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Azimuth and Orias got in and closed their doors. “We know enough to navigate. What we don’t know, you could co-pilot.” Orias’ voice of reason made perfect sense, but her hands gripped the wheel until it groaned under the pressure as she put the car in gear and drove out of the parking lot.
“My car. I drive.” Nadir pulled to a stop along the curb and put the car in park.
“Girl doesn’t like to share her toys.” Azimuth claimed her knee with his hand.
“Don’t distract me, Az. We’re here to help humans, not hurt them.”
Kobol appeared outside of the curbside car door and got into the car. “Calm yourself. I gave him a minor concussion and his friends just called medics to check on him. He’s already coming around. More importantly, no one noticed us. If you’re so concerned, pick a more secure location for the port next time.”
Nadir laid her head against the steering wheel and took a deep breath, then shook her head and put the car into gear. “I’ll plan ahead better next time. The alley was a poor location for the group of us.”
No one replied, which was likely for the best, considering she needed to reset. She left Lo-Do and traveled east, catching the highway and heading toward Aurora. A few turns later, they turned into the suburban neighborhood Annamie had indicated. Checking the exact address, she located the subdivision and drove through the area. It was bisected by a wide greenbelt with a park filled with equipment for kids.
Not where you’d expect to find daemons. But with the depression, no doubt there were plenty of vacant houses ripe for their use.
Nadir parked down the street from the first address, and when she got out of the car, the scent of daemon kin drew her immediately. The others followed.
“What do you smell?” Azimuth asked.
“The residue of three daemons,” Nadir replied. “One foul and musty of greed, one heady bay and acacia, smelling of power, and one some sort of flesh eater, smelling putrid.” The others shared a glance. All could smell other daemons, but only Nadir knew their powers by scent because of her acquired hunter abilities.
“Good to know,” Orias replied. “Lead the way.”
She did as requested, not at all concerned about being the first through the door. A few houses down, she located a home that reeked of daemon essence and led them around via an open back gate into a backyard void of other structures. The back door to the house was locked but was made from metal, which Nadir easily bent open with her powers.
Once inside, she sensed no one else was there. There were no bodies; the police must have removed them yesterday. The boys fanned out and looked the place over, but it was empty.
“They aren’t here now. But recently.” She opened her mouth wide, tasting the air. “I know their names. I can taste them.” She rolled her tongue at the foul taste in her mouth.
The guys drew weapons and formed a circle, backs to each other. Azimuth turned to her. “Draw your blades and whisper their names when you’re ready. The curiosity will be enough to draw them back.”
Nadir nodded in understanding, held her sancre dagger aloft, and whispered the names she tasted in the air.
CHAPTER10
ERIN
Erin awoke, eyes opening to sunlight dappling down through the outstretched arms of the lodgepole pines she remembered falling asleep under last night. Or was it this morning? Birdsong filled the air, their warbling joy untouched by her plight. By the angle of the light, she could tell it was already midmorning.
She stretched a little, languorously, and could still smell the smoke from the bonfire in her clothes and in her hair. Surrounded by her backpack, walking sticks gathered from last night, and her body arranged in roughly the same position she’d fallen asleep in, all appeared in order. The forest creatures hadn’t even gone after her meager food supplies.
It was all just a dream.
Her laughter rang out in the night air. What a crazy dream, no doubt spurred on by her injuries and fatigue from the day. Maybe she had hit her head when she had fallen? That was always a possibility. All of yesterday’s events were jumbled up like slices of a shattered mirror, reflections in her mind that seemed to form an impossible landscape that she just couldn’t piece together.
Had she honestly faced down a bear? Danced with satyrs and nymphs? Slipped her hands across a gold-skinned man? Surely not.
Then why did her lips still feel bruised? Erin brushed the fingers of her left hand across them gently and suppressed a yelp of pain. Blaming dehydration, she moved to prop herself up on her left elbow, preparing for her body to protest every motion.
Meeting no resistance, warning bells clamored through her mind. Erin hadn’t desired discomfort, but it had been assured after yesterday’s fall, which she was fairly sure had happened.Hadn’t it?
Erin grabbed a canteen and drank deeply, but it tasted weak.Off.She sighed, craving something with more substance. She held the bottle out and sniffed it with her right hand, but it smelled fine. In shock, her eyes took in the entirety of her right arm as she moved it back and forth, placing the canteen on the ground. The fabric she’d bandaged her fingers with the day before was gone, and her movements caused no pain. Although there were a few bruises and small, thin white lines on her fingers and mild stiffness in her shoulder, Erin couldn’t rightly call it pain. Not compared to the lancing heat she’d experienced the day before.
She sat forward and gingerly peeled back her left sock, again finding no bruises. Frowning, she slipped it all the way off. Poking and prodding her mostly pink flesh, Erin searched for the damage so fresh in her mind, but, again, only mild discoloration remained. She flexed and stretched her foot, rotated it back and forth, all with no protest from the joint.
Erin replaced her sock and sat back. Had she imagined the fall? No, her shirt was still ripped where she’d made it into an impromptu bandage for her hand. Perhaps she’d instead hit her head in the fall, and her actions reflected some form of temporary insanity?
A smile crept along her face as she deeply breathed in the forest air, the slightest hint of smoke lingering on her clothing. She shook her head and laughed. If she was mad, so be it. She preferred it over beaten, bloody, and broken.
