not vīsh. How do they move?”
“Uh, it’s difficult to explain. They don’t move on their own. Humans steer them. They have engines that you start with a key, and you have to put fuel in them. Lots of people own one and drive it from place to place every day.”
He considered that. “They do this because hh’ainun are slow?”
“Yes,” I said with a laugh. “Humans are slow and our cities are big, so we use vehicles to get around. Once we’re finished searching for vampires, I’ll take you on a bus ride.” I pointed at a big gray bus rolling past. “One of those. You can see what it’s like.”
Stopping, he lifted the sunglasses above his eyes to peer at the bus. A middle-aged man in a custodian uniform stopped dead, staring at the demon’s face, then hurried past us, looking over his shoulder with each step as though doubting what he’d seen.
I swatted Zylas’s arm. “Sunglasses down!”
He resettled them on his nose, smirking. I rolled my eyes and tugged him into motion again.
We did a wide circle around the building, crossing as many streets and alleys as possible. Zylas chose what he thought was the most recent trail, which headed northwest toward the Coal Harbor neighborhood. He tracked the blood scent down an alley and onto another street. The vampires must’ve gone straight across but I had to steer Zylas to an intersection so we could cross the busy road at a traffic light, which required explaining why humans had created such an “annoying” system.
Needless to say, Zylas found the idea of humans running over other humans with their vehicles far too amusing. I was never letting him anywhere near the driver’s seat of a car.
We safely crossed the road and found the trail. Amalia powered ahead of us, her bold attitude drawing attention away from Zylas’s baggy, barefoot oddness. He tracked the scent for another half a block, then slowed. His hooded face turned to an alley too narrow for anything but a small car.
He rounded the corner and started down the alley. As Amalia looked back, I waved at her to wait and hastened after the demon. The light dimmed, blocked by the towering skyscrapers on either side, and the lunch-hour commotion grew muffled.
“Zylas,” I whispered, “are they here?”
His steps shifted into a prowl, and his tail swept out from beneath his sweater. “The scent is strong.”
I crept behind him, gripping the infernus and my new artifact through my sweater. A cold wind whipped down the alley, blowing in our faces as we ventured farther from the safety of the street.
Zylas reached back to push on my hip—his unspoken “wait” command. I halted and he continued forward, head swiveling. Wrapping my arms around myself, I peered into the shadows. Dumpsters and bins lined the strip of pavement, creating plenty of dark corners for a vampire or six to hide in.
As Zylas prowled past a row of blue recycling bins, something clattered behind me.
I whirled toward the sound. Ten paces away, a dumpster stood against the concrete wall. Grabbing my artifact again, I inched back a step. My skin prickled as I kept my gaze fixed on the shadows behind the dumpster. What had made that noise? Was it a vampire?
A warm hand curled around my throat. Hot breath brushed across my cheek and a husky voice whispered in my ear, “And now you are dead, drādah.”
Gasping in fright, I tore free. Zylas stood behind me, his sunglasses reflecting my frightened face. “Zylas! What did you scare me for?”
“You are staring at one spot.”
“Yes, because I heard a noise.” I pointed at the dumpster. “I think there’s—”
The wind gusted and a half-empty bottle of water rolled away from the dumpster—the noise I’d heard. I flushed in embarrassment.
“Be smarter, drādah.”
My blush deepened. I started to turn away, but he caught my shoulder and pulled me in front of him, my back to his chest.
“When you hear a sound, do not stare in one spot. It is easy to ambush you.”
I blinked, confused. I’d expected an insulting observation about my inability to detect an actual threat.
“You must always be looking everywhere. Side and side, up and down. Always move your eyes. Quick looks. Do not fixate.”
With one hand gripping my shoulder, he turned me in a quarter circle and gestured across the alley. “Look for safe ground and dangerous ground. Look now so if you must run later, you know which way is best.”
He pulled me in a sideways step.