Ash to Embers (Courting Shadows)

by C. V. Larkin

  There was another roar of delight from the tribe as the stereo system turned itself back on. Aiteas shimmied his hips to the music. "You sure you stuffy bastards don't want to stay and have some fun?"

  "This is dumb already." Belladonna climbed up the side of the window and hurled herself over.

  "Night like this one should be ripe with Neo-Hippies to torment," Tian said.

  Aiteas clapped and laughed so hard he staggered. "Oh yeah," he sighed. "I do love pissing those patchouli stink sons of bitches off. Very well, be unconscious if you must, and Sio, tiger, pop by for a visit anytime."

  "Sure," Sio said. He watched the lunatic night lights lift off at varying intervals and shoot out into the darkness. Aiteas was the last to leave. He winked, blew a kiss at Tian, and darted out of the cab, still chuckling to himself.

  "They're completely insane, aren't they?"

  Tian shrugged, a charming half smile curled the corner of her mouth. "Who isn't?"

  "Demented," Ceyla affirmed.

  There was a beat of awkward silence where no one knew what else to say. Eventually, Tian cleared her throat and looked at Ceyla. "We still parked in the middle of the road?"

  Ceyla threw the SUV into drive. "We're still facing the wrong way."

  The vehicle accelerated, slipping through the fog with an unnatural ease while Tian slumped against the dash. Sio leaned back so he wasn't crowding her and closed his eyes. He listened to the soft purr of the engine and the swishing produced by the tires as they kicked up water pooled on the late night streets. He had the sense of lightness that seemed to flourish only at high speeds and it dawned on him that he was dead tired. He'd almost managed to dose when they began to slow. It was sooner than he had expected.

  Sio pried gritty lids open as they decelerated to a pace that neared non-abusive. It was dark, but easy enough to recognize that they were drifting through the water logged streets of the Upper Haight. They coasted toward a nondescript Victorian that flirted with the early signs of disrepair. The large gated entryway in the front looked anything but inviting as they turned into the driveway adjacent. There was nothing impressive about the exterior of the building, and it didn't strike him as the kind of place that housed anything overtly magical in nature. Then again, the evening's recent events proved he knew fuck all.

  "Ladies and Gents, we ask that you keep your hands, arms, and any other body parts you find yourself attached to inside the cab until the vehicle has reached a complete stop," Ceyla said under her breath.

  The ascent of the garage door revealed a lackluster utility space that looked like every other garage in America. Sio's disappointment didn't linger on the back end. As the door dropped and its agonized cries were silenced, the illusion of mundanity evaporated. What had appeared to be an aging one car garage was a space the size of a commercial airplane hangar. There were half a dozen high end vehicles inside, none of which were garden variety.

  Sio turned in his seat and looked back the way they'd come. The inside of the garage door was made of brushed metal. An intricate design made up of harsh lines and delicate interlocking curls bisected the thing and burrowed inches into the concrete below. It exploded into an artful autumn color palate and ran out towards the center of the room, where it made a right angle and ran up the wall, dead ending in a circle mid-ceiling.

  He reached over, opened the door, and made to help Tian out, but she stopped him.

  "I got it."

  He didn't argue, even though he was half tempted. He slid out of the vehicle, trying not to look as shell shocked as he felt. "Am I ever gonna get used to this?"

  Tian shrugged and white knuckled the door console where she stood in front of him. "Probably."

  Or you'll be dead and you won't need to.

  Had he come up with that? Because it felt foreign.

  Morbid, Sio. Real morbid.

  A door swung open on the far wall, sending out a bright shaft of golden interior lighting. A blocky figure with an unruly mop of curls leaned on the doorframe looking familiar, but Sio couldn't place where from.

  "Piss on a pixie, I though he and that succubus were toast, way you were bitching at the club." The shadowed figure laughed, lobbing a large plastic bottle across the room at Tian as if the practice were common place. "You're looking surprisingly less beat to shit than usual, gorgeous."

