Silence.
Eva ran to the window, choking on horror and shock and the bile rising up her throat, arriving in time to see an elegant swoop of black wings. Ash landed on his feet on the ground below. His wings folded against his back, and before her very eyes, he shrank. His skin returned to his original color, his hands became human hands, his horns retreated into his skull and disappeared.
There was no sign of the other demon.
Staring at Ash’s tiny form from three floors up, human except for the wings folded against his back, her denial finally slipped away. Everything she’d seen in that club had really happened. Everything she had just witnessed here had really occurred. The amount of sheer terror coursing through her veins assured her that this was no hallucination.
This shit was one hundred percent real.
Knees shaking, Eva almost collapsed. Almost. But knowing the danger wasn’t over, she fought back the urge to fall apart. As she watched, Ash spread his wings again. He crouched and leapt, and with a great pump of the leathery appendages, launched into the air. Several more pumps of the powerful wings sent him higher, and Eva realized he was coming back to the apartment.
She backed away from the window, torn between wanting to flee in terror, stab him with the kitchen knife, and throw herself into his arms. Instead, she grabbed the blanket off the couch and wrapped it around her naked body just as Ash returned.
With impossible grace, he tucked his wings against his back, shot through the jagged hole in the glass, and flared them back out. He landed crouched on one knee, one hand braced forward for balance. Straightening to his full, naked height, he looked at her cowering by the wall and winced.
“So... that happened.” He rubbed the back of his neck.
Eva stared at him, clutching the blanket closed with one hand and that stupid kitchen knife with the other.
Ash flexed the wings, folded them back against his body, and they... disappeared.How in the hell is that possible? How is any of this shit possible?
“Are you okay?”
She nodded mutely.
“He didn’t hurt you at all? I have no sense of smell, so I can’t tell if you’re bleeding or not.”
“I’m f-fine.” Her voice came out as a hoarse croak.
He nodded. “We need to get dressed and get out of here. Your apartment isn’t safe anymore.”
“What about the m-monster?”
“He’s gone for now. I got him pretty good with my claws, and he needs time to heal. But he’ll be back. You need to come with me, Eva. It’s not safe here.”
“You’re b-bleeding.”
Ash looked down at himself. There was a sizable gash down his side, along his obliques, and another smaller wound in his shoulder, near his throat. The side wound was far worse. The skin was flayed open and there was a significant amount of blood running down his hip and leg.
If he’d been a normal man, he’d probably have been unconscious already, and she would’ve been screaming and calling an ambulance, but nothing about this situation was normal.
“Damn.” Ash shrugged and looked back at her. “We need to go.”
“I— I don’t know.”
“I won’t hurt you.”
“You’re a— a—” She couldn’t get the word out.
His gaze was so intense, it felt like he was boring a hole into her head. “Say it. I know you know.”
“D-demon.”
“Nailed it.”
“You could be lying to me about all of this. Demons lie.”
“Yes, they do. But I’m not. Unfortunately, there isn’t time to prove that to you. You’re just going to have to trust me.”
