Page 84 of Wings of Destiny

“Well, that would’ve been useful to know, instead of you know, us sleeping on the couch and floor half the time.”

“Oh, whatever. You pass out on the floor half the time anyway, man.”

Derik threw his hand over his face in exasperation. “How could you? My own friend, forcing me to sleep on his couch. I shall become an old, aging man before my time from the nights I’ve suffered, scrunched up on these cushions.”

Erin rolled her eyes as her and Libby headed to the guest room. She yelled from the hall, “Coming from a guy who can’t sit up straight to save his life. And has decades, if not centuries, before he shows signs of aging,” she waved her fingers behind her before closing their door. “Have fun whining!”

“You heard her, Old Man,” I turned toward Josh. “So, what’re you thinking? Here or heading home?”

Josh thought it over and checked his watch. “I’ll remain here for the evening. Do you mind if I use your shower or borrow a change of clothes, Seth?”

“No problem, go for it. Clothes are in my room in the back and towels are in the hall closet.” I pointed my thumb over my shoulder. Josh nodded and padded down the hall towards my room then the bathroom a few minutes later.

“Looks like it’s just the two of us now,” Derik said, sprawled out on the couch, hand tucked behind his head.

“Yeap.” Silence drew between us. I laid back on the floor, using Erin’s pillow pile and folded my hands on my stomach as I crossed my ankles. My thoughts lingered to her. My eyes drifted shut as I imagined it was just the two of us, the others having gone to their own homes.

We laid on the floor, shoulders touching with her hair fanned out underneath us. Erin’s hands moved frantically through the air as she spoke about her day; the fantasy book she’d finished reading, the crazy incidents that only seemed to happen to her at work, such as embarrassing herself in front of a patron as she tripped over the foot of one of the book carts. Or when she’d gone on and let the type of fantasy novels she read slip and couldn’t look the person she was talking to in the eye afterwards.

The fear and worries of the disappearances, gone. The safety of so many, not on our shoulders. Just us. Her laughing. Me soaking in each word that floats in the air around us. Our own little bubble of happiness.

“What do you think?” Derik asked, tearing me from my daydream.

Damn it all to hell.

“About what?” My eyes slowly opened.

“Were you even listening?”

“Would you believe me if I said yes?”

He blew out a breath. “Nope. But as long as you weren’t off in some dreamland getting a hard on, I don’t give a damn.”

“You wish.”

“No, I really don’t,” the couch groaned as he flipped onto his side. “While you were fantasizing, I was talking about the humans we’ve been searching for and some potential leads. I might’ve found something, or somewhere we could search for some more answers on where they could be.”

“What’ve you got?”

“Everything seems to be pointing to the mountains. Well, at least the small bit of info I dug up today,” he stifled a yawn. “I went on patrol and ran into a couple of Demons. Finished them off but was able to get a bit out of them first.”

Huh.

“Is that where you went off too after Erin left?” I eyed Derik.

“Yeah. I initially left to keep tabs and follow her from a distance. Her fighting’s been getting stronger, but I figured why take the chance. A caught them trailing her about a block away from the campus library.” He bristled.

“They got that close? And you didn’t sense them?” My mind began whirling.

“They caught me off guard. I was pissed.”

My jaw tightened. “What did they say?”

“Beyond the usual, ‘We will destroy the Nephilim Scum’ spiel, I was able to beat the direction of where the humans might be out of the Demons.”

If they are in the mountains…where?

How do we keep missing them?

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