“It’s a little bigger than my place, but not by much,” he said.
I was still thinking about that moment we’d shared out on the street, that sexual energy that had crackled between us for that brief, delicious second.
“That’s fine.” The horny teenager part of my subconscious hoped there would only be one bed. My dream from earlier continued to play on repeat in my mind. It was a crazy thing to think about given the situation, but hell, I could be dead in a day or two. Why not live life to the fullest while there was still time? Plus, he was so hot, which didn’t hurt at all.
“This is the kitchen, obviously,” he said as we walked through the house. “Living room and dining room combo,” he added, pointing through an open archway. “Got a guest bathroom here, and down the hall is a master bedroom with its own bathroom. You’ll take that, and I’ll be here in the spare bedroom,” he said, opening a door to a very small bedroom for himself. A twin-sized bed stood in the corner.
I was more disappointed than I’d thought I would be. As silly as it was, I’d already imagined lying in bed with him, his body heat radiating into mine. Me taking the initiative to reach over in the middle of the night to pull him toward me and start something I hoped we’d both enjoy.
“Great,” I said, hearing the flat tone in my voice. “Perfect.”
We ate a dinner of ramen noodles from the sparse pantry, and afterward, Declan grabbed his bag and walked down the hall toward his room. “I’m gonna take a shower. I feel gross after trudging through those sewers.”
I put my bowl in the sink and filled it with water. “Me too.”
“You go first. Goodnight. If you need anything, you can wake me up any time,” he said, giving me a reassuring smile before closing the door behind him.
“Goodnight,” I called back.
He needs to be careful saying things like that. He has no idea what I’d like to wake him up for.
I chastised myself for such childish thoughts, chalking it up to the situation. I’d been running for my life for over twenty-four hours. With the sheer amount of adrenaline and hormones coursing through my body, it was no wonder I was feeling a little frisky, especially now when I finally felt safe. I needed to get that out of my head. Now was not the time to start something with a man I barely knew. As fun as it would be, this was not the time, place, or situation.
The mental pep talk lasted all of fifteen minutes. After a quick shower, I lay in bed, the lights off, listening through the wall as Declan showered. The steady muffledhissof water on tiles lulled me, but not into sleep. Instead, the soothing sound brought another mental image to my mind. Declan in the shower, water streaming across his body, sluicing off the defined muscles of his chest and arms, slick soap lathering his abs, legs, and…
Despite my best intentions, I slipped my hand between my legs and closed my eyes, allowing myself a few minutes of weakness and release. Within seconds of orgasming, I was asleep.
“Okay, first things first,” Declan said as he stirred oatmeal in a pot on the stove the next morning. “Which god do you think Balthazar might have pledged himself to?”
I took a sip of coffee, trying my best to act cool even though my fantasies of the night kept swirling through my head.
“I have no idea,” I said. “I’m still shocked that he’s a warlock. No one knew that, not even Wendy, or if she did, she did a hell of a job keeping that secret.”
“I’m gonna go out and grab some groceries later. There’s a magical bookstore in town, I’ll swing by there too and grab some research material. We can look through it all and see if we can find something that gives us a clue.”
The bookstore was most likely the same one Wendy had dragged me to a few hours before my life got flipped on its ass. I had no desire to go back there. It would just bring back bad memories.
“I’ll hang out here, if that’s cool?”
“You should be safe, but just in case—” He pulled his pistol from his holster and slid it across the table. “You know how to use that?”
“Point the barrel at the bad guy, then pull the trigger?”
“Nailed it. It’s a double-action, so no need to worry about any kind of safety.”
Thankfully, there was no need for me to point the gun at anyone. The only people I saw were humans in cars on the street outside, heading off to work. The house felt preternaturally quiet in the two hours he was gone. I spent the time resting and watching TV until he returned, laden down with groceries and two bags full of books.
“Gonna feel like I’m back in college,” he said as he tossed the bookstore bags on the couch. “Studying all day for my criminal justice degree.”
I took a look through the books. Most were about the dozens of different deities that walked the earth and astral planes. I wondered what the regular human world would do when they realized their few gods weren’t what they thought they wereanda ton of other gods from mythology were actually real. Baldur, Ra, Shiva, and more, all living their lives like deposed kings and queens, still powerful and influential, but pushed aside for the flavor of the week. In a thousand years, the gods they worshipped now would end up the same way.
“I guess we need to get to it,” I said. “Where should we start?”
Declan grabbed the ledger we’d found in Balthazar’s office. “We go through all the sacrifices and offerings, cross reference them with what we find in here. See if we can pinpoint exactlywhich god Balthazar was bound to. Once we do that, I can pull some strings and see if we can get an audience with that deity.”
I swallowed hard. “Anaudience? With a freakinggod?”
Smirking, he tossed his leather jacket on the couch. “I didn’t stutter. Let’s get to it.”
