17- She calls me eyebrows

I can't find Hannah anywhere. She's not in her room or in the house. I just got home from the restaurant and can't find her. I don't know why but whenever I get home, I always look for her now. I look at my watch. 9 pm. She had told me she was having some drinks after classes with her friends but still, she should have been home hours ago.

Dialling her number, I hear it ringing inside. I hang up and walk in the direction of the balcony for the sound is coming from there. Nobody is there. I take out my phone and redial. It rings behind me. Where could she be I think, for I don't like when she consumes alcohol. Does this mean she's home? Or does it mean she left it home this morning? I pick up her phone and look at the screen before putting it back down, and hanging up.

Wait- I'm curious to know what she has stored me under. I pick it up and press redial on my phone and look at the screen, my right eyebrow arching.

'Eyebrows'- she stored me under eyebrows?

Warmness spread again inside my chest area and I smile. Well, that is better than 'demon man' I guess, which is what I figured she had saved me as. Maybe even 'that assh*le'…or something similar to those words, but no, she calls me eyebrows. I replace the phone and take off my jacket and light up a smoke. I relax my shoulders as I lean on the wall thinking- ah V. I dial her cell phone and I hear silence in her background. "Hannah with you?"

"No, I'm asleep- wait," and I hear a shuffling sound then, "no, why? Is she missing?"

"Where are you?" I ask her, folding my long-sleeves up to just above my elbows almost unconsciously.

"In my room, in bed…do you want me to check for you," she says and I hear the thickness in her sleep-like voice.

Did V just check her bed to see if Hannah was there? I frown as I look at my phone, just as I would have looked at V had she been in front of me. "No, go back to sleep."

"Are you home?" I hear the heavy deep set of her sleepy voice once more and I regret waking her up.

"Yes, I just came in-"

She hung up. I guess she was waiting on me. I take the last pull from my cigarette just as V came in wrapping herself around my waist and slides down on my finger. This is where she gets the best rest, on me.

My mind is on Hannah again, was she with her boyfriend? Wouldn't she text me if she was going to be out? Ignoring the little nag I feel when I think of her little boyfriend, I put out the butt and go down to my office to check the camera footage, not overly worried but concerned for her safety. I see K come in and I see him leave with me. Nobody else leaves and nobody comes in. So, Hannah is somewhere in the house and immediately my mind is in a better place after I know she's safe, so I head to my room to shower.

I am wiping my head dry just as my phone chimes on my dresser. I pick it up and I feel the blood drain from my face. My human is in danger. Dropping the towel, I hurriedly pull-on sweats and a t-shirt to go in search of Hannah when I saw a movement on my bed. My hand is already on the door to go search for Hannah in the house when I glance back.

A hand was throwing back my black silk sheet, revealing a fully dressed but sleeping Hannah. I was standing at my bedroom door, in full panic mode thinking, I hope she wasn't taken through non-visibility- for a camera couldn't pick up that- and she was… in my bed.

Letting out a deep relieved breath, my mind is immediately at ease. I don't get angry as I normally do when I see her sneakers sticking out from beneath the sheet. I don't go in to work as a soul collector when my human is in danger.

My mind is at ease again for I know she is safest as long as she is inside our home and I know she has no class tomorrow and Hannah rarely leaves when she has no classes.

***

Sunlight woke me the next morning. I yawn loudly as I get up and stretch. I feel so tired although I slept the entire night away because the couch is uncomfortable. I light a cigarette and enjoy the morning air on the balcony before I head down to the kitchen. Seeing coffee is already on, I look around her because V is still on my finger.

Not seeing anyone I head back upstairs to my room, Hannah is gone and dammit…my bed is unmade. Quickly neatening it up, I knock on her bedroom door but get no answer. Opening it, I peep in…empty.

Heading back down on bare feet, I go from room to room looking for Hannah. Not seeing her I try my best to not go into a full panic as I walk to the downstairs washroom.

Hannah is exiting it as I get there but she ignores me until I re-join her in the kitchen.

"Why did I end up on your bed?" she asks as she sips on her coffee and then adds more creamer.

"And good morning to you too." I laugh then reply, "How would I know, shouldn't that be my question?" as I add sugar to mine. I like sugar. The more the merrier. "I slept on –"

"I know but it's your bed, you should have woken me up," she looks at me with her eyebrows all bent which I have come to like as she stirs her coffee.

"No, you live here, it's fine, it is your house," I say to her and she places the tiny spoon on a saucer in front of her.

