I padded forward. The cold bricks soothed the fire in my feet, but I had no doubt I was leaving bloody footprints behind. The taint of it curled through the air.
The silence was unnerving. I couldn't sense anyone nearby, but there were at least two Aedh here somewhere, and undoubtedly some form of human guards as well. After all, the Aedh who'd attacked me at the restaurant hadn't come alone.
So where was everybody?
There had to be guards here. Even the youngest Aedh couldn't be that oblivious to the instinct of survival—and neither of the two who'd questioned me had felt young. Surely it would make sense to post one or two of their servants at strategic points along the corridor.
Not that I was complaining about the oversight, but I couldn't quite believe that luck was going my way, either. There would be checkpoints somewhere, and if they weren't staffed by humans, then they would be some kind of physical or magical barriers. I had to hope for the former, because I was all but useless against the latter.
I walked on, keeping to the shadows and trailing one hand against the coolness of the bricks, more to keep my still-quivering limbs steady than from any actual need to maintain something solid by my side.
The bricks began to curve gently to the left—something I sensed more than felt. Sound began to invade the rich, damp air—two men talking over what sounded like some sort of sports commentary.
I'd found my guards.
I edged closer to the wall and slowed even further. As the bricks continued to curve away, light began to shimmer up ahead. It was a stark, almost fierce white that pooled brightness across the floor and walls. The minute I tried to cross it, they'd see me.
"Azriel, where the hell are you?" I murmured.
He didn't pop into existence—which was typical, I thought sourly. The one time in my life I would actually welcome the arrival of a reaper was the one time I couldn't find one.
As I crept closer to the two men, it became obvious they were watching football. Which meant it was either Friday evening and I'd lost a whole lot of time, or they were watching a replay.
I drew in the air, sorting through the scents, trying to discover just what I was dealing with. They smelled human, but the last couple of days had proven I couldn't exactly rely on my olfactory sense when it came to these people.
My gaze went from the large pool of light in front of me to the doorway. I couldn't actually see the men, which meant they had to be sitting in the rear section of the room and would have a good view of the corridor beyond the pool of light.
Leaving me with two options—turn around and try to find another exit up the other end of the corridor, or risk trying to get past the guards.