Page 58 of Nazab

“Gross,” Monica said when she saw rotting corpses hanging from a tree when they drew closer to the last location for the day. “Those bodies are a lot fresher than the other remains we’ve seen,” she said, wrinkling her nose.

“Someone has been removing their limbs and cutting off their flesh,” Nazab said grimly.

“More cannibals?” the cambion figured. “They must be somewhere in this area.”

“We need to find them and wipe them out,” her warrior said. She knew part of his mission was to keep humans safe. No one had a white soul anymore, but a lot of people had gray souls. They didn’t deserve to be tortured, then cut up and eaten.

Monica was driving this time and she pulled over behind some trees. “I bet the bandits are in the building you want to search,” she predicted.

“It’s happened far too many times by now,” Nazab said. “I must have a knack for rooting out evil people.”

“I’m going with you this time,” she told him. “Don’t worry, I’ll keep my distance from them so I don’t get shot.”

He was still uneasy at the thought of Monica putting herself in danger, but he respected her enough not to coddle her. “Be on the lookout for snipers, female,” he said. “We’ll try to stay out of sight as much as possible and move too fast for them to track us.”

Monica grabbed their guns from the back seat while Nazab worked out how he wanted to approach the location. He picked her up when she was ready, then sprinted closer to the equestrian club. Stopping a short distance from the property, he put her down beneath some trees. “I can sense twelve people inside the main building,” he said.

“They all have black souls,” Monica said. The barn and stables were empty. She couldn’t hear or sense anyone inside them. “I can hide behind that big tree close to the building and step in if you need my help,” she suggested, gesturing at a large oak tree.

“Can you smell that?” he asked when a breeze blew towards them.

“It smells like blood, sewage and spoiled meat,” Monica said, trying not to gag at the stench. “It’s coming from the barn,” she added.

“That must be where they kept their prisoners before hanging the bodies from the tree,” her knight figured.

He carried her to the barn and they entered through a side door. “Yep, they’ve been holding people prisoner here,” Monica said after one glance at the chains that had been bolted to the wall. Shackles were attached to the chains. They were big enough to close around humans’ necks.

“They’re barbaric,” Nazab said, taking in the scene. Not only did they keep survivors captive, they slaughtered them in front of each other. Blood coated the floor of the barn. A hand had been overlooked and was the cause of the stench of rot.

“Let’s eradicate these dudes so we can go home,” Monica said, feeling sick to her stomach.

Nazab picked her up and sped over to the oak tree to put her down. At her nod, he ran over to the building. She would have to rely on her gun rather than her talents this time, since she didn’t have any prisoners to infuse with energy she could steal.

Her worry eased when her knight went on the attack. She sensed Nazab moving through the building like a whirlwind. He used his sword to silently cut his opponents down. A shot was fired when only two marauders were left. It missed and she felt the humans fade from her radar a moment later.

“That was a piece of cake,” Nazab said with a grin when he loped back outside to retrieve her.

“I wish all of our battles with the bad guys went that smoothly,” Monica said, glad he’d come back to her unscathed.

They drove back to their base and the eerie sense of being watched immediately returned. She spied not one, but two black bears this time. The animals were sitting in the shadows just inside the tree line of the woods, staring at them. “They give me the creeps,” she murmured as they headed inside.

“They’re probably wondering why we’ve wandered into their territory and hope we’ll move on soon,” Nazab said. “We’ll skip target practice so we don’t antagonize them,” he decided, putting his hand on her lower back. Just one touch of his fingertips was enough to ignite her desire. He would have to sleep in a separate bed again. She wasn’t sure she would be able to control herself if he wrapped his strong arms around her tonight.

Chapter Forty-Two

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NAZAB’S UNEASE GREW stronger after nightfall. Monica hinted she wanted to sleep alone and he knew why. Now that her cycle was over, she was tempted to explore their passion. As always, the knight abided by her wishes. He took the master bed simply because it was the only one large enough for him. His female slept in the single bed across the hall.

Waiting until Monica’s breathing evened out, Nazab went outside to patrol. He couldn’t sense any humans as he ran a sweep of the area. The only animals he saw were the two black bears. They watched him as he performed his patrol, which creeped him out a bit. Wild animals usually fled at the sight of humans, or beings they thought were human. This pair were far bolder than usual.

He returned to the house and locked the door, knowing he would wake up if anyone tried to break in. His sleep was restless and he woke up just before dawn as usual. The house was still secure, so he waited for his female to wake up.

“I can’t wait to leave this place,” Monica said when she ambled downstairs. “Something’s not right.”

“I know what you mean, female,” Nazab agreed. “We’ll only return long enough to retrieve our gear, then we’ll leave.” The only reason they didn’t take their belongings and their supplies with them was in case their truck was stolen. They didn’t want to have to search for more clothes, food, water, fuel and another generator again.

Monica drove the first shift after scoffing down some food. They didn’t find anyone at the first four places.