“Yeah, I get that,” she murmured. “I’ll see you tomorrow, Willow. Love you.”
“Love you too,” I said, then hung up. I looked up at Vie. “I want to go home, please.”
“Anything you want,” he swore, “I’ll provide.”
If only he could magically give me Unique Finds back.
“All I need right now is you,” I said. After the words left my mouth, I knew they were true. Today was the worst day of my life, and yet I had Vie. He was my rock and my shelter.
He might be the wraith of violence, but he was also the love of my life.
Chapter 14
Vie
For the first time in my life, I wished I’d learned to drive. It never seemed important before, but now I watched Willow drive while she barely held back tears.
I was worried that she’d get hurt if we were in any kind of collision, but I also wanted to take the burden of driving off her.
We were almost back at my place, and aside from the muted sounds of Willow sniffing, we drove in silence. Before now I didn’t know the lack of sound could be so loud.
“I’ll make this right,” I said. My voice sounded unnaturally loud in the quiet car. “I’ll replace everything.”
Her only answer was a little shake of her head.
I hated feeling helpless. “What can I do?”
She pulled into the parking lot of my building. After pulling into a spot and shutting off the car, she dropped her hands in her lap and let her head fall back against the headrest, lids closed.
“Willow?”
Rolling her head to the side, she looked at me through watery eyes. “I don’t know,” she whispered, her voice cracking with emotion. “I don’t know anything anymore. I thought I had everything figured out. Now it’s all gone.”
I leaned close and cupped her cheek in my hand. “I’m still here, and I’m going to take care of you.”
She didn’t respond, only looked out the front windscreen with a blank expression, without actually seeing anything.
Turning to mist, I moved to her side of the car and solidified. After opening her door and unbuckling her belt, I lifted her out of the vehicle. She rested her head on my chest and relaxed in my hold.
I was humbled by her absolute trust in me.
“You and Jina are all I have left,” she whispered, then let out a long breath that was half sob. One of her hands grasped my hoodie tightly. “Please don’t leave me.”
“Never,” I swore, and carried her into the building. It was awkward to punch in the code and activate the elevator, but soon we were on the third floor.
When I had the building retrofitted, I’d let them build the elaborate bathroom the architect had included even though I never needed it. Now I was thankful to the architect for his focus on comfort and the builder’s excellent work.
Because of Sorrow’s attention to detail, there were thick, soft mats on the floor, a stack of large fluffy towels, and a basket of items like hair care products, lotions, and other bathing items.
I set Willow on her feet next to the tub and pulled off her clothes. She didn’t make a sound as I dropped everything into a pile. After she was naked, I picked her back up and set her in the empty tub. Pulling her legs against her chest, she wrapped her arms around them and set her cheek on her knees.
I pulled out one of the bottles of body soap from the basket and a colorful poof I knew was for scrubbing. Kneeling next to thetub, I turned on the water and made sure it was an acceptable temperature before diverting the water to the hand shower. After that, I got the poof wet, then worked up a lather with some of the scented soap.
Grabbing one ankle, I tugged gently. She let me guide her leg until it was straight out. I started with her foot, using the hand shower to get her skin wet, then scrubbing gently with the poof. She watched my movements with a kind of detached interest.
I took my time, washing between her toes, gently moving the soapy poof across the bottom of her foot and then the top. The silence was hard on me, so I started talking.
“I didn’t want to travel here at first,” I said as I moved up to her ankle. “But one of my brothers felt a new wraith being created, so he traveled across the Atlantic. It took years for us to find him, but we finally did. After we’d taught him what he needed to know, I felt drawn across the continent to San Diego. Because we tend to follow each other, they followed me this time.”
