Demon Night

nothing about demons seemed right.

    Uncertainty followed Charlie back upstairs. Ethan walked quietly beside her, and his silence gave her time to formulate all of the reasons she should return to Seattle. When it came time to convince him, hopefully she wouldn’t stumble over her words.
    A few steps away from her door she finally felt as if she’d rehearsed them enough. “Drifter,” she said, “I was just thinking that because you’ve had to keep coming to San Francisco and feeding me, and spending the evenings here—”
    “Just spit it out,” he said softly.
    She stumbled, tried to pick it up again. “Well, with the nephilim threatening the vampires, obviously you need to be in Seattle more—”
    He stopped, turned to her. She couldn’t read his expression. “Spit it out, Charlie.”
    “I want to go back to Seattle with you.”
    “All right,” he said, and pushed through her door.
    She blinked, then headed in after him. Her room was already cleared by the time she shut the door behind her, and she watched him walk into the bathroom to finish it.
    When he returned, his gaze settled on her. “Before we go, we’ve got to get a few things straight.”
    His voice was hard and soft at the same moment; she didn’t know how to interpret it, only knew that it started a trembling low in her belly. “Okay,” she said.
    “Firstly, you ain’t going anywhere alone once we get up there. Not until I kill the nephil—and Sammael, too. But if you need privacy, you feel free to take it. Just tell me you’re heading behind the shielding spell, so I know where you are.”
    She nodded, tilting her head back as he approached her. “All right.”
    “Secondly, we’re going to make ourselves real obvious to everyone in the community, so they know where to come if trouble hits. It won’t do me any good to fly around, hoping I run into the nephil. But if someone sees him, and everyone knows how to find me right quick, I might be able to track him down.”
    “Okay. Can we also mention Jane?”
    His smile made her stomach perform a long, lazy roll. “That was the next part. We’ll keep searching for her, and we won’t be quiet about it. Word travels quick, Charlie. If Sammael has hidden her away somewhere, eventually someone will hear, and they’ll know where to find us.”
    She sagged back against the door. “Thank you.”
    “Which brings me to the last thing,” he said, bracing his hand beside her head. “You’ve got gratitude down real well, but you had best start complaining more. If something is making you uncomfortable, I can’t do nothing about it unless you tell me what’s bothering you.”
    “But I don’t mind being uncomfort—”
    He leaned in close, his eyes blazing. “I never had such trouble as I do with you, Charlie. I sure as hell mind if you’re uncomfortable—and it ain’t leeching or ungrateful to say you need something different than what I think to give you, especially if it’s something you normally provide yourself. And I can’t figure you half the time, so I reckon half the time I won’t be right. But I won’t know to change it unless you tell me I’ve got it wrong.”
    Her fingers curled on his suspenders so he couldn’t pull away. “But you didn’t get anything wrong. I was the one who brought that impression of prison into it.”
    “Charlie, goddammit—” His lips tightened. His chest rose and fell on a long breath before he said softly, “Knowing what you do of my history, would you ever give me a noose—even if it was made out of gold?”
    “Oh.” She closed her eyes. God, she really was slow sometimes. He hadn’t been insulted, just feeling as ashamed as she had been for unintentionally hurting him. “I don’t know what to say.”
    “Just tell me when I’ve lain something on you that I didn’t mean to give.”
    She nodded, pressing her lips together to keep them from wavering. If he asked it of her, she would. “And you will, too?”
    He shook his head. “It ain’t becoming for a man to admit he’s hurting; I’ll just moan a bit, and wait for you to figure out that I’m weak and in need of consoling. And considering I don’t eat or sleep, I reckon the solution to soothing all of my ills will be real simple.”
    Her laugh was soft and breathless. No, he didn’t have many needs—and he was so strong. She slid her hands up to his shoulders and lifted herself up to his mouth, and he was steady.
    But only for a moment.
    With a low groan, he