It was a long, long drive home with Malyn repeatedly attempting to call Adin and getting more and more worried. Tyla had his hand on Malyn’s shoulder. He kept it there for the entire drive.

When they reached home, Finch had to run after Malyn and grab him by the arm to keep him from charging into the house. There was a bloody handprint on the front door. Tyla had approached more cautiously, but after opening the door, Finch took hold of his wrist as well to make sure he didn’t do anything stupid.

Adin was crouched in the middle of the kitchen, head down and antlers covered in dry blood. His clothes were torn and his body was covered in scratches, but they were only superficial as far as Finch could see. Malyn tried to move towards Adin again, but Finch held him back.

“Adin,” Finch said, not moving from in front of the front door.

There was a long moment where it seemed like Adin wouldn’t respond, but finally he lifted his head.

“Is Shadow still here?”

Adin stared at them for such a long time and so vacantly that Finch almost repeated the question, but eventually he nodded.

“Are you or he seriously injured?”

Adin lifted his hand to touch a gash on his forehead, but it wasn’t very deep. He shook his head.

“Shadow,” Finch said to the room. “Can you make your location known without coming out?”

One of the kitchen cabinets cracked open and Shadow peeked out.

“Okay.” Finch took hold of Malyn and Tyla’s wrists and pressed their hands together, making them accountable for one another. “Don’t move. I mean it.”

“Finch, what’s going on?” Malyn asked. “What’s wrong with Adin?”

“He’ll be fine, but he needs us to respect his personal space right now even though we’re worried.”

Malyn didn’t look happy, but he did nod.

Finch took the long route around the perimeter of the room to get to Shadow’s cabinet to avoid getting too close to Adin. He opened the door, half expecting Shadow to have vanished to places unknown in the half a minute it had taken Finch to reach him, but he was still there. Finch took hold of his hand and guided him carefully out of the cabinet and then led him back around the room to Malyn and Tyla.

Finch ushered them all over to the couch. It was about the furthest point in the house they could get from Adin while still keeping him within their sights. Finch kept hold of Shadow’s hand as they sat down and then took hold of Malyn’s as well. Malyn was still holding Tyla’s hand with his other hand.

“So,” Finch said to Shadow. “Katrina, right?”

Shadow nodded.

Finch sighed. “Figures.”

“I’m sorry,” Shadow said.

“Not your fault.”

“I really didn’t think she would find me here.”

“If I’d known she would, the only thing I might have done different was keeping a closer watch on you. Part of our code is never letting ourselves be intimidated out of doing the right thing. That’s where most power comes from, really. Not from someone being stronger than the whole world. Just strong enough that most people will do what you say without you having to do a single damn thing.”

“Why can’t we go near Adin?” Tyla asked.

“Same reason why a man who just chased off a vampire is working reception instead of coming out on jobs with us,” Finch said. “It takes him a little bit to cool off from a fight. That’s all.”

“I thought he was our receptionist because he’s the only one who understands taxes,” Malyn murmured.

“Shadow, I need you to not disappear anymore,” Finch told him. “We’ll all camp out together in my room overnight. During the day it should be safer, but I still want to know where you are at all times. I’ll tape garbage bags over my window so that it’s dark enough for you to sleep in my bed.”

Shadow nodded. “Thank you.”

“Tomorrow night, Luther should call again to check in and we can go from there.”

Adin finally began to move, slowly at first, just checking himself over, and then he finally pushed himself to his feet with the aching slowness of an old man. Finch gave Shadow and Malyn a look as he got up from the couch, a silent instruction to stay put.

Adin was over at the kitchen sink, trying to clean himself up.

Finch approached him, but he still stayed out of arm’s reach. “Might need a shower for this one.”

“Mm.” Adin turned to Finch, a hand pressing against his forehead. “I’m having a hard time thinking.”

“Looks like you hit your head.”

Adin shook his head. He clearly had hit it, but Finch got the point. That wasn’t what was messing with his thinking right now.

“Well, we don’t need you to think right now. Take your time. Looks like you scared her off, so we’re all just going to stay close by in case she comes back until we can get hold of Luther to sort this all out.”

Finch heard a sound behind him and he turned around to see Malyn lurking on the line where carpet turned to kitchen tile. He looked so young, so worried.

“It’s okay,” Adin said.

Malyn shook his head. He looked like he might cry if he tried to speak.

“I’m sorry,” Adin told him, though he sounded like he wasn’t quite sure what he was apologising for.

Malyn took a few steps into the kitchen, hesitated, and then sat down on the floor. “We couldn’t get hold of you on the way back. I thought she’d killed you.”

“I was more trouble than she was willing to deal with, like a tiny dog snapping at a black bear. I’m sure she could have killed me, but I managed to put her off the idea.”

Malyn stretched his legs out in front of himself and leant back on his hands. “I didn’t know you could fight at all.”

“I don’t like to. I lose control. I just want to be a receptionist, a secretary, an assistant.” He offered Malyn a smile. “Your dad.”

Malyn pressed his lips together and nodded. He looked on the verge of tears again.

“I’m going to take a shower and change, and then I’m going to come out and give you a hug. Okay?”

Malyn nodded again.

When Finch headed back into the living room, he was surprised, and relieved, to find Shadow still obediently sitting on the couch next to Tyla. As Finch sat down on Shadow’s other side, Tyla excused himself to go and check on Malyn.

