Treycore kept his arm around him, tugging him close as they walked through the open space, and he knew it was in part because Lanzar kept looking at him, checking him out.
Fyrow joined some of the others in the warehouse while Yorro and Lanzar led them through a doorway into another room, where tables of food were set up.
“During the day,” Yorro said as he turned to his new company, “we took a few teams out and pillaged the nearby grocery stores. We don’t know how long we can last in this town like this, but it’s what we can do right now. Those things managed to consume most of the meat, so we have to make do with canned goods, rice, and beans for a while, until we can figure out what in the hell is going on here.”
“How are you guys here?” Treycore asked. “On Earth?”
“We were the runaways from Heaven, the ones who are here not entirely legally.”
“Savages?” Aerysn asked.
Yorro smirked. “Yes. We all have our own reasons. For me, well, sometimes you can’t bring the ones you love into the heavens, and if you can’t do that, then you must join them wherever you can. Isn’t that right?” He glanced between Kid and Treycore. “My wife is in the other room, with our sons.”
“And what about you guys?” Kid asked Lanzar, looking him directly in the eyes. It seemed Lanzar wasn’t letting up his stare, and Kid wanted him to know he wasn’t intimidated by him. “Why are you here?”
“Let’s just say I had my reasons, Stinker,” Lanzar replied.
Kid rolled his eyes. Lanzar was as bad as Treycore.
“All of us,” Yorro added, “for whatever reason, needed an escape from immortal realms. I would be lying if I tried to pretend we don’t have certain criminals here. Those who, in my opinion, were unjustly tried by the Council, those who managed to evade capture and live here in secret.”
Lanzar let up his gaze on Kid, making Kid suspect Yorro was referring to him.
“If that doesn’t sit right with you, Treycore,” Yorro continued, “then you may eat, and you should leave.”
“Few things sit right with me these days,” Treycore told him, “but that’s not an issue for me at all. I think the Council’s idea of justice is known far and wide as being a bit of a sham. I’ve had my own run-ins with it recently. You must be very disconnected with the immortal realms if you didn’t hear of it.”
“We don’t try to stay abreast of that sort of news. Our lives are here, on Earth, with the mortals who do care about us, mortals we have grown very fond of, or fallen in love with, as in my case. We call ourselves Winged Justice. We care about bikes, and we care about each other.”
“I like the way you think,” Treycore said. “I can respect that.”
Yorro’s beard shifted with his broad grin. “Well, it’s good to have some more allies here.” Yorro shook Treycore’s hand, then Kid’s and Aerysn’s. “Welcome. Now I’ll let you sit for a while and have something to eat. I imagine you are pretty shaken after that incident outside.”
Kid, Treycore, and Aerysn gathered some food on plates from the table before sitting down. Lanzar ate a plate at an adjoining table, still looking at Kid occasionally.
“You mind?” Kid asked him.
“You be careful…Lanzar, is it?” Aerysn said as he sat down beside Kid.
“I’m just trying to be friendly,” Lanzar said. “I can be real friendly.” He winked at Kid again.
Treycore started to get up, but Kid grabbed his arm. “Okay. I love you, Trey, but once again, I don’t need a hero right now.”
“Yeah. You should be thanking them,” Aerysn said. “This is one of the guys who saved our lives, remember?”
Treycore took a breath.
“We were fucking lucky as shit,” Aerysn continued. “Those creatures would have torn us apart.”
Treycore calmed down and let Lanzar eat in peace. Lanzar didn’t antagonize him either—something Kid was relieved about.
They ate in silence, Lanzar leaving them alone, aside from a few more glances at Kid before he got up and left the room.
“Be ideal if there was a way to stay here,” Aerysn said, as though he finally felt comfortable talking now that they didn’t have an audience. “But obviously, we need to be back on the road to get to the meet-point.”
“Yes,” Treycore said, “but what if we managed to pick up some help along the way? Seems like a noble crew with strong immortals here. Might have a better chance of fighting any grundars we may encounter if we had some help.”
“Well, you haven’t exactly worked to charm the pants off them,” Aerysn said.
“I don’t need to charm anyone. They understand the benefit of siding with us, especially if they know we can put a stop to all this. They’re not doing it for themselves, but for their families. I think there’s a chance we might actually be able to work this to everyone’s advantage.”
“Finally, something we agree about,” Aerysn said.
“I say we chat with this Yorro guy. See if we can get him on our side. We could use the help getting to the meet-point.”
“He’s not going to want to leave his family,” Aerysn assured him.
“He’s not going to want to wait around for them to get chewed up by grundars either.”
Aerysn nodded. “Perhaps you could pitch it to them without mentioning the chewing-up bit,” he said with a wink.
