What Jerzy had not understood had been that Jade didn't want to be saved. There was no good way to explain it to him, she didn't think. He was so sweet, strangely innocent despite the worst life could do. Apparently he could sense things that were out of the ordinary, something she hadn't known about him before... because he'd known what she was, and he shouldn't have. He needed to stay unspoiled with his games and his inordinate love of certain snack foods. And even if she had wanted salvation of some sort, Tavin would have been the last person who would have run to her rescue.
She'd done a lot of thinking about Tavin, too, since that day. She'd reached a point in her life where she didn't think of him as often, but knowing that he was in the same building, going about his day-to-day activities, and also knowing that it was highly likely he was something besides simply human... Yeah. He'd occupied more of her brainspace than he had since the previous year when she'd randomly run into him again. There was the usual self-hate for wanting him still, when he didn't care about her and possibly never had. There was doubt in herself that he could let her go so easily, a lack of confidence that she never showed to anyone. There was obsession, buried within her like an underground river, an emotion that had never entirely gone away. And there was something else now that haunted her occasional sleepless day, something dark and not entirely comfortable. Intrigue.
What would he think of her now? She'd be stronger than he was if she was wrong and he was only human, probably as strong if he was something other, as she thought he was. She'd always been secretly thrilled when he'd been rough with her, and now she could take just about anything he dished out, unless it involved holy water or a beheading. She could take it... and she could give it back. Jade had never really been afraid of him, as a lot of women would have been, and she was less so now.
Somehow, those insights pleased her, even if she didn't see him for a while, or ever. Just to know.
When the door to the pool area opened, she was still floating on her back, gazing tranquilly at the ceiling, watching the ripples of water and the lights in the pool combine to form patterns. So soothing. Relaxing to be here instead of at her desk at the Grand, making sure the night shift ran smoothly. Immediately, her body tensed ever so slightly as she smelled him. Him. He was here, approaching the pool where she floated, and she could hear the blood rushing through his veins, hear his heart beating, hear him breathing. Were. She wasn't sure what specific kind he was, but she was able to pick up that much from his scent. He smelled delicious in more than one sense.
Lazily, Jade submerged herself beneath the water, taking that few seconds to calm herself, to prepare herself to lay eyes on him again. Down she sank, nearly to the cool tile bottom, then bobbed to the surface, her blonde hair slicked to her head as she swam languidly to the edge of the pool. There she crossed her arms and propped them on the edge, resting her chin on them, nothing of her strapless bikini visible above the surface of the water. She watched him approach, emerging from the faint pools of ambient light, as darkly beautiful as he'd ever been. Her green eyes glittered in the dimness, and a soft smile edged her lips.
"Tavin," she murmured, her tone as casual as if she'd just seen him the day before.