It took what I estimated to be an hour for Dallas to calm me down from the demon. I was, admittedly, exhausted afterwards, curled up against Dallas’s side, with Bones curled up against my leg. “Are you okay now?” Dallas asks gently, looking down at me. I smile up at him. “I think so. I mean, I’m still a little freaked out, but anybody would be after a demon shows up in front of them and tells them that they’re going to lead the entire continent.” He smiles at me and pushes my hair back. “I’m a little freaked out too,” he admits. I sit up to look at him, causing Bones to grumble and move closer to the fire. I smile at him and reach out, ruffling his fur as he settles down with a sigh. I turn my attention back to Dallas.
“So what do we do?” I ask. He shrugs. “I honestly have no idea,” he tells me, “except for maybe…listen to the demon when it comes back.” I raise an eyebrow at him. “Hasn’t every book, like, ever, mentioned what a bad idea it is to listen to demons?” He sighs. “Well, we’ve not got anything else to go on. And it is a lesser demon, it won’t have as much power.” I frown. “That’s not reassuring. It will still have power, and that’s what worries me. I mean, it knows my destiny, or whatever. That’s a pretty big deal.” He nods his agreement. “Still, it isn’t like we’ve got much of a choice. It’ll be back once the snow stops,” he reminds me. I heave a sigh and lean my head on his shoulder. “I know, which sucks.” He nods once again and starts playing with my hair. It’s been so long since anyone’s played with my hair, and it feels nice. Soon, I start to drift into sleep. Dallas notices, because I can feel him shift towards the mattress, scooting me so that I’m laying down on it. I’m so far gone that I stay limp and let him tug me wherever he wants me. As he settles onto the pillow with me, pulling the blankets over us, I completely lose consciousness.
When I wake up, it’s still snowing, but it’s morning. Dallas is still asleep, so carefully I step over him and shrug out of my dress, picking up a bar of the soap, a bottle of the shampoo, and a towel, padding down the cold tunnel to the room with water for a floor. I toss the dress and the towel on a ledge and gingerly step into the water, shivering at the cold. Taking a deep breath, a plunge in and hold my breath under the water as long as I can, the water chilling me down to my bones. Shivering, I surface and my trembling fingers squirt some shampoo into my hair. I massage it in and take another deep breath before dipping beneath the water, scrubbing furiously at my hair. I manage to rinse it out before I have to surface, which I do, gasping. My shaking hand reaches for the bar of soap when I hear Dallas’s footsteps coming down the tunnel. Just as I pick it up, he enters the cavern, immediately turning his back when he sees my dress on the ledge. “Sorry, Ana. You weren’t there when I woke up and so I went to look for you…” I laugh, startling us both. “It’s okay. It won’t be long until I’m finished, and you’ve basically seen all this before,” I say, lathering up. “Still,” he says, trailing off. “I’ll leave you to your bath. I’ll get breakfast ready for us,” he tells me, before disappearing down the tunnel.
I finish bathing quickly, anxious to get out of the cold water. As soon as I rinse the last of the soap off of me, I clamber out shakily, wrapping the towel around me. I stand there, dripping and shivering for a moment, wishing I had a real, proper house with real and proper heating. I dry myself off quickly and scramble into the dress, making my way back to the main cavern. Dallas is preparing the meat in some fancy way, and for some reason I don’t want to eat the meat anymore, knowing where it came from. Sitting as close to the fire as is safe, I think that maybe Dallas has made me a little more human. I watch him as he goes about his work.
I start when he presents me with the finished product. I smile wordlessly at him as I take it, taking a small bite. I don’t know what he did to it, but it doesn’t taste like human flesh. I flash him a smile as I eat. He smiles back, reaching over and putting a hand on my knee. Slowly, we’re becoming much more comfortable around each other. We finish around the same time and I lean against him, finally starting to get warm. “I don’t know what you did to that, but it was fantastic,” I tell him. He smiles, leaning forward and kissing my forehead. I pause, not because it was unwelcome, but because I wasn’t expecting it. “Oh, um, I’m sorry-“ he starts, but I interrupt him, placing my finger over his mouth. “No, it was nice,” I tell him, and he smiles.
Smiling at him, I crawl into his lap and curl up against his chest. I fit in his lap nicely, and after a few seconds I can feel him relax. His arms come forward to wrap around me and I feel safe for the first time in two years. “I like this,” I say softly. He smiles down at me, twisting a strand of my damp hair around his finger. “I do, too. I didn’t think I’d ever have anything like this when everything fell apart.” I lean up and let my lips brush against his jaw, surprising him. “I didn’t think I’d have any proper human contact again,” I agree. He rests his forehead against mine. “I’m glad we thought wrong,” he admits, and I smile. Suddenly, he leans forward and gently presses his lips to mine. I’m shocked, but I kiss back. His lips are soft and firm at the same time, and a little bit chapped, but it feels good, better than I ever thought anything would. He leans back, looking a little nervous, and I give him a small smile. “I really like you,” I tell him shyly. He smiles, relieved.
From the entrance, Bones starts to bark, a soft bark to alert us. Scrambling off of Dallas’s lap, I make my way to Bones, looking outside. The snow has stopped falling, but the clouds linger, casting dark shadows over everything. I tense up, remembering the demon’s promise, or maybe it was a threat.
