In public spaces, she rarely let herself use the full extent of her senses, since the heightened awareness could often lead to a hyperactive bombardment that left her in a less-than-ideal fighting state, but she wanted to identify potential allies within the area.
The drying grass, lightly sprinkled with the remnants of frost, took on a neon glow as she breathed in the fresh scent.The humans, still just a handful this early in the day, walked only a hundred feet away from her, but all she could scent were cheap colognes and traces of alcohol crowding out the scent of the outdoors and nature.
Everything was brighter and louder.The humans’ voices grew into a crescendo that easily reached a fever pitch, echoing throughout the region until the silence that followed was only a whisper against the landscape.
She counted the heartbeats, effortlessly placing them within groups that surrounded her.Except for the three farthest from her.There was almost no hint of their existence.It was a skill very few Atlanteans had.They moved like the assassins of the old days, when the Houses negotiated in blood rather than coins, like shadows, but there was a darkness that tinged their presence and their absent scent.
Hunters.
Khalida stiffened, automatically searching for Kade.She found him hidden in the shadows.
She tapped her earpiece.Twice.Loud enough that it would cause a bang in Kade’s ear.Ignoring Talik’s glare, she smiled in Kade’s general direction, ensuring that he would see her.
“You brought some friends.”
Kade smiled back.Sharp canines glistened in the sun.
***
TALIK
Talik pinched the bridgeof his nose, ready to interrupt the two of them and remind them they needed all the help they could get if Ninhursag made an appearance.From his position, he could see Khalida, braced and ready for an argument.And he knew Kade well enough to know that he wouldn’t back down.He kicked the ground, his boot skimming a soft object that hadn’t been there a few minutes before.
He bent down and looked at the offending apple core.The red skin was dewy, half eaten—it had been carelessly thrown to the ground.Just what they needed.“We may have another issue.”
“And that is?”Khalida asked.
“Three guesses.He is blond and annoying and has a thing for apples.”
“Lucien.”Khalida’s indignation was almost tangible through the earpiece.“Are your people in place, Kade?”
“Yes.”
“Just a reminder, if they do anything out of line, they will not walk out alive.”
It wasn’t an idle threat.
“I would expect no less,” Kade curtly said.“They will maintain overwatch on the eastern side of the hill.”
“We really are waiting until the Anki shows up?”Talik leaned against the building, the edge of one of the stones sticking into his shoulder uncomfortably.Trying to form the name Ninhursag was getting worse.Her control over him was growing.Thinking about her caused him pain.Her scratches had migrated from his arms to his torso—the gouges were longer and deeper and took twice as long to heal.Before he’d had to dig through his mind to find her, but now she was just beneath the surface, and it was getting far harder to work out what were his thoughts and what were hers.
In the beginning Ninhursag’s voice had been distinct and feminine, but now, it was sounding like his own voice, with his own mannerisms and access to his memories.And he was starting to forget entire minutes or find himself doing something he hadn’t intended.
As if she was slipping into his body and using it as a vessel.
When Kade had explained the plan, he had tried to separate what he was hearing and Ninhursag, trying not to let her know.But now, in the light of day, he realized how useless it was—Ninhursag would have stopped them if she didn’t want them there.The damn god knew that he physically couldn’t reveal her secret.And even if by some miracle he could, Khalida would face the wrath of the god.Ninhursag must need them alive.
He needed to work out why and use it to his advantage.“We could be here for days.”
Khalida snorted through the earpiece, loud and clear.“I don’t take Ninhursag as the patient type.”
“And the gallu?”Talik continued as he was prompted by the god.
“With Dante’s reinforcements, we have enough firepower to see how fast they regenerate,” Khalida said.
Talik dryly chuckled involuntarily as Ninhursag’s laughter wrapped itself around him.Neither Kade nor Khalida responded.There was movement in the shadow.A hunter if he wasn’t mistaken, carrying what looked like a net.
This time, the laughter came from him.“Well, when in Rome, as the humans say.I always wanted to see a retiarius gladiator in action.”
