"You all right?" Doc asked when Ed basically walked me back to the couch.
I leaned back and sighed. "I told my parents we were staying here tonight, Victoria."
"That's fine with me," she replied. She glanced at her parents, and they nodded.
"Doc, if one of you wouldn't mind giving the girls a ride down tomorrow, we can take Sofia's parents back to their hotel in Victoria's car."
"That's fine."
I sat up. "Shit, the knife."
Everyone stared after me again as I hurried out to Victoria's car. My parents stared, but I ignored them, throwing open the back seat. Though it was dark, I checked for blood. I couldn't smell or see any, other than what was left on the knife itself, so it was probably good. I grabbed it and shut her door.
"Victoria's parents are giving you a ride back down. We'll talk tomorrow," I said as I hurried back inside.
Once there, I held out my prize.
The magical attack it deflected had cracked the handle, and the blade was blackened. Otherwise, it still looked serviceable.
"It's got blood on it," Victoria's father stated.
"Yeah, I had to stab Alex to get out."
That got some raised eyebrows.
"Is he okay?" Victoria asked hesitantly.
"Um, well, I don't know. I didn't outright kill him. He still tried to blast my ass with some magic before I jumped out the window."
Everyone continued to stare.
"I was trying to escape. What did you expect?" I didn't mention that the blood was probably Doc's because I thought Alex's had already been burned off in the magic fight.
The guys would know, but they weren't going to say anything, either.
"It's got runes or something on it. Seemed important, so I kept it after I used it to escape." I hadn't seen the runes until just now. No one needed to know that, either.
"Well, on that completely reassuring note, we should get going," Victoria's mother said. "It was nice to meet you, Sofia. I'm looking forward to talking more tomorrow."
She offered me a hug, and I took it. Her father did the same before they all shook hands with the guys, hugged Victoria, and left.
I waited until the sounds of Victoria's car faded before I dropped the knife and started shaking.
Allan was there in a moment, wrapping me in a hug.
"Oh my gods," I finally freaked out a little.
He pulled me back to the couch. Victoria moved so the four of us could sit together while I shook. I thought I might have to have a good cry later. Right now, I was still just reacting.
Victoria picked up the knife and set it on a bookshelf before kneeling in front of me.
"You're okay," she said.
I nodded. "Yeah, I know. I jumped out a second story window without even looking first." I gasped. "And we had to fight mages. And then my parents. They're never going to leave me alone."
"Do you know why they want you?" It wasn't so much a question of if I knew, but if I wanted to tell them. I could tell from Doc's tone that he knew I had that answer.
"Yeah. Apparently, my age and untrained abilities make me an ideal candidate to host a greater demon they really want to summon. They're never going to leave me alone until I can hold my own. Doc, what are we going to do? Do you think you can teach me?"
The guys were silent long enough that I could tell they had no idea, either.
"We'll find someone," he finally said.
"But what my dad said..."
"We don't know if that's actually true or not, and the most important thing is to keep you safe. We'll figure everything else out as we come to it."
They held me while I shivered.
"Host. What does that mean, exactly?" Victoria asked after a few minutes of silence.
"Lesser demons like Ash can manifest on this plane without a host. The more powerful demons need a body to inhabit, as their forms are so foreign to our energy signatures that they can't interact otherwise. They're powerful once they're here. Whoever it is they're after won't like being summoned and imprisoned. If they get Sofia, and managed to summon the demon into her, the demon will take over her mind and body, essentially trapping Sofia until there's nothing left of her." Doc kept his voice neutral while he explained. I wanted to scream. That couldn't happen.
"Well, fuck that," Victoria declared. "We have to keep you safe. Sam was here, by the way. She gave this to me." Sofia touched the necklace at her throat.
"I thought I smelled her scent on the couch," Ed replied. "There wasn't really a good time to ask, though."
"Well, you'll have some protection at least. We'll have to talk to her and see if she has any ideas about what to do next. In the meantime, we're safe here, and we're all exhausted," Doc replied.
"Victoria can sleep in my room," Allan offered. "The sheets are clean."
"Thanks, Allan." Victoria stood up and looked at us, a grin spreading across her lips. "Where are you going to sleep?"
"We all sleep in Doc's room, anyway," Ed replied nonchalantly.
"Oh, really?" She waggled her eyebrows at me.
I blushed, but was not about to sleep alone. I guess I hadn't mentioned sleeping arrangements to her.
"It's a werewolf thing," Ed insisted matter-of-factly.
"And you talked the non-werewolves into it."
Ed grinned. "Of course."
She matched his grin before glancing at Allan. He took the hint and led her down the hallway to his room. "There shouldn't be too many cooties. I almost never sleep in here," he said.
She laughed.
I took a quick shower and changed into one of Doc's flannel shirts. Ed's heated stare made me tingle when I came out of the bathroom, but he just gave me a quick kiss before inhaling my scent and rumbling in approval. Doc and Allan also had quite a lot of blood on them and needed to shower. Ed crawled into bed with me
