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Hale grabbed one of the pestilents in a chokehold and they fell to the floor as Harrison kneeled and punched the other one. Blood splattered as he broke its nose. It yelled and reached up to grab his head, but he drew back quickly and slammed his fist in its face again. And again. He hit it until it lay still, then got up to help Hale, who still had his in a chokehold. It was still, too.
“I think you killed it,” Harrison said. “You can let go.”
“Are there more?”
“I’m sure there are,” he yelled over the sound of guns and shouting. “Next time, we sleep with guns by the bed.”
“Agreed!” Hale scrambled out from under the pestilent and they both crept to the door to peek out. Harrison didn’t want to get hit by a stray bullet, and he had no way of knowing if the pestilents had come armed, too. These two had just used their strength and claws, which reminded him of Hale’s chest.
The Air Weaver was leaning heavily on the doorframe, his face pinched and covered with sweat. The man seemed more than a little unsteady on his feet as blood covered his chest and soaked into the waistband of his shorts. “Let’s see your wound.”
“It’s fine,” Hale snapped, batting away the hand that was reaching for his chest. “Dane can take care of it when this is all over. You don’t think any of the Weavers were hurt worse, do you?”
Harrison frowned, unwilling to be so easily brushed off. “I have no idea, but I hope not.” He flipped on the light so he could see how badly Hale was hurt. Four claw marks had made deep gashes in his side. “Shit. We need to find Dane now.”
Hale glanced down and winced. “It got me good. Damn.”
Baer ran into the room, two guns in his hands, his red hair a mass of tangles around his head. “Everyone okay in here?” He looked at the fallen pestilents and grimaced. “Took them out barehanded?”
“That one is still alive, I think,” Harrison said, pointing at the one he’d punched into oblivion.
Baer walked over until he was standing over the creature and placed a bullet in the center of its forehead. “It’s not now.” He looked at Hale’s side, his expression twisting up even more. “We gotta get you to Dane. They got the drop on us good. He’s already working on some of the others.”
“Everyone still alive?” Hale walked into the bathroom and grabbed a towel, returning with it pressed against his chest.
“Yes, thankfully. Harrison, your feet are bleeding.”
Harrison looked down to see he was standing in the broken glass and hadn’t even noticed. All the adrenaline from the fight must have numbed him to the pain, because now he felt it. “Well, the blood won’t hurt this god-awful carpet, that’s for sure.” He hobbled over to the bed and sat to pull the bigger chunks out of his foot. He hated to think of just what had gotten into his wounds from that carpet. He plucked out another piece of mirror and inspected his feet. They weren’t too bad, just a few shallow cuts. Nothing like what Hale was dealing with.
Clay strode into the room. “Everyone okay in here?”
“Hale’s hurt, but they took out the bad guys,” Baer answered as he turned to leave. “I’m going to check on Wiley. He was doing some kind of binding spell on the pestilents, and it probably wore him out.”
“Hale, you and Harrison are riding with me and Dane so Dane can work on your wounds. The others are on cleanup duty and will meet us at a new hotel. Leave your bags here. Cort’s going to grab them for you.” After barking out those orders, Clay turned and left the hotel room. Harrison stared wordlessly at the door as Hale huffed out a short laugh.
“He’s got that bossy thing down pat, eh?” Hale used one hand to hold the towel to his chest and the other to throw some of his clothes back in his bag.
“I’ll do that,” Harrison said quickly as he stood and tested his feet. Pain lanced through him, but it was tolerable enough.
“You just want to fold everything neatly, don’t you?”
“I don’t know how you can stand to just throw your clothes in the bag like that,” he grumbled under his breath. “Of course I want to fold them.”
“I’m sure the cops are on their way, so we should probably hurry. A few wrinkles won’t hurt me.”
Harrison just nodded, knowing Hale was right. They had to hurry. He rushed around the room, repacking his things as fast as he could. Luckily, everything was still folded neatly. He tried to avoid looking at the two corpses on the floor as he moved about the room.
It didn’t take long to pack up everything and leave the bag sitting next to the door. This way, Harrison could focus on protecting Hale and getting him safely into Dane’s care.