  Images of her life chewed on Sio's soul. Tian pulled the bottle out of the air, twisted the top off, and poured an impressive pile of chalky white pills into her palm. She knocked them back dry. She then replaced the cap and chucked the bottle back toward the guy in the doorway.

  The container barely made it a foot before Sio intercepted and glanced at the contents. Pain killers, the size of which made horse tranquilizers look like children's chewables. He looked back at her; the worry she caused him coated the insides of his major organs like paste.

  What are you, her mother?

  "Tian, you took half this damn bottle."

  "Oh boy," Ceyla said, slamming the driver-side door and making her way across the room.

  "Don't bother, dude. We've attempted this talk before. It doesn't go well," the guy at the door interjected helpfully.

  "What are you, my mother?" Tian asked, echoing the shit straight out of his head.

  "I don't know. Do I kiss like her?"

  The guy in the doorway choked. "Did he say what I think he said?"

  "Oh yeah, mate. Wait, it gets better."

  Tian stared at Sio. He wondered if he'd pushed her too far when she began laughing. The sound was a warm, rough, slightly throaty chuckle that wasn't innocent, but it was honest, and genuinely amused. He grinned.

  "You're not that funny," she said, eventually.

  "No, but I am yours."

  You just meant that. Shit.

  "Holy shit," the big guy said.

  Sio could practically taste the fear under the surface of her skin as her smile faltered.

  "He's not kidding," Ceyla said as she slipped inside.

  "You don't say." Tian gave him a look that was hard to read.

  "Hey, you save it you bought it, lover." Sio gave a casual shrug while his heart attempted to climb out his asshole. Another choked indication of amusement came from the house. Tian shut the passenger door. "In that case, big man, do me a solid and grab the body out the back."

  "Told you." The musical lilt of Ceyla's voice drifted from the interior of the house. Sio leaned into the back of the SUV to collect Loren's bulk.

  The big guy shot Tian an incredulous stare as she closed the distance to the door. "Awww, sweetheart, you shouldn't have. You know I love it when you bring me presents...especially the kind that don't talk back." He smacked her hard on the ass as she walked past. Tian clipped him in the kidney with a sharp backward jab and he doubled over with a wince.

  "Owwww fuck. It is you," the guy panted. "For a minute there I'd thought you'd been abducted by pod people or something."

  "Or something," she affirmed.

  Sio hefted Loren's body higher on his shoulder and started toward the door. "I hope you like your 'presents' with an extra side of brain damage."

  Tian sighed. "Sio this is Avery. Avery, Sio. Sleeping Beauty there is called Loren if we can ever manage to wake him back up."

  Up close, Avery was built like a tank.

  "So Avery, you have anywhere safe I can put our friend? I keep leaning him against stuff that tries like hell to eat him."

  Avery looked pointedly at Tian, who looked pointedly elsewhere.

  "We had a run-in with the Slaugh," she said.

  The poor guy paled and looked back over to Sio. Avery got a good look at his uncovered eyes and blanched again. "What is he?"

  "You know, I'm standing right here," Sio said.

  "Uhh, yeah." The guy looked sheepish once he managed to regain his composure. "Sorry, our crew isn't known for its award winning social skills. Fuck me, you're hot. Stupid hot. Do we know what he is?"

>   "No." Tian started walking. "The guest rooms are this way."

  Avery raised an eyebrow, but came with them and didn't comment. Like most Victorians the hallway in this one ran straight down the center of the building with rooms opening off either side. Unlike most Victorians, this hallway was one path in a veritable labyrinth of hallways. Dozens of identical beautifully refinished corridors intercepted this one, but they were all hidden until he was right up on them. It made him wonder how big the place was, because it was impossible to tell from the outside.

  Tian led them to a pair of elegantly painted doors somewhere in the middle of the maze before stopping. She pushed them open. Sio blinked and took another glance at the grass on the floor, willing himself to quit hallucinating. It was still there. In fact, not only did it exist, but it was perfect and lush. By far superior to any lawn suburbia had to offer.

