Hymn of the Elder Gods

Slowly Slip Away

A/N: Please be aware that there is some violence in this chapter

The air between the phone and her ear, only a millimeter of space, burned like scalding water. Eve let the device clatter to the plastic lined car flooring, dirty hands trembling.

Pressure settled in bands around her head while the world submerged in silence and her vision blurred. Everything and nothing flooded her body, a shock of utterly overwhelming emotion that had the rest of the world disappearing in a rush of horror. She was floating. Hurtling through a void, tangible thoughts colliding with one another until words and emotions became utterly indistinguishable. Through a hiccuping noise that worked its way up her throat, Eve heard the dial tone, and looked down to see that Hedeon had already hung up the phone. A blank, black square stared up at her. Aska. If even a single strand of her hair was out of place Eve was going to kill-

"Eve!" Samir's face was a little frenzied, his hands pressed against both her cheeks, cradling her head and giving it a little shake. "Snap out of it." She gave a little gasp, air rattling through her lungs, all the anger trapped inside and shoved forcibly downwards. There were more lights outside now, cars sailing over the sand in slow, bobbing motions, engines and pitched voices carrying over the wind.

Fuck. That hadn't even been her own anger.

"Samir," she rasped, eyes burning with unshed tears. Her fingers had curled into his forearms, leaving desperate little half-moons in his skin. "What exactly did you do, for those people to hate you this much?"

"Eve," Samir said again, and his voice was much more cautious now, flat and emotionless. "I never asked, because I did not think there was a need. But can you feel them? What they're feeling?" When she was silent, shock-still and at a loss for words, Samir shook his head dazedly, pulling backwards. "By the gods, I had guessed but it was so hard to believe that I couldn't -"

The words cut off. Eve had pushed forward, pressing two fingers firmly against his lips, gaze darting from side to side anxiously. "Be quiet," she murmured. "Unless you want them to hear you. Don't invoke them, don't call for them. Not right now."

"Call for who?" Samir's lips brushed against her fingers, plush and gentle. There was a blown confusion in his pupils, and it dawned into realization with harsh intensity. "You don't mean-"

"Yes," Eve breathed. She was sure they had prying eyes, and ears on them, from the other world. If not Hedeon then his spies. Samir gazed up at her, and reached up to tuck a stray strand of hair behind her ear. He was awfully calm, given everything that had happened in the last several days. "But Samir, are you alright?"

"I'm processing," he murmured, pressing a kiss to the red strands he still had tucked between his fingers. His eyes twinkled with an unplaceable joy. "For now, I think we should stand up."

The realization of what had happened dawned belatedly.

She had crawled half on top of him, somehow, in her desperation- out of the car - and they were both now sprawled across the sand. Samir was ethereal, sprawled amongst the pale earth and dusted by moonlight, and Eve felt embarrassed, mostly. Dull by comparison.

She stood quickly, dusting her body to little avail.

It had only taken a few seconds, really, to press down the want she could not explain.

Samir took her hand as he stood. Eve pulled away, stomach churning as she did so. As though the space between them was somehow unnatural. If Samir had noticed her internal struggle, he kept quiet about it, still and emotionless. Controlled instinct rippled through his limbs as he reached to his side - for the holster of his gun.