Ben looked up at her, his eyes crinkling with a feeble shadow of a smile. "You look like crap. And you smell." He sniffed his sleeve. "So do I."
A flicker of annoyance let Holly know she was alive after all. "Save a guy from a sticky death, and still he criticizes. What happened to the sensitive New Age Ben? His DVD collection sucked, but he had manners."
"Sorry. The blob monster ate him." Ben passed a hand over his face. "Really. Sorry. That was a bad thing to say."
Holly put her hands on her hips. "Yeah, well, maybe I'll cut you some slack, given the near-death and all. Shouldn't you be going to the hospital?"
"I'm not hurt. Just dehydrated. I don't think the whatever-it-was quite got around to dining on me, thank God." He took her hand. "It sounds woefully inadequate to just say thank-you for saving my life—but… thank you, Holly. You saved my life tonight. Another hour and the ending might have been different."
Then he shuddered, sinking into the folds of his blanket. The gesture reminded Holly of a turtle. "I just want to go home, turn on loud music, and sleep with the lights on."
Her legs starting to tremble with fatigue, Holly sat down next to Ben. The thin padding on the gurney was barely enough to conceal the hard metal frame. She clutched Ben's hand. It was cold, the skin paper-dry.
"Wouldn't you feel better someplace where there are other people?" she asked.
His fingers spasmed, clutching hers painfully hard. "No. On the surface, y'know, everything seems okay. But underneath… it doesn't help me to have to be reasonable. I'm just treading water. I need privacy."
"Treading water has its function. It keeps us afloat until we're ready to swim again. You could compromise. Come home with me, where I can keep an eye on you."
Eyes growing round, he pulled his hand away with a jerk. "Are you kidding? Your house… your house is like that one!"
"It is not!" Holly rounded on him, then caught herself, remembering what Ben had just been through. "My house is nice. Friendly. It doesn't talk, either."
He buried his face in his hands. "It's creepy."
"It's my family's." She softened her voice still further. "Nothing like the Flanders place."
He looked up, his expression shuttered. "My condo is mine, and it's normal, plain old drywall and concrete. I'm really into normal, nonmagical stuff right now, Holly. If it isn't human or human-made, I don't want it near me."
Even without the words, his tone was like a blow against her breastbone. She flinched.
"I'm sorry," he said. "That was harsh."
"It was honest." She managed a smile, a touch to his shoulder. "You've had enough of the wild side for one night."
"You could say that."
She closed her eyes a moment, but the drug-blurred world shifted sideways. "I wish you would go to the hospital. Just for tonight, to make sure everything's okay."
"What's the big deal? Without medical observation, I'll turn into a slime monster?"
"Don't worry; it doesn't work that way," Holly said quickly, trying to reassure him.
"Oh, God!" Ben raised his hands, shaking his head. "You would know that, wouldn't you?"
Yeah, because I'm one of the spooky people. All through their relationship, her magic had been a delicate subject—sensitive enough that she'd kept most of her witch's tools out of sight. She'd meant to put them out again one by one, to introduce him to them gradually. She wanted Ben to accept that part of her, but somehow she'd never brought out that first goddess figurine.
I'm being a coward. They'd have to confront the whole witch issue soon, but this wasn't the time. Not tonight, anyway.
"Do you want me to stay with you at your place?" she offered, officially giving up on the hospital plan.
"No." He huddled yet further into his blanket. "Like I said, I need to be by myself."
On some secret, selfish level, Holly was relieved to be spared his mood. "Then take care." She kissed his cheek, a quick peck of retreat. "Call me when you get home. Only if you want to. I'll check up on you later."
"Thanks," he muttered, but didn't look up.
Holly slid off the gurney, pausing a moment to find her fatigue-impaired balance, and walked away.
Ben wanted solitude. The only thing she could do was give it to him, but leaving him felt wrong. Everything was off-kilter. Their moment of reunion had gone flat, like biting into a sweet roll to find raw dough in the middle. Crap.
The analogy reminded her that dinner had been a long time ago. She drifted down the sidewalk, feeling hungry and emotionally hollow. The crowd around the house seemed to have taken on a new energy, but she was beyond caring what that was all about.
She noticed that Alessandro's car was gone. It had been there before she went to see Ben, so Alessandro must have left some time since. He could have touched base. His omission made her grumpy. After all, checking up on Ben and Alessandro were two of the reasons she was still there. She might as well not have bothered sticking around.
It was time to finish up and go home. She found Raglan and got the rest of her money. Part of her felt bad taking it. Logic said she'd earned her fee twice over, but her guilt-o-meter shrieked that she hadn't been able to save half the victims or Raglan's investment in the house.
As she left Raglan he was on his cell, carrying on a vitriolic argument with his insurance agent. From the sound of things, they'd be at it until his battery went dead. She hurried away, his angry, panic-ridden invective clawing at her nerves. The words weren't aimed at Holly, but her sense of failure grabbed them and stabbed at her heart nonetheless. Gulping the cold, damp air, Holly walked a little way to clear her brittle mood.
Then she saw Alessandro leaning against the side of the neighboring house, all but invisible in the shadows. He lifted a hand in silent greeting, the faint haze of the streetlights catching the pale fall of his long, curling hair and giving him an improbable halo.
The sight of him turned the tide on her ebbing energy. As she joined him, he straightened from his slouch against the stucco.
"What are you doing over here?" Holly asked. "I thought you'd left. Where's your car?"
"I moved it," he said. "I'm parked around the corner. I really need to go, but I wanted to make sure you were all right." He stepped toward her, his face intent.
It was the first kind thing anyone had said to her through the whole horrible aftermath of the house. Perversely, it made her want to cry.
"You scared me," he said. Alessandro took her face in his hands.
There was something old-fashioned in the gesture, familiar and courtly at the same time. Her stomach squeezed, warm with a fleeting, half-conscious memory of him picking her up and cradling her body against his chest. Taking her to the ambulance himself.
The feel of his hands on her face was comforting. Vampire skin was soft as silk, cool as satin, and Alessandro had a sensitive, skilled touch. She wanted his hands all over her, wherever there was skin to be caressed, because a little contact wasn't enough. That was the delight and the danger of his species. They always left their victims wanting that tiny bit more.
Holly drew a long breath. "I'm okay." At the moment I feel more than okay.
"Good."
"Thank you for getting me out of there."
"Anytime." Unexpectedly he bent, kissing her forehead, his lips cool and smooth. It was chaste. Brotherly. She pulled back, the innocent brush of lips burning her as surely as smoldering desire.
Feeling her start, Alessandro released her, eyes lowered. He recovered, giving her a bland smile. "Blessings on you, Holly. You should go, too. Go home and get some rest. Is there anyone staying with you tonight? Ben, maybe?"
Holly squeezed her eyes shut a moment, really not wanting to think about Ben. "No. I'm alone tonight. I'll be all right," she replied, doing her best to sound casual.