Four women missing from Aleppo, Pennsylvania were enough to have one of the supernatural locals passing word along to me. They knew it wasn’t human but thought it ‘d be something any half-decent hunter could handle with relative ease, but they still called me.

Just once, I’d like not to have to deal with the easy jobs for which I was usually overqualified…

though I guess I got what I wanted this time.

I tracked him deep into the Appalachian mountains but he found me first, rushing me on sight. I unloaded an entire clip into him but it barely made him flinch, so I pulled my mask over my eyes and ran like hell.

Now I leaned against my Jeep and watched smoke curl up from my lips as I waited for backup.

It’s widely believed that I’m one of, if not the, best hunters in the Americas, but even I had to learn from someone.

My teacher was a woman called Alix McÁed—a woman I later learned was the original Death in the world and often called angel of death, a god of calamity, or the god slayer in stories I’d heard as a kid.

And I still have her on speed dial.

So I stood watching the road and waiting for some sign of Alix, be it some shift in the shadows or her sleek black ‘67 Firebird.

And the car it was.

I took one last drag on my cigarette and put it out on the rain-damp pavement while Alix’s car purred into the little lot. She flashed me a smile as she got out, but it didn’t reach the liquid mercury of her eyes. Still, I forced myself to smile back, however briefly.

“How’ve you been?” Her gaze hardened to cold steel for a moment and I had to suppress a shiver.

“I’ve been.” she paused and I felt myself relax slightly at the soft scottish burr in her familiar mixed accent, “How’re things going with you?” I didn’t think we’d met more than one time since what happened with Ryan and my subsequent escape back to the states, but my thoughts slipped quickly to scotch and wood and cigarettes in the dark…

and broken promises…

“They’re going,” I finally answered, my voice low and quiet enough to tell more than I’d said.

“You’ve started using your mask again,” she said in quiet observation, “it’s good to see.” Alix seemed to lose herself in thought for a moment, fingers unconsciously finding the ancient silver cross that hung around her neck.

“Alix.” Her gaze flicked back to me, “Thanks for coming.” A wicked cold smile lit up her eyes to match the predatory smile that tugged at her lips.

“You said he was tall, ancient, and hideous?” I nodded my confirmation and she breathed a heavy sigh, “I knew I should’ve brought Keep,” she muttered the words as she raked her fingers through her hair.

“Why would we need Keep?” I spoke slowly, uncertain I wanted the answer; Hellhounds are big—about the same size as me in beast form (which is to say almost as big as a small horse)—but Keep in particular was almost more Colossus than hound when unsealed. Alix wore a sombre expression as she seemed to debate how to answer.

“Because that sounds a lot like Koschei the Deathless.” I leveled her with an all too familiar blank stare.

“Koschei the what-less?” Alix smirked, something like amusement in her eyes.

“I’d have been surprised if you knew of him.” She drummed her fingers on the roof of her car as she seemed to debate how to explain, “He’s closer to a true immortal than most of the false immortals are; the story goes that he hid his soul from Death centuries ago, but in reality it’d be more accurate to say he found a way to separate his soul from his body and Daniel and I got enough of a laugh out of where he hid it that we sort of just let him be. Usually some young hunter or hero-hopeful came along before he left the realm of non-lethal fairy tale villain, but I guess things have changed.”

“So how do I kill him?”

“Unless you fancy a quest to the island of Buyan, you show the way and then let me handle it.” A part of me wanted to argue—I don’t like letting go of prey once it’s in my sights—but Alix wasn’t just my mentor, she was the original Death in this world and no one would beat her in a hunt.

So I backed down, proverbial ears flat and tails tucked in submission.

“Alright, I’ll lead the way.” Truthfully, I was lucky she let me be involved at all.

-----

It didn’t take long to retrace my path up the mountain even through the woods, Alix trailing behind to look over the mountainside with eyes that saw far more than mine. I stopped when the light reflected off some of my brass and I crouched to pocket it; it was still warm from my encounter with Koschei. Alix was crouched beside a makeshift fire pit when I looked up again.

