A Book of Dust and Breath

Chapter Sixteen

In the bed he'd slept in alone for far too long, they reclined in a tangle of limbs, the heavy duvet over their bodies.

"Did you find a school today?" he asked.

"I did, actually. A literal school. It's a tiny little place. I guess it was an elementary school at one point. It's been half a dozen things since, but most recently a church."

He stretched, winced at a pain in his side, tried to turn it into a little cough. "Behind the Gaslight Room?"

She narrowed skeptical eyes at him. "Yup. That's another thing I did. I met the owners of the Gaslight Room."

He chuckled. "Delbert and Gracie are locally famous for amazing hamburgers and the most bizarre relationship in the state of Michigan. Did he hit on you?"

"He did. And she told me she thought you're a real fox."

"Huh. I take back everything I ever said about them being crazy. Sounds like they both have excellent taste."

She laughed. He drank the sound in, letting it heal his wounds.

"Did the house hiss at you today?" He asked.

"No, but it was spooky anyway. That's why I sat on the steps. It was probably just Delbert. He was teasing me about living in a haunted house. You have to tell me the story."

"It's a good one. In the mid eighteen hundreds, a man built this house for his fiancé. It was supposed to be their dream home, but she died from a fever before they wed. He forbid anyone from living in the house he'd built for her. It sat empty for a hundred years. People said the ghosts of the couple lived here. A dozen times people tried to buy it and move in, but the sale always fell through for strange and mysterious reasons."

"Until you?" she asked.

He ran lazy fingers up and down the satin skin of her arm. "I have an understanding with the deceased. I encouraged them to move on and let me make good use of this fine home before it rotted to dust."

"An understanding, huh?" she shifted slightly, turning so that her ear was pressed to his chest. "If anyone could charm the dead, it would be you."

He smiled. If only she knew.

"So, I bought a school today. What did you do?"

"I saved the world."

Her grip on him tightened. "Is a day going to come when you don't come home from work?"

He pressed his lips to the top of her head and held her tight. "If I ever don't come home, know that it wasn't my choice. Only Hell itself will keep me away."

~*~

Max slept as deep as death while his body worked to repair itself until he heard the thumping and scraping of cabinets. Daniel.

With infinite care, Max pulled his arm out from under Lily and tucked the blankets around her. Shaking his hand as he went to get the blood flowing again, he padded through the darkness and into the kitchen.

Daniel stood in front of the microwave, his left arm and the left side of his face heavily bandaged. The right side of his jaw was swollen and bruised. "Alright, mate?"

"A sight better than you."

"You smell like sulfur and woman. That creates a nearly unmanageable mix of emotions in me." The joke, told in his damaged, rasping voice sounded sad and worrisome.

The timer dinged and he retrieved a cup of soup. Max followed him into the living room where he carefully lowered himself onto the sofa "Better," he said, leaning back with a sigh.

Max sat in the chair next to his friend and waited.

"We're beating them," the watcher finally managed. He sipped at his soup, wincing when he swallowed.

"Are you sure?"

"Yeah. We're winning, but the margin is thin."

"There was an entire coven at a freeway pileup. Not one of those souls were marked."

"The whole coven? The Alpha?"

"No Alpha."

Daniel sighed. He sipped at the soup. Already the bruising on his jaw had begun to fade. By morning he would be healed and Michael would call him into battle once more. As though following the chain of his thoughts, his friend spoke.

"Don't look so worried, mate. I'll be alright. This is what I was created for."

"Problem is, it's what they're created for, too."

"Yeah." He grunted. "There's that."

"Is this my fault?" Max asked.

The warrior's laughter was weak and half-hearted. "Don't be conceited, mate. You're not the first of The Children to fall for a girl."

Max rubbed his face hard and pushed his hair away from his eyes. "She's a wonder to me, Daniel. A miracle. I can't... I just... every time I'm with her..."

Daniel nodded. "Yeah. She's a good one."

"I really do love her."

"I know."

They sat, side by side, Daniel with his eyes closed, breathing deeply through the pain of his accelerated healing, Max staring at the ceiling, allowing his mind to grow quiet and calm.

"You should send her away," Daniel whispered after a long time.

The phrase stretched between them.

"I don't think I can," Max finally whispered in reply.

"I know," Daniel said again.

In time, Daniel's breathing took on the slow, rhythmic pattern of sleep. Max looked over at him. The skin of his face was smooth and unblemished. No doubt he'd be gone again by morning.

Max returned to the bed and curled behind his wife, her back against his chest. "I'm going to figure this out," he whispered.

She murmured and settled into his embrace.