her. When all was said and done, she’d probably run back to the surface and put about twenty locks on her doors. She’d probably be thrilled to see him go.
The thought filled him with panic that was as undeniable as it was nonsensical. She was just a human. Just a human. Maybe if he repeated it to himself enough times it would start to sink in.
They walked a few blocks in silence. Phenex glared at anyone who stared, which was everyone, and they stayed away. The vamps had a weird love-hate relationship with his kind, vacillating between bitching about them and treating them like minor celebrities, so maintaining some distance wasn’t hard if you wanted that—and he did. He didn’t see any of his brothers, which was probably best.
Finally, they hit the street where he and the other Fallen had been given homes, as far away from everyone else as possible. It was a dead end, and quiet as the grave, the lamplights giving the place an eerie glow. The cobblestone street was lined with tall, skinny stone houses like something out of a Tim Burton film. Not ideal for spreading your wings, but the ceiling of the cave was so far up that he could soar if he wanted to. The seven of them had gotten varying degrees of comfortable here. The only one who didn’t seem to have taken to the houses at all was Meresin, but the former commander of all Hell’s aerial powers had issues above and beyond his electricity fixation. Phenex was pretty sure he’d been tortured. He just didn’t know why. Asking, though, would be a great way to commit suicide.
“Here,” Phenex said, his wing gently pressing into Sofia’s back to steer her to the left. “This one’s mine.”
It was the only one with flower boxes. Full, at the moment, of some sad-looking dead flowers.
“Shit,” he muttered. “I knew they’d forget.”
“Forget what?” Sofia asked. The warm sound of her voice was a welcome distraction. He looked at her, at her curious green eyes and the tightness around her mouth that he doubted she was even aware of. Her hair was tangled around her shoulders from being tossed around to get down here. Yeah, she’d been through it tonight.
She was still the best thing he’d ever seen.
Phenex shoved the mushy thought aside as quickly as he could, appalled. That was it. He was damn well making himself sleep tonight. He didn’t need to sleep that often, but it was obviously time.
“My flowers,” Phenex finally answered her, struggling to focus. “They, uh, died. Again.”
Sofia was staring at the wilted plants as though they were some exotic thing she’d never seen before. “Um. I would think that the lack of sunlight would be a problem.”
Phenex tipped his chin down and gave her a look. “Yeah, that’s why they have these things called UV lamps. I pull in the boxes for part of every day when I’m around and get the plants under the lamps. My asshole brothers were supposed to take care of it while I was gone, but as usual, they probably sat around, drank, and watched them wither. And it’s not like I can get a vampire to handle it. They’re all burn risks.” He shook his head, irritated all over again. “I’ll get new ones. Wait a sec.”
He spread his wings, flapped once, and landed on his roof, where he pulled the heavy, ornate key from beneath a loose shingle. Phenex leaped back down lightly, then unlocked the front door.
Sofia followed him inside, and he quickly set about lighting the oil lamps that were scattered about the space. Soon enough, a warm glow filled the downstairs. He looked around, shrugged at the state of mild disarray, then turned to look at Sofia.
“So this is— What? Hellfire, you didn’t see a spider or something, did you? Those suckers get in here all the time.”
Sofia shook her head slowly, her eyes wide as she looked around her. He couldn’t figure out what the problem was…and as it turned out, it wasn’t actually a problem.
“The instruments,” she said. “I’ve just never seen anything like this before.” Her voice was soft, almost reverent, or he would have been insulted. As it was, he tried to see his place the way she might. Her apartment was a very human space, a cozy nest full of warm colors, pictures, seats to sink into around the TV. It was a home. His place was…well, “home” might be a stretch, but no