“Yeah, I have no idea what that is,” I admitted.
“A lich?” Akiva didn’t sound surprised.
“A-a khopesh?” I said, hopefully pronouncing it correctly.
Akiva sniffed at me, but did not deign to answer.
“I’m George,” I added, remembering that Cian had mentioned my name.
“George,” Akiva repeated. “That’s a man’s name, is it not?”
“My name is Georgette,” I explained. “But I really feel like that’s a name for a poodle, not a person. So everyone calls me George. What’s a khopesh?” I asked again.
“I will show you when I use it to cut a head off of a vampire, George,” Akiva promised. “Then you can tell your cousin all about it when we get her back for you.”
My steps slowed. “You care about my cousin Aveline?” My voice had gone small and I spoke slowly, not really believing what he said.
“That’s the reason we let you come along, is it not?”
“I thought I was here to prove your good will towards the witches or whatever.”
“You can absolutely believe that, sahira.”
Cian slowed, causing me to nearly bump into him. I looked around the small parking lot, taking that moment to try to guess which car was his. There weren’t many cars to choose from, but the fact it wasn’t full and the eerie tint cast by the cloudy sky made me more than a little anxious to get the hell out of there.
A jingle from Cian’s direction thankfully drew my attention from the shadows and keys emerged from his pocket.
“We have to drive there?” I asked. My own car was…well. I wasn’t sure where, to be honest, and I’d need a minute to activate the tracking spell I had on it just for this reason.
“This is the twenty-first century. Don’t most people drive from one place to another?” Cian’s words were edged with humor as he threw a smirk over one shoulder and tapped a button on the key fob. I supposed sarcasm ran heavily in their little group.
A click and the flash of lights in my peripheral vision had me lurching back in surprise. There may have not been many cars in the lot, but for some reason I wasn’t expecting it to be the car closest to the entrance. I was absolutely expecting to have to walk to the back of the lot, into the eerie, reaching shadows and questionable darkness. I had been wrong and that was absolutely okay. Scary walk successfully averted.
I turned to the car and my eyes rolled. Of course a vampire would be driving this car.
He drove a Jaguar. I supposed I shouldn’t have been surprised, but still my eyes narrowed in a glare behind my glasses as I scrutinized the steel grey sedan. I didn’t know the model, as I did not make a habit of looking at cars I’d never be able to afford, but it was nice.
As I stared like an idiot, Indra edged past me and opened the back driver’s side door, then looked to me pointedly.
“Did you think we’d let you sit in the front?” Akiva laughed, going to the passenger side and sliding into the front seat gracefully.
“It’s not that,” I sighed, wavering as Cian got into the driver’s seat.
“We won’t hurt you,” Indra pressed. “I know this goes against probably everything you were taught,” he was right, “But we’re just going to go kill some vampires to get your cousin back.” He met my gaze, black canine ears turned towards me as he waited patiently.
“I hope I don’t regret this,” I mumbled, bending down and shimmying into the car. I scooted over to the far side, considering how much of an accident it would be if I kneed Akiva’s seat. It wasn’t like I’d ever do it on purpose. At least, that’s what I’d tell him. The overpriced car still had that new car smell, and I tried hard to keep my feet squarely on the floor mat. I wasn’t going to be the one to fuck up the interior.
Indra slid in beside me, closing the door as Cian started the engine.
“Where are we going?” I asked, wanting to be in the know and hoping they wouldn’t just name a place I was unfamiliar with.
“The swamp,” Cian’s voice was calm, but the jolt in my stomach was anything but.
“I beg your pardon?” This was beginning to seem like a body dump, not a violent meet up.
Cian pulled away from the curb and I met Akiva’s eyes in the rearview mirror. I hadn’t meant to, but I did a double take anyway. His eyes were so bright that he practically lit the car up all on his own. “Do you know where you are?” he inquired breezily.
“In a vampire’s car, in a city I’ve never visited, in a state that I guess I can now strike off the unvisited list,” I replied curtly. “My only knowledge of swamps and bayous comes from television shows.”
“It’s not far,” Indra put in helpfully, his eyes glittering orange in the darkness.
Was I the only one here with eyes that didn’t glow?
Or, at least, eyes that weren’t glowing right now.
I settled back into my seat, running my fingers along the bridge of my nose and dislodged my glasses.
This was going to be a long night.
The drive wasn’t long, but the thirty odd minutes had done wonders for soothing my anxiously churning insides. However, the moment Cian pulled up to a gate and cut the engine, my body tensed and my fears came right back.
Slowly I eased out of the car, spinning in a circle to take in the otherwise-empty gravel and dirt lot. It smelled damp, like the woods, but the air had a humid edge to it that had sweat beading on my forehead. Bereft of lights, the swamp was almost completely dark, and I could barely make out the individual shapes of trees that rose towards the cloudy sky.
Cian, Indra and Akiva had no issue with the swamp. Their little bubble of silence felt comfortable from an outside view, and