“Looks like he was still here recently,” she tossed a still smoking coal back into the ring and stood to kick some dirt over it, smothering the remaining embers. “Should’ve brought one of the hounds,” she muttered again before glancing my way and continuing a little louder, “unless you think you’re up to tracking him.” She eyed the mask on my belt and I hesitated on memories of scotch and wood and rain and cigarettes; it was risky for an Alcaimynder to spend a lot of time in beast form when they’re sick, even more so if they’re not in a good place mentally, the wall between rationality and feral beast was thinner—

easier to slip through.

At least if something went wrong, Alix was here to take care of it—

of me.

“Guess we’ll find out.” I shook myself out of the dark, pointedly ignoring that cliff as I stripped and stuffed my clothes in my bag before passing it to Alix to carry—I’d already lost one set of clothes today and wasn’t keen on losing another so soon.

That is a lot funnier in hindsight than it should be.

I pulled my mask over my eyes and a part of me welcomed the familiar dull ache of bones cracking and breaking and reshaping and the itch of thick fur spreading across my skin as my nails grew into long and sharp claws.

-----

Koschei’s scent—like sickly sweet decay—led us South a half a day even at a fast lope before we came to a cave so thick with the scent I was pulling the mask off and changing back just to lessen the severity of it. The woods were silent around us as I took my bag back from Alix and pulled my clothes back on.

I don’t know that either of us expected what we saw inside.

The cave opened into a great hall, filled with more gold and precious gems than I could name…

though that wasn’t saying much…

More precious gems than Jesse could name.

But they felt too bright and came with the same scent of blood and death and decay as a rotting corpse.

My Soul Collector genes kicked in and as I blinked, the gold and gems were replaced with mountains of bodies in varying degrees of decay.

I glanced Alix’s way and found cold steel eyes that made me shiver even though they weren’t directed my way.

Between two mountains of flesh and bone sat Koschei on a throne of stone.

All 7ft–68lbs of him.

Having watched him continue without flinching after I’d unloaded a full clip into him earlier, he was a lot more intimidating.

His bones creaked as he stood and his voice was like old, dry paper when he spoke. It didn’t matter, he spoke in some ancient form of barely recognizable Slavic.

Alix on the other hand understood him perfectly and, judging from his reaction when she replied, she held the same untempered disrespect she tended to in ancient Slavic as she did in English. He spoke again, she let slip a cruel laugh, and the next thing I knew, I was being knocked aside as Koschei advanced on Alix. She was tossed like a rag doll against the far wall after he ripped one of her arms free of the socket, crashing through a pile of bones before she disappeared from view. He advanced on her again and I scrambled to my feet; whatever he did wouldn’t kill her permanently, but whether I survived while she healed was another matter altogether.

I will say this for Koschei’s decorating: my best magic revolves around life and death and I was in a room full of dead bodies and lingering spirits which meant I wouldn’t have to worry about backlash later if I just grabbed something to act as a channel.

I didn’t do that, but it was an option.

Alix had never been fond of necromancy, even when I’d used it unconsciously as a kid to have someone to play with, but given the situation, I think I could make a decent case for myself later.

“Dùsgrich,” I called the command out as I gestured to the masses of flesh and bone before pointing to Koschei. There was a low rumble as bones shifted in the masses to snap together into bodies before they reached and clawed for Koschei’s form, their own anger toward him fanning the flames my intent had sparked in them. They kept him from approaching Alix, but not from me, I hadn’t thought that far ahead as he loomed over me. “Alix?” My voice cracked as I backed away piling into other bones that stretched for him, but I still couldn’t see her past the masses.

Then he broke off one of the bones that restrained him and drove it through me.

I clutched at it as he let go, the taste of blood slick in my mouth as I looked down at the piece of broken femur that went through my midsection.

