Oaklie and Arkas could hear them even above the storm.“They’re taking turns sleeping in shifts,” Arkas said.“They clearly don’t trust their daughter.”
“Can you blame them?”Oaklie asked.The brat had gone to sleep a couple of hours ago, but she’d whined constantly while she’d been awake.
Leaving the bed, Oaklie walked over to the window.The clouds hadn’t shifted, but the hail seemed smaller and less dense.The rain was still hammering down.“I think it’s going to stop hailing soon,” she said, mentally crossing her fingers.She just wanted to get the hell out of this motel.
Arkas was about to respond when they heard a thump in the room at the end of the hallway.It was followed by an indrawn breath and a pained gasp.There was a gurgling noise, then a quiet giggle of insane glee.
Meeting Oaklie’s stricken eyes, the knight shook his head.“The father fell asleep,” he surmised.“His daughter just murdered them both.”They’d vanished from their radars.
“Why?”Oaklie asked, horrified that someone so small had just killed two people.“Surely she knows she’s too young to survive on her own?”
They heard a door open, then the light pad of footsteps.“She believes she won’t be alone for long,” Arkas said grimly.
“Hello?”the little girl called out from the other side of their door.“My mommy and daddy got sick and died,” she said in an emotionless voice.“Can you take care of me now?”
“Oh, God!”Oaklie groaned, putting her hands over her face in anguish.“This is too much!”she protested.
“I’ll take care of it, my cambion,” Arkas said gently.“Open the door for me, female.”
With a sick feeling of dread, Oaklie let her power slide into the doorframe.Arkas strode over to open the door.The little girl’s sweater and jeans were splattered with blood.She’d tried to wipe her hands clean on them, leaving red streaks behind.A few red blooddrops were scattered across her face.“I got my hands dirty,” she said, holding them up.
“Let’s get you cleaned up, little one,” Arkas said, bending to scoop her into his arms.He walked to the next room down the passageway and entered it.
Oaklie couldn’t see what was going on in the motel room right next door, but she could hear it.
“I’m going to take away your pain now,” Arkas said to her.
There was a sickening crunching noise, then Oaklie felt the black soul fade to nothingness.A sob burst from her before she could stop herself.
Arkas was standing in front of her a moment later, staying a few inches away.“Do you despise me now, Oaklie?”he asked, voice sounding vulnerable.
“No,” she refuted and stepped forward to put her arms around him.“You did what I couldn’t do,” she said, weeping for the doomed young family.He hugged her back and she felt his sigh of apparent relief.One hand went to the small of her back to hold her to him.The other smoothed up and down her long hair, soothing them both.
Chapter Twenty-Nine
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