The dog barely took notice, it’s three rows of milky white eyes blinking impassively.
Emma came to stand next to me. Her brown eyes soft as if she were trying to soothe me with a look, but I was too agitated to accept her silent mollification.
“You can’t keep the dog,” Emma said in the voice an adult uses when trying to reason with a child. Despite her words, she looked at the dog with a hungry expression as her fist closed. Did she want to do some “spring cleaning” as she put it?
Lucas whistled. The dog’s head perked up, then he trotted over to stand at Lucas’s side. Then as if noticing our presence for the first time, the dog growled. There was no flesh to cover up the impressive set of fangs. Where most demon dogs had flesh rotting off their bodies, this one seemed to have a cleaner look. Did Lucas brush what little coat there was on the dog?
Lucas looked down at the dog before looking at us. “That’s what you think,” he said before turning and sprinting down the hall and around the corner. The demon dog followed on his heels.
“Calan,” Emma said, but I held up a hand.
“We need to get you cleaned up and collect our fee.” My words came out cold and measured. Emma’s lips flattened as she followed me back out the entrance. I didn’t let her get two steps from me.
After briefly talking to the Principal who handed over his credit card with a shaky hand, and a grateful smile, I quickly took payment on our portable card reader then dragged Emma to the van. Opening the back, I pulled out the med kit. She sat on the edge over the bumper. I pulled out the disinfectant and went to work, my eyes lingering on the bruises on her body.
Thankfully, she kept silent. I was sorting through my feelings of having obeyed her, wondering if left to my own devices how would I have decided on my own. A flare of resentment wriggled in me. Was I to her what I had been to the Luxis? Nothing more than muscle to command at will?
That didn’t sit well. That didn’t sit well at all.
“Do we need to go to the hospital or go home?” I asked. My tone was efficient, all about getting the job done. I didn’t want to think about how I’d grown to thoughtlessly obey her.
“Home and then Krystan’s,” she said, her voice gentle like it had been with the teenager.
“The purple house?” I asked. The historic house that sat in downtown Denver had been Mrs. Rits house until she passed away leaving it to Krystan. It had sheltered us many times in the past, but I was not up for visiting in my current state.
“We need to drop Snarp off with them.”
“Right.” I’d completely forgotten. I continued wrap her arm in silence. The cut was shallow, but we’d have to watch it for infection. When I closed the medkit, I remembered the days where I only did this for myself. Things weren’t better then, but they’d been simpler.
Before I could move away, Emma pulled me back with her good arm. Snaking her hands behind my neck she drew me near until our foreheads were resting against each other.
“I love you,” she said, though I detected uncertainty in her voice.
“I love you too.”
Her body released whatever tension she’d been holding. Of course, I loved her.
“Are you okay? I saw you took another essence,” I said quietly.
“Yeah,” she said, her voice sounded croaky. “It's still weird, and I wish I got something out of those books, but it looks like we are going to have to feel our way through this one. Like usual.”
She’d been right to send me to save the kid. I needed to let go of whatever worry Ylang had planted in my mind. I cupped her face and kissed her in a soft, teasing way, nipping at her lips and licking her tongue until she went limp and sagged against me. A fog curled around my brain until all I could focus on was the taste of her. A tingling ran down my arm and I realized my power was no longer barred. My internal conflict had been resolved. I trusted Emma’s judgment, and I would have to be careful listening to my former Master in the future. The manipulation was beyond wearisome.
Pulling back, I saw the relief and a spark of lust in Emma’s eyes. As much as I wanted to lose myself in her in the back of the van, I didn’t like being out in the open and we did indeed need to get the bird to Krystan and Travis. I kissed her one more time, silently promising we would come back to this moment and see it through.
11
Calan and I drove back to the apartment and I debated whether I should tell him about why the demon dog needed to save me. Did Calan really need to know that I’d been busy absorbing the many-armed demon when a third one dropped from out of nowhere, throwing me off balance and almost ripping me to shreds?
Based on the tight line of his jaw, I decided it was a bad time to bring it up. Whatever he was churning over in his head, he wasn’t ready to talk about it yet.
Maybe I was being a coward, or maybe I was scared he knew the truth. My skin still tingled, and everything inside me was singing. If it weren’t for the shame I carried about keeping a secret from Calan, I might have burst into song. Instead, I griped the wheel and focused on the road, pretending like I didn’t want to go demon hunting and find more to suck the life out of.
Upon entering our apartment, I immediately felt something was wrong. A shuffling sound came from the kitchen. Pausing at the doorway to listen, there was a crinkle then a pathetic squawk. My eyes locked on the birdcage. The door was wide open. Again.
“Snarp,” I yelled. A weird, shuddering cooing sound answered.
I rounded the corner to the kitchen, as Calan shut the door behind me. He drew his blade and stalked alongside me.
