“Don’t,” Sam said, knowing where she was going.
“Oh, why not Samarius?” she said, voice teasing. “Cut her throat already. Bring her back as this Ballad you’ve always spoken of—dreamedof. Offer her the world.”
“After this week, she may not want the world with me,” he said solemnly.
“She does,” Millie said. “Rolfe told me how nervous you were the other day. When you were going to tell her.”
Sam ran a hand through his hair, wet dirt squeaking beneath his boot as he stepped over a large tree root. “Rolfe is full of shit.”
Millie laughed. “He said you even considered dusting.”
A heavy breath blew from his lips as he shook his head. “I’ll neuter him when we get back,” he grunted.
“I think she’d love the dust,” Millie said. “But you have to let her out of the cage to see it.”
“Maybe we should be focused on the insanity we’re about to deal with,” Sam suggested.
“This is much more fun,” she argued. “I love seeing you squirm. It’s how I know how much she truly means to you.”
Sam picked up a pile of dirt from the ground and threw it at her.
Walking the forest expanse took most of the night. By the time they were nearly at the Spine border, they’d seen two herds of decaying deer through the mist, a couple of vultures overhead, but nothing had come out to attack them.
The sound of military trucks was how they knew they were at the border before the shadows even ended. Sam’s arm crossed Millie’s chest, his shadows warping their figures behind them as they approached. The pair paused, crouching at the very edge behind the last darkness before dawning sunlight poured down upon the land in lilac and grey glows.
A few men were walking around under the sporadic trees, all holding guns and looking toward the east. Some others huddled around in a circle and ate. There was one, though, that seemed to be pacing along the border, looking to the west unlike the others.
A tall man with dark brown hair pulled up into a bun atop his head. A thin brown beard covered his slim jaw. The sunrise seemed to purr over his golden-brown skin as he held the rifle at the ready.
Millie rose to her feet before Sam could stop her and whistled.
The man’s head jerked in their direction, then he took another look around at the other men before he whistled back.
Sam hadn’t seen this demon in person for two centuries, though he’d seen him on video just weeks before.
Damien.
Millie emerged from the shadows before Sam, carefully looking around upon stepping into the light. Damien’s smile lit up his face, and he pulled Millie into a hug the moment she reached him.
“I was beginning to wonder if something went wrong,” Damien said. “I expected you an hour ago.”
Millie glanced back to Sam. “Had a late start last night,” she said with a wink.
Damien met Sam with an outstretched hand, and Sam pulled him into a hug. Two claps on the back, and Sam gave him a stern nod.
“We don’t have much time,” Damien said. “You’ll have to move in sunlight, boss.”
Sam’s eyes narrowed, but Damien said before Sam could question it, “Prei tipped off the armies to look for any blip of clouds or storm not forecasted,” he explained.
“How are we getting across?” Sam asked.
Damien gave an upwards nod behind them, and the roar of a muffled engine sounded. Millie’s grin spread wide as she popped a large bubble of her gum.
“Your chariot, Your Majesty,” she mocked at the sight of the hauling dump truck.
The brakes ached when it came to a stop, the doors opening to reveal two men Sam vaguely remembered stepping out of it.
“Inconspicuous,” Damien explained. “Sorry about the dirt.”
