Dusk Avenger (Flirting with Monsters #3) - Eva Chase Page 0,85

trace of that incident in my patrols. The mystery of it loomed over me in a way that was, well, ominous.

As the incubus drove us onward to the city that was the Company’s base of operations on this side of the ocean, my faint awareness of the other wingéd presence thickened too. It didn’t tug or gnaw but simply spread through my chest like a pang of recognition on seeing an old friend you barely recognized.

The one who dwelled out here couldn’t be any actual friend of mine, though. The brethren I’d been close enough to that I’d have considered them friends as well as comrades had all fallen in the war. This one might not even have fought on the same side as I had… not that I was certain I could have distinguished who’d belonged to one party or the other after all these centuries.

We were going to pass the spot where that one must be dwelling, though. The pang came with a vague sense of direction—northwest of our current position, shifting closer to pure north the farther we traveled along the highway. I paused to gaze out the window as if I might see a sweep of vast wings in the distance.

“You made the right call,” Sorsha said to me, observing my pensiveness but not being aware of the full source. “Omen knows where we’re heading. We won’t be hard to find once we’re in the city. Maybe this is another one of his beloved tests.”

Her smile looked tight around the edges, and she didn’t sound as though she were as relaxed about the situation as her words were meant to imply. She’d said very little at all since we’d pulled away from the fuel station.

What if Omen wasn’t in the city when we arrived? What if he never returned to us at all? I had trouble conceiving of that possibility, but we needed to be prepared. I’d committed myself to this cause, and I wouldn’t let it fall apart while I was still standing.

My gaze skimmed over my other companions: Ruse humming with disconcerting merriness behind the steering wheel, Snap stroking Sorsha’s hair comfortingly, the imp dancing invisibly through the air with ridiculous attempts to provoke our mortal into a smile, and the downcast presence that was the night elf lurking in the shadows beneath the table.

Could we take on the highest level of the Company with just our current allies? Tackling even a less powerful leader had required one of our equine companions and more than a dozen shadowkind helpers from a local criminal syndicate—and we’d had Omen with us too.

I looked toward the window again. My kin was almost directly north of us now. Another road veered away from our highway up ahead, dust billowing behind a speeding car’s tires as it raced that way.

My muscles tensed all through my body. But my own discomforts mattered far less than our mission. I meant to see us emerge victorious from this war no matter the cost to myself.

“We should make a brief diversion,” I said abruptly.

The incubus glanced back at me. “Not satisfied with patrolling the vehicle, my overeager warrior? I promise you we’ll be safer driving in a straight line at the highest possible speed.”

“It’s not to patrol. There’s someone I think I might be able to persuade to join our cause. And it seems now more than ever we should attempt to gain every possible ally. Take that next right turn.”

Sorsha was studying me with a glimmer of understanding in her eyes. I’d mentioned my awareness of the nearby wingéd to her. She was respectful enough of my preference for keeping my nature secret not to speak up, though. A flutter of gratitude passed through me even as I prepared to end that secrecy myself.

Ruse pulled onto the narrower, dustier road, but he wasn’t as mindful of his own tongue. “And what makes you think this random potential ally will have any interest in joining our wild and crazy mission?”

“It’s not random. This is one of my own kind. One of the few remaining. If anyone can make an appeal that will succeed, it’ll be me.”

Snap’s expression turned more alert at that statement, his head cocking with curiosity. The imp ceased her endless bounding about to solidify in the middle of the table.

“Oooh,” she said, placing hands on her hips. “We’re going to find out what the big scary shadowkind is.”

Ruse swiveled right around to look at me, leaving me thankful that the