…a relieved smile tugged at my lips as I fell to my knees…

The spell flickered out and the bones crashed to the floor around us.

Then Koschei the Deathless stiffened and I looked up again.

In a state of euphoric numb, I watched him collapse to reveal Alix’s fist, an ancient soul flickering with hellfire from between her fingers.

“Reyna?” She rushed over to me, black hellfire eyes flickering back to liquid mercury as she looked over my injury. I grinned up at her, bloodstained teeth sharp with delirium from the blood loss combined with backlash from the spell.

“Don’t worry, I’ll be fine once I bleed out.” I’d probably heal before I bled out and we both knew it, but still.

At the worst, I’ll be really hungry later.

Alix didn’t return my smile, only gave me a sharp look before pulling the bone free and pressing a hand over the hole.

I slipped out of consciousness as she began whispering something in Lurakil I was too far gone to catch.

-----

I remember waking up once on the way to the hospital, but only long enough to see trees speeding by much faster than was legal and someone following Alix’s car in my Jeep. When I opened my eyes again, I was in a painfully sterile room with deafening white walls. Alix leaned in stark contrast in the doorway. She smiled when she saw me awake, the relief barely touching the turmoil of emotion in her eyes before she leaned over me to press the nurse call button.

“The missing women?” Her smile turned grim as she shook her head slightly, but I couldn’t say I was surprised at the answer. “And Koschei?” My voice sounded almost as bad as his had when I finally got the words past my parched lips, but I needed to know it hadn’t been some sort of fever dream caused by severe blood loss on my part.

“He’s gone,” Alix said quietly with a slight nod and I breathed a sigh of relief. The nurse bustled into the room a moment later and earned a sharp inhale of mock surprise at her presence, “So she does exist this early in the morning.” I started laughing, but it only made me begin to cough violently and the nurse, for her part, fixed Alix with a sharp stare that only had me laughing harder—a tiny little Hollen nurse was staring down literal Death, how could I not laugh at that.

“Visiting hours don’t begin for another ten hours, miss. She needs as much rest as she can get, and she doesn’t need you lurking in the doorway to do it.”

“Let her stay,” I laughed the words—no one really needed Death lurking in their doorway. The nurse faltered, looking back my way while I tried to stifle my giggling because gods did it hurt.

“We haven’t seen each other for a few years and we’re family. I just got to the States recently so I came to visit. Today’s my last day free, I have to leave by nine.” I think, had the nurse not breathed an exasperated sigh in defeat and left without continuing to fight her on the subject, Alix would’ve continued to spin lies from half truths and vague implications. But the nurse did leave, so Alix relaxed slightly and moved to stand by the bed.

“I hate hospitals.”She laughed quietly at my tired bitterness, but didn’t question it; she remembered my reason.

“Yeah,” she exhaled the word, “feels like I’ve spent a lot of time in them lately.” I cocked my head to one side and she flashed a wry smile, “Another time, maybe, for now, just get your rest.” She leaned over to kiss my forehead in a silent farewell and I caught a glimpse of who she must’ve been to her sister and her children. The edges of my vision were growing fuzzy again as the man who’d driven my Jeep here appeared in the doorway.

I remembered him now, he was the man from the library in Edgewood.

That’s right.

His name was Logan.

-----

I woke up later with the sun streaming through the blinds. It created a halo effect behind his head and in my delirium, I forgot the scotch and the cigarettes and the rain that’d been haunting me and smiled.

“Jack,” my voice was still dry and raspy, “Would you mind closing the blinds, please? The light’s giving you a halo, it’s throwing me off a bit.” Jack laughed quietly and closed the blinds.

Gods, I’d missed his laugh.

“It’s good to hear you’re alright enough to be a smart ass.” I thought about pointing out that I was always a smartass but instead just smirked briefly and struggled to sit up in my bed.

