I have to drag a hand across my face, because my hard-on is suddenly excruciating.
“Just tell me what we’re doing here,” focus, Reuben, focus, “so I can figure out my love life later,” I mutter, but Baal only watches me blankly.
“You called me here.”
There’s only silence between us when a strange uneasiness creeps in.
“No,” I correct him slowly. “I didn’t.”
Neither of us has time to react when the shop detonates with sound and light. An explosion in my ears that makes me stumble out of my seat by instinct.
For a few moments, all I can see is white. There’s a loud ringing in my ears that’s tearing through my skull, creating an instant ache behind my eyes.
I think I scream Baal’s name—try to feel for him along the floor, but he’s too far—or too close, I wouldn’t know the fucking difference. I try to blink the white spots away—try to shake the ringing out of my ears, but all I feel is someone’s hands on me, pulling me up by the back of my shirt to slam me onto the coffee table.
There you are.
My fingers grasp the fork on the table and I slam it into my assailant’s wrist.
They release me with a scream and I twist my body to plant my foot into their chest, sending them flying back.
Finally the world is coming into focus.
Was it always this fucking bright?
The attackers are dressed as though they themselves had planned to come in for coffee but decided to attack us on a whim. I figure it was to blend in with the civilians and not draw attention, but at the same time, it irritates me.
I just don't have time for this kind of shit.
The man I’d stabbed in the wrist raises his pistol towards me, only for Baal to smack him in the face with a coffee mug and I pull my gun from my waist to clip him between the eyes.
“Didn't think I'd have to deal with this shit so early in the New Year,”Baal mutters as he gets to his feet beside me, still a bit shaky and blinking furiously.
I tilt my head as more men enter the small shop, cutting Baal a deadpan stare as civilians brush past us in a panic to get out,“I could've sworn we were in our own territory.”
He raises his hand in a gesture that says, ‘I'm just as fucked as you are’, “Shit probably got shuffled when we weren't paying attention?”
Unlikely. Aster loves this fucking shop…
At least I think he does.
There's an ominous feeling settling beneath my skin as Baal and I jump into the fray, guns and blades at the ready. An ill sense of dread that poisons my insides.
For the first time, I'm hoping this attack is exactly what it appears to be—a thoughtless scuffle with uneducated wannabes. I'm hoping there isn't anything deeper to it—no demons lurking in the dark or some grand scheme against my family…
But they called me out here.
They separated me from my team on purpose.
They chose the exact moment the Harvester invited Evie out of the city.
And all my instincts are driving one ofBaachan’steachings to the forefront of my mind; I can see her piercing gaze clearly beneath my eyelids and the warning in her voice is like a tolling bell of foreboding.
‘If it’s a gamble between coincidence and enemy strategy…’
‘Always bet on the enemy.’
‘Christian’
