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"...and it hurt, don't get me wrong.  But then the demons all start freaking out like 'you promised us a new emperor' and 'why didn't it work' and just spazzing the hell out."

Lita nodded, frowning deeply.  She, Eddie, and Ophelia were sitting at the front of the bus together, while Eddie told them about what had happened back with the demons.  The Deuce was being towed behind the bus...Eddie had wanted to drive back to Bladehenge himself, but Ophelia refused to leave his side and Lita insisted on being briefed immediately on what the demons had tried to do to her royal adviser, and rather than trying to squeeze both women in the car, he'd just arranged to have it brought back and he rode with them on the bus.  Right now he was settled in one seat, absentmindedly tuning his guitar, with Ophelia with him, and Lita across from them both.

"So they were trying to make you into their new emperor?" Lita asked, a little confused.  "Why would they pick you?"

"Believe me, I was wondering the same thing.  I guess they figured that since I'm a direct descendent of one of the emperors, that maybe I...I...shit, I don't even know.  They were saying stuff about the humans using a half-demon so they'd use a half-human, blah blah blah."  Eddie shook his head.  "That Warfather said something about touching my inner demon, which I guess meant they were trying to bring that all up to the surface...though all it did was make me want to take a really, really hot bath."  He made a face, shaking his head slightly as he finally set the guitar down next to him.

"But they're all direct descendents of an emperor," Ophelia responded.  "They're all...uh...disgustingly related..."

"Like I said, I don't know either, Ophs.  They're demons.  Maybe it was just revenge.  Maybe it's because of their hierarchy...they need one person at the top to do all the breeding."  Eddie shuddered slightly and rubbing a hand across his face.  "Seriously, such a hot bath."

"But then where did they come from?  We haven't seen any more demons since the end of the war, and we've had scouts patrolling all over," Lita said, resting her chin in her hand.  They stayed silent a moment, before Lita finally sat back up.  "Eddie, I'd feel better if you stayed in Bladehenge for now.  They apparently came looking specifically for you, and we don't know if that group was acting on their own or if this is something all the demons have gotten into their heads."

"What, you don't think I can take care of myself?"

"I know you can handle demons...more than the rest of us, even.  But they can still outnumber you, sneak up on you...especially with how isolated your house is."

"I can see anything coming from miles away from my house..." Eddie protested.  "I built it planning that it could get attacked.  I've got a light cannon from the stage mounted on top of it!"

"I just...just would feel better," Lita said.  "Just until we can spread the word to everyone else and arrange for more patrols and better defenses everywhere. A day or two tops."

"I think I'd feel safer staying closer to everyone else too, Eddie," Ophelia said, putting a hand on his leg.  "At least tonight."

Eddie shook his head slightly, holding up one hand to silence them, a bit resigned.  "All right, all right, fine, we'll stay close till the patrols are reorganized.  But if I stay up all night partying with the boys, I'd better not get lectured."

"Fine," the women both said at once, before Ophelia leaned back against him.  He sat back in his seat, putting an arm around her, rubbing his face a little.  Lita sat back as well, crossing her arms and looking out the window.  Killmaster and two of his men were driving on either side of the bus...they had seen to healing the worst of the injuries, but were going to tag along to Bladehenge...and better safety...before taking care of anyone who wasn't too seriously hurt.  She rubbed her arms again, again silently hating the fact that she had let herself get even slightly out of practice.  Sure, she had a lot more responsibilities now, and war hadn't been a part of their lives in quite a while...but she shouldn't have let her guard down so completely.

They would have to remedy that...set back up all the old training dummies and resume using them.  They wouldn't be caught off guard like this again.

( )

By that night, things had been taken care of.  The stage was fixed, the bassists had taken care of everything, and Killmaster had, in his usual acerbic way, reminded everyone to please try to stop getting their asses kicked when he wasn't around to patch the extra holes, and been on his way.  Though all the different societies lived in relative harmony now, Killmaster and his men still greatly preferred their privacy, and tended to keep to themselves at the summit of Tophat Mountain.  The other tribes were the same way...the Zaulia and the Fire Barons, as well as the Roadies, all kept to their own territories, but stayed on friendly terms with each other (well, the Zaulia and Fire Barons were about as likely to set each other on fire as wave hello, but being two tribes of warriors, that didn't seem bother any of them).

