hat under him as a pillow.
I wonder what color his eyes are— Pulling off the jacket curbed his wandering mind, because every inch of revealed skin was marked with tattoos that shimmered in his Othersight. A knife, a boat, a rock, trees, a hammer— he peeled the gray T-shirt off the man’s thin chest to reveal a compass rose, a set of clawmarks, deadly nightshade, a tree, a snake that disappeared under the waistband of threadbare trousers. A dozen spirit marks, at least, and all sharp and clear, not bruised smudges. Holy hell. How can he carry so many?
The skin under the boat was lumpy and ridged, the ink darker and more ferocious over the scars. He touched the skin lightly, feeling a faint stirring in his head that had him slamming shields, and tracing a ring of wards around the area. That’s a nasty one.
From the doorway, Grimalkin said, “At least he’s not a demon.”
Silas puffed a breath. “I’d like to think you’d warn me before I opened the door to a demon.”
Grim spread one upturned paw and licked a curved claw delicately. “I might. Unless I was bored.”
“Good to know I can count on you.” He reached for the man’s zipper, then paused. It made sense to get the water warming first, right? He bent over the taps and started the flow, letting the hot water run alone, since it would take a while for any warmth to make its way up from the basement boiler. Outside the window, flakes of snow began ticking against the leaded panes.
Grimalkin wandered over and put a paw on the claw marks on the young man’s shoulder, spreading his own claws wide. Whatever creature the marks signified, they were a lot bigger than a twenty-pound tabby. Grim pulled back his foot and shook it, like he’d stepped in glue. “Oh, he’s going to be fun for you to play with.” His flattened ears and raised ruff showed an unease that didn’t reach his voice. “Come on, Master, I shouldn’t have to explain a trouser button to you, of all people.”
Silas didn’t deign to look at Grim as he knelt back down and stripped off the man’s battered loafers, holey socks, and worn slacks. He left the guy’s underwear in place. In the tub, the water was beginning to steam faintly, and he adjusted the temperature and put in the stopper. As the bottom began to fill, he bent and slid his arms under the young man’s shoulders and knees. One more time.
The effort of lifting made his temples throb, but he got the young man up off the floor, over to the tub, and into the water without dropping him. Muscle strain pulled across Silas’s shoulders as he hauled the man up against the end of the tub and supported him there. The guy’s head lolled forward and Silas used his own temple against the man’s forehead to nudge him back to a more stable position. The scent of his sweat was acrid and unpleasant, but it triggered something inside Silas— like the chime of a crystal goblet when the rim was struck. A sharp, inaudible note that had his whole body vibrating in time with it.
What the hell? He almost lost his grip on the man’s naked shoulders. Do I know him?
He tried to take in every inch of the skinny, pale body in his bath, as the warm water crept upward. There was a scar on one thigh, straight and narrow and long healed. The fingers drifting lax in the tub were well-shaped and slender but every nail was chewed down to the quick. The soaked fabric of the thin briefs showed the man was well-endowed and circumcised— Mind out of the gutter.
Although the queer bars and back rooms with low lights were the one place he might’ve met this guy before, and not know him now. I swear I don’t recognize him.
Maybe one of the spirits, then. The man’s body was full of them, roiling under the surface as Silas freed a hand to slosh the warm water higher across the narrow belly and washboard-ribbed chest. His own reserves were low, after his last hunt and the breaking of his wards, but he drew down what power he had left to turn the slosh of water into a warding of another sort.
Sleep, restless shades. Be still now. Be the mouse when the shadow of the hawk passes over. Hold ye STILL!
The flash of power ran down his arm and