29 A Nice, Mysterious Fae (1/2)
They didn't end up arriving in Las Vegas until nearly 2 AM. Ruby was exhausted but still had to handle the check-in procedures at their hotel because the reservation had been made with her debit card.
She was too tired to appreciate the opulence of the Bellagio; she was dead on her feet and having a hard time keeping her eyes open. After she dozed off while walking for the fourth time and nearly fell over, Ash caught her and lifted her over his shoulder like he had the time she couldn't see anything.
”What'reya doin'?” Ruby slurred sleepily.
”Taking you to our room because you are incapable of doing it yourself,” he said matter-of-factly.
She was too tired to argue and let him. He dragged their shared large wheeled suitcase behind him with one hand and kept her secured with the other. They got some stares from the night owl casino goers but there weren't many of them up this late gambling anyway.
Ruby was zonked out already and didn't notice; Ash simply didn't care. He found their room number by following maps on the walls. It took a while because he didn't know what he was doing but figured it out eventually.
The room card was the tricky part. He didn't want to wake her up but had no idea how this worked.
Ash squinted at the card insert part of the door for several minutes before it came to him. He inserted it wrongly three times before managing to get the door open. Human contraptions were difficult!
He very gently set Ruby down on the bed and made sure she was on her stomach so her wings wouldn't be affected. He had seen her sleeping like that before.
He sighed once she was peacefully asleep on the bed. He had done a lot of things he never thought he would today in the pursuit of vengeance. Fly in a plane. Taste human food. Read a human novel.
Perhaps the most unexpected thing of all was discovering how kind Ruby was. Her actions before had been neutral; she was simply looking out for herself while he was along for the ride.
Then she had to go and show him the most consideration another being had shown him in longer than he could remember. Not once but twice! Things didn't work that way in the coven.
As the leader he was in charge of taking care of everyone else. No one really cared what he wanted; they didn't bother to ask. His feelings weren't important because the needs of the many came before the needs of one.
It was simply the way things were; he accepted that centuries ago when he took up the mantle. Even Ariadne, who loved him most out of everyone there aside from their mother, had followed the status quo because it was the way things were done.
The coven leader had to be selfless and constantly do things he didn't want to do if it benefitted the whole. He had given up a lot after taking on that role.
In the vampire hunter raid that occurred shortly before fleeing the old country he had lost both his lover and his father. He was so busy taking care of business afterwards that even once he had grieved them properly he didn't have time to try and find another one.