Still, even with only a fraction of humanity living in Bladehenge, it was incredibly rare for Eddie to find any of the bathing pools empty, and he was taking full advantage of the fact.  The large hot tubs, constructed after the end of the war and big enough to handle 20 or so people at a time, could usually be found full of folks, either bathing, partying, or just relaxing.  But for once, at least this one was empty, and he enjoyed the chance to get as comfortable as possible in the water.

Bathing...hadn't exactly been a huge priority to most of humanity when he arrived. Aside from Lionwhyte and his favored few, most people were slaves or scavengers who had no time for anything but mere survival.  Eddie was a modern man, though, and rather used to the concept of cleanliness.  It was the one habit of his that the others in Bladehenge seemed to consider somewhat silly...though as soon as the war was over and he'd rigged up the first tub towards the outer edge of the village, they had become wildly popular with the ladies, so he hadn't gotten made fun of for long over it.  Now everyone made frequent use of them, and although Eddie still wasn't quite used to the concept of public baths, since no one else had any different experience to be embarrassed by it, he just rolled with it.

But having some quiet time to himself in Bladehenge was a rare treat, and he laid back in the water, heated from a wood fire at the opposite end to avoid scalding, eyes closed, then took a breath, sliding under for just a second and coming back up.  He shook his hair out of his face, then looked around, locating a bottle of shampoo on one side.  He had no idea where the Razorgirls kept getting these, he assumed Lionwhyte had kept a stash of it somewhere...or somebody just knew how to make it, though no one had told him if that was the case.  Either way, there always seemed to be some floating around, and he wasn't the least bit ashamed to make use of it.

He hadn't been kidding about needing a hot bath.  He wanted to be sure to scrub every last speck of demon off.  Just getting touched by one of those nasty fuckers was about the same as picking up a garbage can and dumping it all over yourself as far as he was concerned.  Fortunately Ophelia had been too distracted fixing up their room for the night to notice him slipping off...she'd been glued to his side all day, and while he understood it was just nerves after the attack, he just wanted a couple seconds to breathe.  He knew he was going to get chewed out once she inevitably tracked him down, but at least for now it was peaceful.

Eddie tried not to contemplate his own demon side too much. It just was what it was, and he couldn't change it, so there was no reason to get all woe-is-me over it, but that didn't preclude just not thinking about it.  He used it when helpful, and was honest about it when asked, but that was all.  It actually sort of freaked him out a little at how avid Ophelia was about it...she'd wanted him to learn to use it when he would have been more comfortable just pretending it never existed, she'd been the one to convince him to tell the others rather than risk it breaking out somewhere else and it looking like he had been hiding the secret.  Ophelia had...well, she'd definitely developed an appreciation for openness in the last year.  It was a good thing, but still...

Eddie dunked himself to rinse away the lather he'd worked up, then sat up, shaking back his hair again.  He glanced around to be sure he was still alone, then, with a sigh and a slight wince of concentration, went into his demon mode, folding his wings against his back and ducking under the water, flapping them in and out of it a few times.

He had no idea where his wings went when he wasn't using them...he'd asked Killmaster his opinion, and the healer hadn't been much help.  All Killmaster could tell Eddie was that he felt different from anyone else Killmaster had ever had to heal, and all he knew was what was a "normal" level of health for Eddie.  His biology was fundamentally different from full-blooded humans and likely they'd never fully understand it.  So, Eddie wasn't sure if it was necessary, but he tried to keep his wings clean just in case, even if the method he'd figured out to do it did make him feel like the ugliest bird in the weirdest birdbath in existence.

Finally satisfied, he sat back up, and flared his wings out once to stretch them out before shifting back to human, splashing some water on his face.

"You know Ophelia is tearing the place up looking for you," Mangus's voice came from the side, and Eddie opened one eye to look over at him.  Mangus was leaning against the tub, looking slightly amused.

"She knew I was coming here at some point," Eddie answered calmly, wiping his eyes clear of water.

Mangus shrugged slightly, demeanor going a touch more serious.  "You scared the shit outta everybody today, man.  Can't blame her for being spooked.  If the demons had wanted you dead, you'd be dead, and we couldn't'a done nothing."

"Well, that's in the past.  We can't change what happened, but we can plan to be more careful in the future and be grateful we were lucky today."

