"He can come with us," Doc said. "Until he figures out what he wants to do. I very much doubt he wants anyone telling him what to do right now."
Adriana shifted her attention from Doc back to Ash. The demon nodded, still not speaking to anyone but me.
"Very well. We'll be in touch." She gave Doc another hard look before she gestured to the fallen mages. A few of the others cast simple spells, raising the unconscious mages, including Alex, in the air and leaving the house with them. Adriana followed.
I knew we weren't out of the woods as far as dealing with Adriana and her group, but hopefully we could move on from dealing with the Andersons.
"What do you want to do, Ash?"
"I don't know," he admitted.
"You don't have to come with us," Doc said, "but it might be wise to at least pretend you're doing that until Adriana and her mages are gone."
"If you'll have me, I'll go with you." He sounded nervous.
I tightened my arms around his neck. "We're happy to have you with us, Ash."
He twisted his lips, probably not believing me, though he did follow when Nikolai and Doc left the house.
We'd been here longer than I thought. The sky had brightened considerably in the east.
Doc flinched as he glanced toward the growing light.
"Doc?" I asked.
"I may need a bit of time to recover from this," he muttered. "Fuck."
The wolves found us then. Both of them were matted with blood. Before I could even ask if they were okay, Nikolai wrinkled his nose and cast his cleaning spell on the two.
Doc caught the mage as he collapsed, unconscious. The wolves looked like they had just come out of a drier, their coats standing on end. I'd have laughed if I wasn't so worried about Nikolai.
Allan sniffed Ed and yelped, jumping backward as he got shocked.
"He probably just overdid it," Doc said, voice tight with worry. "We should go before I find out how badly I screwed up." He glanced east again before hefted Nikolai into his arms.
"You still have a heartbeat," Ash said. "You'll be fine in a day or so."
Ed whined and pushed against Doc.
"It's okay, Ed. Just don't want to get a sunburn." Doc headed toward the woods where we could hike back to his truck.
"We can take my car," Ash offered though he glanced at the wolves and frowned. "You may not fit."
"Ed, Allan, meet us at the truck," Doc said.
The wolves both huffed in agreement and took off into the woods.
Ash led us to a black Camaro.
"I don't remember this one," I said, thinking back to when Alex and he had taken Victoria and I dancing.
"Alex didn't like the color when they bought it for him after someone destroyed his favorite car, so they gave it to me."
I snickered.
Ash finally put me down and opened the door. Doc crawled in the back with Nikolai. He handed me the keys to his truck when I climbed in the passenger seat. Before I could object, he fell asleep in a tangle with Nikolai. It didn't even look comfortable, but neither of them were moving.
"Vampires can fight the compulsion to sleep during the day, but it is unlikely that Doc has ever had to even try. He'll be okay," Ash said again.
"He's not a vampire, though."
"May as well be." Ash hit the start button and the sports car rumbled to life.
I contemplated Ash's statement as he pulled away from the Anderson's mansion. "Do you know where his truck is?"
"Down the road?"
"Trailhead, yeah."
He nodded and we fell into a silence I wasn't sure how to break, or even if we needed to. There was a lot that probably needed to be said, but right now maybe it was enough that he was free, and we might be free, as well.
Shortly, he pulled the Camaro into the trailhead parking lot. I gave one more quick glance at Doc and Nikolai passed out in the back seat before looking at Ash, trying not to convey my worry. I trusted him. I really did, but part of me still remembered how he had helped bind the greater demon into me. I didn't blame him, but it was on my mind as I left Doc and Nikolai in Ash's care.
"I'll follow you," he said gruffly.
"Thanks." Though I wasn't a stranger to large trucks, I wasn't terribly comfortable driving Doc's since I knew how much he liked it. I resolved not to screw it up.
"Sofia," Ash said before I could shut the door.
I leaned down and met his eyes.
"Thank you."
"You're welcome."
"I'm sorry."
I tilted my head, tensing, before I realized he meant for everything before. I hated that I immediately expected betrayal, but it had been a rough couple of months.
"You have nothing to be sorry for, Ash. You weren't responsible for any of that."
His eyes softened but he didn't agree with me. It would take time, for all of us. I shut the door and nearly jumped out of my skin when Ed and Allan slunk out of the underbrush.
"Sorry," I muttered as I opened the backdoor of the truck so they could jump in.
Ed pushed his muzzle into my hand before he hopped in. Hopefully, that meant he wasn't offended. I didn't sense anything negative through our bond.
"I love you two. I'm glad you're safe." I tried not to think about how badly this all could have gone. We'd done it, with help, sure, but we really had done it.
The wolves whined in acknowledgement.
"Doc is passed out in the back of Ash's car with Nikolai," I said once I climbed in the truck and shut the door. "The mage overdid it, the vampire, well, apparently did too much vampire stuff and the rising sun knocked him out."
One of the wolves huffed in surprise. I didn't see who as I slid the seat forward so I could reach the
