Page 20 of Run Like the Devil

Hale and Yazmor sat outside the room, both of them having gotten shooed out by me a few hours previously. They’d refused to leave my apartment, but at least they’d given me some small semblance of peace.

Neither had proven themselves good at waiting quietly. Yazmor had kept spouting random facts—some of which were wrong and others that made no sense—while Hale had kept making a noise that sounded like growling each time he looked at Loch’s still form.

The peace I’d obtained with their absence was welcome, even if I wished Loch would break it. Gorrin had also come, though he hadn’t stayed. Then again, too long away—especially right after this happened with Loch—would look suspicious on the Plains. He still had to keep up appearances.

I rubbed my hands over my face, wishing I could scrub away Loch’s fear. Her pained whimpers dug into me, but I could do nothing. Yazmor and Gorrin had both explained that Hubis had done something to her, had invaded her mind in some way. She was likely experiencing something he wished her to, and none of us could do anything to stop it.

It meant I could only sit beside her and wait for her to come out of it. I had done all I could, had talked to her, had run my fingers through her hair, had even held her hand. None of it had seemed to get through to wherever she was, but I kept them up. I had no choice but to wait.

Loch sat up so fast I jerked backward in surprise. It wasn’t the clumsy coming-to people did when asleep, where a groggy person had to slowly wake. Instead, it was as if between one heartbeat and the next she was conscious.

Her eyes were peeled open wide, locked on nothing, her panting, frantic breaths loud in the quiet room. Had she ever looked so terrified? Even after her attack before, when she’d had every reason to be nervous, she’d never looked like this.

I reached out and took her hand. I wasn’t a comforting man, not someone used to reassuring others, but I couldn’t leave her like that, couldn’t let her think she was alone with whatever went on in her head.

Loch had always reacted to such things the same way. She’d taken every bit of physical contact and wanted more. She’d move in closer, as if starved for touch. I expected the same this time.

That wasn’t what happened, though.

Loch yanked away as if my touch burned her. It didn’t stop there, though. Instead, she bolted off the bed, her motions nothing but blind panic, her legs tangling in the blanket so she tumbled off the bed and hit the floor hard.

I stood there, silent, no idea what to do or say.

The door opened so hard it slammed against the wall. Of course it would be Hale to do so.

Loch lifted her gaze to find Hale with Yazmor behind him, but no relief showed on her face. Instead, fear consumed her. She scooted backward on the floor until her back hit the wall, until she could move no farther away.

“Loch…” Hale said, trailing off, uncertainty in his expression.

“Don’t touch me,” Loch whispered, wrapping her arms around her legs, curled into a tiny ball in the corner of the room.

I got the feeling she wanted to close her eyes, but something inside her wouldn’t let her. Instead, she watched us with a suspicion totally at odds with the woman I knew.

She had always known how dangerous we could be. She’d never thought us safe, never been ignorant of our powers or our darkness. She’d respected it, but never feared it. If anything, she’d always been quick to put us in our places, to mock us for our perceived strength and arrogance. I would have said she’d never been smart enough to truly fear us as she should have.

That wasn’t the case anymore, though. There was no way to mistake her shaking as anything but unadulterated terror.

And as it turned out, I didn’t like her fearing me.

“You are safe here,” I said, coming around the bed to stand beside the other two without going nearer to her. Maybe this was like a nightmare—she needed to get her bearings, needing someone to remind her that whatever had happened wasn’t real.

And I ignored the need to ask her what had happened. It burned at me, wanting to know what had put that fear in her, but I held back. Remembering it now wouldn’t do her any good. She needed to ground herself in the present more than anything else.

She swallowed hard, peering around the room. Recognition starting in her eyes, telling me she remembered this place. Still, the shaking didn’t stop.

“It wasn’t real,” Hale said. “Whatever that fucker made you see, it wasn’t real. You’ve been here with us the whole time.”

“It was real,” she whispered.

Hale crouched to catch her gaze. Once he did, he went on. “It wasn’t. It was just something he made you see—nothing else.”

Her shaking got worse until even her teeth clattered. She blinked tears away, but even then, she refused to take her gaze off us. It wasn’t just something terrible that he’d shown her.

Whatever he’d done had shaken her very sense of security, had made her doubt us, made her fear us as she never had before.

“It was real,” she said. “It happened here.” She tapped at her temple. “And it was real. I remember all of it.” As she started to speak, she gagged.

Loch was off the floor and bolting for the bathroom before any of us could move, and the sound of her throwing up from there rooted me in place.

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