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I hummed my response as the line on the map circled an area back in the forest. "I know where that is. There is a giant's tomb around there."
"A giant's tomb?" Jacob quirked an eyebrow at me.
"That is what Bob calls it. We used to hang out around there and have parties when I was a teen." I snagged up my wet jacket and pulled it on before Lex stopped me from pulling it up and over my shoulders. When I looked over at him, he shook his head.
"You can't go out there in your wet clothes. You'll get sick. As much as you pretend you aren't human, you still are."
"Lex, I will put you on your ass if you don't let go of my jacket," I threatened him.
He chuckled like I amused him, and my temper spiked. "Look, you can wear mine. Don't put the wet one back on." He let go of the fabric and tugged a dry coat off the back of the chair. He tossed it to me, and I caught it before it met the floor. I dropped my soaked one to the ground and tugged his oversized sleeves over my arms.
My anger slowly leaked out as I muttered, "Thanks," deflating like a balloon popped with a needle.
We hurried through the streets, the rain now barely a sprinkle, so we trotted through puddles in silence. The sun was starting its slow descent over the horizon, brightening the gray clouds that still clung to the sky. In very little time, we were walking down the path that led to the giant’s tomb. My entire focus was on making it there.
Time moved faster now, like we were going to run out of it. My fear and anxiety peaked along with my heart rate. The rushing sound of my blood in my ears blocked out any other noise. When Bellamy tugged me off the path and against a tree, a small gasp left me, but the others followed without question, and Jacob enveloped us in shadows.
All I could feel was the hard plains of his chest beneath my fingers and the way his legs flexed against mine. His tail brushed my ankle, and my mind jumped right into the gutter.
"Stop it." I swatted at him, and he let out a low chuckle.
"That is all you," he replied. I knew that if I could see his face, he would be grinning like an idiot. When had I gotten to know him that well?
Someone in the shadows with us shushed our talking as other voices grew louder.
"How does Marlin even know this will work?"
"It is his expertise, he was a mage before the black magic turned him into a demon."
"But how?"
"He just said he needed the hunter alive, he found a way to make the portal permanent." Silence followed his words, and I strained my ears to hear them walking. We should follow them, they might lead us right to my mom. As soon as the shadows dropped, I voiced that opinion and was met with a resounding no from the entire group.
"Why not?" I hissed, unsure if they were still close. If Bellamy didn't still have me pressed to the tree, I probably would have tried to take off after them.
"Because they were looking for you," Alastor replied. "That means they are not guarding your mom."
"So let them catch me," I said. Bellamy snorted as if that was the stupidest thing he had ever heard.
"You aren't doing this by yourself," Lex said. He had his back against the bark of a tall pine.
"If you think because we slept together, and you told me you love me, that it gives you any say in what I do, I'm pretty sure we talked about that." He flinched at my words, and it made me feel instantly horrible. "I didn't mean that. I'm sorry."
"She sounds like you," Oliver said, glancing over at Juliana.
She leaned against him in a side hug. "That was before I knew I could trust all of you. I thought I had to do it all alone."
That wasn't it for me at all. This was my problem, and I had always known that something like this could happen. It was my responsibility as a demon hunter to deal with them. And the thought of these guys that I had started to care about getting hurt didn't sit well.
"Did you do it alone?" I studied her.
"Often, but I found out that together we were always stronger," she said. There was power in numbers.
"Fine, we can try it your way," I said, throwing a look at Alastor and crossing my arms. I avoided Lex's hurt stare, we would have to talk about this later.
"Together it is," he cheered.
The others all said, "Together!"
