Page 67 of Aberrant Monsters
* * *
The humans had diedin a quarter-mile radius of each other in a district of the city called the docks. Import and export happened here, but the deaths had occurred in a residential part of the area.
The only indication that we were close to a huge body of water was a distinctly briny aroma that was almost unpleasant. Not the sea but the River, as it was called. It used to have a different name a long time ago, but I couldn’t recall what that was. I mean whoever had renamed it the River must have been scraping the bottom of their creative well that day.
Quentin dropped us off, and we spent an hour roaming the dock district’s quiet residential streets until they gave way to a retail area, mostly locked up for the evening. It was creepy as fuck and the amber lights hidden behind drapes in the windows somehow made it creepier. It was barely eight in the evening, after all. The streets should not have been this dead.
Archie, our map keeper, led us to the locations where the humans had been found dead, and sure enough, there was residue. The same residue as our missing eldritch. I followed it, but each time the trail led to a road and vanished.
“The fucker likes to hitch rides on vehicles.” I dragged my hand down my face, frustration bubbling like lava in my belly. “Urgh. How are we supposed to find it? This is impossible. It could be anywhere.”
I stood, hands on hips, staring down the moonlit street at the gleaming barriers to the docks.
“Six months is a long time to let it roam,” Nandi said. “This is the Order’s fault. They’re asking you to track a cold trail.”
“Fecking ridiculous,” Archie said. “You should hit the fresh ones first, work your way back. You’ll get more jobs done that way.”
He was right. If we did it this way, the newer jobs would be old by the time we got to them. “We should head ba—” What was that? I hurried forward, away from the residential area, picking up pace as the glint of residue became apparent. “I see something.”
“Residue?” Nandi asked.
“Hell yes.” It was smeared across the barrier like an invitation. I ducked under the barricade and continued forward, eyes on the trail.
The night seemed to sit heavier as I followed the track of residue past a crumbling summoning pillar and onto a wide walkway that led to the jutting pathways stretching out on the water. The dark, hulking shapes of ships sat on the surface in the distance, but the world was silent.
“Where are the workers?” Archie asked in a hushed whisper. “Surely ships come in at night too.”
My attention was on the residue, heart pounding because it stopped here. Just stopped. “Fuck!”
My scalp tightened in warning, sensing the presence even before Nandi spoke.
“August…” She gripped my wrist. “We have company.”
* * *
The things walkingtoward us looked like men, dressed like men, but the feral look in their eyes screamed predator.
“Vipers,” Nandi said. “August, we need to go. Now.”
I wasn’t about to argue with her. Vipers were one of the many bloodsucker breeds in the city. Not pure-blood vampire like the royal bloodlines, but in the same genus.
There were six of them dressed in long coats, hair slicked back, eyes like silver pennies glinting in the moonlight as they strolled toward us. Their boots barely made a sound on the cement. I’d heard of their kind, of course, but this would be my first contact.
Exciting if I wasn’t very aware of how outnumbered we were, not to mention that their bite could kill if they wanted it to. They had the ability to inject venom into their prey, and as far as I knew, there was no known cure for viper venom.
“Well, well, well,” one of them said. “What do we have here.” He looked to his comrades. “Did you guys order takeout?”
“No,” one of his comrades said.
A third nudged him and whisper-hissed, “He’s making a joke, you fuckwit.”
The other vipers chuckled and shook their heads.
“We didn’t realize this was your territory,” Nandi said. “We’ll leave.”
“Tut, tut, tut.” The ringleader wagged an admonishing finger at us. “It doesn’t work that way. Everyone in these parts knows the docks are ours at night. You pass the barrier, and you pay the blood price.”
My hand itched to go for the sword clipped to my waist, the sword that right now looked like a small baton.