Mangus raised an eyebrow.  "I know you're more freaked out than you're putting on, Eddie.  You can pretend all you want but I know how you really feel about demons.  I'm amazed you aren't already out hunting for some to kill."

"I promised I'd stay in Bladehenge tonight, so I'm staying.  Toss me a towel, will ya?"

Mangus turned to pick up a black cloth towel from a pile of them at the side of the tub, throwing it to Eddie.  "I'm just saying, you're taking this awful well, considering what they were trying to do to you."

Eddie shook his head, wiping his face dry and draping the towel over the edge, leaning back to get comfortable again.  "Well, they couldn't have done anything to me.  Maybe my body is half demon, but my mind is all human and it always will be.  They can't change that no matter what little tricks they try to play."

Mangus still looked a bit concerned, but he didn't follow up on it.  "All right, well, Lita wants to know if you'll be able to help her reorganize the patrols in the morning.  She says you have a better head for it anyway."

"Yeah, yeah.  You can tell Bloody Mary I'll be there."  He contemplated just a second.  "You know she'd stab both of us in the ass if she knew that wasn't just the name of her car."

"Well how else am I supposed to talk to you about her?  She'd stab us in the ass if she knew we talked about the stuff we talk about.  Thank God she doesn't know anything about cars or we'd already both have spare assholes."

Eddie chuckled a bit, waving Mangus off, and the lanky man snickered as well, shaking his head and turning to head off.  Eddie watched him go, then got to his feet, moving to climb out of the tub, quickly drying off and getting himself dressed.  Just because he was used to public bathing didn't make him fond of it.

Hair still dripping, he put the towel into a different pile of used towels and started out into the center of Bladehenge proper, waving to some of the others who greetted him as he walked.  He wanted to be sure there were a lot of people around when Ophelia tracked him down.  He wasn't scared of her, of course not, but maybe she wouldn't make as much of a scene if-

"EDWARD RIGGS!"

Scratch that theory.

He turned to see Ophelia beelining towards him, with several Headbangers and Bouncers all but diving out of her path.  "Hey, Ophs, I was just on my way back-,"

"You snuck off!"  She walked up and stuck a finger right in his face.  "You waited until my back was turned and took off!  I was talking to you for ten minutes before I realized you weren't there!"

"You knew I was going to the baths tonight," Eddie said with a bit of a lame grin.

"Maybe I wanted to go with you!" she responded, crossing her arms.

"Well...we could go back?"

Ophelia narrowed her eyes, then sighed deeply.  "I wish you wouldn't sneak off from me right now.  It's been a really rough day and I just wanted you with me, okay?"

"I understand, but trust me, everything is fine.  Nothing is gonna happen in Bladehenge.  You're worrying too much."  He put his hands on her shoulders.  "Now we know for sure that demons are still out there, and we'll rearrange to make sure we can see them before they're right on top of us.  What happened today isn't gonna happen again.  Just relax a little, huh, Ophs?"

Ophelia shook her head, pushing in to hug him tightly.  "I just don't want to lose you, Eddie.  You're the best thing that ever happened to me...to any of us-,"

"I wouldn't go that far-,"

"I would!"  She looked up at him.  "Eddie..."

He quickly put a finger to her lips, chuckling somewhat.  "Ophs...I know you're bothered, and I understand why.  When...if it were me, I...well...you know..."  He cleared his throat and started over. "Look...if the demons had gotten after you, if we lost each other again after everything we've been through..."  He shook his head.  "But...we can't let worry about that sort of thing rule our lives or we'll be too paranoid to go out and do the things that we love...and that keep us safe.  Imagine if you'd been too scared to recruit the Roadies and free the girls, you know?"

Ophelia let out a breath...not quite a sigh, but leaned against him.  After a moment she spoke again.  "You smell like soap."

"Well I did just take a bath."

She reached up, grabbing hold of the stage passes he still always wore around his neck.  "Well, you're gonna take another one.  With me."

Eddie grinned a bit, letting himself be pulled along.  "Yes, ma'am."

( )

Lita sat at the end of her bed, staring at the floor in silence.  She could sense rather than see Mangus enter the bedroom behind her.  "Eddie said he's on board to help out tomorrow," he said.

"Good.  Between the three of us, we should be able to put it together fast."

Mangus sat on the bed behind her, and without a word, reached out to lightly rub her shoulders.  "You look tired, babe.  You should try to sleep."

