The tall grass waved and crunched under their feet as they walked, the crooked, crumbling structure of the factory looming ahead of them.
Crickets and frogs chirped around them, the moon shining bright in the cloudless sky, lighting their way with its soft glow, eerie as it was.
Betrayal and Death walked silently in front of her, Hope behind. None of them spoke, instead, keeping eyes peeled for anything besides the grass moving.
Her nerves tightened with each step. Something felt off about the ease with which they progressed.
But her chaos sat quiet in her chest, so she tried to push the worry away. It struck her just then how dependent she’d become on her chaos. It protected her, she trusted it, and in turn used it as a kind of sixth sense.
The structure loomed tall and menacing as they drew close enough to make out an entrance in the dim light. They ducked behind a pile of dirt and rocks, long grown over with weeds from a construction site.
“I don’t see anyone,” Daria noted as she peeked around the corner.
It was eerie how empty it looked. “Did Cadmon lie?”
But why would he have sent them to a random, abandoned building then?
“I don’t think he had a reason to. Let’s just see if anyone comes out,” Death responded, voice lowered into an almost whisper.
Daria nodded, keeping her response silent, and studied the building. Windows were boarded up haphazardly, tarps hanging free to blow in the breeze. From outward appearances, it truly looked as if no one had attempted to enter since the place had shut down.
“Should we split…up?” she asked, and instantly regretted the words as Death’s head snapped in her direction. “Never mind, that was a dumb question.”
“Damn right it was,” he grumbled, bringing a smile to her lips.
The factory was huge, a giant warehouse-sized building with towers for who knew what. Multiple entrances were visible, and Daria bet there were even more circling the whole thing.
Maybe Cadmon was right, and they were better off letting him send some of his men in just so they could have extra bodies.
Just as Daria opened her mouth to voice such a thing, her chaos tensed up, the sleeping house cat jumping to its feet, ears twitching and tail flickering in irritation.
Sharpening her gaze, she studied the entrances more closely. There was still no motion, the entire place devoid of life.
Nerves prickled the back of her neck, and she turned to eye the field in the direction they’d come. Nothing but the tall, swaying grass met her suspicious gaze.
“What’s wrong?” Hope inquired softly.
“I don’t know,” she replied. “Something just doesn’t feel right suddenly.”
“Guess that means you’re not as dumb as we thought you were,” a deep voice answered their quiet conversation. Daria tensed and jerked her head toward the sound, but before she could even lay eyes on who the voice had come from, she was knocked to the ground.
She cursed and scrambled back as a skirmish broke out, dirt and weeds crushed under her. Once her back touched the mound of dirt, she tried to lock eyes on the culprit. She didn’t recognize him, but he moved fast, as if his motive was to confuse the fuck out of them.
The blade was a hard ache against her spine, but she was hesitant to pull it out. Why reveal their secret weapon if the demon attacking them wasn’t even coming after her? Instead, he completely ignored her and went for…
Hope.
Daria leapt up, the chaos in her chest unleashing itself, and with a deep breath and a fast exhale, it released. Like a rubber band snapping, it lashed out, and Daria only had a split second to react.
“Death, move!” she shouted, and without hesitating, he listened. The mound beside him exploded in a shower of dirt and rock.
The attacker, focused on Hope, was on the other side of the pile, and as it detonated, he was knocked to the side. Rocks rained down, and through the shower of dirt, he disappeared around the side of another pile.
Hope sent her a nod before he chased after his attacker. She opened her mouth to call out to him, but the breath was knocked from her lungs as she was tackled from the side. Sucking in a lungful of air, and failing, she stared up at Betrayal and glared. They just happened to land with him on top of her, in between her thighs. Naturally.
“What the fuck?” she hissed. Then her gaze caught on the dirt pile she’d just been standing in front of and the wicked blade embedded in the dirt. “Oh,” she said.
“You’re welcome,” Betrayal responded dryly, but relief colored his honey drenched gaze. “Didn’t want to have to carry you home. Aga—”
Daria leaned up and kissed him right on the mouth, interrupting whatever smart-ass thing he was about to say. When she pulled back a second later, he was stunned, jaw slack with shock.
Just when she was about to say something, a familiar head of blond hair appeared over his shoulder and she screamed. The dirt pile beside them exploded, and a curse was heard over the raining dirt and rocks. The funny thing was… not a single rock touched them.
“You’re getting good at that,” Betrayal observed, the curl of a smile on his lips.
His arms flexed beautifully as he pushed to his feet, holding a hand out to Daria. When she placed her hand in his, he pulled her from the ground in an effortless show of stunning strength.
“That was Deceit,” she told him quietly, eyes peeled for the familiar figure of the demon.
“Oh, I hate that guy,” Betrayal growled.
“Wasn’t he the one who tried to… you know?” Daria asked, as she made a cutting motion across her neck.
A soft growl rumbled from Betrayal, and that was all the confirmation Daria needed.
“Would you say these dirt piles are kind of… in the way?” Daria inquired.
Betrayal arched a brow at her and nodded. “Yeah, I’d say so.”
And just like that, her chaos snapped out again, hitting each dirt pile and breaking them up. Showers of dirt and grass and rock exploded and rained down on them, but none of them were hurt.
As the last one exploded, it revealed Hope and the first demon fighting.
“Where’s Deceit?” she asked, and turned her back to Betrayal as she glanced around them.
“There!” she shouted, and pointed in his direction. He was near the tree line, trying to stay out of the range of the explosions.
Without thinking about it, she took off after him. Her chaos rumbled around in her chest as if it knew what was coming. Daria didn’t know what exactly she was doing, but even if she didn’t trust herself in a fight, she trusted her chaos, and that was what she was counting on.
A tight grip around her upper arm jerked her to a stop.
“What do you think you’re doing?” Death asked her, tall and fearsome in the shadow of the moon.
“Deceits right th—” She started, and pointed to where he’d been… just a moment ago. He was gone.
“Shit,” she cursed.
“I think Betrayal’s earned the right to beat his ass,” Death mumbled, and pulled her to the side of the building.
“You’re just saying that because you don’t think I could take him,” she retorted.
“And he’d be right, no?” a smug voice said, as Deceit appeared behind Death.
Daria snarled and yanked Death forward, using the grip he still had on her wrist to pull him out of the way. As they both stumbled back, he turned. His hand brushed over her lower back before cold night air caressed her skin, and then Death leapt forward.