We followed the shifters. Hudson yanked on the handle, breaking the lock. It creaked as it opened, and I stepped forward, but Hudson’s arm shot out, blocking me. “I’ll go first.”
I squeezed my eyes closed and sighed. My mate still thought I was weak.
“I don’t think you are weak, Cora. But it doesn’t lessen the protective instinct. When you can, let me lead.”
“Fine,” I said. I could understand his point, but I didn’t like it.
He gave me a quick peck before diving through the shadowy doorway. I followed with the rest of the gang filtering in behind me. The darkness pressed in on all sides, so thick I couldn’t see my hand in front of me. I stumbled over something on the floor and cursed under my breath. A hand closed around mine and squeezed.
“Hold my belt loop until we get out of the dark,” Hudson advised.
Where were my supernatural senses? I think I was owed them. I twisted my finger in the back of his jeans and followed.
“You hear that?” Dave asked.
I tilted my head, hearing nothing but our breaths and footsteps. Hudson came to an abrupt stop, and I smacked my face into his back. “A little warning,” I grumbled, rubbing my aching nose.
“I hear it,” Rebecca whispered. “And I can smell it.”
That wasn’t a good sign.
“It’s behind this wall,” Hudson declared.
“How do we get in there?” I asked. My answer came in the form of a loud thud, and a hole appeared in the wall. Light filtered out, shining on Hudson’s face as he tore his fist free from the drywall.
“That’s one way,” Lucifer muttered. Then, without warning, we were squeezed once more through space and time and emerged on the other side of the wall. “That’s a more elegant method.”
“Now you’re just showing off,” Rebecca said.
Lucifer smirked. “I haven’t even begun, darling.”
Ugh. Nope. My life does not need a love affair between my uncle and my vampire friend, when said vampire is currently claimed by a territorial shifter.
“Cora, pay attention,” Abaddon snapped. “Tap into your celestial side. You can sense their souls, each one being born and each one ending.”
I could, but I found it rather overwhelming, much like opening an email address you forgot you had a decade ago and realizing there were thousands of unread ones waiting for you.
“Ignore the noise,” Lucifer advised.
“Is the lesson really needed right now?” Dave asked.
“It is. She needs to stop shying away from this side of herself,” Lucifer said.
Yes, because this was the side they needed to determine the course of the future. The side that had choices to make on behalf of humanity. This was the terrifying side.
“The noise is rather loud,” I muttered as I looked around the unremarkable hallway with stained, peeling wallpaper and flaky paintwork.
“We don’t need magic to find the horror,” Hudson said as his hand pressed against my back and guided me forward with him. “It’s right around the corner.”
We rounded a corner to find a large open seating area. A dusty chandelier flickered with power, sending shadows dancing across the blood-spattered walls. Death littered the room in a macabre display of bodies draped over sofas, slumped in chairs, and curled on the carpet tiles. Although this was a recent slaughter, I couldn’t register the dead.
“There’s nothing,” I whispered.
“Agreed,” Abaddon said as he stalked around the room.
Rebecca’s arms curled around herself, but she didn’t look away.
“What happened here?” Dave wondered.
