Vera pouts. Then says, “Good plan. Okay, you go in through the back. I and Jax will go in through the front and wait for you to strike. Jax can handle men you can’t take out with a bow.”
“Fine,” I say.
Quickly, I check my bow resting on my back and my quiver. Just as I’m about to head to the warehouse, Vera says, “Phoenix, don’t die.”
I smile at her and say, “You, too. As you said, our work is not done yet.”
Navigating my way to the secret back entrance is easy enough. I quickly find the door, ignoring the ache that pounds in my chest at all the memories.
I can’t allow myself to break down right now.
Maybe that’s why Vera keeps herself so busy with her studio, Savage King operations, and being my patron during these trials. When the mind and body are busy, there’s no space to grieve about a broken heart.
The door is unlocked, so I slip inside with ease. It’s dark, and damp. I pause, straining my ears to listen for the enemy. Bart and Hel may have missed Caligos roaming the place outside the main warehouse area. But I hear nothing.
So, I open my senses and reach. Nothing close to me, which may be a good or a bad thing. After all, I can’t sense Decarios.
I don’t falter, though, and push forward.
Navigating my way through the dark warehouse corridors is a bit harder without Daegel. It takes me longer than I hope, butI do eventually find the metal ladder that leads to the area above the pit.
I scale it quickly, and push the door open.
It doesn’t budge at first, so I have to shove my shoulder a bit rougher against it for it to open. I try not to use too much force because if the door slams open with a bang, the Caligos below will be alerted of my presence.
Thankfully, after the third push the door gives.
Carefully, I open it and crawl onto the narrow ledge. The main area of the warehouse has been cleared out from all the gambling tables. And the bar is not there anymore. Only the iron fence stands, and a couple of ropes hanging from the ceiling in the middle.
They haven’t scrubbed the blood from the dirty warehouse floor where ten drugged bodies lie on thin mattresses in a heap. I breathe through the rage that rises.
Use it as fuel. Use it as fuel.
I’m good at it.
A familiar presence chuckles at the very back of my mind.
Oh no.
Please, don’t.
Not right now!
But then it dawns on me. My punishment. The tattoo between my breasts starts to burn.
Ah, have you forgotten so quickly?Lorca purrs.You wound me greatly, Phoenix.
I haven’t,I reply.You’ll claim the souls of these men?
Why of course. My hunger is endless.
Well, at least I’m killing two birds with one stone here.
I slide my bow off my shoulder and grab the first arrow. My eyes scan the area beyond the iron fence. One, two, three…I count eight Caligos hanging around the makeshift fireplace. One’s sleeping in the corner.
But Bart and Hel said there were ten. Where are the other two? Ah, shit.
The heavy double door on the other side of the warehouse slams open and all the Caligos perk up. Even the one snoozing. Two Caligos enter.
