again," Gray said, taking a break from his sandwich.
"See!" Z banged his fist on the table. "Teamwork. Problem solved."
"Fly onto a concrete roof with no doors? Or fly into a window that holds a random rabid vampire?" Andros sat back in his chair, crossing his massive arms.
"We could blow a hole in the ceiling," Malcolm tossed out. "But that would draw immediate attention." He glanced over at Evan. "Could you magic a hole through that concrete for us?"
Evan shrugged. "Maybe. I'll have to think about it."
Andros shook his head. "Gray's guys have been hacking their radio comms. They've set up several level ten spells near the exits. We aren't gonna have time for Evan to unravel every damn spell they might have set."
Silence settled over us and I stole another chip from Z. The crunch I made was the only sound as I thought and chewed. I swiped Z's glass of water and went to take a sip. But suddenly, the glass wasn't in my hand anymore. It was back on the table in front of him.
I turned, about to scold him for being a selfish shit, when I realized, "You rewound time."
"Yeah. I don't want backwash in my drink," Z stated.
I leaned around him and stared at Andros. "You guys will stay in the back. If anyone gets caught in a spell, rewind time a couple seconds so we're out."
"Yeah. Well what the hell are we gonna do about containing Matthew? How are we gonna get him out without him attacking us, especially since he can shift to a damn bat and man at will?" Andros stood, his chair screeching across the floor as he continued to smash holes into our plan like a battering ram trying to breach a castle door.
I didn't have answers for those questions yet. I chewed on my lip as Andros walked off, posture tense, before he headed downstairs.
"What crawled up his ass and died?" Gray asked.
Z sighed. "Muller. He's a dirty cop. Apparently he has guys on the inside too, so he can fuck with you even when you're in prison."
My throat tightened, hearing that. Fuck, I'd been freaked out enough just realizing a cop was on our trail. I couldn't even imagine how Andros felt. Was he terrified? Traumatized?
I stood and left the guys behind, not hearing their chatter as they resumed brainstorming.
Andros had come and sat with me when I needed it most. I needed to return the favor.
I went slowly down the stairs, checking each room. I found Andros in a small office, squished into a chair and staring at a computer screen that wasn't even on. "Hey," I said softly.
He looked over but didn't say anything.
"Wanna get out of here? Go for a walk or something?"
He shoved himself out of the chair without another word and I turned toward the door. We headed outside into the afternoon sunlight and I was struck by the awkward reality of our situation. There, we were, two criminals, on a walk in the middle of suburbia, passing by housewives walking their dogs and nodding at them.
"Life is never what you expect, is it?" I said, after I felt like the silence had stretched on long enough.
Andros glanced down at me and I couldn't help but marvel again at how huge he was. My head only came to his elbow. He took up three quarters of the sidewalk. That suburban housewife we'd passed had turned to admire his ass until I flipped her off and yelled, "Taken."
Andros swiveled his head to see what was going on and chuckled. "Gray's probably gonna kill you for drawing attention to yourself."
I shrugged. "Meh. We can buy a Forgetfulness Amulet and toss it through her window. I'm pretty sure Tia has an uncle or someone who makes them."
"I'd like one of those." Andros' tone turned black as midnight.
I wanted to ask, but I resisted. Asking for people to summon up their demons was heartless. It was different if they needed to cast them out by talking, expel them with words. But asking? Nope.
I slid my hand into his and we walked in silence again until we came to an overgrown little alleyway between some houses. I glanced down and realized that at the base was an old, abandoned railroad track. Weeds had sprouted up around it, and the houses had been built way too close for the line to ever be used again. The alley looked like it led to a park or a forest.
I glanced up at