“Why did you kill them?”
“They lost,” he said simply. “We don’t accept losers on our team.”
Without another word, he turned and headed for the street. He didn’t look back to see if she followed. She didn’t. There was something inside of her that balked at the idea of working with vampires. “You killed an elder, and now all of a sudden you have morals?” she asked herself out loud.
Myanin looked down at herself and shook her head. “Dammit,” she growled. She might not know a lot about the human realm, but she was pretty sure she couldn’t just walk down the street covered in blood and not draw attention.
She turned and went back into Thadrick’s house. She’d shower and find something to wear. She loathed the idea of wearing anything of his, but she didn’t have a lot of options. Twenty minutes later, she was clean and dressed in one of Thadrick’s shirts, tied at the waist so that it didn’t hang to her thighs. She’d just put her own pants back on. They were dark brown, so the blood wasn’t quite as noticeable as it had been on her shirt, and she was trying to convince herself that it looked like paint. Once again, her swords were strapped to her back and stowed out of sight.
When Myanin was presentable, she again headed out Thadrick’s front door. She paused this time, waiting to see if anymore supernaturals would show up. When no one did, she sighed. Not that she didn’t relish another battle, but she wasn’t here to play.
She pulled from her back pocket the card the vampire had given her. There was one name on it and a number.
Ludcarab 602-666-6666
She snorted at the phone number. She was well aware of the human belief of the devil and the number related to him. It seemed a little much to her, but then if she remembered correctly, the king of the elves did have a flare for dramatics.
The fact that the vamp would give her the elf king’s number just solidified the information she’d learned from Lyra’s mind. Ludcarab was one of the leaders of the Order. She hadn’t known that the Order was even still functioning. Apparently, they were suddenly thriving … and using vamps as their henchmen.
According to the archived information in the elder’s head, Ludcarab and his merry band of mad supernaturals were in the human realm, operating in the United States, somewhere in Arizona. Considering Myanin had only been in the human realm a few times, finding Arizona was going to take some figuring out. She didn’t even know the name of the human city where Thadrick’s house was located.She had no clue how far she was from this Arizona. She could move at a supernatural speed, faster than any other supernatural other than the fae’s ability to flash, but she’d have to acquire a map or one of those phones humans used with GPS. She strode purposefully down the cracked walkway, flattening the weeds growing up through the cracks. She had no idea what direction to go, so she just walked and assumed she’d eventually come upon a human. Fifteen minutes later, three turns, and finally leaving the dilapidated area of town where Thad lived, she saw a human male walking toward her. He’d probably know where she could get a map or phone. Moving faster than the human eye could track, she appeared in front of him an instant later. The man nearly fell backward, likely surprised by her sudden appearance.
“I need a map of this realm,” she said, her voice a command. “Or a phone so I can use the GPS thing.”
“R-r-realm?” The male stuttered.
She could sense his fear, and she smiled inwardly.Stupid humans.“Yes. Thehumanrealm. This place.” She waved her hands around her.Oh, yes,country. That’s what the land was called here.A country.“This country,” she corrected herself.
“You mean the United States?”
“Sure, sure. Whatever. Where do I get either of these items?”
“There’s a d-d-department store just down the street.” His teeth were chattering now, and Myanin thought it was a miracle he hadn’t lost his bowels.
“What is a d-d-department store?”Geez, where did they come up with these ridiculous names?
“It’s a store?” His answer sounded more like a question than an explanation.
“Are you not sure? Have you ever been to this d-d-department store place?”
“No, it’s called a department store. Of course I’ve been there. Who hasn’t?” the male responded, a hint of indignation creeping into his voice. So, he wasn’t as completely ball-less as he first seemed.
“Considering I’m asking you about it, obviously I have not. Are all humans this dense?” Before he could respond with more than the shocked look he gave her, she walked past him and headed in the direction he’d indicated.
Several blocks later, she came upon a large brown structure sporting huge, white glowing letters announcing the store’s name. The human was right. Who wouldn’t have been to a store like this when you could probably see it from another realm? Structurally, it was hideous, but then most human buildings were. It was like they had no imagination or creativity when it came to their architecture. Everything was square or rectangular. When she walked inside, Myanin discovered that the interior was even worse. Bright lights reflected a polished pale floor. Useless junk was everywhere, overwhelming her senses. Why on earth would anyone willingly come into a place like this?
An elderly woman in a blue shirt and bright yellow vest suddenly popped up in her line of sight, much too close. Myanin forced herself not to punch the old lady in the face simply from surprise.
“Welcome,” the woman said with a huge grin. “Do you need any help finding anything?”
She scoffed. “Obviously. How in the gods' names does anyone actually locate what they seek in this chaos?”
The woman laughed, her eyes alight with joy as if she had the most wonderful job in the world, rather than laboring in a concrete box filled with noise, bright lights, and all manner of trinkets shoved and stacked into every available empty space. “It can be overwhelming. But I bet we can manage to get you in the right place. What are you looking for?”
“I need one of those phones.”
“A mobile phone?”
“Is that one that has the global position system?”
