Page 52 of Chaos
“Is that a cock on your face?”
Felix hissed and swatted at my shins. I jumped back because I didn’t mess with cats. They used to be worshipped as gods for a reason. Clearly, he was sensitive about the big white dick on his face. I wondered if Reyson was responsible for that too.
We made our way down corridors of storage containers. My feelings of unease just grew. Even if there wasn’t a demon hidden in here, people were storing some nasty shit in these containers. I was about to jump straight out of my skin by the time we got to Silvaria’s.
I looked down at the cat. I couldn’t talk to Felix like this, but we didn’t need to. Silvaria had a guard posted outside her container. I couldn’t get close, but Felix could. I could see with my enhanced vision that Silvaria didn’t just have a guard at the door. She had an enchanted lock.
You could buy those at any witch shop, and I had a few of those of my own. They didn’t use keys or combinations. It required blood, and only specific blood would open it. If you pricked your finger on the lock and you weren’t supposed to, it didn’t just not open for you. It left a little hex behind in your blood, and depending on the witch, it could be a nuisance or fatal. I guessed this lock was deadly, so that big ass shifter pacing in front of the door was just overkill.
He looked like a grumpy ass mother fucker. I could smell his nasty blood from here. Sulfur. Another one who made a deal. He had this look on his face like he hated every minute of being out there, but I could smell fear on him too. Endorphins were flooded into his blood that should have triggered a fight or flight, but something was keeping him here.
The storage container was airtight but ventilated. I could smell it. Everyone demon touched reeked of Sulphur and smelled nasty. Bram was from Hell, and he didn’t. His blood smelled terrific. It was unlike anything I’d ever smelled before. It reminded me of roasting marshmallows over a campfire on a perfect night.
There wassomeoneinside the storage container. I could hear the extra heartbeat. I had accounted for Felix and the shifter. There was an extra heartbeat that was weakened and faint, precisely like someone who was being contained and having their powers dampened.
I’d confirmed someone was being held inside the storage container. Felix would have seen the blood lock. Based on the blood lock and the guard, I didn’t think those were the only precautions Silvaria put on this storage container.
No one had ever successfully held a demon hostage before. She probably had the place full of wards and cursed objects to kill anyone who wasn’t allowed inside that contained. I knew we needed to get whoever was in there out, but I didn’t know how without getting killed.
Our best bet was Reyson. He was sure nothing on this planet could control him or hurt him. But we had all been sure demons couldn’t be controlled either, now Bram’s slave master was missing.
Felix came slinking back to where I was hiding, and we made it back to my motorcycle. He changed back into a man, and I handed him his clothes. I peeked first, of course. Felix was a gorgeous man, and I had a healthy appreciation for pretty people.
Felix pulled his zipper up and stared at me.
“Shifting makes me hungry. I think I want to try Taco Bell. Ripley and Ravyn would stop there at two in the morning in college.”
“You’ve never had Taco Bell?”
“I’ve never had Mexican food. It wasn’t available in London when I was alive.”
I grinned at him. He was like my own little alien to show the world.
“Well, your first experience with Mexican food is going to be authentic. I’m not taking you to Taco Bell. Hop on. This is a job for Pablo.”
Pablo was a vampire from Mexico. He immigrated to the US when he was seventeen. His Abuela made the best food in the entire world, and she taught him everything she knew. I ate with his family when I was in town for work, and he’d be eating right about now.
People were constantly dropping by his table, and he wouldn’t think it was weird for me to show up with Felix.
We needed to discuss what we learned at the storage yard but we could do that in front of Pablo. I trusted him with my life, and he’d gotten me out of a few severe binds before. Pablo was also the sanest person I knew, and if anyone could give us advice, it would be him. I liked every single person I was now joined with at the library, but we weren’t exactly a sane bunch.
I pulled my bike down the dirt road to Pablo’s mobile home. I knocked the kickstand down and hopped off my bike. Felix pulled his helmet off and raised an eyebrow at me.
“This isnota restaurant, Balthazar.”
“No, but it’s the best Mexican food in the state.”
“You’re just going to barge in on some poor schlep and demand he feeds us?”
“I’ll bet you the right to snuggle next to Ripley for three whole days the food is already ready, there’s enough for both of us, and Pablo treats you like his brother.”
“You’re one horny wanker, Balthazar. I’m not taking that bet. We need to compare notes about what we found in the storage yard. We should leave.”
I just clapped him on the back.
“We can do that here.”
I started walking towards the trailer. He could either sit out here and starve or follow me. I could smell something beautiful with steak all the way out here. Felix could, too, because he was following me, even if he was bitching about it.
