Page 42 of Rogue

“Let’s hope they don’t. I’ll come up asking for directions,” I say. “Claim I’m just lost. Maybe I’ll knock on the downstairs window instead of the door.”

“I’ll come with you,” Blade says. “The rest of you be ready to swoop in.”

He sounds almost like his old self, from the time when no amount of life and death action was too much for him. I almost give him a huge bear hug, but settle for clapping him on the back.

“What he said,” I say, grinning widely, which they can’t see in the dark.

“All right, then let’s get to it,” Alice says.

I follow Blade to our bikes while the rest fan out to come at the house unseen from all sides. A couple of minutes later, Blade and I are riding down the deserted, dark street towards the house, the sound of our engines filling the nighttime silence.

I’m surprised that whoever’s in the house isn’t on the porch checking out the noise by the time we reach the house. But the only sign of life inside it is still just the flickering light in one of the downstairs rooms.

I stop curbside and Blade pulls up beside me.

“You think someone in there can tell us where we are?” I ask loudly for the benefit of whoever might be listening on the other side of the peeling wooden slabs of the house.

“Might as well go and see,” Blade responds in his booming voice.

From the shadows by the side of the house, Alice gives me the thumbs up, which means everyone is in position.

“Let’s,” I say and dismount, then stride up to the lit-up window.

As I suspected, the dining room beyond it is empty and the light is coming from a fat white candle in the middle of the table.It’s the kind that can burn for a few days and it’s almost burned out.

A stench is rising from the house. Dampness and rot. Stronger than I’d expect with this being just an old wooden house in a dry climate. But I don’t want to dwell on what that might mean.

“I’m going to knock on the door,” I announce loudly.

Nothing stirs. And the sound of our footsteps as we climb the creaking steps to get to the front door is the only sound I hear.

I bang on the door and knock it right off its top-most hinge. It’s hanging lopsided now and the stench of rot grows stronger.

“Anyone in here?” I call out as I open the door wider.

“No one living,” Blade mutters beside me, covering his mouth and nose with the back of his hand.

“We’re coming in,” I shout, more for the benefit of Alice and the rest of ours than because I’m hopeful there’s anyone inside to hear me.

The stench of decomp makes me retch as I walk in. All around I can hear windows breaking and boards cracking as the rest of the Angels enter the house. The sounds we’re making are the only sounds in the house.

The hallway is empty the light from the dining room barely reaching it. Blade turns on a flashlight and others in the various rooms do the same.

“Over here,” Alice shouts from a room to our left.

I follow on Blade’s heels as he runs towards it.

The flashlight illuminates two bodies slumped on the sofa, their hands and feet bound together. Two female bodies. The stench of decomp is overwhelming.

Blade’s light reveals three more bodies in other parts of the large room.

All female. All young. All dead.

“This one has a pulse,” Alice announces from over by the armchair next to the window.

“I have a live one in here too,” Creed calls from the other room.

By then I’m already dialing my cousin Manny’s number.

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