Page 42 of Spit

I didn’t know why but my heart was racing. I removed the monitor from my finger, cutting the beeping off cold.

I didn’t do attraction. I didn’t do physical intimacy. It wasn’t in the cards for me.

I didn’t even think about that shit because it was painful. Now, twice in one day, I was coming close to a panic attack because I was close to a man who hadn’t made a single move or shown that he was interested in me.

I swung my legs off the hospital bed. “I’ve got to go,” I told Arlo.

He opened his mouth before closing it as if he had decided against saying whatever he would say. “Legion informed me that you wanted to be moved away from the witches.”

I stiffened. My back going ramrod straight. “I think that’s for the best.”

Arlo nodded in agreement. “I’ll take you to the main promenade. It’s the corridor that sits above the foyer on the second floor. We have a suite free after Camio—well, let’s just say we have a suite free.”

The machine in the corner of the room beeped, and Arlo sprung up, reaching for the box of gloves on his desk and snapping them on as he landed in his seat in front of the mass-spec.

Arlo pulled something out of the machine. A small vial containing what appeared to be a needle. It was submerged in liquid. That must have been what was inside my thigh.

I waited as the demon typed on his laptop, reading with such concentration that it was as if I wasn’t even there.

I cleared my throat. “What do the results say?”

Arlo’s eyes were narrowed as he studied the screen, and he did not turn to me as he spoke. “You were injected with a mixture of Silver Nitrate and sodium chloride. The saline solution shouldn’t have affected you, but demons do not react well to salt. It tends to neutralize their magic in high doses.”

“And the silver?” I wondered.

“Silver nitrate can cause dizziness and fatigue in humans. Demons are unaffected by all silver unless it’sDevil’s Silver, which is in short supply. If someone was operating under the impression that silver nitrate would affect a demon, they’ve got incorrect information.” Arlo stared at the screen as if it had done him a personal wrong. “It doesn’t make sense. Are witches sensitive to silver?”

I shook my head. “Not to my knowledge.”

“I have no idea what the injection was trying to achieve. Did they want to rehydrate you but also make you nauseous?” He appeared to be speaking to himself rather than me. Blinking as if waking from a dream, Arlo stood up, shrugging off his white coat and draping it on the back of his chair. “I’ll walk you to your room.” He told me. “You should sleep.”

“Trying to get rid of me?” I joked.

Arlo’s baby blue eyes blinked slowly as if he hadn’t realized what his quick dismissal could have been read as. I reached out and patted his shoulder—he was the same height as I was, so I didn’t have to reach far.

“I already said I have to go. Don’t worry. Come on, big guy, show me to my new room. Does it have room service?” I smiled, even though it was the last possible thing I felt like doing.

Arlo eyed me like he didn’t know what to do with me. “Are you hungry?”

“I’m always hungry,” I said, and that was the truth.

“I’ll order something from the kitchen.” He told me as he gestured towards the floor.

I clasped my hands in front of my chest as if praying. “My savior.”

Arlo hummed, clearly uncomfortable with my praise, no matter how exaggerated.

“This place has everything,” I said as we stepped into the corridor. I had no idea where the infirmary was located and what part of the mansion we were in, so I waited and followed Arlo as he began to walk. “An infirmary. A random creature patrolling the lawn. Not to mention an entire coven of witches in the basement.”

Arlo glanced at me out of the corner of his eye. “You’re trying to get information out of me.”

“That obvious?”

“Everything you do is obvious.” He said neutrally.

“I don’t know how to take that,” I admitted, pushing my pink hair away from my face.

Arlo’s blond brows raised towards his hairline. “It wasn’t an insult.”

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