“I’m driving us home,” Baer growled. “You drive like my grandpa, and it’s my damn Jeep.”
Lucien laughed.
Grey reluctantly got out of the vehicle and felt his way to the warm hood. “Gotta be a lot of glass bottles in there for me to knock over,” he warned as Lucien placed a hand on his biceps.
“We’ll steer you in the right direction.” Lucien pressed on his arm as they started walking. “You need the exercise.”
“Makes more sense for me to wait in the—” he broke off when a horrid smell hit his nose. It was like rotting meat left out on a hot summer day. “Shit, pestilents,” he hissed. Fear gripped his heart, his lungs freezing in his chest. How the hell was he supposed to protect himself?
Pestilents were these…humanoid creatures…from another realm who were trying to kill him and his brother Weavers. Their world was dying, and they wanted to leech energy off this one to save their own. Grey and the other Weavers had been tasked to stop them, using magic they’d gained from three goddesses. Insane. All of it sounded absolutely insane, but it was now his life.
One positive was that they were easy to spot, thanks to their awful stink. They rotted slowly in this world because they didn’t belong.
“I just smelled them, too,” Lucien grumbled under his breath.
“Can you see them?” Grey asked.
“They have to be in the store. Do pestilents drink alcohol?” Baer’s voice was moving away from Grey, possibly toward the Jeep.
“How the hell would we know?” Lucien led Grey back, too. Doors opened around him and he reached out with his left hand, coming into contact with the familiar durable fabric covering the rear bench seat in Baer’s Jeep.
“That’s it? We’re going to run?” Grey slid inside the vehicle, inwardly fuming. They were running to protect him.
“You expect us to just attack them in broad daylight in a wine shop?” Baer’s voice came from the driver’s side this time. “I can’t believe they’re rallying forces this fast. We had a three-month break last time.”
“There is obviously more than one set out there, or they wouldn’t have been chasing us all over the United States.” Grey grabbed the front seats and pulled himself forward to lean between them as Lucien got into the passenger side. “I don’t think we should just leave them.”
Lucien cleared his throat. “I see only one at the counter now.”
“Doesn’t mean there aren’t more in the back,” Baer countered.
“Why don’t you go in there and lure him out?” Lucien suggested. “See that field behind those trees? We could fight it there.”
Grey saw nothing, but he didn’t bother to point that out. All he knew was, he felt wrong running and leaving any pestilents free to attack them later. Or even an innocent human who just happened to get in their way. If there were only a few, Baer and Lucien would be able to easily take care of them on their own. “I think that’s a good idea. But you should both go inside, just in case there are more than one.”
“And leave you help—er…alone out here?” Baer snapped. He cursed softly. “Sorry, Grey.”
But he was fucking helpless, and he knew it. Before losing his sight, his powers hadn’t done a lot when it came to fighting, but he’d been able to shoot a gun, use a knife. He wasn’t bad in a fight. And he’d been able to serve as a lookout, offer cover for his brothers. Now, he didn’t even have that.
Of course, his powers were tied to his sight, so he couldn’t use those. All he got were the occasional broken thoughts and emotions from others. His ability to see auras had been nipped in the bud. As was his ability to see into people’s souls, to read their past, motives, desires, and thoughts. He didn’t know if he could still manipulate people, hadn’t even tried.
“I’m going in,” Baer announced. “I’ll lure him into the field and shift into something fierce. We’ll dispatch this asshole, grab our booze, and go home.”
Baer’s car door opened, and Grey was left with Lucien, who offered up his brand of colorful commentary. “He’s walking, bold as you please, into the store. That man has serious balls. Like serious, hairy, brass swingers—”
“Less about his balls and more about the action, please,” Grey complained. “I might be blind, but I can still get mental images.”
Lucien snickered softly and continued, “The pestilent spotted him. It’s a man. About a foot shorter than Baer. Hairy as fuck. Scraggly like he crawled down from his remote mountain shack for some moonshine and smokes. Baer is grinning, taunting him. Shit! The pestilent is after him. Whoa! Baer threw the fucker into a mountain of vodka. Ahhh…all the good booze ruined. Ha! Bashed him with a bottle of wine. Don’t think we’ll be shopping in here afterward.” He chuckled. “Looks like there’s only one, so I’m going to lock you in here.”
“I’m not a fucking child,” Grey snapped.
“You also can’t fight this thing like we can. I know it sucks, but it is what it is until you get your sight back. I’m going to help Baer—the pestilent is following him into the field. And he’s got a machete.”
A door slammed, then silence. Grey had no intention of just sitting in the damn Jeep. With some scrabbling and cursing, he unlocked his door and got out.
The noise from the fight drifted toward him, but it sounded muffled by the wind rattling the leaves in the nearby trees. Shouts. The smack of fist on flesh. A cry of pain. Not Lucien’s or Baer’s. He wanted to move closer, but he didn’t want to hamper their efforts. Neither would appreciate having to come save him.
Anger filled his belly and he clenched tight fists. This was fucking bullshit! He should be out in the fray. He should be fighting with his brothers. He should be watching their backs. But he was stuck standing here.
A roar ripped through the air, and Grey stumbled backward into the Jeep. A half smile tipped up one corner of his mouth. Baer had shifted into one of his favorite big cats. Maybe a tiger. No, a lion. He preferred fighting as them. Lucien whooped and Grey could only imagine the Fire Weaver was throwing flames at the pestilent.
“Get him, Baer! He’s escaping!” Lucien yelled.
Scuffling noises were growing louder. Feet were running in his direction. The scent of rotten meat slapped him in the face. The pestilent was coming his way! Right as the stink rose to its worst, there was a loud thud and the pestilent yelled as he hit the ground. Baer made an animalistic grunting noise. The animal shifter must have taken him down.
“Move away, Grey!” Lucien shouted from close by.
Why is he just standing there?
Lucien’s thought shimmered through Grey’s mind, knocking the breath from his lungs even as he scrambled back along the Jeep from the noise.
“Jesus, Baer, don’t play with it!” Lucien yelled.
Grey could imagine Baer swiping at the pestilent instead of outright killing it. He wondered if whoever ran the liquor shop was seeing any of this. He expected sirens to fill the air, but there were only growls and cries of pain from the pestilent. The sick stench of the pestilent assaulted his nose right before the sound of feet running away came again. Lucien cursed and followed. A branch cracked, then more scuffling noises. Lucien grunted, then cursed right as Grey heard the whoosh of fire and felt a wave of heat.