I glanced at Azriel, and he held up three fingers. I guess I had to be grateful that he hadn’t indicated that all five were present, although that did raise the question of where the other two were.
I walked on more cautiously, but no matter how much I tried to be quiet, my footsteps couldn’t help but echo in these shoes. I should have taken them off and walked barefoot, but given the Raziq’s penchant for laying glass into their floors …
"What’s that?" a voice ahead said.
I stopped, my fists clenched. After a moment, another man said, "We’re in a fucking disused tunnel. It’s probably the goddamn rats again."
"No, I heard something else. Something bigger."
"Well, go investigate then," the other man retorted. "I’m not leaving the fire."
The other man swore, then said, "Frank, come with me."
Heavy footsteps echoed, then light suddenly swept the wall inches from where I stood. I pressed my back against the bricks and held my breath. The light jumped away and scanned the other wall before disappearing again.
I blew out a breath, but the relief came too soon as the two men began walking toward us. The flashlight’s beam bobbled across the walls. I ducked, but not quickly enough, and the man swore again.
"Just saw someone," he said, and stopped. I couldn’t see either man, only the brightness of their flashlight, but I could smell them. They were human—although from what I understood, most Razan were. They just enjoyed an extraordinarily long life thanks to their Aedh masters.
"Are you sure?" the other man said, his deep voice uncertain. "I sure as hell didn’t."
"It was just a quick movement on the edge of the light, but it was there."
"Then you yakking about it is a good way of letting them know we saw them."
Azriel touched my shoulder lightly; when I looked up, he motioned me to stay low. I nodded and he winked out of existence. A second later the sound of footsteps running up the tunnel—away from where I was hunkered down—echoed.
"Shit, after him," the first man said. The two of them disappeared after Azriel, leaving me with only the man in the room up ahead. And I couldn’t avoid dealing with him—not when I had to check the room he was in.