Sanctuary - 1. Chapter 1 - Aki

God made Man, in his image; and He made him from clay. He baked Man in a fire so that his shape would be set, and let him loose upon the world. But God made other things too: animals, birds, fish. And he only had one fire hot enough to bake them all. Things move in a fire, they change and warp, and every good ceramicist knows, what you put into your kiln is not always what you get out.

 *

Aki grabbed his fingers out of the door only just before he slammed his fingers in it, then growled as he wrenched it open again and reached across the front seat of the car to get the bag of Algerian take-away. It had been the only saving grace in a day filled otherwise with irritation and bitter muttering. Aki had spent the greater portion of his day slowly and painstakingly pushing ground chemicals and water through finer and finer mesh sieves with a rubber kidney after one of the more ditzy first years had placed a spoon used in the cobalt powder into the main batch of white porcelain glaze. Making glazes for himself was something Aki always found therapeutic, but then he liked chunky mixed colour suspensions and didn’t feel the need to pass seven litres of glaze through a mesh so fine it was practically solid. Considering how Aki had wanted his day to go, it had been crap, and as Aki took the first step away from his car, he realised it wasn’t going to get any better.

It didn’t matter how fast he walked towards his house: he was soaked to the skin instantly. Aki glared up at the rain, and cursed silently that he wasn’t gifted with the ability to deal with the weather, and trudged to his front door. Only the thought of a hot and spicy dinner made the prospect of spending the evening alone and generally exhausted bearable, and Aki was so focused on his goal of getting indoors that he almost didn’t noticed the figure on the doorstep until he had almost fallen over it.

Before it had been raining, it had been cold. Whoever was sleeping on Aki’s doorstep in the meagre shelter of the little porch was curled up into a tight ball, and seemingly dead to the world. Knowing he had to, and also knowing he was going to regret it, Aki bent down and placed his hand on what he hoped was the person’s shoulder. A moment later he realised it wasn’t just a person, but a child, a teenage boy who shivered awake, opened one ice blue eye and gasped.

“Sanctuary!”

Then he promptly passed out.

Aki sighed and unlocked the front door. Sometimes his other job was really not worth the aggravation.

The process of transporting a passed out teenager into his house was not as difficult as a person might think, and Aki stowed his takeout in the kitchen, then went back to scoop up the skinny figure. By weight alone there was nothing of the boy other than skin and bones, and Aki lifted him easily and laid him down on the sofa. He was pretty grubby, and whatever his clothes had been like before he had shown up on Aki’s doorstep, they were now a general collection of scraps and badly fitting mismatched layers. Underneath the grime there was pale skin and white blond hair, and Aki didn’t figure the kid could be any more than about fourteen. He didn’t look like a supernatural, but Aki was very aware that appearances could be deceiving, and the innocent looking boy on his couch could indeed be anything but.

Aki warmed up his dinner in the microwave and left his shoes by the back door before stepping through the doorway which led to the tiny studio he had set up in the garage. Behind a loose brick in the passage between the two, Aki removed a plastic covered leather bound journal. The inscription in the front read ‘Rectory Officer’s Log, Station Twelve’. There were not many pages filled, because station twelve was generally quiet, and under the previous entry nearly four months ago Aki drew a line and wrote:

Evening of Thursday sixteenth; boy found in a bad way on steps. Claimed sanctuary before losing consciousness. Brought inside. Awaiting details.

Aki stowed the log book away, took a longing look at his lonely studio, and went to stand in the kitchen to drip rainwater and eat his overdue dinner. It really hadn’t been the best day.

The duties of a Rectory Officer were simple enough: give harbour and shelter to those who asked for it. But it was rare these days for unexpected guests to turn up, because even the most disorganised supernaturals could usually make plans and vaguely stick to them, and Aki hadn’t had a visitor without warning for a very long time. Often there would be phone calls from one Rectory to another trying to find the best places for individuals, and Officers who could help the displaced to settle in a more permanent capacity.

Aki washed up his single plate and went to check on his new guest. The boy was still out cold, either that or he was still sleeping. Aki checked his pulse with two fingers against the boy’s throat, and felt it, slow but strong, and so set about probing the rest of him for any other injuries. He felt the boy’s skull and traced the lines of his shoulders, felt down his arms and hands, the same with his legs. His clothes were truly vile, and Aki knew that whatever else the boy took from him, a small pile from his stash of spare clothes was non-negotiable. He pulled off the boy’s shoes, what was left of them, and wrapped a blanket around his still slightly chilly feet. He seemed fine physically, no broken bones, and Aki found the hem of whatever combination of disgusting shirts the boy had swathed himself in and pulled them up to check his chest and abdomen. Internal bleeding could be missed on a simple scan, and it wasn’t as though every supernatural had the strength to defend themselves against attackers. There was none of the tell-tale dark red or slight bloating of blood under the skin, but the skinny boy’s abdomen did bear the very obvious marks of fists and boots. They were old bruises, faded into purple with yellowing edges, but whenever it had happened, the kid had taken a pretty hard beating. Aki stared, because he could see every one of the kid’s ribs through his skin.

“Ahhh!”

