“Oooh, someone’s got it bad.” Daire snickers to my left.
He’s standing a few feet away, also leaning with his back against the side of the bus, turning a smooth stone over and over in his hand.
“Fuck off.” I shoot him a look.
Steele snickers on his other side. “Touchy subject, huh?”
My jaw clenches, and I force my gaze back across the parking lot. My personal life is none of their business, though they can probably understand to some degree. At some point, they had to face the same indecision and uncertainty I’ve been plagued with.
Or maybe they didn’t give a fuck from the start, which would make sense. They rarely give a damn about anything but their own interests.
“It’s nothing,” I lie through my teeth, not wanting to get into it, even though Joseline is the only thing I can think about.
“We saw that picture too, ya know?” Daire chuckles. “Doesn’t seem like nothing.”
I roll my eyes and shove away from the bus, heading across the dark lot with my hands in my pockets. The twins’ laughter carries on the wind behind me, but I ignore it. They're both idiots. Arguing with them isn’t worth my time.
I don't venture past the sidewalk, staying close in case I'm needed. If Joseline calls for me, I’ll be there in a blink.
Pausing, I stare down the darkened city street. Uneasiness prickles over my skin, making my hair stand on end. I try to write it off as nerves, but my stomach turns.
Something tells me it’s not just nerves.
My muscles tense, and I turn back to look at the bus. The twins are standing near the door, but they aren’t panicking. Emrys still hasn’t returned from refueling; he was exhausted after the last energy transfer and needed to feed.
Nothing seems amiss.
Taking a deep breath, I reach out into the surrounding area with my senses, trying to identify anything dark nearby. Energy moves in the distance, almost imperceptively, and I freeze. For a moment, I almost write it off as paranoia.
But then it moves again.
A hellbeast? Now?
“Shit.”
I whip around to face the bus, curious if the twins picked up on the darkness, when a second energy moves somewhere nearby. Then a third. They flash into existence, their dark power pressing in and crowding my senses.
My throat tightens, horror sinking in. In all my time on Earth, I’ve never sensed more than one dark energy at a time.
This…
This isn’t good.
When a fourth dark energy pops into my peripheral, I turn and sprint toward the bus, my senses on high alert. Ihope with everything in me that I’m wrong, that what I’m feeling is anything other than a swarm of hellbeasts materializing nearby, but I don’t make it back to the bus.
A dark tear in the air appears right in front of me, a rip through the dimensions straight into Hell. The stench of brimstone and charred souls spills out, singeing the inside of my nose, and a massive form steps through the portal. It’s enormous and misshapen, like most hellbeasts, with hulking limbs and a broad torso. It towers over me, standing on two legs, its red eyes instantly lasering in on me.
Fuck.
“Daire!” A cool blade of dark magic materializes in my right hand. It’s one of the short, curved swords I prefer fighting with. “Steele!”
I expect the beast to hesitate and size me up, but it lunges straight at me, swinging its massive arms. I leap back, barely missing its claws, and swing my sword. It clips the monster, slicing into its charred skin, and it roars. The sound echoes through the night, vibrating down to my bones.
Stepping back, I prepare to strike again, but falter when another roar erupts. This one doesn’t come from the hellbeast in front of me.
My stomach knots.
Double fuck.