“Just a bit dehydrated.” He held out a water bottle and I smiled my relief. “Thanks.” I didn’t notice until I paused to catch my breath that Loki was curled up and sound asleep in a chair next to Jack’s and Zevi was much the same in his lap.

“They wanted to be awake when you woke up, but…” He trailed off and I smiled, reaching out to stroke Loki’s dark hair. “Someone left a box for you, by the way,” Jack gestured to the table on the other side of the bed, “it was there when we got here, so I don’t know who.” I looked at the small wooden box resting on the table with a bittersweet smile. When I opened it, I was looking at a beautiful .357 Magnum with a set of 12 black, opalescent bullets encased in a layer of unmistakable frost. Inside the lid was a note in Alix’s sharp script. I call it Lucky. I opened the note to read the rest. You can probably guess why. Good Hunting. —A. I could guess, the frost gave it away for me. Alix had given me 12 bullets of pure hellfire; those bullets would kill anything. “Reyna?” I looked up at Jack again as I closed and latched the lid on Lucky’s case, “The Doc said you’d been in some sort of freak accident—like you’d fallen back onto something sharp.” I swallowed and dug a knuckle into my head for a moment; it was a supernatural hospital or I’d be in some quarantine chamber or on a dissection table, but sometimes it was still better to lie about how I got injured when I make my living hunting the same people hospitals like this cater to.

“Well, you see…” I trailed off as Jack’s gaze narrowed slightly and something made me decide to do something I rarely did when it came to work-related injuries: tell the truth, “I met Koschei the Deathless. He was less than friendly.” I spoke bitterly, refusing to meet his gaze.

“That doesn’t explain the injury.” I shrugged, apathetic to Jack’s apprehension.

“It’s a bit difficult to explain.” I stopped and we sat in uncomfortable silence for a moment before I looked at the clock and changed the subject. “Hey, Jack,” he looked up from Zevi’s hand wrapped around a couple of his fingers as if it was completely normal for him, “Didn’t you have a sales pitch today?” He shrugged as if it was nothing.

“Jesse said that you were in the hospital, so I came the second I hung up the phone.” A wry smile flickered across my lips, a hint of grief in it.

“You shouldn’t just leave in the middle of work even if you are freelance, it gives you a bad reputation.” He smirked, the same nonchalance in the look as had been there the day we met.

“Wow,” he drew out the word, his eyes widened slightly in surprise and something like concern at the edges of his scent, “what’ve they got you on, love?” A breathless laugh escaped my lips.

“Morphine, pro’ly. I dunno what else, but I feel fantastic,” and giggly. Jack laughed quietly and Zevi blinked the sleep from his foggy blue eyes as he opened his mouth in a tiny yawn.

“Is mum awake?” Jack had just started to reply when Michael burst through the door; in hindsight, I’m not sure whether I should’ve been surprised or impressed Jack beat him here.

They locked eyes and time teemed to stop.

...took everything in me not to start laughing again.

“What in Hell’s name are you doing here?” Michael’s voice was as cold as it’d been when be first met and he practically towered over Jack—I sometimes forget just how tall and solid Michael is—but Jack either didn’t notice or, more than likely, didn’t care.

“Someone I cared about is in the hospital after puncturing her lung with something—”

“It was a bone,” I cut in as I tried not to wince at his use of past tense, “a femur, I think.”

“A femur—bloody hell, Reyna—and I’m not allowed to visit?” Jack, for his part, barely lost his stride as he corrected himself, “Even after an ten hour drive for that exact purpose?” I shook my head slowly, laying back again with a tired sigh—ten hours? I’d been out longer than I thought, would explain the amount of sun coming in the window.

“You’re not family, how’d you even get in here?” That got a snicker out of me for obvious reasons, but I was too far gone to point it out to Michael.

I was slipping out of consciousness again when Jesse hurried through the door after Michael.

Well that’s fine then, Jesse should be able to break them up if they actually get into it, or at the very least she could use some of that Cambion charm of hers—hers had always been especially strong.

