Home > Dark Champion (Flirting with Monsters #4)(4)

Dark Champion (Flirting with Monsters #4)(4)
Author: Eva Chase

After he’d grabbed Sorsha, he’d had his hands full with her. The wreckage on the floor had mostly been caused by us colliding with objects around the room as he’d shoved us away. He hadn’t transformed into his hellhound shape until he’d been loping across the ground outside, my beloved slung across his back—

An even stronger jolt of hope rushed through me. I motioned vaguely to the others, including the night elf who’d remained huddled in the shadows since Omen’s violent frenzy. “Take a moment to think about it. I’ll have a better chance outside anyway.”

Out in the humid air that had collected under the thick clouds overhead, I hesitated for a moment. The ground was dry and covered with patches of yellowed grass and weeds—and a jumble of faint footprints, the soles of human shoes. Had Omen’s hellhound paws left a mark anywhere? He’d run off in this direction…

I hurried between the trees. He’d definitely shifted by the time he’d reached this spot.

There—scratches in the dirt where his claws had scraped the ground. I bent down and flicked my tongue through the air over them, tasting the impressions he’d left behind.

Images even more fragmented than usual flashed through my awareness. The feel of Sorsha’s slack weight on his back, the hellish heat coursing over his skin, the effort of his swift strides—and a tangle of resolve and regret. He hadn’t been happy about lashing out at us. That didn’t reassure me much. He’d done it anyway, so who knew what other awful things he might do next?

I couldn’t pick up any sense that he’d known where he was going. He’d simply wanted to be as far as he could get from us, far from the possibility that we might stop him. What if he hadn’t decided yet?

I shoved that thought away and prowled onward, stopping here and there to test other patches of disrupted earth that appeared to be caused by animal rather than human-like feet. The impressions I gleaned tasted mostly the same as that first one. No clear sense of direction other than to keep moving as quickly as he could. He hadn’t been heading for a rift yet, as far as I could tell. That was one small relief.

When I pushed myself upright after the tenth or so testing, uncertain whether there was any point in continuing as the trail got vaguer, Ruse stepped through the trees to join me. His hopeful look faded at the sight of me. “Nothing?”

My frustration at that fact prickled through me. “Nothing that would tell us where he’s gone. But… I don’t think he was heading straight to the Highest. He felt the weight of some responsibility toward them, but he was resisting it.”

“I suppose if she’s still in this realm and alive, Thorn does have the best shot of tracking the two of them down.”

A fierceness that surprised even myself erupted out of me. “He should have given us the chance to help. If he’d waited just a few minutes, I might have been able to tell him something that would narrow down his search.” I spun on my heel, unable to stop myself from glaring at the trees. “Omen should have given us a chance. We know her better than he does—he should have listened to what we had to say, not followed what the Highest told him. They’ve never met her at all!”

Ruse raised his eyebrows at my outburst, but when he clapped his hand to my shoulder, the gesture was gentle. “I agree with you, devourer. Unfortunately, I think Omen was also aware that the three of us have become awfully invested in our mortal’s happiness. If we’d had more of a chance to rally against him, he might not have gotten past—well, Thorn, anyway.”

“Then he should have realized we have good reason for that devotion.”

The prickling frustration was expanding, rising through my ribs and up to the base of my throat. Sorsha had saved me not once but twice. She’d woken up a whole world inside me I’d had no idea even existed. I had to protect her.

I marched onward, searching for more signs of Omen’s passing, but I was reaching the area where he’d outpaced us. I wasn’t sure exactly which direction he might have veered in from here. We were getting close to the road, where a whiff of a cloying chemical smell lingered from the occasional cars passing this way.

I pushed past another tree—and found myself faced with a portly mortal man who was strolling along the side of that road. He paused, blinking at me, and the prickling sensation dug into me like the rows of splintery teeth that could spring up within my mouth.

Everything I cared about had gone wrong, and someone needed to pay. I could rip his soul to shreds and devour it down—

My body was moving before I’d even finished that thought, propelled by the all-encompassing hunger of my nature. The man’s eyes widened, his round cheeks paling.

“Snap!” Ruse hissed, but I was already yanking myself backward. I clenched my jaw before it could extend any farther and propelled myself away from the mortal and the tempting thrum of his life’s energy.

I was better than that. I was a monster, and I would bring out my fangs if it helped us—but not just to distract from my frustrations. Savaging that man wouldn’t bring Sorsha back.

If only I had a better idea what would.

When the RV came into sight, I stopped with a ragged exhalation. Ruse halted beside me.

“I don’t know what to do,” I said to him. The urge to rend and tear was still clanging through me. Just for an instant, a small part of me was glad Sorsha wasn’t here to see how my control had frayed.

Ruse gave me a crooked smile that looked rather painful. “You’ve already managed more than I’ve been able to contribute. Fat lot of good my charm can do for us or Sorsha right now.” He sighed. “I think I found a few places in the Everymobile that Omen touched—or rather, slashed or smacked. Do you want to come give them a taste?”

If our leader hadn’t been sure of his destination while he’d dashed away out here, I didn’t imagine he’d been clearer on it before he’d even made it out of the vehicle. But confirming that would do us more good than murdering random passers-by.

I raised my chin. “All right. And then we find something else to try. We keep trying, no matter how ridiculous it seems, until Sorsha’s back with us.”

I wouldn’t let myself consider yet what I’d do if she was lost to us forever.

 

 

3

 

 

Sorsha

 

 

If Omen had wanted to keep the location of his hidden bunker a secret from me, he hadn’t done a very good job of it. In with the pre-wrapped chicken sandwich and bottle of orange juice in the bag he’d tossed me, I found a rumpled napkin with the logo for the Grand Canyon Visitor Center.

I’d always wanted to take a gander at the Grand Canyon. Of course, I’d have preferred to be looking at it from the rim rather than this incredibly inside view of the rock it was made of. Omen really didn’t have the tour-guide instinct.

I had to assume he’d picked this cave as a stash spot because it was nowhere near anyplace mortals generally went in the canyon. I wouldn’t be surprised if the door at the other end of the room led out to a nearly sheer several-hundred-foot drop, and the bastard hadn’t brought along my grappling hook. No doubt I was about as far from human civilization as you could get in the entire country.

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