Raum stood. “Let’s put a bandage on your arm.”
She glanced at her wrist. The fang wound pulsed a little blood when she stopped putting pressure on it, but already seemed to be slowing. Damn, those teeth were sharp. She couldn’t stop staring at Ash.
“He’ll be fine,” Raum said.
She finally dragged her eyes away and climbed wearily to her feet.
She followed Raum down the hallway, past the silently staring Belial and Meph, apparent witnesses to that entire spectacle. On her way past, she scooped up Thelonious’s cage, feeling sorry for her poor claustrophobic cat.
In the bathroom, Raum opened a medicine cabinet with cracked glass and pulled out two Band-Aids. He motioned for her to hold out her arm and, with exquisite care, put them over the wounds.
“There.” He tossed the garbage and turned back to her. “Good as new.”
“Thank you.”
He shrugged. “We can’t go anywhere by gate until Ash wakes up, so you should get some rest.”
“Won’t the Hunter come looking for us?”
“As long as we stay behind the wards, he won’t be able to find us. We’re fine here for a bit.”
“Where are we going to go?” She was trying to follow Ash’s advice and take things one step at a time, but it was hard not to panic about her uncertain future.
With another shrug, Raum turned and dug through the cupboards behind them. “You want a shower? Here’s a towel.” He tossed a terry cloth bundle at her. “You can sleep in Ash’s bed. You’ll probably want to borrow some clothes to sleep in. Follow me.”
He pushed past her into the hall, and she followed obediently, more curious to watch the demon playing gracious host than anything.
In Ash’s room, he pulled a black T-shirt out of the dresser and threw it on the bed. “There.” He turned to leave, but his gaze caught on Thelonious’s carrier, still in her hand. “That your cat?”
“Yeah.”
Raum’s bright gold eyes lit up. “I like cats.”
Oh god, please don’t tell me he eats cats or something.
“Can I see him?”
Eva hesitated. “Ash told me cats hate demons.”
“Except for me. They like me.”
“All right.” Hoping she wouldn’t regret this, she bent and opened the pet carrier.
Thelonious shot out like a rocket, and she expected him to go straight into the closet. But instead, he leapt... right into Raum’s outstretched arms. The demon stroked her cat lovingly, the little fur ball dwarfed by his big arms. To Eva’s amazement, Thelonious curled right up, purring louder than she’d ever heard him before.
“He really likes you.” He didn’t even likeherthat much, damn it.
“Can I keep him with me?” Raum asked, blinking at her with puppy-dog eyes.
“Sure.”
He smiled, and she blinked in amazement. It wasn’t fair to human men that he and his brothers were that gorgeous.
Raum left, and Eva was alone in Ash’s room. She stood there staring at the wall for at least a minute without moving and then glanced at the clock and recoiled. Almost four in the morning. No wonder she felt like she was viewing the world through a big glass bubble over her head.
Scooping up the T-shirt from the bed, she trudged down the hall in a daze, deciding that no matter how exhausted she was, she wasn’t passing up a shower. And it was worth it—the hot water felt amazing cascading over her stiff muscles, and it seemed to wash away any residual terror and panic clinging to her.
By the time she stumbled back to Ash’s room, she felt almost normal. She could almost pretend she wasn’t sleeping in a house with four demons because her life was in danger. Imagine that.
