Page 46 of The Shade of Things
“Yeah.” Laurent paused. “Guess these people weren’t a team.”
“Guess not.” I pressed my hand against my chest, trying to slow my heartbeat. He didn’t necessarily mean the two of us.
“How are you here?” Eli said.
“Tatiana.” Laurent didn’t elaborate.
“I, for one, am glad you made it safely and we’re all together,” I said firmly.
Eli gave a vague murmur of assent. Really vague.
“Can you survive the Human Race?” The pleasant female voice asked the question over an unseen speaker system, cutting off any response Laurent might have made.
Goosebumps puckered my arms. “Do they know we’re here?”
Laurent shook his head. “It’s to freak out the players.”
“More insider information?” Emmett said.
“Yeah.”
We reached the last cul-de-sac and the straight road to our left disappeared into another wall of fog.
Laurent pulled into the carport of a blue house and cut the engine, but he headed for the yellow home next door.
I followed, slinging my pack over one shoulder, excited to finally rest. I’d blow someone for a hot shower.
“Throwing people off our scent?” Eli said. “Clever.”
“We’re dealing with vampires and shifters,” Laurent said grimly. “There is no throwing them off our scent unless we all stay cloaked the entire time. I’m just putting the cart back where I found it.”
“Did you find the worker inside that other place?” I said.
Laurent’s lips quirked up for the first time since he’d arrived. “Yes.” He grabbed the latch, which stuck, then heaved his shoulder into the door as Eli, Emmett, and I ran the other way.
Obviously, I should have saved him, but I’d been reduced to fear, adrenaline, and self-preservation. It was every person for themselves.
Laurent turned, the door open and the house intact, and peered at the three of us. “Are you coming in?”
“How did you know it wasn’t rigged to explode?” Emmett asked suspiciously as we trooped up to the door.
“I didn’t,” Laurent replied mildly.
“I hate you,” Emmett said.
The look Eli shot me made it clear he wasn’t too fond of the wolf shifter either.
Once inside, we spread out on the floor. Enough light filtered in through the thin curtain to make do, which was good because there weren’t any lamps or overhead light fixtures.
I pulled off my shoes with a heartfelt sigh. My feet stank but since everyone else’s did as well, I wasn’t self-conscious about it. I carefully peeled off my socks, hissing at the raw blisters on three toes and the backs of my heels.
Eli tossed me the small first aid kit from his pack.
Finding the Polysporin, I liberally doused the blisters before bandaging them. I wriggled my toes in relief and helped myself to a couple of painkillers, which I washed down with some tepid water. I followed it up with a strip of beef jerky, savoring the vaguely cow-flavored shoe leather like it was filet mignon in a butter herb sauce.
By the time I felt human enough to take stock of the room and see how the others were doing, Laurent was nowhere to be seen.
“Where’d he go?”