  A downy mattress sat in the far corner, looking as if it had sprouted there. The rest of the space was neutral and gray, tastefully decorated. Very Zen. He caught Tian watching him with a sort of reluctance and had the sudden impulse to kiss her lightly but with feeling, a gentle graze that held the familiarity of long-time lovers. He didn't. He moved to the bed, where he deposited his charge into the soft cocoon of puffy linens.

  "You should contact Eamon in the morning, see if he has any bright ideas about how to fix our new friend," Avery said, leaning his hip against an antique dresser on the far wall.

  Tian snorted. "As if he's not going to be rip shit over the fact that I kidnapped two people while I was out."

  "At least only one of them is human," Sio offered, waiting to see what her response would be.

  She looked over at the bed. "And where is he now?"

  "Baby," Avery said, "no offense, but I think you need a nap."

  "No kidding," she answered.

  "Good, get to it. I'll show Sio to his room."

  "I'm staying with her." Sio wasn't sure why it was so important to him, but he wasn't going to let it go without a fight. Both of Avery's eyebrows migrated toward his hairline.

  "You don't want that," Tian said. "I'm an insomniac. I'll only keep you up."

  "Is that why you look like you're about to face plant into the floor?"

  "Halfway to the ground is sort of my natural state. You'll get used to it."

  Yeah, no chance of that happening.

  "Notice you're not telling me that you don't want me there."

  She paused and looked at him like he'd surprised her. Hell, maybe she'd surprised herself. "Suit yourself," she said.

  "Her room is right down the hall," Avery said as he began to turn out the lights.

  "Are you going to show me where it is or should I start opening doors and guess?" Sio asked.

  "You're not staying with me until you smell less like death." She had a point. "Avery," Tian continued, "do you..."

  "Oh please," Avery interjected, talking over her. "Don't even front like you don't want to see him naked."

  "Seriously?"

  Avery grinned in response to her irritation, shrugged his shoulders, and looked back over at Sio. "I tried, dude, but I'll bring you some clothes while she's in the shower and you can go across to your room and get cleaned up."

  "Good looking out," she said as she slipped out the door.

  "Thanks," Sio answered. Even in the dim light Avery looked taken aback. He bobbed his head once and muttered something that sounded like no worries.

  Tian's room and the other guest room were twenty feet down the hall. The idea that she had intended to put him so close before he'd insisted on staying with her made him fidgety. Avery met them at the doors within minutes, which was strange because Sio couldn't remember seeing the guy leave Loren's room. He took the proffered armload of clothes as Tian disappeared behind two well-polished rosewood doors.

  "They should fit, but they might be a little short," Avery said.

  Sio returned a grateful grin. "They don't smell like they've been buried with a corpse for two weeks, so as far as I'm concerned that constitutes a marked improvement."

  Avery shook his head, his face growing serious. "She's not an easy female to love, but we do love her. You do anything stupid and you're gonna bleed. We clear?"

  "Crystal, but if I ever had a choice I already made it. Tian's more than you're giving her credit for."

  "Let's hope you are."

  The other male shook his head and wandered off down the corridor. Sio watched Avery round a corner and disappear from sight before letting himself into the guest room. Unlike the room down the hall there was nothing exceptionally supernatural about it. It was still a beautiful space. The adjoining bathroom was opulent, with mahogany finished tiles and sleek crystal fixtures. Sio examined himself in the baroque style mirror that took up the top half of the wall behind the sinks. It was strange how, even smelling like roadkill and covered in blood, being here felt almost natural.

  He inspected the two deep burns on the right side of his clavicle, two tiny foot shaped scabs that included everything but the heel prints. With the way he'd received them and the depth of the marks, he had to wonder if they'd scar. He thought about those crazy marks as he stood under the shower head, letting the hot stream pound away at his skin, and wondered how he was supposed to explain them away.

  Definite proof of alien abduction.

  Sio found an expensive looking bottle of Cedar and Sap Moss body wash which he applied liberally. He didn't know what sap moss was, or where it came from, but it smelled good. He stood there breathing in the hardcore aromatherapy syrup and tried to relax instead of contemplating the bizarre turn his life had taken. It was only when the water ran cold that he got out of the shower. As he dried off, he wondered if Tian was doing the same then tried to rewind and avoid picturing her naked. He'd already seen it, but the image was worth revisiting.

