She blinked in confusion.
"When you came. You said my name," he explained. She lifted his brow in a surprised expression. She didn't remember it. She certainly hadn't wanted it to slip out. "Is that what you call me in your head? Ladislas?" he asked. "I am sure you would say something like Professor or a curse… but Ladislas? Like you are my age," he said, his tone contemplating.
She didn't let out any evidence of guilt or show that she was caught.
"I liked it," he said.
Finally, she smiled.
"You don't need to say it again. I just wanted to point it out."
He turned on the television and walked out of the bedroom to give her some privacy to head to the bathroom. When he returned, she was under the covers, her eyes on the television and a cookie in her hand.
She held out the remote as Ladislas slipped in next to her.
"Just watch what you like," he said, opening a can of soda.
Ladislas looked at the watch and saw that it was close to midnight. He somehow felt comfortable with her on the bed. She flipped through the channels and settled on something generic… just like she always did.
Ladislas watched her watch television, his hand fiddling with the dog tag around her neck.
He finally felt like he could sleep… a pesky drawback of being half-human. He arranged for a spare toothbrush and gave it to her. She looked at it like it was a precious gift.
Ladislas switched off the lights in the house and came back to bed.
Anna was lying on her side and smiled when he crawled under the covers. He gave her a kiss and turned her over so that he could spoon her.
She heard him sigh when he wrapped his arm around her and lace their fingers.
"Goodnight," she mumbled, telling herself she would allow this warmth for a few hours.
In a foreign bed, she didn't sleep a wink. It was dead in the night when she slowly pulled out of bed and Ladislas' arms. She looked at his sleeping form and felt a pang of jealousy for anyone else who would be there.
She stepped into the bathroom and looked at herself in the mirror.
She finally pieced together everything that happened last night. As she went through the tracking chip and saw her movements, she realized that the long road to his house that should have taken at least twenty minutes on foot took a mere three minutes.
The tongue. The chanting. The glowing eyes.
And as she removed her fresh clothes and put on the one for her act, she saw that the bruises that marred her body had disappeared. Like they had never existed.
Her eyes watered with sudden fright that there were things beyond her imagination in the world.
But thinking back to the man sleeping in the bed, she couldn't quite reconcile those two images.
'Yes, the night is over and now it's time to get back to reality.'
In the end, she watched him sleep for a few moments before she swung her backpack over her shoulder and made her way back onto the streets.
She closed the door to his house and put on her ghostly mask. The smile was gone, defenses were up and she was ready to work again.
When Ladislas woke up the next morning, she was gone. She wasn't in bed and he rushed through the house only to discover that the clothes she had come in with and the backpack were the only things missing.
He walked back into the bedroom, feeling sadder than she had ever before.
'She left without even telling me? Again? Seriously?' he questioned.
As the minutes passed, anger bloomed in his heart.
But he also found that he missed her. He had planned on cooking her breakfast and feeding her food and magic until she looked healthy.
When he sat down on the bed, he found a small note on her pillow.
[Thank you for saving my life. I hope to pay you back someday.]
Underneath the note, she left the dog tags. He picked it up and pressed his lips together.
"Well, Anna Dunn. You promised to pay me back. You've made a contract with a demon. There is no going back," he said to the nothingness.
- - - - -
"Master, are you sure that you are alright?"
"Hmm?"
"I asked if you were alright?"
Ladislas blinked a few times and looked up into the concerned face of Penelope.
"I'm fine," he answered automatically and lowered his eyes to his dinner which was sitting untouched on his plate.
'I wonder if she is hungry right now.'
"Master, you know you can talk to me if something is bothering you, right?"
Ladislas looked at her critically. "You've been a human for a century and you are suddenly acting like them?" he scolded. "Don't forget that a wild lion who cultivated and made a deal with a demon has zero emotional knowledge about the things of the world. You can't help me."
His tone was irritated and when Penelope quietened down, Ladislas felt a prickle of guilt out of the blue. He sighed before answering. "I know you mean well. I am fine. I think I have a headache," he lied.
Penelope looked confused. Then she looked out to their yard and gave a knowing look. "You spent a long time in the garden with the lavender and poppies, maybe that is the cause." And then she stopped. "But you never get headaches. Do you think human medicines would work?" she asked and immediately started to rummage through her overstuffed bag which she had dropped beside her chair right after coming home. Ladislas was sure that she could live out of that bag for days if she had to.
"No. I just need a little fresh air," Ladislas told her and stood up to leave, bringing his plate with him.
He looked at the uneaten sandwich before he tossed it in the trash.