Page 35 of Inhuman Nature

For a few seconds, it was silent again. Then,bzzt.

It was the front door. Rake checked the clock on the bedside table—not even six in the morning. The students in the flat opposite them had already forgotten their keys twice before, and if this was them, Rake was going to have some choice words. He trudged out of bed and to the door, which buzzed another time before he put the receiver to his ear.

“What?” he demanded.

There was a beat of silence before a familiar but tinny voice spoke. “Please, Rake, Sir—Can you, um, would you be able to let me in?”

Rake wiped the sleep from his eyes. “Shaun?”

“Oh, yes, it’s Shaun. Please, it’s a bit urgent, and—”

“Come on up into the flat.” Rake pressed the button.

He’d only just pulled the front door open and Shaun was there, slipping past him into the flat and turning to face him,eyes wild and body shaking.

“Thank you,” Shaun said as he slid to the ground in the middle of their small hallway, arms going around his knees.

Rake only managed a quiet, “Uh,” once he’d processed Shaun’s appearance. His hair was in knots, the curls plastered across his face. It looked like he hadn’t washed in days. Deep gouges, oozing blood, covered his arms. A few long cuts on his face—less than an inch from one eye—appeared fresh.

Shaun looked like he’d been dragged backwards through a particularly aggressive hedge. Twice.

“I’m so sorry,” Shaun said, sounding wretched.

Rake stood there, not knowing what on earth he was supposed to do. “Who?” he asked. “Did Lawrence do this to you?”

Shaun’s eyes lifted. They were sunken, ringed with deep purple bruises. He swallowed. “I’m sorry,” he said again.

“Don’t be,” Rake said in his softest tone, realising he’d been too strident. He’d find out who did this to Shaun after he’d been properly looked after. “Do you mind if I touch you, sweetheart? Some of your cuts need cleaning up.”

“I can clean myself up.”

“If you’re open to being touched, it would make me feel a lot better to do it myself.”

“Oh. Okay. You can touch me.”

“Stay there,” Rake said, before finding their first aid kit in the bathroom cabinet. They didn’t have much, but it would be enough for now.

Supplies in hand, he went back into the hall and stopped short. “Shit, your eyes,” he said, taking an involuntary step backwards.

Shaun’s face wasn’t just red from the dripping cuts. Hiseyesbled.

Shaun pressed a fingertip under one eye, wiping the blood away. “Ugh,” he said as he looked at his finger. He sounded almost frustrated, not horrified.

“I need to take you to a hospital,” Rake said, feeling unsteady on his feet.

Shaun shook his head. “No.”

“Your eyes are leaking blood. I don’t need a medical degree to know that’s not normal.”

“It’s fine,” Shaun said, wiping at the other eye. They’d stopped leaking, but it worried Rake how little it bothered Shaun.

Once Rake had tamped down his shock, he knelt beside Shaun and gingerly took hold of his arm. “This might sting,” he warned. He dabbed at the cuts with an alcohol wipe, pleased to see that the scratches weren’t as bad as they’d first appeared.

He did one arm and then the other, cleaning them to the best of his ability. Afterwards, he carefully tilted Shaun’s face up so that he could get at the cuts there. Shaun didn’t seem to breathe throughout the whole thing. He was preternaturally still in a way that had goosebumps breaking out all over Rake’s forearms.

“There,” he said. “All clean.” The urge to continue touching Shaun had him flexing his fingers. Rake never usually wanted to touch anyone other than DJ. But Shaun had slipped through his natural defences, and Rake found that he didn’t mind.

“Thank you,” Shaun said, his voice stronger than before.