8- To Wahlborn Grove.

The next morning Quays woke to the warmth of Tau sleeping soundly next to her. His hair smelled of gardenias and his skin of a mild soap. When she moved her arm, he rolled over onto his back. From that angle he seemed so peaceful. The harsh line of his chronically furrowed brow had relaxed, softening his appearance. She wondered if he even realized how angry he always looked holding the expression he did, or if he was oblivious of his ability to move his facial muscles. Either way, in the light of the morning sun, he was actually quite striking. His masculine features more visible with his hair pulled away by gravity. Even though he had been only wrapped in a towel for most of the night, she now came to realize how sturdy of a build he had as her hand rested on top of his chest. She could feel the stretch and pull of his muscles with the rise and fall of his gentle breathing, ribs and sternum just beneath his flesh.

Quays watched as Tau's eyes slowly opened and he turned to face her.

"Good morning," she whispered, tapping her fingers against the center of his chest.

"I'm still with you," he replied as he reached up and wrapped his hand around hers.

"Yeah, you're still here. You seemed to have slept better once you moved onto the bed."

"I dreamed of us, walking in the sun. You let me hold your hand. The green faded away and you were still with me."

"That sounds nice. We should try it later today."

"Can I hold you?" He questioned as he turned onto his side a gentle look lingering in his eyes, one of curiosity.

"For a little while, but we can't spend all day in bed. We have things to do," she replied rolling over, putting her back to him.

"Like this?" he asked as he wrapped his arm over her waist, stretching his other arm out beneath her neck.

"Yes, but here," she said as she grabbed his hand and pulled it to her chest forcing him to move closer, "like this. Now you can't get away from me."

"But I don't want to get away from you. I want to hold you closer."

"Hold me however you want Tau, just as long as you're comfortable."

With permission he pulled her back until there was no room left between them. He buried his face against the side of her neck and took a long, slow, deep breath. "You're warm. I want to stay like this."

"Yeah, that would be really nice, if it were possible." Her cheeks grew warm at the thought, but soon faded. She knew this couldn't last. Eventually, he was going to leave her, he didn't belong in this world no matter how nice being around him felt. And it did feel nice. His fingers were long and slender, and they folded against hers, intertwining perfectly. "You said, you saw me in the green. What is it that you see? Can you tell me?"

"Everything the light touches appears around me. I've seen you sit at this table, and I have sat at your side. I've watched you write your questions and wait for my replies."

"You can see me?" She tensed at the implications. How many times had she performed that ritual topless or completely nude fresh from the shower? Even more concerning was how often she had let the candle burn as she laid on her bed after, taking care of her own needs, reveling in the satisfaction of speaking with a reaper, her reaper.

"Yes," he moaned as he snuggled against her, "I could never take my eyes off you." Her heart pounded as she rolled onto her back, looking up at him while he continued to speak, "I was mesmerized by watching you. The way you would lay here, the way you would move, the way your expressions changed." His hand slowly trailed up the center of her chest and then back down to her lower stomach. "Even thinking about that now, it makes me want to get closer to you. You were always so lovely bathed in the green." He lowered his head, pressing his ear to her chest. "I could never hear you though. I could only watch and wonder what sounds you made. I would find a place where I could lay next to you, but it wasn't like this. You were only an image. I like this better."

Quayleigh found herself speechless for a moment, slowly embracing him. She was uncertain of how to respond to what he had said. For as flattering as it had been, there was an innocence behind his words. Despite the intimate nature of the moments he had witnessed, he saw nothing of the sexual nature of her behavior, because he didn't understand what it was, he was seeing.

Quayleigh now found herself in an unusual dilemma, an ethical quandary that left her mind spinning. She wanted to let him be as he was, she enjoyed the proximity as much as he, and she wanted to let him experience even this part of being human, even if he wasn't one. But he was trapped in someone else's body, and there was still a question of whether Dylan did this to himself, or if it had been done to him. And then there was his nature; how would she be any different to the man who took advantage of her when she was still a child if she allowed this behavior to continue when she was uncertain of what he understood? Physically, he was a grown man, but emotionally, he was impressionable, ignorant and child-like. Enjoyment, pleasure, desire; these things did not equate to consent, and was it even right for him to consent even if he did understand what it all meant, in a body that debatably wasn't really his?

In that moment, Quayleigh had no answers to these questions. She knew from her own experiences how it felt to be in his position, a slave to desires, enjoyment, and pleasures and to not fully understand why or how these things could be wrong, or inappropriate, or harmful. Teaching him healthy and respectful behavior was important, educating him was a must, but determining the lines between helping him understand himself and not letting things go too far before he was ready regardless of what his body was telling him, was an incredibly hard thing to judge. Lines like this could be blurry, and her own experiences had made it even more difficult for her to think about.

"We should get up now," she said after a few minutes had gone by.

"Can we do this again?"

"Yeah, but I think we need to talk about a few things first."

Lifting his head, he looked at her, examining her features more closely than he had before. "I've never seen that expression on you before. What does it mean?"

"It's nothing. I was just thinking about everything we needed to do today," she replied offering him a smile.

