Page 92 of The Deer and the Dragon
“Two, please,” I said. No part of me wanted this man thinking I was alone.
His eyes lingered on my bare ring finger before asking, “Will your boyfriend be joining you?”
“I expect him any minute,” I replied tersely.
He made a sound to let me know that he didn’t believe a word. He flashed me a smile, and I wished he hadn’t. The odors of inflamed gums, age, and decay rolled from his mouth.
Azrames’s loathsome glare brought me comfort as I handed the man my credit card.
He swiped it as I booked for a room for two nights, but the moment the man turned his back, Az swiped his hand through the tech, and the computer blinked out of use just before the machine finished processing my payment. I concealed a smile while accepting my card with one hand, the other still folded over my chest. The man passed me a metal key, which was all the confirmation I needed to know I’d stepped into the past. I hadn’t stayed at a motel that didn’t use electronic cards since my family’s failed camping trip.
The moment we entered the room, Az held up a finger. I’d thought he looked angry in the lobby, but that was before I saw the burn of true hate. I caught how lupine he looked as his lips pulled back in a snarl. It took him exactly six seconds to locate the cameras and microphone that had been drilled into the wall, hidden in the vent, and propped behind the painting. I stood speechlessly in the middle of the room as heshort-circuited each of the pieces of equipment.
“Don’t go anywhere,” he said without looking at me. I almost gasped at the shadowy hate in his eyes as he brushed passed me. I swallowed as he disappeared out the door. I took a seat on the bed and watched the clock, heart racing. Five minutes turned into ten. Ten turned into sixty.
The deluge of exhaustion hit me like monsoon season in the tropics. I crawled backward onto one of the twin beds and slipped my legs beneath the starchy sheets. If the clock was to be believed, it had to be almost four in the morning. Given our walk from the neighborhood and calculating the time I’d spent in the apartment before Silas’s arrival, I tried to count how many hours I’d been awake. The math was something like counting sheep, as before I’d reached a final tally, the rhythmic raindrops of fatigue lulled me into a deep, terrible sleep.
Leave, and don’t come back.
I stood in the middle of a body of water so large it could have been the ocean. There were no mountains; there was no land, no signs of life. The clear ice ran as thick as cement as Caliban stared back at me. The ice fractured under the weight of his broken heart at my words. Thousands of white lines spread from where he stood as the sea was cut from top to bottom. The once-perfect glass was now covered in a spiderweb of white. The wind howled as I looked at him.
Leave, and don’t come back.
A white fox cocked its head at me before taking one step back, then another. I looked around in search of friends or family but saw no one. I was alone in the whipping winds of subarctic temperatures. I reached out to touch the snowy fox, but I’d issued it a command. It continued to step away.
“Wait,” I said quietly, but it couldn’t. Bound to my words, it had no choice.
The wind kicked up until snow surrounded me. I hadn’t felt the temperature before this moment. As the fox disappeared, the crippling cold sent me to my knees. I huddledagainst my pain, fingers, toes, and ears turning red as frostbite bit into my flesh.
“Come back,” I said, but the howling wind stole my words.
I was completely and utterly alone.
Chapter Thirty
I squinted against the morning light.
Starch—not the bamboo sheets of my apartment, not the luxurious black silk of Hell—stiff and scratchy cotton was the first sensation that pricked through my skin. My eyes flew open as I realized where I was. I shot up and soaked in the surroundings. The cheap brown-and-beige filigree of the polyester comforter thrust me into the present. I looked around, searching the tiny motel room with adrenaline bypassing any need for coffee.
The first smell to fill my nostrils was something like chlorine and dried urine.
“Morning, Marmar,” Az said, voice low enough to respect the early hour. He sat upright, legs outstretched, hands in his lap. He’d crossed his ankles on the remaining twin bed as he’d rested his head against the wall. It looked more like he’d been meditating than sleeping.
“What happened last night?”
“Well,” he breathed out, “we’re in Bellfield. We’re in a god-catcher. Caliban’s somewhere in the city. I’ve spent the night thinking about it. If Silas were betraying him, he wouldn’t have told you where to find your Prince, which is the only reason I didn’t shake you awake at six to start our hunt. Also, I have a few presents for you. Is there anythinghuman you have to do before we venture out?” His nostrils flared with controlled temper before he added two strained words. “You’re safe.”
I swallowed at his meaning before I decided that, yes, I did need a few human moments. I showered off the stress of the night. I scrubbed my skin free from the evidence of my roll in the grass and raked my fingers through my hair. When I emerged from the bathroom, I had one word on my lips.
“Presents?”
He smirked, a small piece of whatever agitated him fading as he said, “You and Fauna have more in common than you realize.”
He used two fingers to beckon me forward as he led us from the motel room. The morning air was refreshing, which would have been pleasant if it didn’t feel like my world was ending. “Even if by some miracle the angel is secretly on our side, there’s something wrong with this town. He wouldn’t have told us to go quickly if everything was fine.”
He considered my words silently. We rounded the hall that wrapped around the building’s exterior and descended a set of stairs. He led us into the now-empty lobby and bypassed the desk to where the former night’s clerk sat listlessly in the corner. Azrames went directly to the man’s closet and gestured.
“Choose a sweatshirt. We need to cover up that tattoo of yours. Until we know who made the town’s trap, we can’t risk eyes on you. And with a demonic sigil…”