Then I lost myself again in the blood

and the oblivion.

-----

When I woke this time it was evening outside the window and Echo of all people sat in the chair next to my bed, wringing her hands as she stared down at them with a vacant look. She looked far more soft-spoken now than she had the last times I’d seen her and the smell of guilt was coming off of her in waves to match her eyes.

“Echo,” I spoke softly and Echo jumped, looking up at me in surprise, “What’re you doing here?” I don’t think I meant that to sound as pointed as it did, but I don’t think she took it too personally either, thankfully.

“I—I heard about what happened,” she spoke slowly and I exhaled to match, “are you alright, Reyna?” That is a good question, I thought to myself as I took a shuddering breath as if to test the healing wound.

“I heal fast.” It wasn’t an answer and she knew it.

“Really? Because you look awfully pale, still.” A sharp look and she fell silent so I closed my eyes and took another deep breath.

“Hey, Echo,” I looked back over at her, “I’m sorry about your bus.” She looked up in surprise again.

“Emerson, his name was Emerson.” I couldn’t help my laugh.

“Why am I not surprised you named it.” I looked up at the ceiling in an attempt to stop laughing, “You lived out of that bus, right?” She nodded slightly. “There’s an extra room above the shop, if you want it, as long as you be careful what you write,” I paused, “and I’ll fix… I’ll fix Emerson... once I’m out of here.” Echo beamed at me.

“I came to apologize,” she looked back down at her hands for a moment, “for the post, and for what happened to your kids, and everything.” I nodded slowly.

“It’s fine,” it wasn’t, but she seemed to have learned her lesson so I cut her some slack… whatever medication they had in my IV was really mellowing me out, I think, but that was fine—I was fine.

“Reyna?” Echo’s voice seemed so far away as I sunk deeper into the pillow.

“Goodbye.” I whispered the word as I closed my eyes.

I never say goodbye…

...but it seemed fitting.

-----

I was awake again the next morning; the nurse brought breakfast but I didn’t have much of an appetite what with my history with hospitals so I was still poking the food around on the tray when Jack knocked on the door and slipped inside. He stood awkwardly to one side, watching as I pushed the tray away to give him my full attention now that I wasn’t doped halfway out of what little remained of my mind.

“How are you feeling, Miss Wildes?” I winced and lashed out in kind.

“What’s it to you, Matlock?” Pain flashed through his scent and something twisted inside me despite the victorious smile that flashed across my lips at the thought I might’ve hurt him as much as he hurt me…

...even though I knew I was the one who started it.

“Jesse’s worried—” he began, but my gaze narrowed into a sharp glare.

“Oh come off it, Jack. Jesse wouldn’t send you if she were worried about me, especially not for something like this.” It was a lie and we both knew it, but somewhere a long time ago we’d silently agreed never to mention that Jesse was a self sacrificing idiot when it came to me and the little happiness I sometimes managed to sink my claws into around Jack.

I took a breath, ignoring the itch in my fresh scar as I dug my knuckles into my forehead for a moment, “Please,” my voice came softer than I realized when I looked up again, “can we just pretend for a moment that nothing happened to us?” Jack was colored with surprise for a moment, but he nodded slightly and settled his weight on the edge of the bed as I shifted over to make room.

“I’m sorry,” when he finally spoke, he was almost as quiet as I was, “I can’t do that.” I winced again, but this time the sharp stabbing pain wasn’t temporary. I laid back with a thud against the pillow as I pushed away the wheeled table, staring up at the ceiling pretending it was stars like my room when I was little. Jack watched for a moment as I patted the bed beside me and then pointed at one of the shapes on the ceiling.

“It looks like a rabbit.” He lay down beside me, looking up at where I pointed.

“That one looks like a fox.” A brief, sad smile tugged at the corner of my mouth.