"Ohhh, Mangus."  Lita tilted her head forward a bit, closing her eyes.  "I am tired."  She glanced back at him.  "How was Eddie?"

"In deep denial.  But what do you expect?"

Lita shook her head slightly.  "I feel like I put too much pressure on him sometimes.  Like I've got the weight of the world on my shoulders, but then he's got me on his shoulders, you know what I mean?"

"Nah.  You let him get away with too much in my opinion.  After that whole blood fountain debacle-,"

"Now, maybe I pushed that whole thing a little too hard..." Lita said, wincing at the memory.  "I could have picked a different time to put my foot down so hard over the delegation issue."  She shrugged as much as she could with the massage going on.  "You're probably right, though.  I just don't feel like I should ask too much of him.  Everything he's already done for us...for me, personally..."

"And we're all grateful to him...and he knows that.  And if he wanted to sit on his ass and coast on that for the rest of his life, I imagine most people would be inclined to let him.  But he wants to keep working to make things better, and he needs you to let him know what has to be done."

"He's just made so much of a habit of putting other people ahead of himself...he can't even focus on himself when he might be in real danger..."

"Hey, hey, hey..."  Mangus gripped her shoulders and turned her around, smiling some as he lightly took hold of her chin.  "Everything's okay for right now.  There's plenty of guards out, everyone knows to keep an eye on him, and Ophelia ain't gonna let him out of her sight.  He's fine, and we're fine.  Tomorrow we'll start the hard stuff, but for right now, you gotta rest, babe."

Lita nodded slowly, closing her eyes, letting a smile creep onto her face.  "You're right...you're right."  She opened her eyes to look back at him again.  "I don't thank you nearly enough either, Mangus."

"You ain't gotta thank me, babe.  We're a team, we work good together."

"We do."  Lita leaned forward to give him a quick peck on the lips, chuckling a little.  "And we do have a hard day ahead of us tomorrow.  Why don't we go ahead and get to bed, then?"  She patted his arm, smiling just a bit more, and moved her way past him and up the bed.

"You bet'cha!" Mangus said with his own big grin, getting up and going to the candles lighting the room, blowing each of them out till the room was in total darkness.

Description
"...and it hurt, don't get me wrong.  But then the demons all start freaking out like 'you promised us a new emperor' and 'why didn't it work' and just spazzing the hell out."

Lita nodded, frowning deeply.  She, Eddie, and Ophelia were sitting at the front of the bus together, while Eddie told them about what had happened back with the demons.  The Deuce was being towed behind the bus...Eddie had wanted to drive back to Bladehenge himself, but Ophelia refused to leave his side and Lita insisted on being briefed immediately on what the demons had tried to do to her royal adviser, and rather than trying to squeeze both women in the car, he'd just arranged to have it brought back and he rode with them on the bus.  Right now he was settled in one seat, absentmindedly tuning his guitar, with Ophelia with him, and Lita across from them both.

"So they were trying to make you into their new emperor?" Lita asked, a little confused.  "Why would they pick you?"

"Believe me, I was wondering the same thing.  I guess they figured that since I'm a direct descendent of one of the emperors, that maybe I...I...shit, I don't even know.  They were saying stuff about the humans using a half-demon so they'd use a half-human, blah blah blah."  Eddie shook his head.  "That Warfather said something about touching my inner demon, which I guess meant they were trying to bring that all up to the surface...though all it did was make me want to take a really, really hot bath."  He made a face, shaking his head slightly as he finally set the guitar down next to him.

"But they're all direct descendents of an emperor," Ophelia responded.  "They're all...uh...disgustingly related..."

"Like I said, I don't know either, Ophs.  They're demons.  Maybe it was just revenge.  Maybe it's because of their hierarchy...they need one person at the top to do all the breeding."  Eddie shuddered slightly and rubbing a hand across his face.  "Seriously, such a hot bath."

"But then where did they come from?  We haven't seen any more demons since the end of the war, and we've had scouts patrolling all over," Lita said, resting her chin in her hand.  They stayed silent a moment, before Lita finally sat back up.  "Eddie, I'd feel better if you stayed in Bladehenge for now.  They apparently came looking specifically for you, and we don't know if that group was acting on their own or if this is something all the demons have gotten into their heads."

"What, you don't think I can take care of myself?"

