I had a bad feeling about this.

The woman smiles, taking a step back. Her heels don't make a sound at all. "Why so rude, Darien? I was just asking for her name."

Darien and the woman were having a standoff. I don't know what's going on but I feel super lethargic and I just want to curl up in my bed.

I lay my head on his chest, listening to his heartbeat.

Did it always beat so fast like that?

I make a sound, somewhere between a yawn and a whimper as I feel the cold drift back in.

Darien takes his eyes off the woman. He regards me with worry but his eyes are frigid with fury. I don't know why he's so angry. I'm compelled to apologize but I don't.

He turns around, shielding me from the woman.

Who was she?

And why was Darien so hostile towards her?

Also, what the hell did she do to me with that mumbo-jumbo smoke nonsense?

I could still feel something slithering in my veins, searching for something. The feeling faded but I felt repulsed by the lingering effects.

"Oh, I see," the woman purred. I could smell the scent of cloves again."You've got yourself a new ward. Must be awful."

Darien pulled me forward and pressed me against his torso, my face obscured away. I can feel his hand rest on the back of my neck, his thumb rubbing soothing circles. I grasp at his waist, feeling how tense he is.

The smell of pine overcomes the cloying scent of cloves. I feel safe. I feel true warmth with him.

A part of me is scared but another part is relieved that he's here. I close my eyes and snuggle closer to him without thinking.

I am safe, I repeat to myself.

"I strongly suggest you leave, Odille." He hissed. I felt his chest rumble as he uttered the words. "You know what happens if you go any further."

I've never heard his voice like that. It was a menacing tone that made the hair on the back of my neck stand up. I've seen Darien mad before, especially when Fallon does something he thinks is stupid but not like this. This is different. This is a cold and unforgiving fury.

I feel like a rabbit trapped under the paws of a large predator.

Odile—or whatever her name was—found that amusing. She laughed and I wanted to punch her in the face.

"I can't believe a little insignificant thing like you dares to threaten me." She hisses at him. "You're an abomination, Darien. You and all of your kind!"

Oh, I definitely wanted to punch her in the face with a construction brick.

Darien tightened his arm around me. I still couldn't see what was going on. I wondered what type of face Odile was making.

"This little insignificant thing can do more than threaten you. Would you like to test that?"

A moment passes, each second I count with the beat of his heart. His heartbeat is rapid and fast, the adrenaline speeding it up.

I heard a growl and the sound of something sizzling as it's been crushed.

I can no longer smell the scent of cloves. Only pine.

"Remember this, boy!" Odile spits out. "The only reason I haven't ripped you apart is because of your grandfather. The moment he disappears into ash is the moment I'll snap your neck."

Darien chuckles darkly. "Good luck with that, Odile."

She growls and stomps away, the sound of her heels fading away.

The sounds of the city suddenly return in full force. I feel the symphony of cars and voices overwhelm me like a large wave. I feel disoriented.

What the fuck was that?

My knees go weak and start to buckle. If Darien hadn't been holding onto me, I would have face-planted on the city sidewalk.

Darien still has an arm around me when I look up, dazed.

The anger is gone from his face, only worry remains.

He cups my face gently, his thumb resting on my chin.  "Are you okay?" He asks.

I nod. "I feel a bit fuzzy," I said. "I know that wasn't normal. What the hell was that?"

Darien didn't say anything. He grabbed my hand and pulled me towards the bus that had suddenly appeared. Wasn't that bus supposed to be here twenty minutes ago?

I pulled my hand away, glaring at him as I backed away. I wobble which causes him to grab a hold of my arm.

"I'm not getting onto that bus until you tell me what the fuck is going on, Darien!"

"No."

The audacity of this man!

"Maria, please—"

I grit my teeth. "Polite of you but no."

"Maria, this is not the time." He said trying to pull me towards the bus.

"This is the time." I retorted, digging my heels in. Darien is strong enough to just pick me up but I was stubborn. "Now talk."

Darien hopped off the bus, annoyance written all over his face. He glanced behind him as if someone was there.

It was starting to freak me out. Some weird lady comes out of nowhere and tries to roofie me with smoke from her cigarette, and Darien is acting like a caveman hopped up on weed. Something was wrong and I knew it involved me.

I had a right to know about it.

He runs his hand through his hair, making the curls even more unruly. "Follow me."

He offers me his hand and I take it cautiously. It strikes me for a second how warm his hand is despite the chilly weather.

The familiar scenery of Pinewood drifts around me and unlike the cloves that that made me feel so small, I felt safe and warm. Like a ghostly hug.

The city started to blur around us, the rain growing more and more hazy. I felt my vision go blurry as the mist surrounded us and Darien's hand tightened around mine as my feet lifted off the ground.

Before I could open my mouth to scream my feet touched the ground again. I felt my knees buckle but Darien had his arm around my waist before I could fall.

"Easy," he said. "It's disorienting the first time."

"I think I'm going to puke," I said, feeling my stomach tighten and twist. "Is that normal?"

He rubbed smooth circles on my back. "Just breathe, Maria."

"Oh yes, breathe." I kept taking deep breaths in and out till I stopped trembling. "I can do that."

I think I needed a drink. Maybe three. Hell, I'd take the whole bar.

Darien let go of me when I regained my senses.

Once my vision came back to normal, I noticed that we were in an alleyway. Dumpster and trash and crack pavement. The stench of burnt wood and glue was overwhelming.

"Hey, isn't this place—"

He opened the door with the keys from his pocket. "Yup, this is where I work."

I kicked a stray piece of wood on the floor. It craters and bounces off a baseboard. "Nice place you got here."

"It beats working in an office."

Darien was a carpenter. He worked with a furniture company in the city, designing and making things. He often comes back to Fallon's apartment smelling like wood glue or still has wood sand on his clothes.

The small shop he worked in had pieces of wood everywhere. There were logs, each of them labelled in a corner and unfinished pieces of furniture hanging above us, the varnish still drying.

Next to the door was a workshop desk, with all sorts of carvers and saws next to it. A piece of redwood was sitting under a lamp, still unfinished but I could see the head of an elephant attached to a human body, the ornaments partially carved.

I picked it up as Darien took off his coat and started to clear one of the tables.

"Ganesha?" I asked, holding the redwood up. "Since when do you carve idols of Hindu gods?"

"That is a custom order from a businessman who bought a chair from me last week. I believe it's for his mother. She's a lovely woman." He plucked it from my hands and examined it. "Furniture isn't the only thing I make, you know."

"I would have never have guessed." I retorted. "Any other mysterious hobbies you wanna tell me about?"

He took off my jacket, letting it hand over an old chair that was partially finished.

Was he always that silent? I didn't even hear him make a step.

"Go sit down," he said. "I'll get some coffee."

I raised an eyebrow. "And?"

He guided me to a stool, his hand warm on my back. "And then we'll talk."

"Fine." I sat down, crossing my ankles. "I want extra sugar in my coffee. And then we talk."