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Yeah, okay, they were hiding in honeysuckle. Not exactly as manly as standing behind a bunch of oaks, but the coverage was better, and besides, that was all they had for camou flage next to Blay’s back door.
John checked his watch. They’d been waiting here for a good hour or two. Eventually they were going to have to get back to avoid the dawn, and didn’t that suck. He was here to fight. He was prepared to fight.
If he didn’t get a crack at another lesser, his i
Unfortunately all they had was an occasional late summer breeze to balance out the drone of crickets.
I didn’t know about Blay, John signed for no particular reason. How long have you known about…you know, how he felt?
Now Qhui
Wow, John thought. With all these secrets coming out, it was almost like they were going through their transitions again.
And like the changes that had taken over their bodies, the three of them would never be as they once were.
“Blay hid what he felt,” Qhui
Well… I… I mean…
Holy shit, if he’d ever felt like a virgin before, in the face of all of Qhui
“Look, if I make you uncomfortable-”
No, it’s not that. Hell, I’m really not that surprised. I mean, you’ve gone into bathrooms with a lot of different…
“Yeah. I kind of just let what happens happen, you know. S’all good.” Qhui
No?
“Someday I want a shellan of my own. In the meantime, though, I’m going to do anything and everything. That’s how I know I’m living.”
John thought about it. I want a female, too. But it’s hard because…
Qhui
“You know, I see the way you look at Xhex.”
John turned beet red. Um…
“It’s cool. I mean, fuck… she’s like off-the-chain hot. Partially because she’s so damn scary. I think that one could make you eat your own teeth if you got out of line.” Qhui
You don’t get to pick who you’re attracted to.
“Amen.”
They heard the sound of someone coming around from the front of the house, and they both came to attention, upping the muzzles of their guns and swinging them to the east.
“It’s me,” Blay called out. “Don’t shoot.”
John stepped free of the honeysuckle. I thought you were going with your parents?
Blay stared at Qhui
“Why are you looking at me like that?” Qhui
“They want you to come back to the mansion.”
Why, John signed even though Blay still had his eyes clamped on Qhui
“What’s the news,” Qhui
“Wrath wants you-”
“My family was hit, weren’t they.” Qhui
“Wrath wants you-”
“Fuck Wrath. Talk!”
Blay’s eyes flicked to John before returning to their friend. “Your mother, father, and sister are dead. Your brother is missing.”
Qhui
Blay shook his head. “I’m so sorry.”
Qhui
Blay tried to reach out again, and when Qhui
Let’s get to the car, John signed to Qhui
“I’m not going.”
“Qhui
Qhui
Qhui
A light went on inside of Blay’s house, and Qhui
There was no stopping Qhui
Even as the lesser slumped and bled black, Qhui
Blay and John rushed over and John threw an arm around his friend’s neck. As he started hauling Qhui
Another lesser came barreling into the kitchen, and Blay ma
Qhui
As John shook his head, Qhui
The voice was so dead calm, John obeyed.
Qhui
“What the fuck?” Blay snapped. “He was mine.”
“Not going to watch you get sliced. Not going to happen. ”
Blay pointed a shaking finger at Qhui
“I lost people I can’t stand tonight. Not losing someone I actually give a shit about.”
“I don’t need you to be my hero-”
John stepped in between the two of them. Home, he signed. Now.
“There could be more-”
“There’s probably more-”
All three of them went still as Blay’s phone went off.
“It’s Wrath.” Blay’s fingers flew over the keys. “He really wants us home. And John, check your phone, I think it’s not working.”
John took the thing out of his pocket. It was dead as a doornail, but now was not the time to figure out why. Maybe from the fighting?
Let’s go, he signed.
Qhui
Moving quickly, they sealed up the house as best they could, triggered the alarm, and piled into Fritz’s Mercedes, with Qhui
As they headed over to Route 22, Qhui
Which was, of course, only part of the reason that shield was going up. Qhui
In the dense darkness of the backseat, John glanced over at Blay. The guy was lying back in the leather seat as if his head weighed as much as an engine block and his eyes seemed to have sunk into his skull. He looked about a hundred years old.