She grimaced. "Yes. And Carwyn will be there."
Carwyn was the stallion her parents were trying to set her up with. According to Mirri, he was rather hot—in bed and out—but given Ilianna's preferences, she was either going to have to be honest with her parents or get stuck in a situation that could only end badly.
"Oh," I said, well aware that Jak was rather avidly listening in. Once a newshound, always a newshound. "Good luck."
"Yeah, I'm going to need it." She grimaced. "Just make sure you ring me if you find magic."
I nodded, then picked up my sandwiches and headed out. Jak followed so close on my heels that his breath washed the back of my neck. Unfortunately, it wasn't an unpleasant sensation.
"You can drive," I said, as the front door slammed behind us.
"Color me shocked," he said. "Here I was thinking you didn't trust me to keep my hands to myself when you were in the same vehicle as me."
"I don't. Which is why you're driving."
He snorted softly, but opened the passenger door of his red Honda Accord, ushering me in before running around to the driver's side.
It didn't take us long to get to West Street. We cruised slowly past the warehouse, then turned into Reeves Street. Halfway down the block, we stopped and I climbed out of the car, then leaned against it, my gaze sweeping the building. It was one of those old two-story, redbrick places that had become so popular with inner-city renovators. The iron roof was rusted and covered in bird shit, and the regularly spaced windows were small and protected by bars as rusted as the roof. But considering its age, it still seemed surprisingly solid. Like many of the other buildings in the area, it had walls littered with graffiti and tags, and rubbish lay in drifting piles along its length. It looked and felt abandoned.
Only it wasn't.
Though there was no sign of guards or movement, there was an odd, almost watchful stillness about the place. In fact, the whole area was unnervingly quiet. Even the sound of traffic traveling along nearby Smith Street seemed muted.
Azriel reappeared, but the heat of his presence did little to chase the growing chill from my body. "I can sense no human life inside."
My gaze swept the building again. It was waiting. Ready. Trepidation shivered through me, and I rubbed my arms. "What about unlife? Or hellhound-type life?"
"There is nothing in there other than vermin."