I really didn’t like how intrigued Lars sounded at the idea of hurting me. I wasn’t restrained, but I felt so weak I was sure I couldn’t manage a fast walk, let alone fight either of them off. For the moment, I was stuck.
“Be quiet, Lomis is messaging me” Gale snapped as the sound of a message arriving came from her phone.
“Lomis has agreed,” Gale said, sounding immensely relieved.
“So he won’t kill us or anything?” Lars said. “I really don’t want to die.”
“I don’t think anyone wants to die,” Gale said, her relief seeming to make her friendlier. “You’re lucky he stopped killing everyone at a distance after Leif or we’d both be dead.”
“He was really angry there for a little while,” Lars said. “Do you think the guys felt any pain? I mean when Lomis killed them with that weird aging spell, do you think it hurt? Leif probably deserved it for taking that spell thing, but I still don’t like the idea that he felt a lot of pain before he died.”
“I don’t care if it hurt,” Gale said. “All I care about is that Lomis doesn’t do that to us.”
“We could run,” Lars suggested. “I bet there are other buyers out there that would pay a shit ton for that collar.”
“You are such a moron. Lomis can kill from a distance, and the only reason we’re not dead is because we convinced him Leif stole it in the first place and that we’d be able to find it for him. We’re lucky it takes him so much power to murder people like that or we might already be dead.”
“Oh, right,” Lars said. “I still think…did you hear that?”
When Lars said that, I strained my ears but couldn’t hear anything interesting.
“It’s nothing,” Gale said dismissively. “We’ll be able to see them drive here. There’s only one road into this area, and we’ve got a clear view of it.”
“You forget that there are more ways to travel than cars.”
The strange voice made all three of us gasp. Thankfully, Lars and Gale were much louder than me and no one noticed I was awake.
“Lomis, what are you doing here?” Gale asked, her voice high-pitched and scared. “I thought we were going to be meeting later.”
“You stole my void-tie, and you think I’d simply trust you to return it?” Lomis’s voice was rough and had a strange cadence. It made me think of someone who’d smoked all their life and had to measure out their words or risk a coughing fit. “I’ve been working on that for almost a year. I left it alone for a few hours to sleep while the spell set. When I wake up it’s gone. How dare you take from me!”
I risked opening my eyes. This time it didn’t hurt so much, and I could keep them open.
The casket druid stood there talking to Gale and Lars. The guy didn’t look good. His face was drawn and his skin unnaturally pale. Even worse than the first time I’d seen him.
“M-m-my brother took it,” Lars said, his words babbling out of his mouth with little pause between syllables. “It wasn’t me. You killed him. He deserved it. We’re getting the void-tie back. Really soon. Please don’t kill me!”
“Don’t kill us,” Gale said. “We’ve got the girl who has the dog wearing your void-tie.”
Gale was standing with her back to me and Lars was standing behind her. As Gale spoke, she half turned and pointed at me. Lomis focused past the couple and met my gaze.
There was nothing but evil in his eyes.
Terror made me sit up and try to scoot back. I came up hard against something and Lomis was on me.
“Where is my void-tie!” he roared, spittle hitting me in the face with every word. He grabbed the front of my shirt and lifted me up in the air. “Give it to me!”
So this was how I died.
Danzig
It felt like it took forever to track Bec’s aura. I wasn’t surprised that they took her south, but I didn’t expect to end up in the Tijuana River Valley estuary. Most of it was restricted wet land, which made sense as we got further in. It was away from people and a great place to bury a body.
When I saw Bec lying on the ground next to a car while three figures talked near her, I frantically gestured for Beatrix to go lower.
None of them saw us because of her pixie glamor. I’d be able to surprise them all when I dropped down. When Beatrix didn’t go lower, I signaled again.
“I see her,” Beatrix said, banking away. I frantically gestured for her to get closer, but she shook her head. “We’re supposed to hide and call for backup, remember?”