"I know you can handle demons...more than the rest of us, even.  But they can still outnumber you, sneak up on you...especially with how isolated your house is."

"I can see anything coming from miles away from my house..." Eddie protested.  "I built it planning that it could get attacked.  I've got a light cannon from the stage mounted on top of it!"

"I just...just would feel better," Lita said.  "Just until we can spread the word to everyone else and arrange for more patrols and better defenses everywhere. A day or two tops."

"I think I'd feel safer staying closer to everyone else too, Eddie," Ophelia said, putting a hand on his leg.  "At least tonight."

Eddie shook his head slightly, holding up one hand to silence them, a bit resigned.  "All right, all right, fine, we'll stay close till the patrols are reorganized.  But if I stay up all night partying with the boys, I'd better not get lectured."

"Fine," the women both said at once, before Ophelia leaned back against him.  He sat back in his seat, putting an arm around her, rubbing his face a little.  Lita sat back as well, crossing her arms and looking out the window.  Killmaster and two of his men were driving on either side of the bus...they had seen to healing the worst of the injuries, but were going to tag along to Bladehenge...and better safety...before taking care of anyone who wasn't too seriously hurt.  She rubbed her arms again, again silently hating the fact that she had let herself get even slightly out of practice.  Sure, she had a lot more responsibilities now, and war hadn't been a part of their lives in quite a while...but she shouldn't have let her guard down so completely.

They would have to remedy that...set back up all the old training dummies and resume using them.  They wouldn't be caught off guard like this again.

( )

By that night, things had been taken care of.  The stage was fixed, the bassists had taken care of everything, and Killmaster had, in his usual acerbic way, reminded everyone to please try to stop getting their asses kicked when he wasn't around to patch the extra holes, and been on his way.  Though all the different societies lived in relative harmony now, Killmaster and his men still greatly preferred their privacy, and tended to keep to themselves at the summit of Tophat Mountain.  The other tribes were the same way...the Zaulia and the Fire Barons, as well as the Roadies, all kept to their own territories, but stayed on friendly terms with each other (well, the Zaulia and Fire Barons were about as likely to set each other on fire as wave hello, but being two tribes of warriors, that didn't seem bother any of them).

Still, even with only a fraction of humanity living in Bladehenge, it was incredibly rare for Eddie to find any of the bathing pools empty, and he was taking full advantage of the fact.  The large hot tubs, constructed after the end of the war and big enough to handle 20 or so people at a time, could usually be found full of folks, either bathing, partying, or just relaxing.  But for once, at least this one was empty, and he enjoyed the chance to get as comfortable as possible in the water.

Bathing...hadn't exactly been a huge priority to most of humanity when he arrived. Aside from Lionwhyte and his favored few, most people were slaves or scavengers who had no time for anything but mere survival.  Eddie was a modern man, though, and rather used to the concept of cleanliness.  It was the one habit of his that the others in Bladehenge seemed to consider somewhat silly...though as soon as the war was over and he'd rigged up the first tub towards the outer edge of the village, they had become wildly popular with the ladies, so he hadn't gotten made fun of for long over it.  Now everyone made frequent use of them, and although Eddie still wasn't quite used to the concept of public baths, since no one else had any different experience to be embarrassed by it, he just rolled with it.

But having some quiet time to himself in Bladehenge was a rare treat, and he laid back in the water, heated from a wood fire at the opposite end to avoid scalding, eyes closed, then took a breath, sliding under for just a second and coming back up.  He shook his hair out of his face, then looked around, locating a bottle of shampoo on one side.  He had no idea where the Razorgirls kept getting these, he assumed Lionwhyte had kept a stash of it somewhere...or somebody just knew how to make it, though no one had told him if that was the case.  Either way, there always seemed to be some floating around, and he wasn't the least bit ashamed to make use of it.

He hadn't been kidding about needing a hot bath.  He wanted to be sure to scrub every last speck of demon off.  Just getting touched by one of those nasty fuckers was about the same as picking up a garbage can and dumping it all over yourself as far as he was concerned.  Fortunately Ophelia had been too distracted fixing up their room for the night to notice him slipping off...she'd been glued to his side all day, and while he understood it was just nerves after the attack, he just wanted a couple seconds to breathe.  He knew he was going to get chewed out once she inevitably tracked him down, but at least for now it was peaceful.