Aki blinked and jumped back as the kid scrambled off the sofa in a frantic whirl of limbs which seemed suddenly too long for his body. Very rarely did Aki find his own abilities very useful, but he was very thankful that he could move quickly enough not to end up with a foot in the face.

“Hey there…” Aki held out his hands, palms up, his tone soft and even, like a trainer would talk to a scared and unfamiliar dog, “you’re OK, everything’s fine kid… you’re safe, you’re OK.”

Dirty pale hair and a pair of huge icy blue eyes appeared from behind the arm of the sofa. Aki hoped he didn’t look too intimidating, and now wished he had done more than simply shrug out of his wet coat. Men in glaze splattered ex-army boots were not always the friendliest looking. Aki smiled softly, and beckoned the kid forwards with one hand.

“You’re alright bud, it’s OK.”

The boy blinked at him slowly.

“Sanctuary?”

“Yeah kid, that’s me.”

“Sanctuary?” this time his voice was louder, more hopeful.

“You said that already,” Aki moved to stand up, but the boy was lightning fast in his scrambling, and launched himself from behind the arm of the sofa, across it and sent Aki flying backwards onto the floor, the skinny boy’s arms wrapped around his neck. He weighed nothing, but that still didn’t mean it was comfortable to have the kid practically lying on him. “OK, yeah; you’re grateful, I get it. You can let go now.” Aki lifted the kid away from himself, and got to his feet. The kid stood there, hunched over slightly and looking short, even though Aki didn’t think he really was. There were still no clues as to what he might be. “You got a name?” There was a long pause, and Aki smiled wryly. “That’s OK; lots of people don’t use the name they were born with.” Aki was just thankful that there had been a shorter version of his own name that hadn’t encouraged school bullies to beat him up on a daily basis. “What can I call you?”

“Hel.”

“Alright then; I’m Aki. Are you hungry?”

“Yes please.” Suddenly the boy’s tone was lighter and he might not have realised it, but he stood up a little bit straighter.

“You got it. Shower for you while I go get some food sorted. Come with me, Hel.”

The boy followed him like a puppy, and Aki watched him with a practiced eye as he showed the kid how the shower worked, put a stack of clean fresh towels out for him and a bin bag for all of his clothes to go directly into. Aki figured they’d probably have to be burnt; they were that filthy and ragged. Hel cocked his head on one side as he listened, and though he seemed more relaxed, his pose was still one of flight. Aki knew Hel hadn’t decided to fully trust him yet, and from the bruises on the kid’s abdomen, he wasn’t surprised. That was no school-yard scuffle, and whoever had hurt him had been far stronger and almost certainly quite used to inflicting pain. By the time Aki left Hel stripping slowly out of his clothes, he was sure the kid must be some kind of canine. Downstairs Aki searched through his fridge for any signs of food, and ended up shoving a frozen pizza into the oven before he picked up the phone and dialled the only other person with whom he could have an informed conversation about his new guest, and who he actually considered a friend.

“Yeah?” the voice on the other end of the line yawned, “hello?”

“Er.. Peter?”

“It’s James. Hey Aki.”

Aki rolled his eyes, even though he knew the werewolf couldn’t see him.

“How the hell do you always know it’s me?”

“I can smell you,” James quipped, “even down a phone. What’s up, oh demonic one?”

“Babe…” Aki was relieved to hear his friend and fellow Rectory Officer’s voice in the background, “don’t tease Aki, you know he doesn’t like it.”

“But…”

There was a snuffling as the phone was handed over.

“Oh, don’t sulk sweetheart. I’ll take you out tomorrow to catch rabbits if you like.” Peter sighed happily, “That’s better. Hi Aki, what can we do for you?”

The advantage of being friends with the only other Rectory Officer about his own age was that he and Peter had lots in common. The disadvantage was Peter had fallen hopelessly in love with a werewolf who had come to his place for sanctuary and then never left. It wasn’t that Aki didn’t like James, but their relationship confused him: how someone could be in a full on sexual relationship with a person who was sometimes wolf shaped and acted like a pet Aki had no idea.

“I got a guest,” Aki sighed, “and he looks kind of in a bad way.” Aki summarised what he knew about Hel, and what he supposed for his friend as quickly as possible. “I don’t suppose you’ve heard anything?”

“Well, no… I mean, he could be anyone. He must be something, because otherwise how would he know to come to you?” Peter paused, and Aki could well imagine his thoughtful expression, “but I have no idea really. Hang on; James wants to talk to you.”

“How old did you say he was?”

“Probably fourteen? I dunno, he acts like a scared puppy.”

“You need to be careful Aki,” James warned softly.

“I think I can cope with one kid wolf-boy.”

“Joakim, if you want to dismiss me, that’s one thing; but’s he’s a teenage runaway and he acts like a pup. I was about his age when I got my first change. Young werewolves are not in control, regardless of how nice they are. You need to be careful.”

“Fine, point taken,” Aki hated it when James used his full name even more than the teasing about his heritage, “I’ll be careful.”

“Keep us in the loop.”

“Will do,” Aki sighed as he hung up and slipped his cell into his pocket. The idea of sharing his house for an undefined period of time with an unstable young werewolf just made the rest of his day seem like a cake walk in comparison.