Curse And Craving

35

“I wasn’t sure you’d come.” He pushed away from the car and opened the passenger door. “I wasn’t either,” I muttered as I slid onto the soft leather seat. The remainder of the trip was taken in silence. Lochlan felt no need to fill empty air while I was busy fretting over the fact that I’d neglected to bring a weapon. I’d been too distracted about whether I should go to think about what I should take with me if I did. We pulled into an industrial park lined with warehouses and commercial buildings. He directed the car down a row of rentable garage shops, some with signage advertising their business, and others were vacant. Lochlan parked next to Rupert’s Auto Repairs, among several other parked vehicles. Once he was out of the car, he came around to my side and tapped his knuckles on the passenger window, motioning for me to get out. Instead, I rolled down the glass. “I think I’d be safest here,” I informed him. “Maybe you should just leave the keys with me as well.” “Get out of the car, Becca,” he drawled slowly. My nickname on his tongue for the first time distracted me from my argument. I liked the way he said my name, all soft and familiar. I liked it entirely too much. Lost in a haze of warm fuzzies, I did as he asked. The second I was out of the car, a chilly gust of reality refocused my thoughts. The night air was freezing, and the clear, moonless sky was endlessly dark. “This way.” He led me down the row of shops and stopped in front of the long-abandoned auto garage at the end. Brown paper covered the interior of the glass door to block the view inside, but the thick grime on the glass performed the same job admirably. As one of the larger locations, its storefront was twice the size of the shops we had walked past. Lochlan grabbed the door handle, and I could see the knob catch as if it had been locked but then click open—strikingly similar to my experience opening the back door of the Huntsman building. I wondered if the necklace had somehow helped me break into the building. I hadn’t even considered what other powers it might possess. An interesting question to file away for another time. “Whoever’s in Faery opening portals needs someone here to set up the spell requirements on this end. We’ll go in and wait for that individual to arrive, and only once the portal has been opened will I attempt to trace its source.” His eyes were hard, voice quiet. He dug a hand into his pocket and handed me the car remote. “If anything goes wrong, or I need to go through the portal, go to the club and get help.” We took our first steps inside the building, silently assessing our surroundings. The space held four garage bays, though it appeared to be abandoned. Large lift equipment remained in the middle of the space with a heavy coating of dirt and grime. It was nearly pitch black inside, yet I was surprisingly able to make out stacks of tires and equipment nearby. When Lochlan started to press forward, I threw up my arm in front of his chest to stop him. In the corners of the room, totally shrouded in darkness, I could feel the presence of at least a dozen creatures. I wasn’t sure how I knew. It was as if the dark had whispered to me. As if I was a part of that darkness and knew its secrets like they were my own. Before I could tell Lochlan to run, his body jerked back as two arrows lodged deep in his chest. Horror gripped me. Seized my lungs and stole my capacity to think. Thank God for Lochlan. He managed to stay on his feet and maneuvered himself in front of me while throwing his arm up to cast a magical light above us. We were instantly surrounded by what looked like gaunt old men, larger than the Draug, but somewhat similar. Baring their sharp fangs and claws, they wore rags draped on their thin bodies, and beneath the tattered red beanies on their heads, wicked black eyes speared us in place. One of them threw a stack of tires out of his way as if they had been inflatable pool toys rather than heavy rubber. Bloodthirsty and powerful, the creatures far outnumbered us. “Look, boys, it seems the hunter is now the hunted.” The one that spoke was off to our right and stood several inches taller than the others. His toowide mouth curved up at the ends in a grotesque attempt at a smile, and his cloying voice made goose bumps rise across my skin. “Who sent you here?” Lochlan spoke with menace, and I realized I was seeing a dangerous side to him that I had not yet witnessed. “You are in no position to be asking questions.” The creature's comment incited the others as they shook their fists and inched forward aggressively. “You’ll be hunted for defying the queen.” “Not if there is no queen.” The creature's face lit with perverted glee. Lochlan broke off the shafts of the arrows with a curse and yanked me behind him, handing me a knife he pulled from his boot. “Stay at my back. Cut anything that gets near you.” “Can't you trace us out of here?” I hissed. “I can only trace myself but not others along with me. Plus, these arrows are iron, and it's limiting my magic.” His words nearly stopped my heart as I gaped at the horrifying creatures, realizing that Lochlan might not be able to fight them off. It was also entirely possible that he could pull out the arrows and trace away, leaving me there to die. As if he knew exactly where my mind had gone, without his eyes leaving the swarming Fae, he grabbed my arm firmly. “I'm not going anywhere. Now stop panicking and pay attention.” “Enough!” shouted the creature, who seemed to be their leader. “Kill them.” My eyes scanned the snarling Fae as they held their clawed hands out, ready to tear through our flesh if given the opportunity. The majority were arced around Lochlan, who had faced the middle of the room, leaving me with the few who had squeezed in along the wall. Lochlan lunged forward on the offensive, and as I sensed him move, I stepped back to keep as little space between us as possible. He was shooting some kind of energy blast at them and would conduct a brutal assault with his fists and the occasional well-placed kick between blasts. I wasn’t able to watch him as I would have liked, too busy fending off the few creatures who had me in their sights, jabbing and swiping at me. I stabbed at them with the knife as best as I could, but their claws caught my skin on multiple occasions, blood staining the sleeves of my shirt.