“Neither am I,” she murmured and glanced over her shoulderagain.
I pulled her back, flattening her against the wall and pinning her there with my body as something shifted in the shadows before me. Wren’s fingers rested on my arm; she leaned to the side to peer around me as the ouro emerged from a side tunnel fifty feet in front of us. The serpent cut across the chamber we stood in before entering anothertunnel.
Wren stopped breathing when the ouro continued to slither endlessly onward. Its smaller tails rose to stand out from its sides and back, but they bent down again before they slid into the other tunnel. The extra tails seemed to help propel the ouro as it spedonward.
When none of the rattles went off, I realized the ouro didn’t know we were here, or it didn’t want to attract the attention of the jinn. Wren’s hand tightened around my arm before going to the gun atherside.
I rested my hand on hers before she could pull it free. Not only would her gun not kill the ouro, but it would attract the jinn and alert the ouro to our presence if it didn’t already knowaboutit.
Wren glanced at me before her hand fell away. Looking over her shoulder, her eyes went between the ouro blocking our way and the jinn behind us. Then, the ouro’s massive rattle at the end of its tail came into view before slipping away. The cloud of dust settling into place afterward was the only thing marking the ouro’spassing.
“We have to go,” I whispered and stepped awayfromWren.
She followed me as we continued down the channel the ouro had crossed. All ability to see vanished once more as I turned into another tunnel. The serpent had bisected this tunnel and gone a different way, but it was only a matter of time before it tracked us downagain.
ChapterTen
Wren
Exhaustion was something I’d experienced hours ago. Now, I had no words to describe the bone-deep weariness encompassing me. Every step felt like I was wading through a swamp. Keeping my eyes open had become a losing battle, and I was certain I’d fallen asleep while walking a fewtimes.
Once, the rumbling of my stomach had woken me, but I’d adjusted to my hunger pangs and the dryness of my throat. Food and drink were two things I was used to going without. I could go another day, possibly two if it remained cool in here, before dehydration really started toaffectme.
I kept my hand on Corson’s back, so I would know if something gulped him down. My other hand rested on the butt of my gun, but it slid off every time my head drooped forward. Stopping was death, but I’d love to be able to sit for a minute. I didn’t dare wish for it. The idea of drawing the jinn to us was almost as frightening as the serpent stalking us throughitslair.
The rancid stench of something worse than the ouro’s breath hit me. I was slapped awake by the smell burning my nose. It caused my eyes to water and nearly sent me reeling away to vomit. The possibility of retching on Corson’s boots was the only thing that kept me fromthrowingup.
“What is that?” I choked out as I pinched my nose in a useless attempt to blocktheodor.
“I think we’ve found where the ouro is stashing its regurgitated meals for laterfeeding.”
I gulped as bile surged up my throat and my hunger vanished. “Is it ahead of us?” Or worse… “Are we standing in itssavedfood?”
The possibility had me gulping again and afraid to take another step. I’d seen countless atrocities over my life, but I’d never had the misfortune of standing in snakevomit.
“No. It’s coming from a side tunnel. Come,” Corson said and briefly touchedmyarm.
I fell into step behind him again, unwilling to release my nose until I believed it was safe to do so. My nerves had gone beyond the point of frayed, and I couldn’t stop imagining we would simply walk into the ouro’s mouth. If that happened, I’d slice the ouro’s tongue off and fire holes into its throat as it gulped us down, but that wouldn’t stop it from swallowing us like the whale swallowedJonah.
Even with that horrible prospect in mind, my energy deflated again, and I found myself shuffling behind Corson instead of lifting my feet off the ground. I didn’t know how far we’d traveled before my chin hit my chest and my headjerkedup.
Blinking, I realized there was still nothing but darkness surrounding us. The firelight by the jinn had been so warm and inviting; those pillows a little bit of Heaven, but what looked so pleasurable at first glance, revealed itself as a nightmare upon closerinspection.
The suffering etched onto the woman’s face was something I’d never forget, or the blood seeping down the man’s back. My experience with sex had been far from earth-shattering, but it had been more pleasurablethanthat.
Sometimes I wondered if the circumstances of my life had left me frigid and unable to enjoy sex. A lot of the women Wilders gushed about sex, especially my friend Jolie, but I could take it orleaveit.
I’d never revealed those thoughts to anyone. I knew it wasn’t normal to feel that way, knew I’d be met with shocked expressions if I did tell someone that. Jolie would probably be determined to fix me and shove me at the first guy who walked by. She’d insist I try again, as if it were like learning to shoot and the more I did it, the better I’d get at it. Maybe that was true, but I had no interest in tryingagain.
Well, maybe I had some interest in trying again, I realized. Corson made me feel not so frigid, and whereas I’d decided sex wasn’t necessary in my life, I found myselfcravinghim as my hand slipped downhisback.
When I realized I was licking my lips, I jerked my hand away from him and rubbed my eyes with my knuckles. Exhaustion and a concussion, that was what was wrong with me and why I had these bizarre imaginings about being with ademon.
My thoughts turned back to the jinn and the poor couple. Guilt tugged at me over leaving them behind, but dying to save two strangers who might not deserve saving was pure stupidity. I hadn’t lived this long by beingstupid.
“Why would theydothat?”
“Do what?” Corson whispered, and I realized I’d spoken the questionoutloud.
