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For a split second, Nalla couldn’t figure out what was wrong. Then she swallowed a curse:Lesserblood on her parka. Nate’s blood, too.
She closed her eyes. “I’m fine. I just need… a shower, a change of clothes, and some privacy. Only for the rest of the night.”
“Of course. That is what we are here for, are we not.”
Stepping over the threshold, Nalla felt like she was entering the place for the first time. Then again, she’d never come here as a resident, and as she’d explained what she’d needed and been greeted with such acceptance, she had a fresh perspective on what they did here: Luchas House had been established in memory of Uncle Qhuinn’s brother, who had died decades ago. Its purpose was to provide transitional housing for young who could no longer stay at Safe Place because they were males who had gone through the change, and to give support and skills training to males and females who were seeking to live independently after trauma or parental death. Nalla had started as a volunteer, gotten her social workdegree through a human university—thanks to remote learning—and then been brought on as a full-time counselor.
“Let me take that coat and clean it for you.”
As Nalla let the thing get peeled off her shoulders, she glanced around the main living room. Over the last thirty years or so, the furniture had changed, and out in the back, the kitchen had been done over twice—but the vibe was always cozy, especially with the fire crackling in the hearth, and the throw blankets that were folded over the soft sofas and deep armchairs. Off to the left, a wing had been added about a decade ago, with individual counseling rooms and a group meeting space on the ground level, and another five bedroom suites built in underneath. There was also an annex with staff rooms and office space that was connected by a tunnel that ran under the lawn.
Still, no matter how big the footprint got, the place still smelled like Toll House cookies every night, and the people were kind, and though the stories were hard to hear, the work made a difference.
“What else can I do for you,” Rahvyn asked as she folded up the parka.
Nalla could only shake her head. The other female, who was Lassiter’sshellan, was their very best volunteer, clocking in as a housemahmenon the weekends. She saw too much, though. When those silver eyes looked into your own? You had the sense she could read your whole life’s story.
“Nothing?” the female prompted.
“I don’t… really know what to ask for,” Nalla whispered.
“Then do not even try. Come on, let us get you upstairs. I will bring you some clothes and something to eat—”
“No food, please.” Every time she breathed in through her nose, she smelled blood. “My stomach’s off.”
“Fair enough.”
The next thing Nalla knew, she was up in one of the bedrooms that were no longer used by the male and female residents, but instead keptas quiet spaces for reading and meditation. The beds were still in place, though, and man, that duvet looked like heaven.
“Any particular requests for clothing?”
Glancing back at the doorway, Nalla shook her head, and then went into the bathroom, flipping the light switch by the door. Even though she didn’t want to see her own face, she stood over the sink and stared at herself in the mirror. There was a speckled pattern of black dots up her neck and on her cheeks and forehead. There was also slayer blood in her hair, and Rahvyn was right about her clothes. They were a mess, and she probably stank to high heaven.
What had she been thinking, coming here like this?
“I should have gone somewhere else,” she said as she looked down at her jeans. “This is a tremendous trigger for some of our residents.”
“Everyone is at group right now. And I will make sure your clothes are laundered in the annex.”
“I wasn’t thinking straight.”
“Yes, you were. You knew you needed safety.”
“You’re not going to ask why I didn’t go home?”
“No.”
Meet your client where they are, Nalla thought.Excellent approach.
Then she frowned. “It’s not a weekend, and yet you’re here?”
Unless she was wrong and had lost an entire night between when she’d left downtown to come out here? Anything seemed possible right now.
Rahvyn smiled in that way she did, so compassionately. “I am going to have more time during the week now. And like you, I want to be where I can make a difference.”
With shaking hands, Nalla cranked the water and started rinsing the blood off—and as it ran into the drain, she hated to see the black mix with the red.
Flexing her fingers under the cold rush, she felt… too little of the chill. She was probably in shock.