“I wanted to help him,” Shadow said. “Adin. I heard them fighting.”

“Don’t feel bad for that. I bet Adin told you to hide, didn’t he?”

Shadow nodded. “And not to come out until you came to get me.”

“And you listened, and that’s why everything is okay right now. Sure, we’re all a bit spooked, and Adin’s a bit scratched up, but we all know it could have been much worse.”

Shadow nodded, and then he lay down on his side and pressed a cushion over his face.

“You can go and wait in my room if you want. Take your stuff in there, too. I’ll have the others get together whatever they need for the night and we’ll all get set up in there.”

Shadow pushed himself up and went to follow Finch’s instructions. Hopefully, anyway. Finch knew that the second he turned his back, Shadow could be anywhere. He really did seem like he intended to put a pause on the disappearing act, though, so Finch was trying not to worry about it.

Malyn was ready and waiting outside the bathroom door to give Adin that hug he’d been promised. Tyla lurked awkwardly a few steps back, pretending to be very interested in one of the kitchen chairs that had been broken in the fight.

“Apparently Luther used to be a carpenter,” Finch told him. “Maybe he can fix it.”

Tyla held up one of the legs that had been snapped clean in half. “Hm…”

“Maybe not.”

“I’m surprised you would suggest letting him into our house,” Tyla said. “Even jokingly.”

“Who said anything about letting him into our house? I can toss the bits of wood outside for him to carpent.”

Tyla smiled, but it wavered when he glanced up and saw Malyn and Adin talking, Adin’s hand on Malyn’s shoulder. He forced his attention back to Finch. “Do you think Luther is as bad as we thought? He seems to care about protecting Shadow.”

“I honestly don’t know. Not sure it matters, either. It’s not like he can just return to business as usual when there’s another vampire hunting him down, so once he moves Shadow somewhere safer, we might just never see him again.”

“Is that a good thing?”

“Probably not,” Finch admitted. “He’s like that spider that lives on your window frame that Mal always tells Adin to be careful of when he’s cleaning. He keeps the real pests under control.”

Malyn and Adin had finished with their bonding and moved on to getting together the things they wanted to have with them overnight. Malyn got some pillows and blankets and tossed them to Tyla and then set to digging out some card and board games. Adin’s only concern was getting together his laptop, phone, notepads, and other work equipment.

Finch waited in the kitchen, his eyes on everyone, until they were all ready, and then he grabbed some garbage bags and a roll of tape and led the way into his bedroom.

Shadow was nowhere in sight. Finch felt his gut sink, but before he had time to worry too much, Shadow’s head poked out from under the bed.

Finch let out a long breath. “I’ll tape the bags over the window now so that it’s done for when the sun comes up.”

Shadow crawled out from under the bed and held a hand out, offering help. Finch handed him the tape.

“Don’t worry about damaging the paint. Whatever the tape does, Adin’s antler’s have done way worse.”

Adin offered a self conscious smile. “They’re manageable for now, but they get far bigger and pointier than this.”

Malyn had already claimed a spot on Finch’s bed. Tyla looked unsure whether he was supposed to, but Malyn beckoned for him and Finch gave him a nod of permission when he glanced over.

Finch kept one eye on them as they taped the garbage bags over the window. Malyn looked happy again already. He’d always been a man of emotional extremes, and fortunately his natural balance always seemed to swing him back towards positivity fairly quickly. Finch envied him, in a way. Malyn experienced negative emotions with a lot more depth and diversity, but it seemed to help him process them. Finch considered himself to be less sensitive of a person, but for him those emotions lingered.

Finch grabbed a pillow and, as Shadow crawled back under the bed, he lay down on the floor. He was no longer worried Shadow would run off, but he needed to be able to see him, to know for a fact that he was still there.

He’d expected Shadow to turn his back on his gaze, maybe try to curl up or hide himself, but instead he shuffled in so that he was closer to where Finch was laying. Finch sat up, grabbed his other pillow, and passed it to Shadow.

“Thank you,” Shadow said, his voice quiet but not whispering, as though someone had simply turned the volume down.

Malyn managed to convince Adin to join in a card game. He wasn’t normally one for that sort of thing, but he was one to go out of his way to make someone he cared about feel better when they were upset. Finch had never really embraced the idea of him as an actual father figure in the way that Malyn did, but he’d come close to filling that role at times if Finch were honest. Finch had been such a young child when they’d first met. It would have been hard for there not to be any of that sort of dynamic between them.

Not so much anymore, though. Finch had barely wanted to be parented when he was a child, and he sure didn’t want to be now. Oh, sure, Adin cooked for him and did his laundry, but those were just jobs Adin took on because they kept him grounded.

Without anyone actually discussing it, Finch ended up staying on the floor and Malyn and Tyla shared the bed. Finch wanted to be on the floor so that he could easily check that Shadow was still there if he woke up in the night, and Malyn and Tyla, well. Finch might have thought they’d already been sharing a bed if Malyn wasn’t too lacking in subtlety to keep that one hidden. There seemed to be mutual interest, but to be fair, it was hard to tell on Tyla’s part because he was from a different culture.  He could be difficult to read.

It wasn’t the best night’s sleep, but they got through it uneventfully and that was all Finch could ask for.