Somewhere amid the crying, someone sat down next to me on the bench. Strong arms lifted me, and I caught Ethan’s familiar scent. Seconds later, I was out of the rain and inside a warm, dry car. A blanket covered me, and hot air blasted from the heater.
“How did you find me?” I asked quietly.
“The blood connection between us is still strong. It helped me locate you,” he answered.
I finally lifted my gaze to look at him. His blond hair hung over his face. It was longer than usual. He didn’t start the engine. Instead, we sat in silence, peering out the window at the falling rain.
“It’s truly amazing what your blood can do to heal humans,” I said, thinking of the times he’d let me drink it and how quickly I’d recovered from my injuries.
“It is amazing,” he agreed. “But it also comes with a moral dilemma.”
I glanced at him, snuggling deeper into the blanket. “Oh?”
“I can heal the sick and dying, if I choose to. I spent a number of years working as a night shift orderly in various hospitals. When patients came in fatally ill or injured, I’d sneak them some of my blood to heal them. I could only do it for so long before other staff grew suspicious and then I’d have to move on to a new hospital. I can’t heal everyone, though. When I give blood, I need time to recuperate the same as a human does.”
“That’s a very kind thing to do. I don’t know many people who would be so selfless,” I said. Honestly, I was surprised by his confession. I’d always seen Ethan as this wealthy, charming night club owner, when in reality he’d probably had a whole range of different professions over the course of his long life.
“You sound surprised,” he said, a smile tugging on the edge of his lips.
“I just can’t picture you as a hospital orderly,” I replied.
“I can glamour myself to go unnoticed. It’s not too difficult.”
“When I first met you, I couldn’t imagine why you wanted to befriend me. I thought we were so different. Little did I know you had experience working a gruelling night shift, too. If I had of known, maybe I wouldn’t have been so hesitant to let you in.”
“It’s good to be suspicious,” Ethan said. “Often people have ulterior motives.”
A quiet fell as we stared out the car window. Across the street, several men were getting into an argument outside a pub. I couldn’t tell if it was the mist or if they were simply being drunk and rowdy.
“This city is coming to a boiling point,” Ethan said as he watched them. “Sometimes it feels like one day it will simply tear itself apart, no longer able to contain all the animosity.”
“If that’s how you feel, then why do you stay here? You could go anywhere in the world.”
His expression clouded. “Sometimes you become tied to a place, with too many factors preventing you from leaving.”
“What factors are preventing you from leaving Tribane?” I asked, and his gaze met mine, a thousand sorrows in their golden depths. In that one look, I saw just how much he’d been suffering lately. I reached out and took his hand in mine. “It’s okay, you don’t have to answer.”
A little while later, Ethan started the car, and we drove away from the park. Even though I was wrapped in a blanket and the warm air was on full blast, I couldn’t seem to get any heat into my bones. I must’ve stayed out in the rain for too long.
Ethan pulled up to his house and climbed out of the car. When he came around to my side, he lifted me into his arms and carried me out.
“Why are you being kind to me?” I whispered. “Don’t you hate me still?”
“I never hated you, lumina mea, and you know it.”
For a moment, my heart stopped beating. He hadn’t spoken to me with such affection in what felt like a lifetime. He carried me inside his sparsely furnished house and upstairs to a bedroom, containing only a simple wardrobe and a bed with soft cotton sheets. He held me to him as he pulled back the covers, before laying me down. I expected him to try and climb in beside me, but he didn’t.
“There’s a bathroom through that door and clean clothes in the wardrobe,” he said instead.
“Why didn’t you just bring me to Finn’s?” I asked, confused.