Eddie tried not to contemplate his own demon side too much. It just was what it was, and he couldn't change it, so there was no reason to get all woe-is-me over it, but that didn't preclude just not thinking about it.  He used it when helpful, and was honest about it when asked, but that was all.  It actually sort of freaked him out a little at how avid Ophelia was about it...she'd wanted him to learn to use it when he would have been more comfortable just pretending it never existed, she'd been the one to convince him to tell the others rather than risk it breaking out somewhere else and it looking like he had been hiding the secret.  Ophelia had...well, she'd definitely developed an appreciation for openness in the last year.  It was a good thing, but still...

Eddie dunked himself to rinse away the lather he'd worked up, then sat up, shaking back his hair again.  He glanced around to be sure he was still alone, then, with a sigh and a slight wince of concentration, went into his demon mode, folding his wings against his back and ducking under the water, flapping them in and out of it a few times.

He had no idea where his wings went when he wasn't using them...he'd asked Killmaster his opinion, and the healer hadn't been much help.  All Killmaster could tell Eddie was that he felt different from anyone else Killmaster had ever had to heal, and all he knew was what was a "normal" level of health for Eddie.  His biology was fundamentally different from full-blooded humans and likely they'd never fully understand it.  So, Eddie wasn't sure if it was necessary, but he tried to keep his wings clean just in case, even if the method he'd figured out to do it did make him feel like the ugliest bird in the weirdest birdbath in existence.

Finally satisfied, he sat back up, and flared his wings out once to stretch them out before shifting back to human, splashing some water on his face.

"You know Ophelia is tearing the place up looking for you," Mangus's voice came from the side, and Eddie opened one eye to look over at him.  Mangus was leaning against the tub, looking slightly amused.

"She knew I was coming here at some point," Eddie answered calmly, wiping his eyes clear of water.

Mangus shrugged slightly, demeanor going a touch more serious.  "You scared the shit outta everybody today, man.  Can't blame her for being spooked.  If the demons had wanted you dead, you'd be dead, and we couldn't'a done nothing."

"Well, that's in the past.  We can't change what happened, but we can plan to be more careful in the future and be grateful we were lucky today."

Mangus raised an eyebrow.  "I know you're more freaked out than you're putting on, Eddie.  You can pretend all you want but I know how you really feel about demons.  I'm amazed you aren't already out hunting for some to kill."

"I promised I'd stay in Bladehenge tonight, so I'm staying.  Toss me a towel, will ya?"

Mangus turned to pick up a black cloth towel from a pile of them at the side of the tub, throwing it to Eddie.  "I'm just saying, you're taking this awful well, considering what they were trying to do to you."

Eddie shook his head, wiping his face dry and draping the towel over the edge, leaning back to get comfortable again.  "Well, they couldn't have done anything to me.  Maybe my body is half demon, but my mind is all human and it always will be.  They can't change that no matter what little tricks they try to play."

Mangus still looked a bit concerned, but he didn't follow up on it.  "All right, well, Lita wants to know if you'll be able to help her reorganize the patrols in the morning.  She says you have a better head for it anyway."

"Yeah, yeah.  You can tell Bloody Mary I'll be there."  He contemplated just a second.  "You know she'd stab both of us in the ass if she knew that wasn't just the name of her car."

"Well how else am I supposed to talk to you about her?  She'd stab us in the ass if she knew we talked about the stuff we talk about.  Thank God she doesn't know anything about cars or we'd already both have spare assholes."

Eddie chuckled a bit, waving Mangus off, and the lanky man snickered as well, shaking his head and turning to head off.  Eddie watched him go, then got to his feet, moving to climb out of the tub, quickly drying off and getting himself dressed.  Just because he was used to public bathing didn't make him fond of it.

Hair still dripping, he put the towel into a different pile of used towels and started out into the center of Bladehenge proper, waving to some of the others who greetted him as he walked.  He wanted to be sure there were a lot of people around when Ophelia tracked him down.  He wasn't scared of her, of course not, but maybe she wouldn't make as much of a scene if-

"EDWARD RIGGS!"

Scratch that theory.

He turned to see Ophelia beelining towards him, with several Headbangers and Bouncers all but diving out of her path.  "Hey, Ophs, I was just on my way back-,"

"You snuck off!"  She walked up and stuck a finger right in his face.  "You waited until my back was turned and took off!  I was talking to you for ten minutes before I realized you weren't there!"

