Martha and I manage to get the man into the building, up the elevator, and into my apartment unseen. Luckily (or rather, completely by design) I live in an older building so there are no cameras to worry about. Snot is waiting for me at the door, furious that I've left her to fend for herself for so long. She lets out a sorrowful yowl at the sight of me but as soon as she notices the strangers she bolts to hide away under the couch.

"Oh Em Gee!" Martha squeals, "Is that the famous Snot?"

Apparently Satyrs are super strong because she's holding up her end of the man without breaking a sweat. I, on the other hand, am struggling profusely. He hasn't regained consciousness yet and we have him strung up between us, one under each of his arms. I'm secretly glad that we don't have the added burden of his wings since I'm almost certain we wouldn't have been able to make it this far with them.

"Sure is," I grunt as I manoeuvre us into the apartment and towards the bedroom.

"Holy smokes, Lex, this place is so nice."

"Focus, Mar, we just have to get him down the hall."

She's right, though. My apartment is my favourite place in the city. I might have chosen this place because it's low tech and secluded but I stay because of the exposed brick, open concept, and surprisingly modern kitchen. I have a carefully curated and extremely eclectic selection of art hanging on the walls and even my coffee table looks like something out of a gallery. It all comes together for a stunning effect that I'm really proud of. I've never had anyone over at this apartment so I've never been able to show it off. Martha and this strange man are the first.

I push open the door to my bedroom and together Martha and I half carry, half shove the man face down onto the bed. Thank god I decided against a white duvet.

"Stay here," I command.

I'm back in a flash with my first aid kit. It's not just any first aid kit. This one would make a doctor proud. I flip it open and grab a pair of scissors. The first thing I do is divest the man of his clothing. Once those are out of the way I take stock of his wounds.

"Shit."

He has gashes all over his body. Some old, some new but all horrible. The fresh ones are all oozing various amounts of blood but the ones where his wings used to be are the worst. I can see now that my cut work was sloppy and they're still actively bleeding.

"What happened?" Martha asks.

I grab her by the arm and lead her out of the room.

"Listen to me carefully. The less you know about this situation, the better. I need you to get out of here and head to the other side of town. Make sure you aren't spotted. Then, go into a convenience store and buy some chocolate or something. Make sure the cameras get a good look at your face in case you need an alibi for tonight. If anyone asks, you went to the club, went home with a guy, then headed back to your place, stopping for a candy bar on the way. Martha!" Martha's eyes keep wandering back to my bedroom and I can tell she's distracted. "Did you hear me?"

"Yeah, yeah. Club, guy, candy bar, home," she waves me off, "Does he have some sort of tumour growing out of his back? Why is it all bloody?"

"No more questions," I tell her, "You have to go."

"Fine! Stop pushing!" She slips out of my grasp and dances towards my front door. "Promise I can come back and get a real apartment tour and an explanation when this is all over?"

I agree just so she'll leave and lock and ward the door behind her. When she's gone I head back to the bedroom and locate the needle and thread in the first aid kit. It's a good thing he's unconscious because otherwise this would suck for him. It takes an hour to get all of his wounds cleaned and stitched up.

When it's finally done I breathe a sigh of relief and finally take a good look at him. When I get past the multitude of scars that mar his body, I see that he's beautiful. His face is so perfect that it looks like it was carved out of stone. His mouth is full and his lips look so soft that I find myself leaning in just a little. I reach out and brush his hair back. It falls in long, unkempt curls down his back and I consider brushing it before he wakes up.

I shake my head, "What the heck is wrong with you," I whisper to myself, "get it together!"

My hunger rears its ugly head and demands to be fed but there's no magic coming off of him. Nothing to eat. Even if there was, I wouldn't be able to bring myself to do it. He's already not healing which means he's completely tapped out. He needs every single drop to make a full recovery. Besides, the vampire's magic is more than enough to hold me over for a day or two. I've dealt with hunger pains before and I can do it again.

