following; but this time, it was Adam on the plane, wrapped in Nat's arms, struck with the same instant need he had warned Rhys against feeling.
That scene obscuring his path gave him more pause than her attempts at seduction. He watched the scene play out for a moment, part of him feeling the stirrings of desire, regret, jealousy even, while another part of him - that part which was connected to Rhys on a more spiritual level - pushing those very human feelings aside to focus on the bigger picture and the greater good. "The past can't be changed. I have no regrets." Though he knew in his heart that that was not quite true.
"Lying to yourself causes nothing but heartache," she murmured to him. As the scene before them changed to a repeat of the reunion in the Louvre, again with Adam in place of Rhys. She was showing him himself, wrapped up in Natalya's arms, the recipient of her affection, her lusts, her love. There was no Rhys to compete with; no Rhys at all to obscure her view of Adam. The hand she held in hers was guided to her, meeting not silk, but hot, bare skin as that dress slithered from her body to the dream world path behind them.
Conflicted, obviously distracted by this unexpected predicament, which he wasn't quite sure came from his own mind or from some outside influence, he paused again, teetering of the path, turning to find a very desirable woman in the guise of Natalya standing there beside him, offering herself openly, welcoming him to do with her what he would. But this was not what he'd expected or had been searching for. Still, he had to admit she was tempting, and there was no Rhys around to compete with for a change.