“Leave them alone,” David said. “You saw what the rider could do. Even with that aura telling me to fight, I was fucking terrified more than anything.”
The spire mother marched up to David and glared down at him with her featureless face.
“I know all too well.”
David tilted his head. “What?”
Scoffing at him, she swung a wing in his direction. Caera knocked the huge flap aside, but Acelina didn’t stick around to start an argument. She joined Vicus and looked out the window.
David and Caera shared a quick look. That was strange behavior from Acelina. Sure, she was a stuck up princess and a royal pain in the ass, but she didn’t mindlessly look for arguments over random stuff.
Maybe the rider had spooked her? It was hard to pin whether demons actually gave a shit if they died or not. The Las seemed to, and Jes, Dao, and Caera all certainly cared if the ones they cared about died. But from what he saw at the spire, a lot of demons were happy to be suicidally violent, just like hellbeasts.
Ugh, he couldn’t figure demons out. Sometimes they behaved like humans, sometimes not. Where was Mia when he needed her?
“What’s the plan?” he asked, sitting down in a pew near the aisle.
The tiger sat by his pew, leaned in, and nudged a horn along the side of his head.
“We follow Vicus. We’ll all starve if we stay here, not just you.”
“I… don’t suppose we can just sit here for a bit, and not do anything?”
“You think you can? You look like you’re going to pass out if you don’t eat.”
No getting around it. He was starving, and every second he didn’t have food was pain. Groaning, he nudged his cheek into Caera’s, and she turned her face in toward him and returned it, kissing his cheek and licking it, too.
“Yeah, you’re right.”
“We could eat Vicus.”
David pulled his head back and eyed the tregeera. Kidding? Hard to say.
“No, we need him.”
“I know.” But that didn’t mean she wouldn’t kill Vicus and feed him to David, if he asked.
Everyone got ready to leave. Easier said than done. Every limb felt like a lead weight, and if he moved too quickly, he saw spots, grew dizzy, and his feet tried to slip out from under him.
“Sit on me,” Caera said, and she lay beside him.
“I–”
“Just sit. You saved our asses. Least we can do is–”
“Hardly,” Acelina said with a snap of her tail. “If the rider is pursuing the unmarked, which he probably is, then David owes us. Not the other way around.”
Something had definitely affected Acelina. No point in asking about it, not when she’d just lie or dodge, or spit venom at him without ever answering the question.
Daoka clicked furiously at the enormous demoness, joined David, and helped him onto Caera’s back. Still clicking and putting dolphins to shame, she helped him put on his half breastplate, but gave his dagger to Lasca instead.
“Then it’s a good thing,” Caera said, “that we’re dumping your ass off at the spire. Your royal bitchness won’t have to worry about the rider or whether David will help you once we’re out of your horns.”
Flaring her wings like she could summon an army with them, Acelina showed her shark mouth and its many teeth as she snarled at Caera. But nothing came of it. She hooked her wings around her shoulders, stood by the door, and waited.
“Lead on, vratorin.” The following hiss was threat enough. If he betrayed them, she’d eat him.
Vicus glared up at the woman, but led the march again, and the group followed. Everyone’s wounds were mostly healed, but some demons still had a few holes in their wings, especially the Las.
“Go slow,” David said. “And let’s get somewhere we can hunt asap, and not just for me.” He gestured to the little ladies.
“Lasca fine.”
“Laara fine.”
“Latia fine.”
“Laria fine.”
“You’re not fine.” He grabbed Lasca by the shoulder and stuck a finger through one of her wings, literally. The holes were more than big enough.
Whining, she turned and rubbed her face in his stomach.
“Thorns got us! Used to bloodgrip vines. Not used to trees.”
“Stay in the back of the group,” he said, and patted her head.
“Hey Jes,” Caera said. “Wanna take lead? You, Dao, and Acelina. Keep an eye on the vrat.”
“Yeah, sure.” Nodding, the gargoyle and satyr joined the spire mother. Jes was almost seven feet tall, and she looked like a child compared to Acelina, Dao more so. Once she was close to Acelina, Jes dug her talons into the floor, opened the door, and motioned for the much, much bigger winged demon to take lead. “After you, your majesty.”
Dao clicked protest and nudged Jes’s arm, but Acelina only scoffed and headed out after Vicus.
“It’s the rider,” Caera said, looking back to David.
“What?”
“I can see you trying to figure out why Acelina’s angry. It’s the rider. He killed Zel, remember? She loved that bitch. I bet she’s dying for a chance at revenge, but all she can do is run. All any of us can do is run.”
“The rider… Right.” David gulped and nodded. “Yeah. I… yeah.”
She stared at him, single eye boring through him.
“David?”
“It’s nothing. I’ll tell you after we’ve dropped Acelina off.” Glancing back, he gestured to the Las. “Come on, girls. I’m weak. You’ll have to protect me.”
“Protect David!” Called to their charge, the little ladies ran ahead, and immediately broke into whines and whimpers as their torn wings caught air. Second attempt with wings snug to their backs went better, and they ran out of the church and chased after the others.