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Yesterday had shot up a tree, and she was dimly aware of him crashing through the branches above their heads. At least, she hoped that was Yesterday and not some hideous buddy of Rhino man. For someone who was routinely, and willingly, picked last in gym class, she was doing great. Her muscles responded like eager puppies to her need for speed, breath whooshed smoothly out and into her lungs, and she fell into a hypnotic rhythm. She’d heard about runners experiencing this kind of trance but had put it down to exercise freaks suffering a lack of oxygen to the brain. Hell had turned her into a fitness fanatic, and if that wasn’t a metaphor in the making, she didn’t know one when she saw one.
She leapt a sparkling stream like a gazelle and kept going. She ducked, weaved, twisted, and turned like a gymnast going for a perfect ten. She was a super-human, running machine, fleet of feet, nimble and—
“You can stop now.” Cronus cut into her mental celebration. “We’ve lost him.”
Eddie couldn’t resist a fist pump to self as her breathing was barely even elevated. She did a couple of hamstring stretches because it seemed like the sort of thing cardio crushers should do.
Cronus eyed her walking lunges with his head cocked. “You are feeling better?”
She was feeling better. The heat didn’t bother her quite so much, and she didn’t feel the need to rip the world a new one.
With a doggy huff, Xerxes pulled another disappearing act.
Eddie fell into step with Cronus, who also looked like he had another three months of running left in him. Guess she’d had the hell equivalent of a mental health walk. Which brought her round to the uncomfortable topic of her earlier grouchiness. “Um…about earlier.”
“Your emotions are being affected by hell,” Cronus said. “You are not to blame for your anger.”
Easiest apology she’d ever given, but not an apology at all, so she said, “Still, I’m sorry for being so irritable. Does hell make everyone grumpy?”
“You are Nephilim.” Cronus stopped and sniffed the air.
Eddie gave it a go but all she got was heavy, sultry jasmine with an earthy undertone. “Which means?”
“Your reactions could be anything.” Cronus shrugged. “Although it is worth noting that your emotions skewed to anger, which I would have expected in Wrath’s demesne. Here.” He swung his head to the forest around them. “I would have expected an emotional response more closely aligned to lust.”
Eddie shoved that in her brimming box of unanswered questions and kept on walking.
Cronus swung his head to her left. “Xerxes comes.”
A heartbeat later, Xerxes appeared. “I have found the master.”
And Eddie’s good mood took another leap forward.
Eddie’s mood plummeted as she got her first look at Shade.
They followed Xerxes into a similar cave to the last one, only to find Shade lying in his congealing blood, broken and bloody, beside a small pool.
“It is bad,” Xerxes said.
No shit, it was bad. Eddie crouched beside Shade, bile churning in her belly. She wanted to help him but was terrified to touch him.
Cronus threw back his head and gave a long, mournful howl.
“Stop.” That certainly wouldn’t help and could bring down more of Wrath’s demons on their heads.
Stopping mid-yowl, Cronus blinked at her. “He is in agony.”
But still with them, and some days you had to take your wins as you found them.
“Keep him warm.” She motioned the hounds closer. Eddie only knew the bare basics of first aid, and keeping someone warm seemed a good starting point. “Now.” She could call and fire multiple lighting, sound, and special effects cues without breaking a sweat, and she needed that Eddie to show up now. After ripping off her T-shirt, she dipped it in the water. “First, let’s assess the extent of the damage.”
Some distant part of her was panicking, but she kept it on lockdown and wiped away the crusted blood.
“His pain is our pain.” Xerxes stared at her mournfully and tipped his head back.
“Nope.” Eddie grabbed his snout and pushed it down again. “There will be no mourning howls.” Yet. Hopefully never, but she continued to clean Shade’s face and torso. Long, deep gashes dissected his ribs and oozed bright, red blood. A jagged tear down to the bone went from his hip to his knee. His breath rattled through the smashed bones of his nose. Fuck, when they went for blood down here, they didn’t mess around. The gaping wound from Chris stabbing him with the heaven blade had grown nasty around the edges.
Shade’s skin was gray and hot to the touch.
