Dark Solace (19 page)

“The demon blood will work by tomorrow,” Lash
answered, putting the truck in drive. “I can stay the night with
you. No one will take anything here I’d miss.”

I waited in the truck while he went in and
got us a room. When he came out, he helped me up to the room, then
laid me carefully on the king-size bed. “Stay here until I get back
with the bag,” he said firmly. “Don’t shower until I’m back. I
don’t want you to faint in the water, and drown.”

That was bullshit; he just wanted to shower
with me. He’d gotten a room with only one bed for a reason. I kept
that to myself and just nodded.

I used the bathroom while Lash was gone. It
took me a while to get there and back, and I nearly fainted, but
there were some things I simply could not ask him to help me with
and this was one of them. I looked in the mirror afterwards,
supporting myself on the sink with both hands. I was astounded at
how awful my appearance was. No wonder Titus had been pissed off at
Lash.

I was haggard, pale as ivory, and looked
every inch of my thirty-four years, my eyes a little sunken in my
face. Basically, I looked like hell. My neck was the worst; a huge
purplish bruise all down the left side, and in the center of that,
two ragged holes from his fangs. They were bloodless, raised, and
sore to the touch. There was also blood smears on my neck, on my
top, and in the snarled mess of my hair.

I touched my clumped hair, wincing. I’d been
meaning to get it cut and highlighted. In fact, I’d been going to
go to a walk-in hair salon today, and have it done. So much for
that.

I made it back to the bed just in time to
collapse on it. Lash came back in the room a few minutes later.

He quickly started the shower, and adjusted
the temperature. Then, he helped me off with my clothes, and
stripped his own off. Soon after, he was helping me into the
shower, and steadying me as I carefully washed away the blood and
sweat from my hair. The water felt wonderful, but the warmth of it
made me weak and a little dizzy, so much so that I ended up hanging
onto Lash’s neck to support myself.

Without asking, he took the washcloth from my
hand and took up where I’d stopped. He was gentle, nothing in his
touch that indicated that he was doing any of this for any reason
other than I needed him to. His hands didn’t linger on me, and he
didn’t stroke my body as he soaped me up under the rapid fall of
the water. After helping me rinse off the suds, he shut off the
shower, quickly wrapped me in towels and threw one around his
shoulders. Then he helped me back to the bed, rubbing my body dry
before he covered me up.

It was so good to be clean, and the bed felt
softer than anything. I was out like a light.

When I awoke in the predawn hours, Lash was
under the covers with me, naked, holding me loosely. To my
surprise, I was dressed in my plain nightgown.

He must have put it on me while I was
sleeping. I was touched, knowing he’d done it to make me feel more
relaxed. But I was anything but relaxed. The hardness of his lean
body was pressed to my side, his erection flexing gently against
me.

I’d seen him when he undressed before
showering, and later, when he’d put me to bed. Both times, he’d
been erect. All I had to do was offer, and he’d take me up on
it...

Lash let out a faint snore, then shifted
slightly, hugging me. I let myself relax back against him, falling
back asleep.

* * * *

I woke up about dusk, my stomach growling
with hunger. Ravenous, I turned my body in his arms, and looked up
at him. “Hi.”

Lash looked down at me with a faint smile.
“You’re warmer, Sar,” he said softly, as he pushed back my hair
with his hand. “Do you feel any stronger?”

I was hoping I looked better, but I didn’t
say that. I had other more important things to think about, like
food. “I’m better, but I need to eat something,” I replied. “Will
you go with me? There’s a restaurant here, if I remember right.”
Lash was younger now, but had his need for raw food changed with
his appearance? “Are you hungry?”

“Of course,” he drawled. “I’m starving. If
you want to go in the bathroom, I can dress out here.”

While I was dressing, I checked myself in the
mirror. Titus’s blood had taken effect. My face had lost its
paleness, and my eyes were full of life again. I didn’t look the
picture of health, but at least I looked a little less like death
warmed over. My neck wound was healed for the most part, the bruise
having faded almost completely. But my hair was a mess from
showering and not conditioning it, not even brushing it.

“You ready?” Lash said from outside.

