Many of the people living near the gateway were killed during the initial rush of demons fleeing Hell. A lot of the others were cleared out during the mandatory evacuations that followed the gateway’s opening. The Wilders only returned to those abandoned towns to scavenge them or travel through them, but for the most part, they stayed to the woods.
“It appears that way,” Caim said. “There are demons with them, and it looks like they’re living in peace together.”
“I’ve never come across Wilders and demons living in a town, but I’ve never been here before either,” Wren said. “Things might be a lot different in these mountains. The people in town can tell us more about the area, and they might have seen the horsemen or know something about where they’re hiding.”
“There’s also an old mine above the town. It’s set into a mountain, and there are some carts outside it, but I didn’t see anyone working it,” Caim said.
“They probably use it as an escape route or hiding place in case something happens,” Wren suggested. “They may be living in a town, but if they’re anything like Wilders, they’ll have more than one way out. We should talk to them.”
“Should we all go in?” Aisling asked.
“We’ll leave the hounds and Caim behind as backup,” Corson said. “If everything’s okay, they can enter after us.”
“Thank you very much for allowing us to join you later,” Caim muttered.
“You can stroll on in there if you’d like,” Corson said. “I’m sure they’ll all be eager to see a fallen angel. Maybe they’ll pluck and stuff you like the rest of us have wanted to do since meeting you.”
Caim unfolded his wings to reveal their six-foot wingspan. His head tilted to the side as he studied the rainbow colors shimmering through the black feather. “They’re too pretty to pluck and so am I,” he said before closing them again. “And I’ll gut anyone who tries.”
When one of the hounds walked closer to him, Caim absently rested his hand on its head. I expected the creature to move away from him, but it sat beside him and turned into his touch. I clenched my teeth to keep my jaw closed at the sight of a fallen angel and hellhound being so friendly with each other. But then, Caim could turn into a raven, so maybe it was an animal thing.
“We’ll stay here,” Caim said, and Corson rolled his eyes.
“Aisling—”
“I’m coming too,” she said before I could finish speaking.
The humans and demons appeared to be living in harmony, but something didn’t feel right. Nothing, since the gateway opened, had been simple or easy, and I preferred to keep Aisling away from the town until we knew more about it.
“I’m going,” she stated before walking over to join Wren and Lix.
Corson gave me a sympathetic look that swiftly turned into a shit-eating grin as he slapped me on the shoulder. “Welcome to the ‘she’s going to drive me crazy’ club. All new members get a T-shirt.”
When he strolled away laughing, I scowled after him. I didn’t know if I wanted to punch him or tie Aisling to a tree more. She had no idea what the Wilds hid; the fog people were nothing compared to some of the monsters who hunted these lands, but I’d agreed to let her come with us, and I couldn’t hold her back now.
“Let’s go meet some people,” Lix said and drank from his flask before recapping it and heading into the trees.
We followed him through the woods until the backside of a wooden building came into view. Lix slowed his step as we crept out of the trees and crossed the thirty feet of space separating the woods from the town. From my angle, I could see people and demons walking the street.
Some of them stopped to speak to each other, but others kept their heads down as they walked. I didn’t see any lower-level demons amongst them, but my view of the street was limited to fifty feet. I didn’t think they’d be so relaxed if there were lower-level demons with them; unlike some demons and seal creatures who had chosen one side or the other, all lower-level demons sided with the craetons.
The wooden buildings and dusty street reminded me of an old western movie. My stepdad used to love old John Wayne and Clint Eastwood movies. We’d spent many Saturdays on the couch with a bowl of popcorn while we watched the westerns together. They were old and outdated, but I still enjoyed them and my time with Dax as none of the female members of our household had any interest in the movies.
Kneeling at the edge of the town, I felt like I’d been transported back to one of those old movies. I kept waiting for some black-hatted cowboy to turn the corner and start pushing people around, but no evildoer emerged.
The residents of the town moved about freely, but tension emanated from them as their heads moved steadily back and forth like they were searching for something. A woman sweeping the front porch of the building across the street set her broom against the side of the building. When it slid over and crashed to the ground, the people closest to her jumped like a bomb had gone off. A man let out a startled squeak before ducking his head and practically running away.
The woman glanced around before picking up the broom and placing it against the porch railing. She practically tripped over herself as she ran down the steps and strode away.
I clasped Aisling’s hand and squeezed it as I looked to Corson and Bale. “Something’s not right here.”
“No, it’s not,” Corson muttered.
“I don’t think we need anything from the people here,” Bale said.
“I agree,” Lix said.
Drawing Aisling away from the corner of the building, we stayed to the shadows as we made our way back toward the woods. We were almost to the tree line when I smacked into something and staggered back into Aisling.
