Page 5 of Far From Center
Snip’s brow furrowed, which created a bushy black unibrow across his forehead. “Where?”
Nyalla stood to pull on her tank top and shorts. “Tell him to Google it.” Snip nodded and took off running to give the other Low her response.
She’d eventually get what she’d been sent to retrieve. Not that she was in any hurry. Of all the places to do a clandestine meeting with demons, Aruba was the best. If this guy stalled a few more days, she might be able to get in more than a couple of dives and both Terrelle and Snip might be able to complete their quest for sexual encounters.
“Are we going tomorrow night, too?” Terrelle asked, gathering up her cover-up and bag.
“Absolutely. I’m not meeting with this Gormand alone, no matter what he says. Besides, this place is on my to-do list of places to go. We’ll get fish or maybe steak, and some beers. You guys can hit on the employees and patrons while I talk with this demon.”
Terrelle stood, brushing the dirt from her legs. “I’ll score some fun later, once the Gormand leaves. I’m not about to be distracted by jiggly boobs or big cocks while you’re meeting with a greed demon. And I’ll make sure Snip does the same.”
And that’s why Terrelle was along. She had more common sense than most demons, and Nyalla knew she could count on her. And Snip too, as long as he managed to focus. The pair of them headed across the rocky beach, and Nyalla looked at Snip up by the lighthouse. As soon as he was done, they’d head back to the hotel.
Her toes curled around the rocks as she hopped across them barefoot toward the four wheelers. It felt good to be without shoes again. It felt good to be occasionally naked again. It was the one thing she missed about her life in Hel, the casual attitude toward nudity. The rest…well, the rest of those memories she was happy to bury. Who cared how horrible the first eighteen years of her life had been if the remaining sixty or so were like a sunny day in Aruba?
* * *
Gabriel watched from the water, as the human woman and the Noodle walked away, their bodies swaying as they hopped across the rocky shore. It was just as Nils had said, although Gabriel couldn’t imagine why the Iblis would have sent a human to guard the Noodle during the exchange. Perhaps the woman had great magic. Perhaps she was a sorcerer? Although if that were the case, why bother to send that little drooling Low?
It didn’t matter. They were just the trail of food bits that would led him to the Gormand, and from the Gormand to Tura. Watching these three, as incredibly dull as it was, hadn’t been a waste of time. The Low had clearly brought information back to the Noodle and the human in the form of a scroll. If only this dratted side of the island didn’t have loud, pounding surf and high winds that blocked even his angelic ability to hear their speech, then he would have been able to figure out what the scroll said from their conversation. Instead he’d just need to keep following them until they led him to the Gormand.
Or…maybe not. If he could get his hands on the scroll, he’d be able to arrive at the meeting place ahead of time and grab the Gormand. With a little bit of persuasion, Gabriel was certain he could get the greed demon to give up the location of the rebel angel he was seeking.
And then Tura would be his. Finally. Well, the rebel would be his to turn over to the Ruling Council for judgement and punishment.
Waiting in the water, Gabriel watched the Low demon race away, his human form barely masking the repulsive being beneath. The woman and the information demon climbed onto four wheelers and kicked them to life, gunning them along the dirt trail toward the lighthouse where the Low had gone. Gabriel rose from the water and assumed a human form before walking to where the woman had been lying on the rocks. Then he knelt down to retrieve the reddish brown bit of wax, sap, and blood that had sealed the scroll.
Blood. Blood from a Gormand. He looked up to watch the two ride off, the human’s braid flying behind her as the four-wheeler hopped a hill and vanished down the other side. Something had fallen from the scroll that was sticking out of her bag, something bright that glistened with an unnatural light. Gabriel hurried, breaking into a run.
It lay on the ground, white and gold as it shimmered in the sunlight. A tiny feather — anangelfeather. The feather of a traitor.
The woman and the demon on the four-wheelers appeared once again in the distance, climbing the hill to the road that circled the lighthouse and led along the ocean to the resorts and high-rise hotels. These three clearly had the information he needed, and with a quick search of their rooms to find the scroll, he’d be one step closer to vengeance.
