“Well, you left. I have to get home somehow.” I retorted, glaring at him.
He sighed. “I had to get rid of them, dear one. I left them for Satan to find.” A vicious grin briefly flitted across his face.
“We’re calling him Satan now? I thought he preferred Lucifer?”
Seth clapped a hand over his mouth. “Oops. No, we’re not talking about that. That is Lucifer’s territory. Come on, let’s get you patched up.” He approached me with his hands held out.
I straightened from my tree, and took his hands. He watched me carefully, and we were standing outside of a small cabin, nestled in thick bushland. Slowly he let my hands go, making sure I could stand by myself, and opened the door. He gestured for me to enter. I took a step and stumbled. He caught me with an arm around my waist, and guided me inside, seating me on a chair. His overly warm skin was comforting. He glanced down at his blood covered form, and winced. “Give me two seconds, dear one.”
He disappeared briefly, and when he returned, he was clean and soaking wet. He smiled gently, and strode over to a cupboard, sluicing water off of himself with his hands. He pulled bandages, tape, and gauze out, and tossed them onto the table next to me. He found a large bowl, and started to fill it.
“Ah, Seth?” I questioned.
“Hmm?”
“Can we maybe do something about my shoulder sooner rather than later? It’s bothering me more than the blood.” I was trying to be nonchalant, but the pain was clouding my mind.
Ha glanced at me sharply. “Take your shirt off and let me see.”
I frowned at him. He rolled his eyes, and said gruffly, “You’ve got a bra on. I’ve seen you wear more revealing bathers.”
I blushed, and tried to get my ruined shirt off, but I couldn’t manage. I gasped in pain. He gently sliced the shirt to ribbons, getting it off without my having to move at all. “Thanks.” I said awkwardly. He smiled absentmindedly, and studied my shoulder, before carefully and gently trying to move the joint. I screamed. Again. He frowned and shook his head, then closed his eyes for a moment. He looked kind of mad when he opened them again.
“I just tried to call the others. We’ll give them a moment, but if they don’t show up, we’ll have to fix it ourselves.” He fetched me a glass of water, and I sipped at it perfunctorily.
After a couple of minutes, Seth shook his head in annoyance, and said, “I guess it’s just us. Lay on the ground, on your back.” Gingerly, I did as instructed. “Ok, it’s dislocated. We’re going to have to pop it back in.” His tone was business like.
“Shouldn’t I go to a hospital?!” I exclaimed, looking at him worriedly.
Seriously, he stared back at me. “I can take you to a hospital if you want. But then your mum will find out how badly you’re hurt. Or I can patch you up, and you can tell her you tripped in the bush but it was no big deal, just a few scrapes and bruises. As long as you keep your shirt on around her until you’re healed.”
“Can you, though? I mean, do you know about… this?” I was worried.
He smiled bitterly, looked away for a moment, then met my eyes again. “I’m even better at human anatomy than I am at human nature. And for once I’m not being sleazy. Too sleazy, anyway.” He smirked at me, trying to lighten the mood maybe.
I sat up and shoved his chest with my good arm. “Read the room, arsehole!” I yelled. “I’m laying here half naked and torn to pieces, and you’re there even more naked with soaking wet boxers on… Fuck you!”
He laughed at me. I tried to kill him. It wasn’t a very forceful attempt, with only one good arm, but I tried.
“Come on, you’re just going to hurt yourself.” Seth said indulgently, easily brushing me aside. I snarled at him. “Look, I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have said that. Let me help you. Lie down.”
I complied, glaring at him.
“Ok.” His tone was business-like, clinical. “We usually do this with two of us, so we’ll have to make do since my useless siblings are nowhere to be found. I’m going to hold your torso down with my knees, put one hand on your shoulder to stabilise the joint, take your arm with my other hand, and put it back into place. It will hurt. A lot. Do you want me to do that, or should we go to a hospital and work out a story for your mother?”
I took a deep breath. “Do it.” I closed my eyes.
I felt him straddle me, holding my ribs gently but firmly between his knees. He put one hand on my shoulder, near my collarbone, and took my arm in his other hand. “Try to relax, dear one.” He said gently. I snorted. He took a deep breath, and pulled my arm out, rotating it until the joint popped back into place with a thunk. He was right. It did hurt. A lot.
“Motherfucker!” I screamed.
Seth got off me, and helped me back onto the chair. “It should be feeling better already.” He said cautiously.
“Ah, yeah, actually. It does. Thank you.”
“Now for the rest.” He took the bowl of water, and gently and efficiently cleaned the blood off me. He closed my wounds with steri-strips, mentioning they weren’t deep enough for stitches. Yay, I guess. Finally he taped my shoulder, giving it support while it healed. “There.” He said, satisfied with his handiwork. “Pray to me after you’ve had a shower tomorrow night, I’ll change all this for you.”
I took a deep breath. “Will you come?”
“Of course!” He exclaimed, taking my hand.
I looked into his cobalt eyes, tears pricking mine. “Where were you today? Where were the others? Where are the others?” Hot tears started to fall.
His face fell. “They… they must still be doing some diplomatic thing. They’ve got prayers on… mute, I guess is the best way to explain to it.” He shifted uncomfortably.
“What about you? Where were you? What took you so long?” Tears were streaming down my face.
He looked embarrassed, and said quietly, “I was with a pet.” He refused to meet my eyes.
I frowned, and took in the way he was dressed- undressed, really- and how dishevelled he had looked when he first appeared. “Wow.” I said flatly. “You were fucking some bitch.”
“Katie…” His eyes were pleading.
“Does she know about you? Or were you wearing your glamour? Did you make her do… whatever?” I gestured to him, and he hunched over, as if my words were knives.
“Yes, he knows about me. No, I never forced him. He thinks he’s in love with me, but it’s just hero worship, like all the other pets.” He refused to meet my eyes. “It’s… It’s a relief from what I have to do, every day. A distraction.” He finally looked at me, his eyes pleading for me to understand. I’d never seen him look vulnerable before.
“Did you hear me?” My breath caught in my throat.
“What?”
“Did you hear me? When I first started praying for you?”
He closed his eyes. “Yes.” He admitted softly.
I sobbed, before choking out, “You ignored me, because you were getting your dick sucked, and I almost died. I would have died if they didn’t want to torture me first.”
He squeezed his eyes shut, and a tear tracked down his cheek. “Wait here.” And disappeared.
“Where the fuck would I go?!” I screamed into the empty room. I noticed a simple bed in the corner of the single room, and curled up on it, sobs wracking my body as I hugged myself. “You fuckers!” I screamed. “You fuckers.” I