Torin is the first to move. He steps forward, reaching out to help me steady Laura, but before he can reach us she staggers back.

“I’m fine. You don’t need to help.” She insists. She tries to take another step and goes tumbling into Kyle who catches her. He’s shorter than her too but apparently is much stronger than I am either way because he is able to guide her back to a chair.

Torin wordlessly steps back and returns to his position lounging against the wall but I’m a little confused. Why was Laura so against accepting his help? I was the one who asked for help in the first place, and she had no issues collapsing into me or half tackling Kyle.

Is it just because he’s her boss? Or is she actually frightened of him? I don’t know why she would be, I mean sure he LOOKS intimidating, but I’ve only known him for like five minutes and I can tell he’s a decent person.

Not to mention that as intimidating as he might be, the guy is hot. If I had to ‘accidentally’ stumble into someone, he would be my first choice. Maybe she knows something that I don’t know. But I don’t think it matters all that much. He saved me and he was gentle when taking care of my injury.

Sure, he’s TECHNICALLY keeping me captive here, but I don’t think he’s particularly thrilled about it. I’d prefer to make my judgments based on what I actually know and as far as I can tell, Torin is someone who makes me feel safe. That’s good enough for me, for now at least.

Torin pushes himself off the wall and approaches me.

“I will do what I can to make it comfortable for you here. It’s a bit late for me to do much tonight, but if you figure out what you might need, Laura can go fetch it for you tomorrow. She can collect things from your home and we can buy the rest.” He says sternly. I raise an eyebrow.

“Look, I don’t know how you’re planning for this to work, but if I don’t work I can’t afford to buy anything. I get by but I don’t have a lot in the way of savings.” I admit. Torin shrugs.

“You’re technically my prisoner. I’ll provide for you while you’re here, within reason that is.” He adds as a side note, probably worrying that I’ll want fancy five star dinners and designer clothes or something. I sigh. I don’t like the idea of spending his money, but if I can’t work it’s not like I really have a lot of other options. A girl’s gotta eat.

“Fine, tomorrow I can give work a call and let them know that I won’t be in for a while and-” I cut myself off when Torin starts shaking his head.

“What now?” I groan.

“I’ll be taking your phone. The whole point of keeping you here is so that you can’t tell anyone what you saw. There wouldn’t be any point if you could just call for help.” He explains. I narrow my eyes.

“I’m starting to think that you guys all have trust issues.” I confess and I think I see the slightest hint of amusement in his eyes before it quickly fades. I might even have imagined it.

“Wait, you’re asking if I’m scared of Torin? Seriously? Of course not. Why would I be? At this point he’s basically my hero, even if he won’t give me back my phone.” I grumble. Nudging his side with my elbow playfully. I’m complaining, but it’s good natured. I can do without my phone for a few days and hopefully this won’t take too long to sort out. I really am just grateful to be alive. I’ll probably be upset by it all later, but above all else I’m just glad I ran into Torin. I mean seriously, I was being chased by a monster, what were the chances of me running into someone who was actually capable of scaring him off AND was willing to help, even if there are consequences.

“No, Torin doesn’t scare me.” I reiterate. Laura and Kyle seem baffled. Torin himself looks as stoic as ever. He didn’t respond to my elbowing him, not even a dirty look or something. I’m going to take that to mean he doesn’t mind and continue treating him accordingly.

“Carina… You… You do realise that Torin is… A demon?” Kyle practically whispers the last two words, glancing nervously at the demon standing beside me. I shrug. I didn’t know that actually, but I guess it makes sense. Am I scared of him? Maybe I should be but… He just seems so nice! Having me around can’t be convenient for him and he hasn’t complained once, nor does he seem annoyed at me.

“Nah, I’m not scared of him, even if he is a demon.” Suddenly I feel weird talking about Torin like he isn’t here. I turn to face him properly and look him in the eye.

“I’m not scared of you. If you wanted me dead, all you had to do was nothing.” I point out.