After I clean up and put the first aid kit away I finally take a moment to stop and think about next steps. My best bet is to get him out of here as quickly as possible and make sure nothing ties me to him going forward. It shouldn't be a problem. All the cameras in the guard tower would have been down with the power outage and I made Martha take a route I know doesn't have any.

Oh shit. The vampire. He saw me and the man leaving together.

I pace back and forth in my living room.

It's okay, I tell myself. No one knows anything about me. I gave the guards a fake name and address. Besides, I hit the vamp pretty hard. Who's to say he'll even remember. As long as I fly under the radar until I can get this man out of my house I should be fine. I'll just have to be extra careful in public. Maybe I should wear a disguise.

I head to my kitchen to fix myself a late night snack. Hopefully I'll be able to take some of the edge off this hunger. I open the fridge and find the pickings slim. There's a jar of pickles with only one left, a few condiment bottles, and a package of cheese that's so mouldy that I give it a new home in the trash. The cupboards aren't much better. A single can of green beans and a half finished package of spaghetti noodles.

I sigh. I change quickly into some leggings, a sweater, and a baseball cap, tucking my hair into the hat and pulling it low on my head. I grab my purse and the pickle and head out. As I close the door behind me I double check the wards to make sure they're secure. I wove them myself and they're powered by 5 crystals with enough power to hold off an entire army. I touch the threads. They're perfect.

There's a twenty four hour grocery store down the street with a pretty decent selection and a night shift that minds their own business. I head to the store with my wheelie cart in tow. It's the kind that old ladies are always pushing and even has a cute little flowered pattern that reminds me of my grandma.

The man is fae so I opt for a variety of fruits, vegetables, and nuts and shove them into my cart. The Fae can't eat meat or any animal products. Or maybe they just won't. I'm not really sure. Either way I'm doing an all vegan shopping haul today. I wander up and down the aisles. I have to do two passes because I'm so distracted thinking about the mysterious stranger that's passed out on my bed.

I head to the checkout. There's an old TV mounted in the corner above the cashier and it's playing coverage of the breakout. The volume is turned too low to hear but they have grainy footage from a security camera half a block away that shows the fighting between the guards and the escapees. A banner at the bottom read 'fifty-seven escape guard custody in mass jailbreak'.

I feel a jolt of guilt. It'll be my fault if any of those criminals hurt someone.

"Can I get anything else for you, Miss?" The man behind the counter asks.

I tear my eyes from the TV screen to find that he already scanned my groceries and loaded my cart while I was staring.

I shake my head. "No thanks."

I count out the money and hand it over. When he finishes depositing the bars into his register he turns away from me and goes back to flipping through a magazine. The cover boasts a fool proof regime to boost your magic. I glance back up at the TV but the nighttime news has already transitioned to a story about legislation the Arc is introducing to prevent non consensual mind reading. I grab my cart and head home.

Back in my kitchen I dump everything on the counter and start to put it away. He moves so quietly that I don't even hear him until the knife is pressed against my throat.

"Do not move, do not make a sound," he breathes into my ear, that hint of an accent sending a shiver down my spine.

I obey.

"Good girl. Now turn around. Slowly."

I turn. He looks even more pale than when I'd left. He has one hand resting on the countertop like he needs the support and the hand holding the knife shakes just a little bit. His face looks completely calm, though, and his sharp eyes watch me carefully.

"Together we are going to walk to the door. You are going to unlock it, then I am going to leave and no one will get hurt. Do you understand?"

I give him the tiniest nod.

"Good. Let's go."

We inch towards the door together. He keeps the knife pressed firmly to my neck and his eyes don't leave me for a second. I reach out to take hold of his magic in case he decides to try anything crazy but all I grasp is air. Even his life force, the thing I'm always careful not to touch, is eluding me. If he decides to hurt me I'll have no way to stop him. For the first time in a long time I feel vulnerable.

"You're not a prisoner," I whisper hoarsely to him. "You can leave at any time. I don't want to keep you here."