I looked at the snarled mess, and grabbed the
brush halfheartedly. This was going to take a half hour maybe, if
not longer. “When I’m done brushing my hair.”

Lash opened the door, took one look at me,
and then took my brush from my hand, leading me into the other
room. “Sit on the edge.”

I sat down and he sat behind me, pulling my
hair to my back, smoothing it a little.

“Hold still,” he said softly, and began
brushing.

While he was doing his best, my hair was much
too long, and badly snarled. And I was hungry and impatient.“Take
your knife and cut it.”

“No,” Lash said, not stopping his brushing.
“Dev loves your hair. I’m not going to cut it.”

“Do it,” I said firmly. “I’m missing my hair
appointment. They are expecting my hair to be shorter, Lash.”

Lash ignored me, and continued brushing. I
sat there, and let him, though it was tedious. What else could I
do? Lash was being surprisingly gentle...“You did this before for
another woman,” I said suddenly.

He paused in mid-stroke. “My sister, many
years ago. Am I pulling too much?”

“No,” I said, wincing a little. “Mostly,
no.”

Lash worked on my hair for a good twenty
minutes. When it was untangled, he put the very end in a four-inch
braid, and tied both ends of it with rubber bands. Then he drew his
knife, and with a high soft sawing sound, he cut that part off. My
hair was now just above my waist, still very long, but at least
manageable.

Lash put my braid aside, resheathed his
knife, and held out his hand to me. “Ready?”

I checked him over. While his untucked shirt
didn’t hide his whip or knife completely, it hid enough that we
probably wouldn’t be barred from the restaurant. However, after
Ulysses, that wasn’t enough. “Do you have a gun?”

“Of course,” Lash said, slipping one out from
his back. “I don’t go anywhere unarmed.”

“Then yes,” I told him, taking his hand.

We walked over to the restaurant from the
hotel. Being midweek, it wasn’t crowded, and we got a table without
waiting near the windows. I admired the scenic view of the ocean as
we looked over the menus. But the sky was darkening rapidly, a
storm approaching with the night.

“I’m glad we got a room,” I said. “That’s
going to be some storm.”

“We’d have gotten wet,” Lash agreed. “If it’s
bad when we go to leave, I’ll come back for you in the truck after
dinner.”

When our waitress came, I ordered fettuccini,
crab cakes, and some wine. We were both alive, and that was
something pretty significant to celebrate. I was surprised but
pleased when Lash ordered a steak, fries, and crab cakes, too. I
was shocked when he told the waiter to forget the wine, to just
bring water.

“I want some wine,” I said dangerously. “It’s
been a trying twenty-four hours.”

“No,” Lash said, grinning. “It will just make
your recovery take longer. You need to eat and rest. Water will do
for tonight.”

“Wine,” I demanded. “Now.”

“If you don’t behave,” Lash said in a warning
tone, “I’ll tie you up again, and not let you out of the room.
Right to the bed, Sar, like last time.”

“No, you won’t—”

“Yes, I will,” Lash hissed, his eyes suddenly
flat. “I’ll enjoy it too, even if you don’t let me have you. There
is more than one reason Dev and I are good friends. Now
behave.”

I decided I didn’t need the wine that badly
after all. “Okay.”

We didn’t talk much during dinner. While I
wanted to ask him why he’d wanted to be alone to die, or why he
hadn’t at least said something to Devlin, I kept my mouth shut.
That was really his business, not mine. Awkwardness in his company
was returning along with my strength, because his appearance was so
different. Instead of feeling like I was with a good friend, I felt
like I was with someone I’d once known well, but didn’t
anymore.

Lash tore into his food, and finished his
before I was half done with mine. Then he ordered another two
steaks, and another order of crab cakes. I looked at him across
from me as he sat there, surveying the restaurant alertly, and
decided whatever fallout happened because of what I had done, it
had been worth it. He was so much better than he had been. The pain
that had been his constant companion for so long was gone.

He suddenly caught me looking at him, and
looked back at me, his brow furrowing. “What is it, Sar?”

And, God, he was hot now. “I’m glad you’re
better,” I said finally, blushing.

“Are you done eating?” he said, holding my
gaze.