"I know-"

"You had too much to drink, it's fine."

"Still, you could have slept in another room," she argues back and shakes her body like a spoiled child would when he did not get his way but I know she meant differently. Annoying but cute.

"Why did you sleep on the couch? And upstairs? The couch is bigger downstairs," she went on.

I did because I wanted to be close to her in case. An intruder does not always come through doors and in my case- they definitely would not. She was upstairs so I had to be too to get to her as fastest as I could…if I needed which I didn't…just why exactly didn't I sleep in the spare bedroom? Or V's, for she was on my finger.

Or the more appropriate couch downstairs?

"Hannah, you are in danger. For the next twenty-four-"

"Again? Is somebody trying to kill me?" her face is full of concern.

"I don't know," I answer honestly, "I got the message last night so-"

"Oh, well isn't it better if you had stayed with me? I was in the right place after all," she mumbled the last part to herself.

Moreover, she is right but I did not want her to feel violated in any way, which is why I left her there. I figured if the person knew who I was and figured out where I resided then they would not look in my room, that was also why I left her there. But now that I think about it- if they had indeed come in and seen me on the couch, they would know to look for her elsewhere if she was not in her room- well, that was a stupid reason for her to stay in my room.

And who would know anyway? Except V and Wolf and Darcus were the only ones from his realm who knew where I live. And Wolf and Darcus only saw the inner part of the house from downstairs, walking a few feet inside alone, from the front door to my office. They had no idea where I slept. The other demons just knew my area where my human was located, for we were all separated by territories so who could- my eyes widen- K.

He was here a few times. Is his obvious affection for V a cover? I had to meet with him later, so it was a good time to observe him. I really dislike that I have to be suspicious of my own kind. Demons were better that the pettiness of humans. It was human nature to be jealous and unkind…yes that's me describing humanity in the nicest way I can. Of course, not all humans are bad just as all angels and demons weren't always good.

"I'm sorry about my shoes," Hannah broke into my thoughts," I know you don't like it when I wear my shoes indoors- and on your furniture and now on your bed," she gulps, "I'm sorry. I'll do my best to wear them only in my room-"

"It's fine. Yes, you can make a bigger effort and remove them by the door when you come in, yes?" I said in a robot-like tone.

I had taken her shoes off last night before I left. Truly, I do not understand how people can walk in the dirty streets outside and then in their homes wearing the same thing. And some like her- in their beds and couches.

She stares at me and agrees.

"Think of the housekeeper that has to clean up your stink?" I say to her with a slight furrow between my eyebrows as I sip from my mug.

She nods.

V emerges from my ring then and yawns. Hannah smiles at her and gets up to make her a cup of coffee.

My phone rings then and I see it's K. I had made an appointment today with him when he parted from me yesterday. I wasn't even dressed. And I did tell him to pass in the morning but I did not mean as I got up. Everyone else knew in the morning meant after nine.

In my office, K is all smiles.

"It's great to be working with you," he says.

"What?" I furrow my forehead and raise an eyebrow- ah I see why she calls me eyebrows.

"Train me?" K has his hands in his pants pockets and he leans forward when he speaks then takes a seat, crossing his legs.

I am still lost as I stare at him for his words are so random and false sounding.

"Nobody told you?" he shifts on his seat making me uncomfortable.

You know that feeling you get at the back of your head when you know something inauspicious is about to happen? I feel it right now. I do not miss his look of astonishment when I shout, "Get out," and raise my left hand over my right shoulder and reach down, stretching my fingers out as I grab the handle of my, normally dormant and unseen whip and pull. With lightning speed and accuracy, I swing my hand just as K's eyes widen in surprise by my sudden movement and he stands up.

Within the same half-second however, my golden but almost translucent whip, wraps its long narrow body around him and he stumbles back on the seat tied.

"V, get in here," I yell out, hoping that she understood by my tone that the seriousness of the situation was implied and that I didn't want Hannah to see this.

"What?" he says stupefied for despite my words, I had done the exact opposite and held him instead of allowing him to leave.

From his ankles straight up to his armpits are wrapped tightly with my thin cord. He will not escape even if he struggles- which he's not doing. I'm sure he knows it's a waste of time and effort as he also has one and he knows the damage it can do. This is the only thing that can harm a demon and they were given to us, for situations similar to this.

"You will not harm her," I say to him, piercing him a stony glare, as he looks down at his bound legs.