"Quiet," he commands. "I don't want to hear your lies."

"I'm helping you," I plead, feeling the knife bite into my skin, "I rescued you and stitched you up. Why would I do that if I wanted to hurt you?"

"Is that why you trapped me with your wards?" I try to shake my head. "Be still or I will slice your throat. No. It would not be the first time I have been 'saved', girl. But it will be the last."

"You begged me to help you. Not the other way around."

We reach the door. He has me backed up against the wall and is leaning on me now that we're out of the kitchen. His hand is shaking so badly now that I'm scared he's going to accidentally open my throat.

"Unlock it."

He has one hand resting against the wall beside my head for support and he's so close I can feel his breath on my cheek. My eyes dart to his lips again. They're just out of reach. If I could just kiss him I might be able to access his magic.

"Do not even think about it." He growls and presses the knife harder against my throat, "You cannot take from me what is not freely given, succubus."

I gulp and avert my gaze. Then, I slowly reach my hand up, unlock the bolt, and remove the chain. The wards react to my touch and fall away. I carefully turn the knob and open the door. It creaks open an inch. For the first time his eyes flick off me and to the door. They're back on me in an instant, staring at me intently.

"I am going to leave now. You are not going to follow me and you are going to pretend this never happened."

"Happy to."

He reaches down and grabs hold of a bag I didn't even notice sitting beside the door.

He pushes open the door and slips through, the knife still pointed at me. I can see now that it's my favourite knife, the one with the good balance and comfortable handle. Damn. Well that sucks. Whatever, I guess it's a small price to pay for my life.

I'm just breathing a sigh of relief that he's gone when a loud thump from the hallway has me jumping out of my skin. I yank open the door and stick my head out.

Oh god, I hope he didn't murder one of my neighbours.

In the hall, lying crumpled in a heap, is the man. The excitement and physical strain must have been too much for him because he passed out cold. I glance both ways down the hall, glad none of my neighbours are awake at this hour, then grab him by his feet and drag him back inside. I also retrieve the knife and replace it back in the wooden block on my counter. It and all the others will be going in my safe as soon as I've dealt with him.

I don't have faith that I'll be able to get him back to the bedroom so I opt for the couch instead. It takes a few tries but eventually I hoist him up and onto the cushions. Once there I reexamine his wounds. Lucky for him he hasn't torn any stitches. I'm concerned about how red a few of them are looking, though, and I make a mental note to get him a round of antibiotics just in case.

I grab a blanket and drape it over top of him so he won't get cold. Then I go through the house and put away anything sharp or dangerous. I unpack his bag. He has a change of clothes and another knife in there plus a stack of gold that he must have gotten from my office. That means he had enough time to search my house while I was at the store. I do a thorough sweep of the house and look for anything odd or out of place. When I find a razorblade stashed behind the toilet I search again. By the time I'm done I've found three more razor blades, two knives, and several lengths of the metal wire I use for charm making stashed around my house.

What was he going to do with the wire? Choke me? Shit. That's exactly what he was going to do. I need this guy out of my house.

I decide he's too much of a threat to my safety so I grab a couple scarves and do my best to tie him up. I wish I had rope but the closest thing I own is yarn and I don't think that will hold him. The scarves will have to do for now. I tie the knots as tightly and as intricately as I can, hoping that in his weakened state this will be enough.

I'm exhausted. I haven't slept in almost twenty hours and all the stress and exertion has completely depleted me of magic. Thank god I have a noon pilates class booked. I lock myself in my room and drag my dresser over to barricade the door. I just need a few hours of sleep then I'll be ready to deal with the man. Worst case I can call The Guard and tell them that he forced me to help him escape and they could come and pick him up. That would mean turning myself in too though and then I'd be right back to where I started. Plus I'd probably have to move since they'd know where I live. 

I'm too tired. I'll think of a better plan tomorrow.

I don't bother taking off my clothes, just crawl under the covers and collapse into a deep sleep. I dream of winged monsters and vampires draining me of my blood.