"You knew I was going to the baths tonight," Eddie said with a bit of a lame grin.

"Maybe I wanted to go with you!" she responded, crossing her arms.

"Well...we could go back?"

Ophelia narrowed her eyes, then sighed deeply.  "I wish you wouldn't sneak off from me right now.  It's been a really rough day and I just wanted you with me, okay?"

"I understand, but trust me, everything is fine.  Nothing is gonna happen in Bladehenge.  You're worrying too much."  He put his hands on her shoulders.  "Now we know for sure that demons are still out there, and we'll rearrange to make sure we can see them before they're right on top of us.  What happened today isn't gonna happen again.  Just relax a little, huh, Ophs?"

Ophelia shook her head, pushing in to hug him tightly.  "I just don't want to lose you, Eddie.  You're the best thing that ever happened to me...to any of us-,"

"I wouldn't go that far-,"

"I would!"  She looked up at him.  "Eddie..."

He quickly put a finger to her lips, chuckling somewhat.  "Ophs...I know you're bothered, and I understand why.  When...if it were me, I...well...you know..."  He cleared his throat and started over. "Look...if the demons had gotten after you, if we lost each other again after everything we've been through..."  He shook his head.  "But...we can't let worry about that sort of thing rule our lives or we'll be too paranoid to go out and do the things that we love...and that keep us safe.  Imagine if you'd been too scared to recruit the Roadies and free the girls, you know?"

Ophelia let out a breath...not quite a sigh, but leaned against him.  After a moment she spoke again.  "You smell like soap."

"Well I did just take a bath."

She reached up, grabbing hold of the stage passes he still always wore around his neck.  "Well, you're gonna take another one.  With me."

Eddie grinned a bit, letting himself be pulled along.  "Yes, ma'am."

( )

Lita sat at the end of her bed, staring at the floor in silence.  She could sense rather than see Mangus enter the bedroom behind her.  "Eddie said he's on board to help out tomorrow," he said.

"Good.  Between the three of us, we should be able to put it together fast."

Mangus sat on the bed behind her, and without a word, reached out to lightly rub her shoulders.  "You look tired, babe.  You should try to sleep."

"Ohhh, Mangus."  Lita tilted her head forward a bit, closing her eyes.  "I am tired."  She glanced back at him.  "How was Eddie?"

"In deep denial.  But what do you expect?"

Lita shook her head slightly.  "I feel like I put too much pressure on him sometimes.  Like I've got the weight of the world on my shoulders, but then he's got me on his shoulders, you know what I mean?"

"Nah.  You let him get away with too much in my opinion.  After that whole blood fountain debacle-,"

"Now, maybe I pushed that whole thing a little too hard..." Lita said, wincing at the memory.  "I could have picked a different time to put my foot down so hard over the delegation issue."  She shrugged as much as she could with the massage going on.  "You're probably right, though.  I just don't feel like I should ask too much of him.  Everything he's already done for us...for me, personally..."

"And we're all grateful to him...and he knows that.  And if he wanted to sit on his ass and coast on that for the rest of his life, I imagine most people would be inclined to let him.  But he wants to keep working to make things better, and he needs you to let him know what has to be done."

"He's just made so much of a habit of putting other people ahead of himself...he can't even focus on himself when he might be in real danger..."

"Hey, hey, hey..."  Mangus gripped her shoulders and turned her around, smiling some as he lightly took hold of her chin.  "Everything's okay for right now.  There's plenty of guards out, everyone knows to keep an eye on him, and Ophelia ain't gonna let him out of her sight.  He's fine, and we're fine.  Tomorrow we'll start the hard stuff, but for right now, you gotta rest, babe."

Lita nodded slowly, closing her eyes, letting a smile creep onto her face.  "You're right...you're right."  She opened her eyes to look back at him again.  "I don't thank you nearly enough either, Mangus."

"You ain't gotta thank me, babe.  We're a team, we work good together."

"We do."  Lita leaned forward to give him a quick peck on the lips, chuckling a little.  "And we do have a hard day ahead of us tomorrow.  Why don't we go ahead and get to bed, then?"  She patted his arm, smiling just a bit more, and moved her way past him and up the bed.

"You bet'cha!" Mangus said with his own big grin, getting up and going to the candles lighting the room, blowing each of them out till the room was in total darkness.