“No—”

“Then finish,” he said, his tone gentle. “You
should order more food as well. You skipped lunch.”

His steaks came and his crab cakes. By the
time he’d wolfed them down, I was finished.

“Do you want dessert?” he said enticingly, as
the waiter took our plates. “They have cheesecake.”

I grinned despite my shyness. “You already
know the answer then,” I said teasingly.

He smiled back at me. “Bring us two huge
pieces.”

I was struck again by how arresting he was
now, compared to how he had been before. The scar had been some of
it, true, but it mostly had been his eyes, the alien-ness of them.
His dark eyes were a little aloof, but they were also beautiful in
a way his snake eyes had not been. Most of that was that I could
see so much emotion in them, where before there had been almost
none.

We both had some cheesecake, and then I paid
the bill with cash and we left. Lash was uncomfortable with me
paying it, but he’d used the last of his cash to pay for the hotel
room, and neither of us wanted to use a card that might be traced.
Devlin, Theo, and Danial weren’t dumb. Despite what Leri and Titus
were doing, there was a really good chance Lash and I would be
found before I went back with Titus. If that happened, there would
be hell to pay.

We walked back to the hotel room. “The storm
passed us by,” I said, looking at the cloudy sky.

“It’s still coming. Don’t be fooled,” Lash
replied, picking up a large rough rock from the ground. He held it
with one arm, and slid the other around me.

I didn’t reply, leaning into him as we
walked. We made it back to the room as a light rain began to
fall.

“I’m exhausted again,” I said, irritated.
“But if you want to watch TV, go ahead. I can sleep right through
it.”

I expected Lash to say something, even just
something funny, but he didn’t.

I grabbed my bag and went into the bathroom.
After sleeping in my nightgown most of the day, I didn’t want to
put it on again. Reluctantly, I put on the one nightgown I’d
brought with me that was still clean, the one I’d meant to wear for
Danial. It was black velvet, the neckline plunging with tiny glass
beads sewn onto the bodice between my breasts, and on the straps,
the sweeping skirt satin.

When I came out, Lash again didn’t make any
comments. He just turned off the light as I got into bed. There
came a rustle of clothes in the darkness, and then he climbed in
beside me.

“I’m putting my knife here on the
nightstand,” Lash hissed. There was a metallic noise. “Don’t cut
yourself. You didn’t last night, but I didn’t want you to.” There
was another rustle. “Same thing for my whip. It’s beside the bed.
If you get up, don’t trip on it and fall.”

“I won’t,” I replied, plumping the
pillows.

Lash clicked on the TV and began surfing,
finally settling on some show about life after people had
disappeared from the Earth. It looked interesting, but I was so
comfortable that I fell asleep before it had been on for more than
a few minutes.

I woke up in the night to a clap of thunder
that shook the room. Sitting up, I felt the bed was empty. Lash
wasn’t here. Fear washed over me like a bucket of ice water down my
back. He would never have left without telling me. Something had
happened.

“What’s wrong?” his voice called softly. “Or
did the storm wake you?”

“Lash?” I said, looking in vain into the
darkness for his shape. “Where are you?”

“I’m over here by the window.”

I let out a relieved breath. Thunder crashed
again.

“What’s wrong?” I said, worried. “Is there
someone out there? Are we in danger?”

“No,” he reassured. “No one knows we’re here.
Even if someone did know, no one has challenged me in a long time.
My reputation makes anyone hesitate. Theo is the only one who I’ve
even fought with in years, save of course the marks of my various
jobs. And he’s not really a match for me anyway. Not before, and
definitely not now.”

Lash’s arrogant words hung in the darkness.
His tone had seemed casual, but overly so, like he was trying too
hard. The old hatred of Theo was back again in his voice.
Apparently, his old personality had resurrected itself.

“Get some sleep,” he continued. “No one’s
going to fuck with us.”

Thunder crashed again, then came the first
spattering of raindrops against the hotel window. Soon, the spatter
became a pounding rain as the storm let loose.

“Full of yourself, aren’t you?” I said, lying
back down with a sigh.

“You seem to have had your fill of me,” he
said, his tone again overly casual. But this time I heard the
rejection beneath it.