The Blood of the Soul

Who Protects the Protector?

A/N: This isn't necessarily a trigger warning since there's no actual spice happening, but there is a bit of nonsexual blood play in this chapter.

"Are we going to tell her?" Theo whispered. They were on their third train of the night, and the subway was almost completely empty in the early hours of the morning. Theo was determined to take multiple trains in odd directions just to throw anyone off their trail. Liam was either too in shock or too exhausted to argue with his plan.

"No." Liam's dull eyes flicked to Theo. "It'll just scare her."

Theo bit back a retort. He'd go to the ends of the earth to protect the little girl curled up between them, but she was stronger than anyone gave her credit for. She could handle knowing that her life was in danger. Technically, it had been ever since she set foot in Manhattan.

"Are... you okay?" Theo dared to ask.

Something simmered in the air between them then.

"Fine."

Theo let the lie slide. The slayer would talk when he was ready, and Theo wasn't included to push him.

"Two more stops." Theo's bones creaked as he stood with his duffle and cracked his neck a few times. "After this, it's just the ferry and then..."

Some sixth sense had his stomach tightening and his spine locking up. Someone was watching them.

"Theo?" Liam asked, on high alert. "What is it?"

Theo crumpled one of the many fliers he'd ripped from the walls of the subway tunnel in his hand, but word got around the supernatural community fast—too fast. And despite the train whipping around a corner, Theo peered through the subway car in front of them where the door had just opened for a handful of demons. They weren't vampires, but they were humanoid enough to be passable with larger jackets.

Theo gripped the railing above him to steady himself as the train slowed for the next stop.

"Hood. Up." Theo told Liam, and to his surprise, the slayer actually pulled his hood up over his curling brown hair without arguing. Then Liam draped Mia's pink blanket over her hair and shook her shoulder until she stirred, blinking rapidly at their somber expressions.

The train pulled into the underground station, where a group of people were huddled around a pillar in long, thick coats. No, not people.

"More demons." Theo tipped his head at the group.

Their options were limited. If they stayed on the train, the demons one car over would likely spot them, and they'd be trapped in this goddam car without an escape. Or, they could make a run for it and grab a different train to Whitehall, where they'd hop on the short ferry ride to Staten Island.

Theo rattled off the next train they'd need to Liam.

"Lay low, and if they spot you, run." Theo caught the slayer's eye. "And be safe."

"If who spots us?" Mia asked, but Theo was already making his way to the opposite end of the car near the other demons just in case they'd already spotted them, just in case they decided to ambush them in the station. Only a handful of other people were traveling in the same car as them, and one of them happened to be carrying a large coffee and reading a book.

As the doors slid open, Theo snatched the coffee, earning a loud shout of dismay from the woman, and swiftly stepped into the station. A quick glance at the subway times told him they had all of four minutes to get to their next train. If they didn't, they'd be sitting ducks for the next 20 minutes.

As Liam and Mia started their journey across the station, Theo tuned into the sounds of the subway. The screeching of the brakes, the wind whipping through the tunnels, the soft thrumming of a guitar, the half-asleep chatter amongst the early morning travelers, the shuffling of feet—and the movement of the demons as they stepped off the train.