* * *
Cady tried to remember Ethan’s point about not forming any attachments to stuff when they locked up the car down the street from the destination he had in mind. It wasn’t her car. Still, she couldn’t help but think they’d be lucky to find it drivable in the sketchy neighborhood. Her own apartment was considered to be in the safer part of the Tenderloin, or the TenderNob, but the street he’d led her to was in the heart of the poorest section of the district. Decaying tenement buildings lined the streets and decrepit single room occupancy hotels offered cheap accommodations as long as you didn’t mind no kitchen or sharing a filthy bathroom.
Ethan didn’t stop at any of the SRO’s though, to her relief. Instead he led them into a side door next to Donut Planet, where a narrow staircase took them to a series of tiny apartments over the dilapidated shop. The gray paint on the walls was peeling and the stairs were scuffed and worn, but it was reasonably clean and didn’t have the stench of years of urine seeping into the linoleum. Someone was trying, at least, to make the best of what they had to work with.
Leading her up to the top floor, Cady suppressed a groan at all the stairs, and from the speed at which Ethan shambled up beside her, she guessed it was rougher on him than he let on. Finally, he stopped in front of apartment 6-A, fumbling with the keys until he found the right one.
The small studio apartment was sparsely furnished, a double bed tucked into one corner, a worn loveseat in front of an old fashioned TV with the dials. There was one strip of counter designated as kitchen space with a coffee pot next to a tiny sink, a short stack of dishes sat on an open shelf above it. A mini fridge hummed in the corner.
“Who lives here?” Cady asked, grateful to find a private bathroom on the other side of a door in the back.
“No one. It’s a safe house.” Instead of sitting like she thought he would, he set the duffle bag on the edge of the bed, rooting around until he came up with the flat plastic box.
“What are you doing?”
“Giving us some extra protection.”
“I thought you said this place is safe.”
“It will be when I’m done with it.” Ethan drew a series of symbols on all four walls with charcoal, lips moving as he worked, though she couldn’t quite catch the words. “There, that should keep his ass out,” he said with self-assurance when he was finished.
A week ago she would have laughed at him for placing all of his confidence in a bunch of marks on the wall, but now Cady felt safer just looking at the black symbols. She’d seen first hand how impenetrable they could be. She could also see how worn out Ethan was as he inspected his handiwork, wavering slightly on his feet.
“Hey, you’d better sit down before you fall down.”
“I’m fine.”
“Park it,” she ordered, brows knit together until he sank onto the edge of the bed obediently. “Can I get you anything? I don’t suppose you have any food in this place.”
“No, thank you,” he answered automatically before rethinking the question. “Actually, there should be some tea in the cupboard if you don’t mind.”
“Is it the same tea you have at home?”
“Yes.” His voice sounded far away and when Cady glanced back, she saw his eyes were closed, though he hadn’t made any move to lie down. There was a metal canister of loose tea leaves in the cupboard with a tea strainer next to it. With no microwave or hot plate in the place, she set the tea to brewing in the small coffee pot, guessing at how long to let it steep before she poured him some in one of the two brown mugs she found.
“It’s hot, be careful,” she warned, holding the edges carefully to offer him the handle. Ethan’s eyes slid open and he murmured his thanks, gulping the tea down despite the scalding heat.
“Is there any more?”
“You bet, hold on a sec.” This time Cady added a little tap water to keep him from burning his insides in the process. By the time she got the third cup into him, he looked less worn around the edges, his blue eyes clear and alert.
“Thank you,” he said with a warm smile.
“I’m glad you’re feeling better. What’s in this stuff?” she sniffed at the coffee pot before she rinsed it out in the sink.
“The tea has healing properties that work particularly well with my body chemistry. You shouldn’t drink it though, it’ll make you sick.”
“No chance of that, the stuff is nasty.” There was a short stub of a sponge and the dregs of dishwashing soap that made the brief clean up easier. Cady found the chore soothing, the hot water washing away the remains of the tension she carried in her body.
Strong arms wrapped around her as Ethan pressed her hands between his under the stream of water. “Are you really alright?” he asked at her ear.