“I was wrong.” Jack looked over at me out of the corner of his eye, waiting, “When I said nothing hurt anymore, I was wrong about that.” He turned to study my profile. “This mess I’ve made of us—it hurts.” My voice dropped to a whisper; he was close enough that I could feel warmth radiating from him.

“Reyna…” he began and a part of me wondered if maybe I was still doped up too much because I found a soft smile on my lips.

“I like the way my name sounds when you say it... and the way you taste after…” Yeah… I was still drugged and I wondered if he could tell when he seemed to study me as I trailed off. I glance his way just as he reached out to cup my cheek in his palm, pressing his lips to mine.

I pulled back.

Or, I was going to pull back.

I was going to…

I…

I blame the drugs.

Jack moved and suddenly he was leaned over me me, the hand cupping my cheek moving to wrap around my waist as the other supported his weight. My arms wrapped around his neck and fingers knotted in his hair without me telling them to.

My body was acting without my telling it to.

I rolled us over, causing him to pull back in a breathless laugh as I started to kiss along his neck.

It felt strange, almost like touching him was an addiction.

He was an addiction.

He lifted my chin with one hand and kissed me again, but…

Well…

There was a cough from the doorway and we sprang apart, suddenly snapped back to ourselves. In my scramble to get off of him, I crashed to the floor and I winced as I pulled against fresh scar tissue.

Echo stood in the doorway, trying to look anywhere but at me sitting on the floor trying to breath again through the pain, and Jack laying in his cursed nonchalance propped up on an elbow with his damned grin. Her cheeks were flame red, and she seemed to be having a really hard time containing a smile as she fiddled with one of her bracelets.

“H—Hi... sorry…” I swear, if she turned any more red, she’d start looking like a tomato, “I could—I could leave if you guys want me to?” She trailed off with a gesture back out toward the hall as the two of us responded at once.

“No!”

“Absolutely,” Jack and I spoke over each other and I felt the heat begin to rise in my own cheeks as I drew my knees to my chest.

“Please stay,” I don’t trust myself around him. My voice was soft and Jack looked at me with an unreadable expression and hurt in his scent as I watched his grin slip away.

“Alright,” then the scent was gone, the mask of nonchalance returned as he’d apparently learned to disassociate in our years apart and his scent went as hard to read as his face, “get better soon, Miss Wildes.”

“I—I’m sorry,” she spoke slowly, watching him go in confusion before she looked back at me with a question in her gaze.

“It’s a long story,” I kept my voice quiet as I climbed back into the bed and inhaled; it still smelled like him…

…it was hard to focus on Echo’s chatter, but I really did try if only so I wouldn’t be alone with my thoughts.

-----

Jack was back when I woke from a short nap in the afternoon. He sat staring at his hands, leaning on the arms of the chair as his knee bounced in what smelled like nerves. I watched him through half-lidded eyes for a long time before I finally spoke.

“Hey.” He jolted as if he’d been shocked despite my barely audible voice; I’d been about to say something, but there was a look in his amber gaze that made me stop.

It scared me, that look.

It looked like regret.

Or guilt.

Jack blinked and the spell was broken; I tore my gaze away and fell into a confused silence.

I glanced back for a second as if to make sure I hadn't imagined it.

I wasn’t so lucky as to catch another glimpse.

The look had vanished almost as soon as I’d seen it.

I looked up again at the ceiling, searching for answers in the little dots like stars and wanting to be angry with him for that look, but too tired—too drugged to actually speak my mind. Echo paused again in the doorway, taking in our uncomfortable silence a moment before she sat down timidly in the still empty chair with a certain degree of her own awkwardness. I smiled briefly at her, laughing breathlessly as she crossed her legs away from Jack; she seemed unsure of what to think of him, and I didn’t blame her.

The silence was suffocating.

If it weren’t for the nurses and security outside…

...and the tubes and wires I was attached to in here…

...I’d have run screaming from the room.

Actually, I was still considering it.

I didn’t get the chance though.

