Page 22 of Caelum

TWENTY-ONE

EREN

“She’s finally picked up on how to use her phone,” I told Stefan gently, whispering the words so Dre wouldn’t hear.

He had a hard-on for Eve, and not in a good way either. I’d never seen him dislike someone so much, and it was starting to piss me off.

Sure, she was a bit of a calamity. Never knew how shit worked, asked questions at the wrong time, and had all three of us panting over her ass no matter how she tried to cover up with our shirts, but she was…

Well, she was Eve.

Our Eve.

I reached down and gently stroked my fingers through her hair. It wasn’t like her to nap, but she was asleep now with her head on my lap. That she trusted me was a given because I felt the same way about her—it was why I’d told her about my mother’s baklava, why I’d told her about my sister. She didn’t judge, didn’t expect me to be something I wasn’t. She was a dose of softness in a hard world, and I wasn’t about to lose that. Not when I was only just starting to figure out how much I’d needed that.

Needed her.

Hell, we all did.

So, even though I needed to use the bathroom and wished I’d gone before Nestor had trundled off to his own bedroom, I wasn’t about to leave her with just Stefan and Dre.

Stefan was a volatile SOB thanks to his Incubus, and Dre knew exactly which buttons to push. He’d say something to piss Stef off, then he’d stomp away, leaving Eve alone. I could imagine Dre waking her and telling her something mean, and I wasn’t about to let that happen.

I’d already noticed his whip-sharp tongue was honing itself on her, and though I tried to temper it, each time he struck, it hurt her.

She hurt.

And so did I.

Staring at the game on the TV, I waited until Dre mumbled, “I’m going to bed.”

“See you in the morning,” I replied.

Stef just grunted at him, his attention on the game. The second the door closed though, he paused the game and turned to look at her. “Is she okay?”

I wondered if it angered him to see her so comfortable around me, but he didn’t seem angry. If anything, he just looked concerned.

It sucked that he had to hide that concern around Dre.

I didn’t know what the fuck was running through Dre’s head, but he was pushing us all away because of Eve.

“I think so. I think she’s just tired.”

He shook his head. “She freaked out earlier.”

“Understandable.”

“Was it?” He scowled. “I don’t think so. It can’t be the first time the Sin Eater has come out to party, not with how long she’s been here now.”

“No, but it’s the first time it’s taken over her.”

He conceded that with a grimace as he reached over and rubbed a strand of her hair between his fingers. I understood the fascination. It was like satin, and the more you touched it, the more you wanted to.

Everything about Eve was tactile, and in a world where touch wasn’t appreciated, where it was actively avoided, she was unusual. And I was fucking grateful for that.

“We should put her to bed,” he suggested softly, his eyes on her hair.

“I think she’s comfortable where she is.”

“You can’t sleep like that.”

“I’ve slept in worse places.” I shot him a stark smile. “We both have.”

“Not for a long time, brother,” he said softly.

“Well, it won’t kill us for one night.”

He nodded, and within seconds, he’d switched off the console and TV, plunging the room into darkness.

“What’s going on with Dre?”

“Fuck if I know. He’s being a dickhead.”

“He’s being more than that.”

Stefan grunted. “Think that’s why she reacted badly today? ”

“I don’t know.” Sin Eaters were one of the easiest souls to deal with here. We were safe from the sinners and from those who preyed upon them in Caelum. Her reaction had stymied us until we figured it wasn’t the Sin Eater but the woman who was terrified.

It had taken us a ridiculous amount of time to figure that out since we were all used to blood. Once a week, we had to consume it, and she was no different.

Or so we’d thought. I’d hoped she’d stopped relying on the bags of blood, but we’d had our answer tonight.

She was still dependent on them, even though they provided her with zero nourishment except for scratching the itch the Vampire had.

“Sleep. Nothing we can do for her until tomorrow dawns and another soul takes its place.”