“Yes, I think so,” she replied, relaxing against his chest until she realized that he held her tightly, almost desperately. She couldn’t see his face, but his lips brushed over her temple, a shaky breath leaving his body. “What about you? Are you alright?”
“When I saw him there with you… I didn’t… I didn’t know what to do.”
“Really? Kudos to you then, you came off like you had a plan.”
“I’m serious. I’ve faced plenty of demons before, I always know what to do.”
“It happens to the best of us.”
“Not to me.”
“He didn’t hurt me,” she reminded him gently, turning off the water before returning her hands to his. “The next time we come up against him, you do what you have to in order to stop him. Don’t worry about me.”
“I did though. I didn’t like it.”
“Having to worry about me?” Cady turned around so she could face him, wrapping her arms around his waist. “I never would have guessed it from the way you talked back there. Would you really have killed me before you let him have me?”
“I don’t know.” He hung his head. “Any other girl I’d say yes, in a heartbeat, because it’s a kinder end. But you… I’m not sure I could be the one to make the light go out of your eyes.”
“Hey, it’s a good thing to have those kinds of doubts. It makes you a human being,” she soothed, tilting his jaw until he looked at her again. “For the record, I’m glad you have reservations about killing me to keep me safe, but your first instinct is the right one. I’d rather be dead than his plaything. Let’s be clear about that.”
Ethan nodded, a grim cast to his jaw. “Let’s hope it doesn’t come to that.”
“You and me both,” Cady sighed, relaxing against his chest. “So, what happens now?”
“For now we rest,” he groaned, leading her to the bed. “Then I have to check in, regroup, figure something out. I don’t know, I can’t think straight anymore.” Ethan lay back on the bedspread, shoes and all.
“I don’t know how you can think about sleeping yet, I’m still jumpy.” Cady pulled off his shoes and then her own, setting them on the floor beside the bed.
“I broke my leg on the way down. Healing damage like that always takes it out of me.”
Cady stared at him, her jaw slack. He said it so nonchalantly, his eyes already closed. “I thought you said it was fine.”
“And it is. I’m fine now, I just need to rest. You can watch some TV if you’re not tired.”
She knew better than to argue with him about it; he seemed to know what his body was capable of, no matter how ridiculous it sounded to her. “No, I’d better get some rest too, it’s late.” Climbing beside him, she snapped on the ancient air conditioner above the bed, wiggling her fingers in front of the vent until she felt a trickle of colder air. With a last look around the room, she turned off the light. Ethan didn’t stir when she lay down next to him, and he didn’t object when she scooted closer either.
“I’m supposed to work tomorrow,” she ventured, not sure if he would hear her. “Do you think he’ll try to come after me there?”
/> “Nope. You’re not going back there.”
“But…”
“Not until this thing is over.” His tone brooked no argument. “I don’t want you going near that place.”
“I’ll lose my job.”
“I’ll get you another one.”
“Just like that?”
“Just like that,” Ethan repeated, jaw cracking as he yawned. “I didn’t like you working there anyway.”
“Uh oh, you are the jealous type, aren’t you?” she smiled and he chuckled in response.
“Maybe I am, it’s been a while.”
“How long has it been since you last had a girlfriend?” Cady propped her head up to see his face.
“A long time.”
“How long?” she pressed, and Ethan let out a stretched breath.
“Embarrassingly long. Let’s get some rest.”
Cady let it go, laying her head down on the pillow, but sleep didn’t come. “I am your girlfriend now though, right?” she asked after a few minutes of silence. “That wasn’t just an act to flush the demon out.”
“Yeah, you’re my girl now.” His fingers sought hers in the darkness. “Come what may.”
“Come what may? Way to ruin the moment,” she chastised, but Cady didn’t pull her hand away.
“I’d try and salvage it if I wasn’t so damn tired.” His voice sounded far away again, like he was already starting to drift and she felt bad for keeping him awake.
“You get some sleep, we can pick this up later. I’m not going anywhere. You’re stuck with me now.”
“Like the sound of that,” he murmured.
“Me too.”