Jake finally got around to asking one of the more important questions.“Where’s Father?”
“By the time I reached the wreck you were gone; there wasn’t a trail.Except yours.”Which meant the tactic of two in the car and one running sweep had worked as intended, even though Erik was lucky to have killed not just a singlesarnakibut a pair of the fuckers.
“What was it?”Little brother was settling into the work now.
“Sarnaki.”
“But they shouldn’t have…” Jake’s face changed, the equivalent of a door slamming.
Erik watched his Younger realize that someone would have had to call thesarnakito them instead of just covering routes out of town, and Erik had been out running perimeter with plenty of time to do so.It was no use.He’d known as soon as he’d realized what he was fighting that it would end up like this.“I didn’t,” he said, harshly.“I don’t expect you to believe me.But Ididn’t, Jacob.”
The shower shut off.Maybe she’d only rinsed.The thought called up a series of interesting images, ones Erik didn’t have any time to pursue.Lucky hot water, getting to touch, to slide over curves and?—
“It better not have been you,” Jake said, finally.“Look, it’s possible they’re covering all the routes to the nearest active temple and just got lucky withsarnakiand hunting hounds.Father might even have suspected; he knew we were being followed.Maybe he drew them off.I didn’t have time to check; there were six or seven goatmen.”
Erik nodded; he’d smelled the goat-things through the wet snow.Even that slight movement hurt, which was the surest sign the battle was over.
Or that things were about to get much, much worse.Goatmen were opportunistic, but also pursuit predators.The double-horned fuckers could have been chasing the SUV since the temple; the Sons’ escape route had been semi-rural in patches and hairy fuckers liked that terrain.
“It’s possible,” he said.Now his skin began to crawl, another sign that the fight was past and he’d survived again.Once she was done, he’d go in and wash his face.What strength he had left would have to be spent on his weapons and clothes; he was too tired for more sorcery unless they were attacked again.
“So what do we do?”Jake’s sandy eyebrows were hiked almost to his hairline.“Just… watch each other?”
“And get her to the active temple Father was aiming for.”That’s the important thing.We’re both going to be dredged to see if we had anything to do with this.Which would be painful, but utterly necessary.
“They already know where we’re going.”
“Maybe,” Erik said, listening to hisliraimove in the bathroom—material whisper-shifted; she was changing into fresh clothes, and that was a deliciously distracting thought, as well.“You know what that means.”
“We’re all gonna die?”But a tentative, lopsided smile returned to Younger Brother’s face.
“Better.”To be an Elder was to pretend you knew what the hell you were doing; it was Erik’s lot in life and might steady both little brotherandtheir exhausted, far-too-brave potential.“We’re going to have to be sneaky.”
Fight in the Dark
It warmeda few fractions and snow stopped briefly mid-morning, but the sky remained an even, depthless grey.Liv hitched the backpack strap higher on her shoulder and tried not to look like a kidnapped woman chased by murderous hell-squids and vegetable spiders.
Maybe it even worked, because a forest-green SUV pulled up to a crumbling curb in the Overlook Motel’s parking lot and Jake opened the front passenger door for her without missing a beat, as if he squired women into large cars every day.“Your chariot awaits, Livvie.”
God, I hate that.She clambered inside while Jake kept a hand hovering as if she were a child who might bump their tender head.The door slammed, the engine roused, and the SUV pulled smoothly away.The side mirror was empty, and when she craned to see out the heavily tinted windows, there was no sign of the blond man—just a parking lot, the tense, dispirited bulk of the motel, and sleeping snow-tinged cars placed neatly in painted spaces.
Erik had a fresh navy-blue T-shirt, but his jacket was just as battered as Jake’s and traces of moisture still clung to his dark hair.Long nose, thin mouth—his profile was severe as a Roman statue’s, and Liv’s throat was dry.
“So this is what you disappeared to do.”She searched for something else to say.“Is it stolen?”
Erik checked the rearview, a quick flicker of dark eyes.“Technically, maybe.We could carry you, but that’s not very comfortable.”No faint trace of a smile; he was all business.The shy man who had given her the necklace was nowhere in sight.
Was it a relief?She couldn’t tell.
“Do I want to know the technicalities?”Or how fast you can really move?
“Not really?”Now he glanced at her, obviously gauging her desire for details, before pulling out of the lot and into rumbling traffic.“Don’t worry, Father’s tough.He’ll probably meet us there.”
I wasn’t exactly worried.Ignatius was the least of her concerns right now—after all,hehad a gun.
But it sounded like Erik was anxious, or just needed a subject change.“I’m sure he will.”When had it become her job to comfort him?Jeez.“Are we going to get pulled over if the cops run this license plate?”
“Spoken like a true paralegal.”No smile broke his expression; still, a ghost of amusement lingered in his tone.“But no, we won’t.”
