Chapter 6

6

SYLAS

Mina parked her ridiculously small vehicle in a decrepit hotel's parking lot, but when she exited, she didn't go to a room—she walked down the street to a convenience store that was missing half the lights in its sign, and whose sole employee had a fly swatter out.

I followed her without question, flowing unseen beside her, seeping into the shadows she cast, watching her buy two tiny brown bottles of liquor, quiet until she returned to the pavement outside.

"Curiouser and curiouser," I said, erupting out of the ground beside her, and she nearly jumped out of her skin.

A killer, she was not.

Then I watched her resolve flash across her face, making her look wild and determined, and a spark of black flame lit inside my dark heart.

"Can you hide, or something?" she asked, looking up at me.

"You don't wish for me to be seen?"

"Not if you want to feed, no. "

"Well, then," I said in mock obedience, thinning myself again out to disappear into all of the nearest shadows once more, and we returned to the hotel together, her walking with resolve, and me lapping at her heels.

A scantily clad woman ran out of one of the hotel rooms, with a black eye and a pair of shoes clasped against her chest. I was very surprised to find us going toward the room she'd left, and even more so when Mina uncapped one of the bottles of liquor, gargled it, and spit the contents out, tossing the now-empty bottle into her purse. She stopped in front of the door and mussed her hair with both hands, then looked around—presumably for me—before announcing "No interrupting" quietly, then knocked rudely on the door. No one answered, so she knocked louder, until a disgruntled man appeared.

He was slovenly, wearing a half-open robe that showed how skinny he was. He smelled like sweat and sex and tar, and he looked Mina up and down in a way that made me want to pop out both his eyes.

"What the fuck do you want?" he growled at her.

She weaved her head back and forth, miming being drunk so well I thought she might be, especially with the alcohol on her breath. "For you to keep the fuck down! I couldn't sleep at all last night! Some of us have to work in the morning!"

I watched his lips curl and braced for action—he was twice Mina's size, and I had a feeling that the girl who'd ran away had been working for him, or more likely under him, and that he hadn't been kind.

That didn't deter Mina. "You kept me up all night last night, having your fights and doing your lowlife things—I could hear you from two doors away!" She flung an arm out at what was presumably her door so hard it made her stumble, a movement that did not go unnoticed by either the man or me. "So—just try to keep it down!" she went on, losing steam in the way intoxicated people did as their senses left them.

She turned without regard for his presence or her safety, and walked down to the door she'd indicated, trailing a hand against the wall for balance, and seemed to take forever fishing around inside her purse for keys.

After that, she let the both of us in, and slammed the door shut, but didn't lock it.

I watched her keenly from the shadows inside her room, as her countenance changed. Her shoulders evened out, her head rose, but she stayed with her back to the door. "Nightmare?" she whispered.

I coagulated in front of her at once. "Sylas," I corrected her.

She nodded, but didn't move otherwise. It was clear she was waiting for something—and half-a-minute later, it happened.

I watched the unlocked door handle behind her twist, making a slightly metallic sound.

"Whoever that is," she whispered to me without turning, "they're yours."

"My queen," I said indulgently, swirling around her in a rush. "I'll be right back."