Too little too late

"Yesterday I told you not to go home," Dominick finally muttered between his teeth, "because I heard three people at Macey's old warehouse talking about you. They were going to kill you. I didn't go home because I thought they were following me. But apparently they already knew where I lived.

"What I want to know," he leaned closer, his voice lowering until it was barely above a forced whisper, "is why you have demons after you."

"Demons..." Linao echoed, backing slightly. His words stung her, and filled her eyes with surprise and doubt. "... oh gods, you knew..." He knew, and he'd never told her. She almost felt betrayed... But then she remembered that night when she could have told him everything, when she pretended there was nothing wrong with the world...

"No. I don't know," he replied agitatedly, fist clenching at his side. "Maybe you should tell me now before someone else I love dies," he spat, the words feeling foreign against his lips.

"I didn't mean... Dominick, I didn't even believe him when he told me, even when he showed me I didn't want to believe..." Struggling to piece it all together in her own mind, she became somewhat defensive at the last hint in his voice. "And now it's you too.. And I have to believe you, but I swear I didn't know this --- that anything like this--- " she stammered, lost for what to say. Nothing she said would matter, anyway. It was all too little too late. "... That it was going to--"

"No, I'm sorry," Dominick interrupted her, clenching his eyes shut. "It's not your fault. I know that."

He turned, continuing his trudge as if it had all been a dream. "I have to find Trini."

"Let me help you," she whispered, dying inside as he walked away. He didn't look back. The silence killed what little calm she'd managed to uphold, and her voice broke as she raised it slightly. "They were my family too..."