A Clever Fascination

Chapter 32 - The Boiling Point

Kit felt her head pound as she jogged down the stairs of Ed's house. It was a big house, there were lots of stairs, and every step left her with another dull ache of pain rippling through her body. Still, she continued. Whether she kept going out of her curiosity, her instinct or because she needed to get away from him after what he'd just said, Kit didn't care to answer.

He, of course, was hot on her trail, just with less keenness to see the source of the sound. Ed had reached the top of the stairs, where he had last come into control of his body, before she had even reached the bottom. He paused and watched as she stood in the middle of the foyer.

The weary Detective looked around her. There were a couple of corridors leading further into the house, a few open doors and a few closed ones.

Ed made his way down the stairs at his own pace. It wasn't even close to the jog she had taken when she descended. He was slow, taking his sweet time. Kit looked up at him and he met her eye, holding it for as long as he could. He knew better than to underestimate her will, she wouldn't break the stare first unless it meant saving face. But it was him that was vulnerable, despite her weakened state. When he finally reached the bottom of the stairs he didn't approach her or even try to speak. Ed instead moved past her towards a door tucked behind the stairs. He pulled it open with ease and the darkness of it was chilling. All either of them could see were the stairs leading down.

He turned to look at the woman, standing next to the open door, waiting for some sort of reaction.

"Are you asking me to follow you into a basement?" Her question was extremely like Kit. It impressed him that she took things in her stride the way she did. Even now, who she was wouldn't be lost to Crane's toxin.

"You've followed me into worse."

"You make it sound so loyal." She replied, quickly. He hadn't intended that, he was just making a point.

"Whatever. Going in or not? I don't care either way but if you could make up your mind, I'd appreciate that. I hate the smell of blood." He was obviously trying to put her off. Or maybe it was a double bluff. Either way, her morbid curiosity was peaked.

Kit approached and peered down the stairs, she couldn't see anything but she could hear breathing. Heavy breathing.

"Why do you have a room in your house that smells like blood?" She asked.

"In or out, Detective, make up your mind." He rolled his eyes at her question, his unbandaged arm still resting on the door.

Kit glanced at him one more time. Even before her encounter with the fear toxin, she had always been a cautious person, often attempting to analyse situation before she was fully in them and she'd gotten good at it. But Kit couldn't analyse anything when it came to Ed. Not anymore. He was becoming less and less predictable and yet less and less threatening. It was a odd combination. Despite the fact she was still here with him, she knew that she was safe. As safe as she could be anyway. Not to say that this was the best case scenario, far from it. But he wasn't going to hurt her, that much she knew.

This was far too reminiscent of the staircase that lead down to Crane's lab. That thought made Kit feel uneasy.

"What's down there?"

He didn't answer, he just sighed.

Kit's caution was amplified and she was jittery. A dark basement that was, by Ed's description, full of blood was making her more uneasy than it usually would've. She wasn't squeamish, she'd been a medical practitioner and worked in the major crimes unit, after all.

"If you're going, obviously I'm not letting you go on your own. I'll go first, if you prefer," His impatient demeanour slipped slightly as he spoke after a moment. Maybe her anxiety was clear on her face. "But I do have to ask you to decide soon, I don't want your little cat to wander in and the smell-"