A cheerful voice drifted to me from outside, someone chatting briefly with one of the nurses at the desk before the voice stopped and someone turned the doorknob. I looked over in curiosity; if it’d been someone I knew, I would’ve recognized the voice or the scent, but all I got was human in the sea of supernatural. The woman who opened the door beamed brightly, holding two cups of coffee carefully in her hands. It smelled delicious, but the doctor had said I was on nothing but water until he said otherwise. The strange woman’s gaze swept the room, lingering briefly on me with a look of thinly veiled disgust before she moved to settle into Jack’s lap, her smile never faltering. Jack seemed completely unfazed by any of it, simply wrapping one arm around her waist and taking the coffee with his free hand.

I looked over at Echo, making sure that she looked as confused and surprised as I did before my gaze returned to Jack.

There was so much pain shooting through me, despite the medication, that there was nothing I could do to keep from slipping into the icy oblivion of madness.

And blood…

I bit down on the urge to let my eyes change, slicing open my lip without even needing my extended primary canines to do it.

“Matlock,” his name slipped past my teeth in a barely restrained growl. Jack looked up from his coffee in brief surprise.

“Hmm?” He looked from me to the woman and back again, “Oh, right.” He set the coffee very carefully on a side table as if buying himself time to explain, “This is Rosemary, we met in Concord while I was there for the pitch, and when Jesse called, she agreed to come back with me.” The way he looked at her made me want to stab someone, it’s a miracle I didn’t pull Lucky.

Well, no.

That would’ve been a waste of a bullet.

But the point remains the same.

Rosemary said nothing, at least not that either Echo or I could make out, she only whispered something to Jack and laughed softly.

Her laugh sounded like church bells.

No one laughs like that in real life.

What the Hell?

I groaned, more to myself than anyone else as her green eyes glowed with false light and Jack ran some of her auburn hair through his fingers.

He was smiling, but it seemed so fake to me.

Maybe that was just wishful thinking, though...

“Reyna?” I tore my gaze away from the pair to look at Echo, trying and apparently failing to hide the pain in my chest. “Are you alright?” There was nothing but worry in her eyes and I softened slightly, taking a moment to press a knuckle into my forehead before I let my hand drop again.

“Hey Matlock,” there was a bitter edge to my words and Jack winced so subtly I barely caught it, but it was enough to bring a smile to my lips; at least I knew he was hurting too, “and you,” I didn’t bother with her name as I waved noncommittally in the woman’s direction, “would you mind giving us a minute?” I nodded towards Echo and Jack, regaining his composure in only a second, nodded slightly before ushering the intruder out the door to my room, closing it softly behind them.

“Did you have something to talk to me about? Or did you just want them to leave?” Both.

“Would you do me a favor?” I kept my voice measured and even, trying to ignore the pain.

“Sure?” She spoke with caution and I gave a breathless laugh.

“It’s nothing illegal.” For some reason, that only made her look more worried. “Would you leave the back door to the shop unlocked tonight?”

-----

Hospitals, in my experience, don’t see a lot of Alcaimynder and even fewer Soul Collectors, let alone a combination of the two, so they tended to treat me as a type of Hollen when I come in regardless of the fact my ability to heal is closer to that of a demon’s. I’ve broken out of enough of them by now that it’s practically child’s play, the only concern is any drugs that might linger in my system at least until I get to the car. I made sure they got paid, stole my affects, and made it to my Jeep before the scar tissue began to ache and itch.

Of course, there’s also the little detail about the medication they had me on and operating machinery, but I have a fast enough metabolism that I was fairly certain it was out of my system by the time I managed to unlock the Jeep…

I managed to make it home without incident.

Echo had done as I’d asked and left the back door of the shop unlocked so I didn’t have to figure out the keys in my stupor.

I slipped inside and locked the door before dropping my duffle on the floor and curling comfortably in the armchair, letting sleep steal me away now that I was free of the painful sterile of the hospital.