Page 24 of In the Cover of Darkness

I knew she was beautiful when I first saw her but I had no idea how much she would take my breath away now that her bruises have mostly healed.

She has taken to wearing leggings and one of my jumpers around the house, and every time she walks into a room I swear my brain short circuits for a second. I can't believe a woman like her even wants to be around someone like me. She is pure sunshine, radiating light wherever she goes. On the other hand, I am complete darkness, my hands stained with the blood of the lives I've taken, and the lack of remorse I've had at taking them. There is a calmness I get from stalking and hunting my next kill, and now that we're settling in Hidden Valley, I can feel that itch starting to appear. One that I need to talk about with Ace, and see if it's a job that he can help me with. To find and eliminate the threat to all that is good in my life. To find and kill Trevor.

“Dante?” Mila says, breaking me out of my train of thought. “You okay? You were scowling at the window,” she says, coming up to me lost in thought as I stare out the kitchen window, putting her hand on my back. Her hand feels so small and warmwhenever she touches me. I always feel the sharp coldness it leaves when she eventually lets go.

“I’m okay,” I say, smiling down at her, “just lost in thought, nothing to worry about.”

"Um, okay. Well, I was wondering if I could borrow your truck and maybe some cash. I have to get something from the store."

“Ace left about 10 minutes ago to go get a few things. What do you need? I'll message him to pick it up.”

“Really, um, well it's lady things. You know ..." waving her hand around as if that explains what she was talking about.

“Sunshine, what on earth are lady things?” I say chuckling.

“Come on Dante, lady things,” she says in earnest, looking at me. “Men are idiots. I was trying not to make you uncomfortable. I have my period, I need tampons or pads or anything really unless you want me to free bleed all over everything,” she retorts.

I take a sip of the coffee I'm holding, buying me some time to respond, but also so I don't poke the bloody bear standing next to me.

“Not an issue, sunshine. I'll get Ace to pick you up some things now,” I say, pulling out my phone and messaging Ace.

Me:Code Red, this is not a drill. I need you to get tampons, ice cream and chocolate, and come home immediately.

Ace:Rgr. Fuck, I'm panicking. Should I call Nova for help?

Me:We are two grown ass adult men, Ace. No, we do not need Nova!! Just get some damn tampons and come home now!

Ace:I'm at the store now. Be 20 mins max.

“All sorted, he's just at the store now then will head back. Should be twenty minutes or so if that's okay,” I say, looking over at her while she pours herself a cup of coffee. I move to sit at the kitchen table, her following behind me. She doesn't sit next to me though which puts me on edge. She sits at the opposite end of the table, staring at me. I don't know if I’ve ever felt so uncomfortable. I mean I know women have periods but I've never taken an active interest in it. My dad explained what a period was growing up, and said a life lesson was to make sure there was always a stash of emergency chocolate and to not look them in the eye when Aunt Flo was visiting. I don't know how much truth there was to it, but I made the mistake once and found myself on the wrong end of my sister's fury. Never wanting to experience a repeat of her wrath, I took my dad's advice to the letter, which is why I'm now looking into my coffee cup like it's the most interesting thing in the world. I think I'd prefer it if she was yelling or angry but she's just sitting staring at me, sipping her coffee.

“You sure you're okay? You look … strained,” she says calmly. I don't know what the right answer is so I mumble a “Yep,” and continue to sit in this awkward silence.

Finally, after what feels like a lifetime we hear Ace pull up outside the house, car doors slamming and running footsteps. The front door swings open and he rushes inside carrying several bags full of gods knows what, dropping them unceremoniously on the table.

“We need to talk,” Ace says rather abruptly, glaring at Mila. Instantly I go on alert, ready to defend her if he oversteps.

“Ace,” I growl.

With only the sound of his breathing, he pulls out the chair next to me and sits at the table.

“I have questions,” he says.

“Um, sure. What about?” she responds hesitantly.

“What the fuck is all this shit, Mila?” gesturing to the pile of shopping bags in front of us.

She pulls a bag toward her and starts taking out things, a smile forming on her face.

“Do you guys know anything about periods? I mean surely you've had girlfriends, friends, females in your life that you know what these are?” she asks us, one eyebrow raised, now grinning at this rapid turn of events.

“What is a moon cup?” Ace asks, exacerbated, rifling through the bags, holding up a silicone pink, egg cup-shaped object.

“What's N.A.S.A got to do with periods, Mila? Why do tampons come in different flavours? I asked the lady at the store if most women prefer lemon or lime tampons and she just laughed at me.”

Three things happen all at once, Mila is now hunched over laughing hysterically, I was in the process of taking a sip of coffee when Ace started yelling about flavoured tampons so both of us are now covered in warm coffee I sprayed over the two of us, and Ace looks like he is on the verge of either crying or hitting something.

“I'm a smart man, okay. I know lots of shit, but I have never, and I mean never, felt so fucking stupid trying to buy a box of tampons. You need to start talking about what all this is, Mila. Period panties. What the fuck are they? What do they do? I don't know what they are, but you now have four pairs of them. After the lady laughed at me, I just got everything in the section and got the hell out of there.”

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