Page 72 of Cookbooks and Demons

She didn’t dare look atRafferty.

Cindy smiled, reaching with her other hand to lay over Helena’s. “I’m going to be alright now. You should go. You need to go home and get some rest and dry clothes and eat something.” She glanced over at Rafferty with a knowing smile. “Get your sexy chef to make you something really good. And don’t worryabout me.”

Helena stood up and placed a kiss on her friend’s forehead. “That’s never going to happen,” she said, referring to the last thing Cindy said. “But if you think you’re alright, then I will run home. And Iwillbe back in themorning.”

“They’ve got me on a twenty-four hour watch, so I can’t even leave until then,” Cindy assured. “And I’m not going to. Believe me. Come back tomorrow, but after work, okay? I don’t want you getting into trouble because of me.”

“Are you sure?” Helena stressed, not really liking the plan, but not really having a good reason to argue against it.

“Yes, I’m sure,” Cindy repeated. “I’m going to call my folks in the morning and talk to them. My supervisor has already been by. I think I’m going to be put on medical leave really soon following this, so I might not have a choice about going home to visit now.”

Both women chuckledat that.

“Okay, well I will be by tomorrow, after work. And I’m bringingcookies.”

They both laughed and Rafferty pushed away from the wall to retrieve Helena’s coat from the hook on the door. It was still damp when she slipped it on. It would have to do. She had nothing else.

She waved her friend good-bye and they retreated from the hospital room, which felt like the wrong thing to do, but it never felt right to leave a hospital room.

It wasn’t until they got to the lobby that Helena realized something. “How are we going to get home?” she asked. She had no idea where her purse was, but if she was to guess, it was still at Cindy’s apartment. With no money and no bus pass, they were sort of stuck, and Rafferty didn’t have a coat.

She looked at him now, his dampened hair, slicked back over his head, his rough spun button up shirt and pants with those strange boots. All things he hadn’t had when they had initially… jumped?

“How did we get here in the first place?” she asked, pitching her voice low so it didn’t echo in the great expanse of the hospital main lobby, which rose three stories above their heads.

“I dragged you through hell,” he said, his voice low and rumbling, like it was hard for him toadmit it.

A shiver flitted through her. She could remember the feelings and sensations of moving through that … existence, but even in trying to describe or remember it herself, words failed her and memories made no sense. She didn’t actually see or hear anything, but she had impressions of incomprehensibleness, and that was the closest she could get to understanding what hadhappened.

“Well, I don’t want to do that again,” she said, attempting to make it sound like a joke and being wholly unable to.

He set a hand on her shoulder. “We won’t. It could have killed you. I went quickly enough. I’ll figure this out,” he said, then reached into his pocket. To her surprise, he pulled out a money clip filled with bills. Urgently, she covered his hand holding the bills.

“What are you doing? Don’t do that!” she hissed.

“We need to get you home safe.”

“You’re using demon magic, aren’t you?” she said, her soft words clipped and angry.

His chin lifted, pulling away. “Yes,” he whispered. “It’s our only option.”

“Rafferty—”

“You can’t walk home in a wet coat in the middle of winter. You could die,” he hissed.

She couldn’t argue with that, as much as she wanted. Outside the world was snowing heavily. “Fine,” she said, removing her hand to flip up the hood of her coat, tucking herself deeper inside.

Rafferty went and talked to the hospital valet near the front, and within minutes, a taxi pulled up. Neither of them said anything to each other as they got into the car’s warm back and were silently driven home. This driver was more interested in his podcast than in talking and that suited Helena just fine.

They almost had another problem when they got to her house since there was a good chance her keys were still hanging in Cindy’s door, but as they approached it, Rafferty reached it first. Holding her doorknob in his hand, he turned and turned until something snapped inside it and the door opened.

“Nice. Now you’ve broken my lock,” Helena said, irritated, but he just held the door for her until she stormed inside.

Once in, she tore her coat off and threw it at her couch. “What did you do?” she finally yelled in the safety of her own home. “To all of my friends, what did you do? Why are they all going crazy?”

Rafferty shut the door firmly, still staring at her but leaving his hand there. In the silence, she heard something that sounded like a reverse click-snap sound coming from it. Then he turned it, pulled it open, then shut it again, the door clicking closed like normal before he twisted the end to setthe lock.

“Oh great. Now how much isthatgoing to cost me?” she demanded, gesturing at his blatant use of demon magic. “You’re just racking up thebill now!”

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