Closing Time

37.

"Pass the bag." Mike replied, still crouched, still scared. "I don't want to go near that thing."

I shrugged, picked up the empty duffel bag with one hand and flung it over. "I need to pee. Put it back in in this cabinet." I pointed down at the kitchen drawer I'd taken it out of. "Put the knife back in too."

"You're not taking it with you?" Mike asked as I started to turn away.

"No." I waved a hand dismissively. "No point. You guys are mostly nice to me. I don't think I'll ever need it."

"I would be touched, but this is a grave matter..."

I ignored Lou's words and walked into my bedroom. It was clean now, but the state Trace had left it in still haunted my mind. I hated this apartment now. But I had nowhere to go.

Lou and Mike had refilled their glasses when I came back out. The bag had been repacked and the knife was missing. Somehow I knew that it was back in the bag and not in one of their hands. The sharp, glowing ends came back into my view as I stepped past them into my kitchen. "I'll get a snack and then we'll head back."

"An ideal idea." Mike sighed. "I do not want to be in it's presence any longer."

"Unfortunately, Ryleigh." I looked over my shoulder as Lou spoke up. "We're going to have to leave you again tonight. This needs to be reported... and you need to be reported."

"Okay." I shrugged indifferently. "I was right though. There was something important in that bag that those guys wanted."

"You still have to elaborate on the men that broke into your apartment." Mike warned.

"I'll hand them to you when the time is right." I pulled out a bowl of curry and rice. "As of now, please forget about it."

"Is that your snack?"

"Yeah." I unwrapped the bowl, placed it in the microwave to heat up beside the rice. "I cook extras and eat the leftovers. It's healthier."

"And you're feeling the sudden need to be healthy... why?"

I threw a glare at Lou. "Would it kill me to watch what I eat and not have people comment on it?"

Lou raised an eyebrow and his hands in defeat. "My bad. Do what you want."

I ignored him and turned to look at my food rotate in the microwave. I'd felt the need to get stronger ever since I'd been caught off guard by yet another person whom I'd trusted. If Trace had been armed, I'd be left to his whims. All I'd been able to do was slide down the wall and stare at him in disbelief.

It was the most logical decision that had formed in my mind after that day. I was rather glad that the demon brain had taken over. This was a time to be numb. This was a time to distance myself from emotions. There's a war brewing, and now I'm in the centre of it. I can't take sides. All I can do is maintain the peace and not let anything around me escalate. Trace is out of my life.

Lou dropped me back outside the bar and vanished. Mike didn't come back either after I reopened. I'd barely been gone for half an hour and the buffer time between me shutting down for humans and opening for the supernatural was around an hour. No one noticed my absence.

Axel dropped by to helpfully remind me of the agreement I'd gotten into in order to contact Lou. I waved him away, told him to give me a few weeks to sort out some shit. Luckily enough, he understood. He'd been there to see the blow that I'd been struck that night, and everyone in the bar had definitely noticed how I'd struggled to look normal over the past week. I was pretty social around the demons while I worked and somehow still kept to myself. But there's a clear difference in the posture of a private person and a sulking person.