"You know, your eye is even more brilliant when you smile."

"Thanks Tau. That's really nice of you to say. Now why don't you go use the bathroom and get dressed while I make us some coffee?"

Tau nodded and climbed out of the bed. Sitting up, Quays immediately covered her eyes and reached under the covers pulling out his towel, "Tau, you forgot something."

"Oh," he remarked as he took the towel from her and unabashedly stood before her with it in his hand, "I don't understand this, not really. I've seen you, in the green, without your cloths. I know I'm supposed to wear them when I go outside, but in your home, it seems strange to wear them. This is far more comfortable. And it doesn't make my skin itch so much."

"To complicated to explain before coffee. As long as you wear your underwear, you don't have to put anything else on, unless we are going to go outside or someone else is here. I know you said that your skin itched before, so if this is more comfortable… I mean, this is your home now too. You should be able to be comfortable here," she remarked as she stretched cracking her back. "Don't forgot to brush your teeth."

"Ok." Tau went to the dryer and pulled out his cloths as she headed into the kitchen to put on the kettle.

Teeth were brushed, the bed was made, and Tau sat around in his boxers trying to read the book she had left out on the table the night before. Once the coffee was made, she brought him a mug, and to her surprise, he actually enjoyed it. She preferred tea herself, but a cup of coffee in the morning helped to get her moving.

"Can you help me?" Tau asked as he held out the book to her.

"With what?"

"I think I found another mark, but I don't know how to identify it. I looked through the book, but I don't see anything that looks like it."

Quayleigh groaned and took the book. Having seen no other tattoos on him, aside from the large one on his back, she could only image where the mark was that he had found, and it was limited to the bottoms of his feet, and the region of his body that was currently covered by his boxers, previously with a towel. "Ok, let's get this over with. Show me the mark."

"It's here," he said as he shifted the waistband of his boxers down exposing the curly, kinked, black hair of his pubic region.

"Yeah, Dylan was an idiot." Quays sighed as she moved over to her bookshelf and pulled out a tattered tome held together by duct tape and wishes. "That's a Tantra rune. What a fucking moron."

Opening the book to near the middle, she flipped threw a few pages as he asked the obvious question, "What's a tantra rune?"

"To be blunt, it's sex magic. Fun stuff, but stupid to make permanent. Although given your current predicament, Dylan wasn't into making good life choices," she snickered as she handed him the book. "That's probably the Vastilem rune, but in this moment, I'm not going to examine it further to make sure. All you need to know, is that Dylan can't have kids, and given how old that looks, you're probably going to be completely impotent within the next five years. On the upside…," she paused as she looked at the clock, "I'll discuss the rest of this with you later. You need to finish getting dressed because we need to get going. We have to be back here by two, cause Shane's coming by with the groceries."

Tau nodded and as he finished getting dressed, Quayleigh gathered a few things into a backpack. Keys in hand, wallets in pockets, sunglasses and shoes on, and they were out the door of her apartment. They walked a couple of blocks further into the city before reaching a place where they hailed a cab. Ten minutes later they arrived in front a large building in the center of Wahlborn Grove, the giant white block letters over the door introducing her to the Grove Estate Tower.

"Well shit, don't you have expensive tastes."

"This is familiar. I came from somewhere in there."

"According to your ID, you live in condo 1201," she said as she looked up and started counting the balconies up the front of the building, "probably halfway up by the looks of it. So rich, but not super rich."

"I don't know what that means."

"It means that if you come from here, someone is going to know who you are. And that means, that while we're here, your name is Dylan Kirkwood, and this is your home."

Making their way into the lobby, they were greeted by an older man wearing a burgundy blazer and black tie, who was sitting behind an extravagant cherry wood desk situated next to the main elevator, "Mr. Kirkwood, welcome back."

"Thank you," Tau replied uncertain of what else to say.

"Would you like to take your mail with you now or should I continue to hold on to it?"

"We'll take it now," Quayleigh spoke up as she wrapped her arm around Tau's and leaned against his side, hiding the left side of her face from the man's view.

"Very well, I'll be back in a moment." The man seemed suspicious of Quayleigh, eyeing her as he left the desk and entered a small room around the corner.

"I didn't realize this place was going to have a concierge," she whispered as she looked around, "and fairy discreet security too."

"And here you are," the man remarked as he came back to the desk with a bag full of mail.

"Thank you," Tau replied as he took the bag.

"Allow me to call the elevator for you," the man said as he sat back down at his desk.

"Thank you," Tau replied again, the situation feeling more awkward with every moment that passed.

When the elevator arrived, Tau and Quayleigh stepped on and once inside the door closed and began to move on its own.

"He must be controlling it. Must be part of the security here," she whispered to him uncertain if the camera in the elevator could record audio too.

When the door opened, they stepped off into a small lobby area, a long hallway dividing the two sides of the building with an emergency staircase at the far end, and a door on either side.

"This looks like the place," she commented pointing to the door on the left, a bronze plaque next to it reading 1201 Kirkwood.

It took a few tries, but she soon found the key to the deadbolt and opened the door, where they were immediately struck by a putrid stench, foul enough to even make Tau gag.