He grunted but didn’t deny I was right. Still, both of us were thinking about her reaction to seeing Dre feed from Stefan earlier.

It wasn’t like they’d been doing anything wrong, but the way she’d freaked out it was like they had. She’d turned white as a sheet before promptly passing out and had been on the couch with us ever since.

Nestling into the headrest and using it like a pillow, I thought of the doors I’d slept huddled in, the benches I’d lain on in the evenings I’d run away from home to escape another beating, all before I’d been brought to Caelum by Damon, and I was grateful that I was here, in the warm room, with a comfortable sofa at my back, a brother to my left, and Eve nuzzled into me as though I were the only thing keeping the nightmares at bay.

Though getting any rest some nights was impossible, with her here, my brother too, it was no wonder I slept, no wonder that I woke up either when the early morning sun slipped in through the window. Nature’s alarm call worked its magic on me as pink striations blossomed through the dawn sky, and when I groaned a little at not having moved the whole night through, I felt Eve’s head shift on my lap.

“Thank you for not moving me,” she rasped, half-asleep like me. She shifted down so that her head was still on the sofa but I could wriggle some life into my legs. Ridiculous, wasn’t it, that I missed the weight of her, the warmth of her, so close to me.

“I’m glad we helped.” I hesitated a second then asked, “Why did you react that way, Eve?”

“I-I’d never seen—” She bit her bottom lip. “There was a lot of blood.”

I frowned. “You thought Dre had hurt Stefan?”

“At first,” she admitted. “Then, when he drank it, it was like something from a nightmare. My brain just processed it oddly. ”

She’d been in the human world too long. Even though I knew what it was like to feel apart, to feel different until you knew, point-blank, what you were, you still clung to the normal aspects of your nature.

Eve would still feel human for a long time to come even though she most definitely wasn’t.

With that in mind, it made sense that she’d freak out. It did look like one of the stupid Z-list zombie movies Nestor binge-watched when he was studying.

“How are you feeling now?”

“A little on edge.”

“Why?”

“ Gouille day.”

I nodded, understanding her reticence. Gouilles weren’t like Weres or Hell Hounds. “It sucks you slept the night through.”

“Yeah. I don’t think I could even nap,” she said with a sigh.

“Shame.” And it was. On gouille days, you found yourself sleepy through the day, on edge around your friends as you watched out for constant threats—finding them even in the most ridiculous of places—and with the strange ability of needing very little food, rarely using the bathroom, and then when night struck, being wide awake.

Gouilles were nocturnal. They made perfect sentinels and could watch over Ghoul nests like no other, while also allowing their Pack to rest at night as they stood guard. Their skin was impenetrable to Ghoul teeth, and although they were slow, when their Pack was in danger, they could spread wings that let them fly toward an active threat.

In our band of brothers, Nestor was headed down that route. I could think of no better guardian than him.

Unable to help myself, I reached down and began to stroke my fingers through her hair. “You sure you can’t get some more sleep?” I asked, trying not to let it affect me when she closed her eyes with a shaky sigh and moved into my touch.

I cut a look at Stefan and saw he was still fast asleep. Not that it would have mattered. I wasn’t doing anything wrong.

Packs shared their females, after all. But I knew Stefan would likely be on edge because she still hadn’t Claimed him and Dre was being a jackass.

“I could try,” she murmured, making me smile. There was no try about it. The gouille temperament would help her stay asleep if she could just drift off.

After ten minutes of gently stroking her hair, I felt her slip away into a slumber that wouldn’t be broken .

I tilted my head back again, enjoying the soft cushion behind my neck, while I checked in.

It was a habit now, one that we all picked up a few months after turning eleven when we tried to discern which soul would have us in their grasp for the rest of the day.

When I sensed the Sin Eater, I was grateful, because while we weren’t out on patrol, it meant it was pretty much a lazy day for me, which meant I could hang out and chill with Eve for most of it.

And considering tomorrow we were shipping out? I figured I deserved the damn break.