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"Yeah, man." He patted him again, a little harder this time. "Stay with me, cousin."
Finally, Thane lifted a hand to his face to rub across the whole thing. "I will never think less of someone for not being strong again. Fuck." And he dropped his arm back down onto the chair hard enough to make a whump. "I'm fucking useless here! Thought I was going to be the badass she needed, and instead I feel like a damn idiot half the time!"
Roarke just pushed back to his feet and leaned in to clasp Thane's shoulder. "I promise we don't think you're weak. Now tell me what happened while I get some sugar in you. Did Isabella lose control or something?"
He headed toward the kitchen, but behind him, Thane asked, "Who?"
Roarke paused just as he reached for the fridge. "The woman you were making out with. Isabella. You didn't even get her name?"
"She jumped me," Thane said, leaning forward to balance over his knees. "Fuck, my head's throbbing. Gonna guess Tylenol's not something you keep around, huh?"
So Roarke grabbed one of the bottles of soda and headed back. "It's not," he admitted, cracking the top before passing it over. "Sugar helps, though. Caffeine will make you feel refreshed, but it's a lie. Food and then a good sleep will help the most."
Obediently, Thane finished opening the bottle, tipped it up, and chugged back at least half of it. When he paused to belch, he didn't try to make it polite. Then he sighed and put the cap back on. Twice, the man blinked hard, like he was trying to push away his headache, and then he just flopped back again.
"Dahlia and Nikki took Cain to feed - "
"He should be full," Roarke pointed out.
Thane grunted. "That was before they tried using Words of Power - which is another fucking mess. Fuck! And Nikki heard someone saying they didn't like the idea of hiding their feeding, and I was heading back to Dahlia's place when that bitch grabbed me."
"Wait," Roarke begged. "Who doesn't want to hide their feeding?"
"Ghosts, I guess?" Thane said. "Nikki heard them. But if the body count starts piling up, the Church will notice. We do keep an eye on the crime spikes in neighboring states. There are entire groups of priests who do nothing, every day, but read the statistics. How the fuck do you think we find the 'demons' we hunt?"
"Ok..." Roarke said. "And they left you alone?"
"I'm not a fucking child!" Thane snapped.
"No, you're alive," Roarke countered. "You're an inquisitor, which means interesting to us. Could be good-interesting or bad. It seems like Cain and Dahlia have you in the good column. Sounds like some ghosts would probably put you in the bad one."
"Yeah," he agreed. "Nikki said they don't like Dahlia's pet, and fuck if I don't feel like one right now."
Roarke eased himself down to the floor at the corner of Thane's chair, and patted his leg again. Ok, mostly that was because he liked the feel of this man's muscled thigh, but it seemed like it could be taken as reassuring.
"I promise that plenty of us are still intimidated by you. I'm one. Nikki's another. We're just trusting that you're not going to stab us in our sleep or something."
Thane chuckled. "Thanks, man." Then he opened the bottle again and took another drink. "I know I shouldn't be whining. I mean, I'm sleeping with the hottest woman I've ever seen. I fucking married her. The problem is that I'm just..." He waved that off. "Never mind."
"Just what?" Roarke pressed.
Thane gestured back towards the door. "That girl? She grabbed me, shoved me against the wall, and there wasn't a damned thing I could do to push her off. I've been able to beat down plenty of eidolon. I've staked more of you than I should probably admit to. I'm not used to fucking losing, but I couldn't stop her from taking what she wanted. It was like..." He paused to rub at his mouth. "I'm fucking helpless here, and I hate it! I'm supposed to be helping. I'm supposed to be finding a way to stop the damned cult that ruined my family, and instead I'm a fucking walking dick to keep my wife fueled up, because that'sall I'm good for!"
"Hey," Roarke breathed, rubbing Thane's leg again. "It's not like that. Look, Nikki gave me the scoop on Dahlia. Did you know that she was lying about eating? For days, before you came, she'd just hide in her apartment, without any furniture in there. Nikki said she was just lying on the floor for hours on end."
"Mei," Thane breathed.
Roarke nodded. "Yeah. She was hurting. She felt useless. She felt like she wasn't strong enough to do anything. Sound familiar? Now, we both know that's a lie, but it sounds a lot like what you're saying."
"Yeah," Thane admitted.
"But I want to know about Isabella. What happened out there, Thane? I assumed she seduced you and you gave in, but you said she grabbed you?"
He nodded. "I didn't even see her. I was turning to go up the stairs, and then she was on me. Kissing me. Draining me. I can feel it, you know? And I pulled her mouth away, but it didn't seem to help. I could smell her perfume or something, and it was like I was high. I couldn't think, I left my clavum upstairs because I didn't want to make anyone think I'd use it, and I wasn't strong enough to pull her off."
"Did you tell her to stop?" Roarke asked.
"Gonna ask what I was wearing next?" Thane shot back. "No, she didn't give me the chance. Her tongue was down my fucking throat. Yes, I tried to bite it."
