Page 5 of Truth Revealed

Pain had been the first one to breathe a sigh of relief when Persy had come running out of the warehouse. Whatever past they had together, Daria was thankful they seemed to be overcoming it. Hell, right then, Daria was just glad all her friends were safe.

“Just thinking about everything. I’m glad everyone’s home,” she admitted softly, lifting her gaze from her pale coffee to the darkened night in Misery’s eyes.

“I told you everything would be okay,” he teased, a lightness in his gaze she was still growing used to.

She arched a brow at him, her final moments in the warehouse fluttering back into her memory. “From what I remember, you said I would be okay, not everything.”

“You are my everything,” he retorted with a sparkle in his eyes.

Daria couldn’t help the giggle that tumbled out. “I walked right into that one.”

“Seriously.” His gaze darkened as his tone took on a serious note, the sadness in his eyes sucking her in until she felt lost. “I’m glad you’re okay. If anything happened to you, I…” Voice trailing off, Misery swallowed hard and stared down at his mug of coffee, effectively breaking the trance she’d been stuck in.

“Hey, it’s okay. I’m okay, like you said.” Daria reached across the dining table and slipped her hand into his, his palm warm from the steaming mug of coffee. His fingers tightened around hers, but he didn’t look back up at her until he’d taken a deep breath.

“Hey, I’ve got a solid lock on a few,” Persy called from the living room.

Daria perked her head up at the news, and poor Misery was abandoned as she rocketed across the floor to crash onto the couch beside Persy. Pain was on her other side, and as Daria sat down, it pushed them closer together.

“So it did work,” Daria whispered in awe, eyes wide and focused on the computer in Percy’s lap.

“Well, a few of them did,” Persy clarified. “I didn’t expect all of the trackers to make it home with them, and it seems my hunch was right.”

The rest of the guys crowded around the couch, peering over their shoulders to look at the three blinking lights.

“Wait. They’re not all in the same place.” Daria frowned.

Their plan to raid the warehouse was not only to get Persy back, even though that was the main focus. Pandora wasn’t stupid—she had been playing this game for ages. Coming to the warehouse alone had never been her plan, and it hadn’t been Daria’s either.

With the help of Pain, who clearly paid more attention to Persy than he led everyone to believe, they activated tiny, pin-sized trackers, and when the time was right, slipped them into the clothing of the demons they were fighting. Not only had they gathered a more accurate picture of what they were up against, they had a location.

Well… locations, based on what Persy’s screen was showing.

“I figured they would have stayed in like, a big compound or something, all with Pandora. Why are they spread out?”

“I don’t know. They’ve all been stagnant for a while though.” Persy chewed on her lip while she clicked around on her screen. “Let me try something,” she murmured, but her fingers were already flying across the keys.

Daria couldn’t keep up with the screen changes, and several moments later, Persy released a small grunt of victory. “These are the closest views I can get.” She pointed to the map, which was on the right-hand side of the screen, and then moved her finger to the left side, which showed a real-time feed of the street. “This dot looks like it’s at 9845 Henderson, and this camera is at the convenience store right across the street from Henderson Avenue. It appears to be a neighborhood.”

Before they could even process, Persy was typing and clicking again, shifting the map to the second dot, and changing the camera view.

The same situation was true for the second dot. A red light camera showed the street view of an apartment building, where the second dot seemed to be located, according to the map.

The third tracker was located at another set of apartments on the opposite side of Maleston.

“So what does that all mean?” Daria inquired, while her mind raced.

“If the trackers did stick to the demons like we hoped, and the demons are staying at different locations… then maybe Pandora just calls them when she needs them?” Betrayal mused aloud.

“That means they’re like sleeper cells.” Hope frowned as he said the words, easing himself into the chair across from the couch.

“That… doesn’t sound good,” Daria responded.

“Well, it’s not ideal, because even if we did find her central location, we’d be open to an ambush from the outside if she called them in,” Death grumbled. His light steps echoed off the floors as he paced behind the couch.

“We have the addresses, right? I think the best thing we can do is gather information first,” Daria suggested nervously. Maybe she was overly cautious, trying to buy them time, but one could never have too much information… right?

“I guess that just leaves us with one question,” Betrayal said ominously.