“What does it do to them?” Vargas asked.
“Stings their foggy asses. They’ll leave usbe for a while, but I have a feeling they’ll be pestering youagain,” he said to me. “I didn’t realize they would figure out whoyou are.”
“It makes sense they would know,” I mutteredand glanced back toward the main room.
“Why is that?” Corson asked.
“Because, like me, they don’t fit in anywhereanymore either.”
Vargas, Hawk, and Erin exchanged confusedlooks. Corson rested his hand on the counter, his claws retractingwhile he watched me. “We should return to the front,” he said.
I started for the swinging doors but stoppedwhen the world around me faded away and I found myself standing inthe center of the parking lot staring at three demons who werewatching the building.
In the glow of the building, the eyes of twoof them shone red and their teeth gleamed when they pulled theirlips back to reveal their mouths full of pointed, razor-sharpteeth. The third had pure black eyes, but unlike Kobal’s, his weremore like a human’s eyes with the white surrounding the blackiris.
The demons couldn’t see me, but I felt as ifI were standing right in front of them, inspecting them closely.The two with the red eyes had pig snouts and lobster-looking clawsinstead of hands. Kobal had once told me that if I ever had themisfortune of encountering a lower-level demon, I would instantlyknow the difference between their animalistic appearance and thatof the upper-level demons who had horns and tails. Staring at thesetwo, I knew he’d been right and that these two hideous creatureswere lower-level demons. Which meant they were as physically strongas a demon, but they didn’t possess abilities like many demonsdid.
However, the other one with them with theblack eyes was breathtakingly stunning. His silvery blond hairframed features so sculpted I found myself unable to stop staringat him. Handsome and lethal, perfect and soulless. I knew itinstinctively, felt it in the marrow of my bones. He would smilebeautifully and laugh while he plucked limbs from bodies andabsently tossed them aside.
“Ghosts,” one of the pig noses snorted.
“According to that ghost we just saw, the onewe’ve been searching for is in there,” Handsome replied. “Perhapsthe specters serve a purpose after all. Come.”
The vision ended with an abrupt jerk backinto my body. My foot, frozen in mid-air when the vision took over,hit the ground. I tried to clear my head of the lingering imagesand the sense of betrayal creeping through me. The ghosts had noreason to be loyal to anyone of us, but to betray us outright tothese monsters cut like a knife. I hoped whoever it was that hadbetrayed us spent an eternity trapped in-between.
“We have company,” I said to the others. “Andone of those free-floating bastards out there told them we were inhere.”
“What kind of company?” Corson demanded.
“Demons, three of them. Two lower-levels withpig snouts for noses and one who is… well, he’s stunning.”
“If I ever figure out how to exorcise aghost, I’m coming back here for all of you!” Corson shouted towardthe front.
“It’s not possible to exorcise them?” Erinasked.
“Not that I know of,” he replied briskly.“They simply move somewhere else. Follow me.”
He hurried through the kitchen, stopping by acounter and bending down to pull out more containers of salt fromunderneath. It hit me then that this was why he’d been exploringall the shelves. He grabbed two more containers of salt and stoodup. The young girl with the bonnet came flying into thekitchen.
“There’s something coming,” she whisperedfrantically as she stopped to float before me. Her troubled eyesdarted around as she rang her hands before her. “You must run.”
“I don’t run,” Corson grated before heglanced at me. “Normally,” he amended.
“The ghosts will give us away if they followus,” Vargas said.
“I told you not to taunt them,” I said toCorson who shot me a look that clearly said he’d choke me if hecould.
The others all took a step away from him, butI held my ground. The girl drifted closer to me. “No, they won’tfollow you. They don’t like him.” She flicked a pointed glance atCorson. “They don’t like any of his kind. They likeyou. They believe in you and think you’re thekey,” she said with eyes that looked as though they werewatering.
Was there anything on this planet that didn’thave its hopes pinned on me?
“Ronald never liked any of us,” shecontinued. “I think that’s why he went to the demons. He didn’tcare about any of us.”
“Ronald?” I asked.
“The Union soldier who left.”
I recalled the pant-less soldier who had leftthrough the wall earlier. “And you are?” I asked the woman hoveringbefore me.
