“Yes,” she agreed, clenching her teeth as he cut through an overgrown meadow to halt near an abandoned schoolhouse.
They crawled out of the truck, all three of them studying the three-story brick building with a rusting tin roof. The cement steps were crumbling and most of the windows had been smashed, while the double front doors hung at drunken angles.
The surrounding playground had long ago conceded defeat to the encroaching weeds, although someone had cut a path around the swing set and metal slide. No doubt the same someone who’d built the smoldering bonfire and brought the keg of beer.
Allowing her powers to flow through the thick air, Nefri swiftly sensed the human hiding in the building. She lifted one finger and Santiago nodded.
“I’ll circle around and come in from the rear,” he said, pulling loose the sword he kept strapped to his back.
She instinctively reached to touch his arm, an uninvited concern clenching her heart. “Whoever is inside is close to breaking,” she murmured, able to feel the human’s rising hysteria. “Be careful.”
With a cocky smile Santiago melted into the darkness, moving with the fluid speed of a trained warrior. Nefri shook her head in annoyance. Why was she worried about him? Not only was he more than capable of taking care of himself, but she’d already decided that she was going to consider him as nothing more than a necessary tool to achieve her goals.
Hadn’t she?
Refusing to admit that she was finding the task of cutting her connection to the aggravating male more difficult than it should be, Nefri turned to glance down at the gargoyle at her side. “Levet, could you keep watch?” she asked. “This might be a trap.”
“Oui.” Levet studied the surrounding trees before glancing back to the schoolhouse. “I’ll be on the roof. It should give me the best vantage point.”
“Contact me if anything approaches.”
“Oui.”
Confident that nothing could sneak past the gargoyle, Nefri crossed the playground to climb the stairs and enter the building.
She paused in the small vestibule. Ahead of her a set of stairs led to the upper floors, the stones worn in the middle by the thousands of small feet that had climbed them over the years. To the side of the stairs, a narrow hall led to the inner classrooms, which reeked of rotting wood and mold.
And fear.
Bone-deep, soul-crushing fear.
With a shiver, she moved down the hallway, following the overwhelming sensations.
“Santiago?”
“I found her,” he said, his voice low and soothing.
Nefri stepped into the dark room, her gaze skimming the overturned desks and decaying books that were scattered upon the warped planks of the floor.
Weaving her way through the debris, she found Santiago seated beneath a cracked chalkboard, a young human female shivering in his lap.
“Oh.” Nefri studied the girl, who appeared no more than sixteen in human years. She was nearly naked with only a tiny thong to cover her thin body. Her long blond hair was tangled and her face coated with dust and tears. But, it was the unmistakable wounds on her neck that caught Nefri’s attention. The girl had been bitten by a vampire. “The poor creature,” she murmured.
Santiago glanced up as she approached. “Can you watch her?”
“Why?”
“I need to make sure there are no hidden surprises.”
“I should do that,” she countered. “You remain with the girl.”
His brows snapped together. “Nefri.”
“I won’t take any risks, I promise.” She interrupted the inevitable argument, knowing this wasn’t about who had the most power, but his primitive need to protect her. “Only I can break through illusions. Besides, the human has attached herself to you. She’s likely to panic if you leave her now.”
His jaw tightened, but he gave a reluctant nod. “You’re right,” he admitted. “I’ll try to question the female.”
She lowered her gaze to the girl, who was clinging to Santiago like a barnacle, her soft whimpers muffled against his chest.
“Can you reach her? She appears . . . broken.”
He ran a gentle hand over the girl’s hair. “You have your talents and I have mine.”
Nefri didn’t doubt him for a minute.
For all of Santiago’s swagger, there was something unquestionably comforting about his presence. A safe harbor a woman could depend on . . .
She took an abrupt step backward as the dangerous words whispered through her heart. “I won’t be long,” she muttered, turning to hurry from the room.
Speaking the words of power that would break any lingering illusions, Nefri moved through the remaining classrooms before heading upstairs. She concentrated on the gaping holes in the floors as well as the steel lockers that threatened to topple above the unwary. Anything to avoid examining her unruly emotions.
Santiago was right about one thing.
She’d become a master at sticking her head in the sand.
The ultimate ostrich.
It took only a few minutes to make her way through the upper rooms, but slipping out a broken window, she stood on the fire escape and motioned toward the gargoyle, who was on the highest peak of the sharply angled roof. “Anything?” she asked.
“Non.” Levet’s wings fluttered, shimmering in colors of blue and crimson and gold in the chilled moonlight. “Nothing is stirring, not even a mouse.”
She paused at his odd words before giving a slow nod. He wasn’t exaggerating. The surrounding countryside should be alive with nocturnal animals foraging for food and the predators that hunted them.
Instead an echoing silence spoke of a complete lack of wildlife.
There wasn’t even the buzz of an insect.
The spreading fear had affected even the most basic of animal forms.
“There’s a girl inside we must question,” she at last said. “Can you remain on guard?”
Despite the gargoyle’s unease, he gave a ready nod, his courage astonishing for such a small creature. “Oui. You can depend upon me.”
Without conscious thought she reached to brush a light hand over the tip of his wing. It was only when she was climbing back through the window that she realized how natural it felt to make physical contact.
Something she hadn’t allowed herself for centuries.
Obviously being in this world was altering more than just her powers.
Affection, desire, concern . . .
What was next?
Love?
With a shake of her head, Nefri made her way back to the lower floor. How often did she have to warn herself that now was not the time to be distracted by such foolishness?