Slaying Monsters for the Feeble by Annette Marie

Author:Annette Marie [Marie, Annette]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781988153384
Barnesnoble:
Publisher: Dark Owl Fantasy Inc
Published: 2019-10-31T16:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER SIXTEEN

This vampire “lair” was several steps up from the last one. Not that the last one had qualified as a lair, really. I didn’t know what to call them. Hideouts? Dens?... Habitats?

I lurked in a shadowy doorway across the street from the building Zora had marked on her map. Tucked deeper in the shadows behind me was Zylas. His heat radiated into my back as he studied the building over the top of my head. Traffic zoomed past, headlights glaring in the misty rain.

We were in the heart of downtown. In fact, we weren’t far from the storm drain I’d escaped through last night.

Neither the tallest nor the nicest building on the block, the tower was anonymous among its neighbors. It could be full of offices or condos, and stood out from the rest only in that the front doors were blocked off by construction barricades and the second through fifth floors had plywood in place of windows.

“What do you think?” I whispered to Zylas.

“Too many hh’ainun here. They will see me.”

Though darkness had fallen, it was still early evening and the remnants of rush-hour traffic was whizzing by. Zylas, with his horns, tail, red eyes, and armor, was a tad noticeable.

“I’ll go around to the back,” I told him, “and let you know when it’s safe to come out again.”

Crimson light rushed over him and his power returned to the infernus. I hugged my arms to my chest—having lost my coat, I was wearing three sweaters instead—and ventured into the light rain.

A few minutes of nonchalant ambling later, I entered the back alley and whispered, “Okay, Zylas.”

He materialized beside me, and together we studied the new view—a blank wall with a loading bay and a single, featureless steel door. Red light flared up Zylas’s arm, forming a pattern of runes, and he pressed two fingers to the thin gap between the door and frame. Crimson power blazed out of the gap, then he pushed on the steel.

The door swung open.

I squinted suspiciously. “Where did you learn to do that?”

“It is how the metal box in the summoner’s house was opened.”

Uncle Jack’s safe, broken open with demonic magic. Zylas learned too fast for comfort.

A dark hallway waited for us. The dusty smell of drywall hung in the air, and a layer of white grit covered the concrete floor, yet to be finished with carpet or tile. I followed Zylas, my heart thudding so loudly I wouldn’t have been surprised if it was making more noise than my shoes.

The corridor led us to an unfinished lobby, lit only by the streetlamps outside. The ceiling was full of missing tiles, and bundles of wire and unattached ductwork hung from the dark space above. Steel studs were piled beside a stack of drywall, buckets were scattered around, and extension cords snaked across the floor. An industrial fan pointed toward the closed and blockaded front doors.

I nudged my toe through the dust. The half-completed construction appeared abandoned.

Zylas angled toward the opposite end of the lobby, his steps silent.

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