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“You okay?”
“Yeah.” I pushed through the door and into the elevator. “But you might want to head off Rossi’s shadows. They’ll be gunning for someone.”
“Is that someone you?”
I winced as the doors started to close. “I sure fucking hope not.”
We were done, rising above the stench of it all. But we could never really rise, could we? We couldn’t crawl out of that mold, couldn’t not be what we were born to be. A beast was still a beast. It still had that same sickening need. Infected from birth. I closed my eyes and held her against me.
But Mom had tried. Her blinding light tried to cast the darkness away.
But it was back now…and it was hungry.
Anna gave a whimper. I opened my eyes as the doors thumped open.
“I think I’m going to be sick.” She lifted her head as I carried her through my apartment, into the bedroom. She was already heaving as I strode into the bathroom, already turning her head. Warmth hit my arm as I eased her down to her knees.
“Careful now.” I held the hair back from her face as she clung to the toilet.
The smell was sharp and bitter, lifting from my arm as her vomit splashed into the bowl. She moaned and heaved, her spine bowing with the effort. I pressed my hand against her back. Soft, comforting words were all I could offer.
Until after a while. the heaving eased…and the shakes started.
“F-fin,” she cried out, her teeth gnashing as her body shook.
I rose quickly, grabbed a cup next to the sink then a clean washcloth from the cupboard and ran it under the faucet. A stranger met my gaze in the mirror, haunted, detached. Anna’s words running a loop inside my head.
You won’t find him…hiding…hiding in Moris Dime.
You won’t find him…hiding…hiding in Moris Dime…
You won’t find him…
Won’t find him.
“I-I…I ca-can’t s-stop sh-sha-shaking.”
I shut off the water and turned away from the mongrel in the mirror. I knew what he wanted…and it made me fucking sick to my stomach. “Shh...” I murmured, and knelt beside her, holding her hair back as I ran the cool cloth over her face and across her lips.
She turned her head. The frown was instant, as confusion clouded those perfect eyes. “Fin?”
“I’m right here, Anna,” I reassured her. “Right here. Here, rinse your mouth, let me take care of you.”
She sank against me, her hands running up my arms to grab tight, the shaking lessened as she took a mouthful, swished and then swallowed.
“Hold onto me.” Acid rolled in my stomach with every word. “Hold onto me, Anna, I’ve got you.”
I held her as we sat on the floor of the bathroom, and pulled her hair back again as her stomach clenched with dry heaves. I rubbed her back when she turned to me for comfort, and when she was done and her clothes were soaked with sweat, I gently eased them from her body.
She looked at me with a detached, haunted gaze.
“It’s okay,” I murmured. “Let me take care of you.”
She seemed confused…and scared. But then she gave me a small nod and lifted her arms so I could slide her jacket free.
“My head feels strange,” she grumbled.
“You came into contact with something toxic,” I explained as I knelt at her feet. “But you’re going to be okay now.”