  Once he was showered, shaved, and had wrangled himself under control, he made his way across the hall. He knocked and got no answer. It was dark when he cracked the door; he could hear the shower running in the bathroom. A cold feeling of dreaded intuition curled in the pit of his stomach. He tried to tell himself that he was exhausted, over anxious, whatever, but the icy discomfort only grew sharper the closer he got to the sound of running water. In order to assuage his own sense of alarm, he knocked on her bathroom door, telling himself that he only meant to let her know that he was in the room. She didn't answer. All he could hear was the muffled patter of water. He knocked harder. The wood rattled and bucked under the force of impact. When she still didn't answer he let himself in.

  The overhead light was out and the only illumination came from three crystal fixtures in front of the mirror. The glass door to the shower stood open. Tian was sitting naked under the spray with her knees pulled up to her chest. She didn't move, didn't blink, didn't cry. He could barely see her breathing. She sat there staring at the water as it ran down the drain.

  Fuck, he knew that look...had probably had that look more times than he could count, but seeing it on her hurt more than he'd anticipated.

  "Tian," he said, choking around the hard slab in his throat.

  She didn't respond. She just sat there with her arms wrapped around her legs, looking heartbreaking and empty. Sio grabbed a towel off the nearest shelf and shook it out. He shut off the water, which had long since run cold, and knelt down to collect her off the ground.

  He carried Tian into the darkened bedroom and placed her on the bed. Then he grabbed a blanket from the chaise against the wall and returned so he could drape it around her body. He wanted to hold her, wrap his arms around her the way he had in the alleyway, but the desert rain smell of her, naked and fresh from the shower, forced him to beat a hasty retreat across the room. He slid down the front of her wardrobe, arranged his big ass on the floor, and leaned his head back.

  His skin hurt, as if the nerves were trying to push themselves up and out through his pores. Sio thought about the Between, about what she ha
d done for him, and about everything she'd been forced to share. He couldn't take it back, couldn't keep it from happening, but he could give her a pale shadow of what she'd given him. He thought about his life, and the parts he'd buried over the years. He was silent for a long time before he started speaking; all the while his heart pumped fear and adrenaline through his system.

  "They adopted me when I was six. Then I stayed with her," he said, noting how gravely the sentence came out before he swallowed back the bile and continued. "After she shot him, killed him for what he... I stayed and everyone treated her like a fucking hero." His voice cracked and he could hear the bitterness under the strain, but he pressed on, rambling into the darkness about things he wanted to forget; all the things he'd never thought he'd be telling anyone. "She beat the shit out of me every time I couldn't get it up for her after that...she'd cry and throw things and kick my ass every, single, time until I hit puberty."

  It all came out in a flood. The bad compounded the bad. He'd trusted once, and had been betrayed in every way that had counted. His skin itched with every word. He kept talking until he couldn't stand it anymore and drifted into silence.

  "Never scrubs clean, does it." Tian's voice rescued him from drowning in his own unwanted memories. It was a statement, not a question, and if she pitied him there was no trace of it in her tone.

  "No." He looked at her and felt like crying. "Tian, I've done a lot of things that I'm ashamed of...probably too many."

  Too many for forgiveness, he thought, but he left it unsaid.

  "You and me both."

  Tian sat down next to him on the floor, adjusting the blanket around herself and tucking it over her breasts. She leaned her head against his cotton clad shoulder. The weight of it was reassuring. The water from her hair soaked through his shirt. Sio couldn't tell how long they sat there together. Neither of them spoke and the silence and the darkness were peaceful.

  He slipped an arm around her body. The fluttering charge the contact produced was, for once, blessedly more soothing than searing. The current flowed in and out through his fingertips like the rhythmic lapping of the ocean as he stroked her hair. Somehow he knew the second she fell asleep against him. Sio sat and waited, barely breathing, while the tension in her limbs loosened as she relaxed, sinking deeper into dreaming.