The man’s smile faltered for a moment, then he laughed nervously. “Man, doing that to your teeth is hardcore. I’m just trying to?—”
“He said, walk away.” Amari’s voice came from directly behind me, low and controlled. “Now.”
The man glanced at Amari, and his face paled. I didn’t know what Amari looked like to him—maybe his eyes had shifted, or there was something in the gargoyle’s stillness that spoke of predators—but the man’s bravado crumbled.
He took a step back. “Whatever, freaks.”
He disappeared into the darkness of the doorway he’d come from, and I felt my chest loosen slightly. The urge to chase him and teach him proper respect for what belonged to others hummed beneath my skin, but I pushed it down. Samara needed me present, not feral.
Samara pulled me forward. “Let’s keep moving.”
We walked in silence, my heartbeat gradually returning to something resembling normal. The bloodlust still prowled at the edges of my mind, but the farther we got away from the crowds and that man, the more manageable it became.
Amari fell into step beside me, his voice barely above a whisper. “That could have gone worse.”
I nodded, not trusting myself to speak. My hands were shaking slightly, and I knew Samara could feel it where she held me.
We turned down a narrow street that smelled like trash. There were doors, but no one was waiting at these.
We moved down the long passageway until Samara stopped and opened her bag. “Ready? Let’s hope this works.”
We grabbed onto her, and she took a deep breath before touching the feather to her palm.
Nothing happened.
“Maybe this one is defective.” She reached into her bag and pulled out another. “This one has more dried blood on it.”
A curse left her lips as the second feather failed to work.
“Maybe it only works inside the castle,” Amari suggested.
“No. It should work everywhere.” My family definitely hadn’t been in the castle when they’d ventured to Earth.
We grabbed onto Sammy for the third time. She closed her eyes, took a few deep breaths, and closed her fist around the feather.
Nothing happened at first, but then her hand glowed. I was about to say something when we were pulled to Inferna, to the Black Forest.
“Thank fuck that worked.” She shoved the feather into her bag and started walking north toward my village, where we’d be safe.
There was no ignoring that her hand had been glowing. Ithadn’t when we’d left the dungeon. “Why was your hand glowing?”
She shrugged with an infuriating little lift of her shoulders that told me exactly nothing. I wouldn’t let her dismiss it that easily.
I stalked after her, my boots crunching against the dead leaves and twisted roots.
Amari walked behind me, matching my pace. What he rarely did was match my temper. It was annoying how level-headed he remained even when I wanted to shake answers out of Samara.
“So that’s it?” I called out to Samara’s retreating form. “You’re going to walk away?”
She didn’t stop or even slow down. “There’s nothing to talk about.”
“The hell there isn’t.” My strides ate up the distance between us until I was walking backward in front of her, forcing her to acknowledge me.
“Every demon has tricks.” She kept her gaze fixed somewhere past my shoulder, avoiding my eyes. A sure sign she was lying or withholding information.
“Your hand lit up like a luminous monkey. That’s not nothing.”
“Valentino, drop it.” Amari never used my entire name unless he was mad at me, and he definitely wasn’t.
