Page 48 of Sidhe
“Uhh…we…”
Nathan turned to maybe get a little help from Walter, but the Spirit Guide was gone. Well, less questions, he figured. He looked back up at Solrin.
“It’s, uhh…nothing to get all trigger happy over,” he managed, situating Sasha a little better to see if the incubus was capable of standing. Sasha nodded and was able to mostly get up on his own power while leaning heavily against Nathan. “My friend here seems to be coming down with something. Collapsed a few minutes before you came down. Just gotta get him up to bed is all.” Nathan tried to help Sasha up the first step, but the incubus pitched forward, weaker on his feet than either of them realized as he headed for another collision course with the stairs.
In a matter of seconds, Nathan understood why Malak had referred to Solrin as the young man with the quick reflexes. Suddenly, he was right there with them, holding Sasha’s free arm to keep the incubus from falling.
“You seemed fine before,” he said, even as he was tucking away his gun and flashlight to better hook Sasha’s arm over his shoulders and properly help Nathan lead Sasha up the stairs.
It struck Nathan as crazily out of character for the guy, at least from the little Nathan had seen, but he wasn’t about to protest. “Thanks, man,” he said as they slowly trekked up the steps. “Yeah, it, uhh…came on fast, I guess. Must be some nasty twenty-four hour bug or something. Don’t blame us if you catch it.” Nathan tried to smirk over at him, but Solrin stared ahead, leaving Nathan with only the sight of his bandaged eye.
Solrin was half-dressed, barefoot and shirtless. The rest of his bandages were blatantly apparent now, wrapped around his entire midsection and parts of his arms. The places that weren’t bandaged looked scarred, though Nathan didn’t notice any fresh wounds or blood seeping through.
Sasha was too weak to manage much more than a slurred thank you in Solrin’s direction. It took them a couple minutes to get Sasha up the stairs, but it felt like ten, twenty,foreverwith the nauseating quiet.
When they reached the top of the steps, Solrin finally spoke. “Your room is next to mine.” He turned to Nathan, his good eye almost seeming to glow in the dim light. “Where is his?”
Nathan’s smile turned a little crooked as he said, “Same place, pal. We’re sorta a package deal, if you get me.”
Solrin merely nodded before continuing down the hallway to their rooms. They were a few steps along when he asked a question that stopped Nathan cold. “How did he rip his shirt?”
“Uhh…must have been the fall, I guess. Didn’t notice. If only you knew how many shirts this guy goes through,” Nathan chuckled.
“I heard noises,” Solrin said, eyes straight ahead, making it hard for Nathan to read him. “Strange, I thought, almost likethey weren’t really there. It was your voice mostly. It sounded a bit more involved than someone fainting.”
This added a new element of strange to Solrin, because if there had been anything to hear, Jim would have been the first one to come down the stairs. Which meant that either Solrin had hearing that could cut through supernatural static, or Malak had let Solrin hear on purpose.
“Yeah, well…see, I had fallen asleep down there, and Sasha was coming to get me. Guess he didn’t realize he was getting sick. Sorta…snuck up on him.”
“And the yelling?”
Nathan decided on the truth. “I don’t have the nicest dreams sometimes.”
Solrin nodded. He turned to Nathan, his face looking even more ghost-like in the dark as he said, “I can relate.”
They reached Nathan and Sasha’s room. Nathan hoisted Sasha closer to him as he fiddled with the key. He missed the days they didn’t have to bother locking their door, but with so many seals around it was better to be safe.
“I got him from here. Thanks for the help. He’ll probably pass right out. Right, baby?” Nathan grinned at Sasha.
Sasha smiled weakly, using much effort to turn his head towards Solrin and say, “Th-Thanks. Nate…probably woulda dropped me all the way down those steps…if you hadn’t helped.”
Now that they could see Solrin more clearly, he looked very young to Nathan, white hair or not. His body was muscled but thin, like he barely ever ate. He didn’t smile in kind or accept Sasha’s thanks. Instead his brow narrowed.
“You have rather odd hair for a seal,” he said.
Sasha merely chuckled. “So they tell me.”
“Well, we better get you to bed, babe. Thanks again, umm…” Nathan knew the guy’s name, of course, but this was the best chance he was going to get for making up for earlier.
“Solrin,” he said, just as impassive as ever, but with the meagerest bow of his head. “I…” he looked at Sasha and flinched a little as if what he was about to say was supremely difficult, “I hope you feel better.” Then without so much as a goodnight or goodbye, the guy turned on his heel and headed for his room.
Considering Nathan hadn’t ended up with any new bruises to match the ones Solrin left on his wrist earlier, he decided to mark the encounter as a success.
He got the door open, got Sasha inside without much trouble, and helped the incubus into bed. Nathan slipped off Sasha’s jeans but left it at that. Much as Nathan wanted to express his endless sorrow and regret over what had happened, he was pleased that Sasha almost instantly fell asleep. The incubus needed rest. Tomorrow he’d need…other things, but Nathan was always happy to help with that part of the recovery.
Nathan was tired too, exhausted, from the day and from Malak’s stunt. Now Nathan knew better, knew for certain that no matter what powers Malak may have, he couldn’t steal Nathan away, not without breaking the rules, and Malak hated doing that. If Nathan ever found himself in a similar situation, he had his Spirit Guide to call on now.
A small part of Nathan wanted to be resentful of that, of all the times he had needed Walter and had gone without, but he couldn’t be upset with him for not being able to help directly in the past. Nathan understood why things were the way they were, even if it wasn’t fair. After all, he was the one who let Malak in. He’d made it unfair all on his own.
