smart. Not a single joke about that eye. I’m even starting to feel good. Like we might be able to get out of this bar with the info and not a single scratch.
And then Orion sets his beer down and leans closer to the barkeep. “I need some information.”
The cyclops lifts his one big, fluffy eyebrow. “Yeah, what kind of information?”
I almost tell Orion to hold back. I might always say the wrong thing, but I’m decent at reading people, and this guy still needs to be broken in a little. We need to buy a couple more beers, tip him well, get to know him, but I already know that Orion has been as patient as he can be.
Orion leans in even closer. “I need to know where the monster Ryane is.”
I swear the second that he says her name, the entire bar goes silent. So fucking silent that I can hear the bubbling of the witch’s pot. Every gaze turns in our direction, and it feel like they’re all holding their breath.
“And what would you want with her?”
Orion shrugs. “I got my reasons.”
“Could it have anything to do with you hunting her, gargoyle?”
Oh, fuck.
Orion’s skin turns to stone, and he pulls out his sword. I pull mine out too as the cyclops leaps onto the bar top, a bat covered in spikes in his hand. Orion chops off his head in one motion, then whirls around. A dozen monsters and dark creatures rush us as one. A vampire hisses and goes for my throat. I manage to clip his arm with my sword, then stab some kind of a swamp beast in the chest. Orion roars, a sound that seems to shake the entire building, and he goes nuts. I want to say the people start running because we’re both badasses, but it’s all him.
He traps one guy in the corner. A swamp guy with a frog in his stringy green hair.
The man pleads, “Please don’t kill me. I’m not a monster.”
“Where is Rayne?” Orion asks, the threat in his voice making even me stiffen.
“Down the river. Go east. At the fork in the road, go south. It’ll look like you can’t through. You’ll want to turn back...it’s one of the curses of the place, but if you keep going, her house is at the end of it.”
“If you’re lying to me, I’m going to find you and kill you,” Orion growls.
The man pisses himself, and I can’t help but wrinkle my nose as I watch the wet spot spread and move down his leg. “Y-you can even take my boat. It’s the green one, right out front.”
Orion releases him, shoving him back on the ground, then turns around.
“Tomorrow will be a better day,” I tell him, wincing, then hurry after Orion.
We find the boat outside, and all the people from the bar seem to be long gone. Orion’s stone flesh fades away, and he resheathes his sword. I put my sword away, then slowly reveal my wings once more, stretching them free and making them glow. The flicker of the flames from my wings lights the area, and Orion climbs into the boat, then looks back at me.
“Uh, wouldn’t it be easier to fly?”
Orion lifts a brow. “The monster has this place cursed and her home hidden. We didn’t just fly and search for it for a reason.”
“Okay then, maybe you drive the boat and I’ll fly overhead.”
He sighs. “How can you be so damned brave when it comes to anything but alligators?”
“I’m not afraid of them!” I say too quickly.
He lifts a brow.
Knowing the only thing I can do to not completely embarrass myself, I climb into the boat with my head held high. In the distance, I see the light from my wings reflect off of some big sets of eyes.
“You know,” I say, inching back toward shore. “This is their home and their territory. It’s night; maybe we shouldn’t tick off the--”
He yanks on the rope connected to the engine and it comes to life, drowning out my words.
Orion glances back at me, and I see the first trace of a smile in weeks. “It’s time.”
I sit down before I fall out of the boat, then cling to the wooden seat, praying that the sound will keep the gaters away.
We head down that river, me sitting in the dead center of the boat. The creepy moon is out, full and almost orange. And I’m damned sure there are about a million hungry alligators in