D awoke to the smell of fresh blood.
The keen aroma had roused him just after dawn as he lay on the couch. He could hear Su-In in the hall bathroom, cursing as she fumbled with the first aid kit. The luring scent was soon tainted by the harsh bite of antiseptic.
Muddy sunlight filled the room. Pricking up his ears, he noted that the wind had died down considerably. He rose, folding the blanket and placing it over the back of the sofa. Crossing to the window, he looked down the road towards the sea.
A crew of men had braved the snow in a plow and were scraping ice off a few boats that had been drawn up the shore. White flakes fell intermittently now, no longer the pelting sleet from the day before.
D lifted his left palm. The lined face of the symbiote did not appear. "Do you intend to hibernate all Winter?"
He received no response.
Dropping his hand, he caught a glimpse of Su-In as she ducked between the bathroom to her room. She spotted him there at the window and stopped, grinning. "Beautiful day, isn't it? Nothing like a bright, cold morning to get you out of bed."
She had redressed her wound, the bandages now loose and uneven. Some of her strength was beginning to return to her. Except a nagging headache—which she chalked up to last night's alcohol consumption—her body felt better than it had in days.
"You should go back to sleep," she suggested as she pulled on her long overcoat.
"The storm has moved South."
D's simple, dispassionate words paralyzed her, the devastating implication striking her core.
He would be leaving. Soon.
Overcoming the sudden, desperate crush of desolation, Su-In smiled brightly, tilting her head as she shrugged. "Well, you can't expect the roads to be cleared just yet. Mr. Hannigan and his boys will take at least a day or two to plow and salt the roads. You'd be lucky to even get down in to town right now, as it is."
D nodded, then returned to his vigil at the window. She stepped in to her room then, relief flooding through her.
One more day.
But what about tomorrow? The snow would melt, the roads would be cleared, and he would leave.
And she would be left to her empty house filled with blood soaked memories. She looked out the window, staring as the bleak yellow sunlight touched the snowcapped barn.
She would only have today.
After a few minutes, Su-In emerged from her room, pulling on a wool cap and slipping in to a pair of gloves. She buttoned up her coat as she made her way towards the backdoor. D didn't seem to take any notice of her.
She picked up the kettle from the stove, holding it loosely. "Can I assume you don't want any tea?"
"No, thank you."
"Well, I have some chores that need to get done. I'll just be outside. Can you take the kettle off the heat when it's done?"
His eyes slid to her. She was fully bundled in snow gear from head to toe. Her eyes were bright, but her skin was still pallid, the typical rosiness not yet returned to her cheeks. "Do you think that's sensible?"
"Sensible or not, this place isn't going to take care of itself. So," she hefted the kettle, raising an eyebrow. "Can I trust you to remove this?"
"Yes."
"Great, thank you." She filled the kettle with water and set it on the burner. "I'm going to grab some stuff out of the barn, if that's okay."
"Do as you like."
"I shouldn't be too long. Make yourself at home." She flashed him a smile, then pulled open the door. A thin sheet of snow at least two feet high tumbled on to the floor of the kitchen. She sighed, kicking and scooping the ice back outside, and close the door behind her.
Brittle, glacial air filled her lungs as she stepped on to the deck. The snowbanks were almost as high as the stairs. Two pairs of snow shoes were tucked away under the washing tub to her right, lightly coated in ice. Strapping on the larger set, she made her way over to the barn, grimacing as she waded through the snow.
Inside the barn she made her way past D's cyborg horse and grabbed the folded, compressed ladder against the opposite wall. Scooping up a long handled shovel on her way out, Su-In resealed the barn.
Standing next to the deck she released the mechanism of the ladder, expanding it to its full eight foot length. She set the ladder against the edge of the roof, nestling it against the gutters. Taking off her snow shoes, she scraped her boots on the lowest rung, then tucked the shovel beneath her arm and began to climb.
The kettle whistled.
D crossed the room, removing it from the stove and turning off the heat. As he did, a flicker of motion caught his eye out the kitchen window. He saw Su-In's boots as she stood atop the ladder, soon followed by the metallic scraping of metal against the roof as she pulled down sheets of snow.
He listened to her as she worked, her heavy breaths coming in time with her movements. A foreign emotion he could not identify bubbled in his chest.
Ignoring it, D strode to the clotheshorse and was grateful to find his belongings were completely dry. Quickly redressing, he folded the borrowed clothes and went to replace them within Dwight's duffle bag.
A small cardboard box labeled "For Teacher" clattered against the bottom of the bag. A fine white dust had sifted out of the box's lid, leaving a powdery outline on the fabric.
Chalk.
D placed the clothes carefully on top of the box and re-zippered the bag. Retrieving his body armor from the bathroom he secured it over his chest, then swept on his coat and cloak. The familiar weight was reassuring, as was the protection it afforded his photosensitive skin.
The scraping on the roof ceased. Turning his eyes to the kitchen window he watched as Su-In began her descent from the ladder. About four rungs down he saw the shovel slip from her grasp as she fell backwards.
In a moment he was outside, standing on the deck above her, about to reach in to retrieve her from where she had sunk beneath the snow.
Just then, Su-In started to laugh.
He saw her there, half buried in white, her eyes full of mirth and cheeks pink with cold. "Oh no, sorry D! I didn't fall." She pushed through the crust of snow that surrounded her, chuckling as she sat up. "Well, I did, but I did it on purpose. Clearing the roof was always one our least favorite chores, so Wu-Lin and I would try to make it fun."
She stood, pulling herself up on to the deck next to D. "See?" She pointed at the ill-formed outline in the snow. "Fallen angels."
The abrupt levity caught D off guard. A small, involuntary smile pulled at his lips.
Su-In stared, breathless, at the transformed beauty of the Hunter's face. The icy air seemed to crystalize around him, dazzling in the morning light.
In the blink of an eye his smile was gone. As she opened her mouth to comment the sudden blare of a horn cut her off. Leaning out over the snow, Su-In saw Mr. Hannigan and his crew slowly climbing the hill on their plow.