Chapter Forty-One
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“SPILL IT, CAMRIEL,” Grace ordered when they climbed into his little red truck. He’d refused to answer her questions so far and she was growing impatient.
“Not yet,” the warrior replied, giving her a nervous look. “I’ll fill you in once we reach the town.”
Flopping back in her seat, Grace didn’t bother to hide her annoyance. “We knew you two were hiding something from us,” she said sullenly. “It had better not be anything bad.”
“That depends on how you look at it,” Camriel said. His usual easygoing attitude was strained. He was far more serious than she was used to.
“I’m going to see if the crazy guy is on the radio yet,” Grace said and switched it on. Static burst from the speakers. Wincing, she turned the volume down.
“You’ll have to search for his channel,” Camriel told her, since they were in a different vehicle this time.
The search across the AM frequencies kept the cambion occupied and gave him time to think. Now that it was time to confess about the choice Fate had given them, he was lost for words. How was he going to explain all this to someone who was still in her teens?
Grace stopped scrolling when she heard a voice. “Found him,” she said in satisfaction and turned the volume up a bit.
“Soon, people,” the human was saying. His voice sounded jubilant despite his words of doom.
“Soon, all hell will break loose on our world again. It’ll be slow and insidious at first. No one will see the truth of what’s going on.
By the time they realize they’ve been duped, it’ll be too late to stop it.
Once evil is in charge, the survivors of the Rapture will suffer untold misery. ”
“Wow, he’s as cheerful as always,” Grace muttered. He seemed to be done with his rant, since only static was playing now, so she switched it off. “We should try to find some radios, so we can keep in touch with each other when we’re out scouting,” she suggested.
“That won’t be necessary soon,” Camriel replied.
“Why?” she demanded, still annoyed that he’d been keeping secrets. “Do the knights all have telepathic abilities?”
Camriel ignored her sarcasm. “Yeah,” he confirmed. “Amaros is the only one who can use it and only with his knights to begin with. Once more of us gather together, his ability will spread to us.”
Her mouth was gaping open and she snapped it shut. “What other sort of magic can you guys use?”
“You’ll see,” he said mysteriously.
The teen rolled her eyes and turned to stare out through the window. “More secrets,” she said dourly. “Just what I need.”
“I wouldn’t want to spoil the surprise,” Camriel joked. She glared at him, then turned away again.
Camriel slowed down and pulled over before they reached the town. “We’ll go on foot from here,” he said.
“Great,” Grace complained. “We get to carry all the medical supplies a mile to the truck.”
“My senses aren’t as good as Amaros’,” he said defensively. “It’s better to be safe than make ourselves a glaring red target.”
Grace glanced back at the truck, then reluctantly nodded. “You’re probably right,” she conceded.
Keeping pace with his much shorter companion, the warrior remained on high alert as they hiked to town. He couldn’t sense anyone as they skirted around buildings so they could remain unseen.
“How’s your new bed?” Grace asked, keeping her voice down.
“I love it,” Camriel said, handsome face lighting up. “It’s the most comfortable thing I’ve ever slept on.”
“I’m amazed you fit on it,” she joked, bad mood slowly evaporating. She enjoyed nature and hiking.
“I have to curl into a ball, but nothing hangs over the side,” he said with a grin.
She smiled back at him and the tension eased. He didn’t like it when the girls were unhappy. He was feeling protective urges that were new to him. “The doctor’s office is just ahead,” she said. “Amaros patched me up when I got shot.”
“He told me about that,” the knight said darkly. “Humans have always been unpredictable. The ones who are left are going to be downright unstable.”
“So we’ve discovered,” she agreed.
“We should go in through the back door,” Camriel suggested when they reached the doctor’s office. He tried the door to find it was locked. It opened outwards, so he couldn’t kick it in without destroying it. The lock was pathetic and snapped when he twisted the door handle and gave the door a yank.
“Now, that’s magic,” Grace joked, then sauntered past him. Camriel pulled the door shut and followed her inside. No one had been there since her last visit that she could see. “We should look for containers to carry everything in,” she suggested.
“The convenience store next door will probably have some,” he figured.
“We should grab more supplies while we’re here,” she mused. “We really need the truck. It’ll take us all day to walk backwards and forwards to load it up.”
Camriel reluctantly nodded. “We’ll gather everything we need first and pile it up out the back. I’ll retrieve the truck when we’re ready to leave.”
Grace followed him outside and waited for him to break into the convenience store. She could have used her lockpicks, but the warrior enjoyed breaking the doors open. Someone had looted the store, already, but there was plenty of canned food left.
They found a stack of large plastic containers and began loading food into them. When they were done, they carried them out through the back door. A narrow road ran along the back of the stores, with trees growing right beside it. There would be just enough room for the truck.
“Now for the medical supplies,” Grace said, lugging several empty containers into the doctor’s office. “The pharmacy will have medicine like antibiotics and other things we might need,” she added. “We’ve already taken some stuff from it. It’s near the sporting goods store.”
Camriel pondered about how to tell Grace the truth without making her feel rejected that he didn’t feel anything for her. He began to understand his commander’s reluctance to discuss the matter with Zoe.
“For the love of everything holy,” Grace said in exasperation when they finished with the doctor’s office. “Just tell me what your big secret is!”
Her outburst startled the warrior into calling on his diamond encrusted gold and silver sword.
She gasped at the sight, but he put his finger to his lips when she opened her mouth.
“I can sense people coming,” he whispered.
They were just normal humans, so he released the magic that had called on his weapon and it vanished.
Grace pulled her pistol out of the pocket of her baggy sweater. Her young face was grim and ready for battle. They moved over to the window, closing the blinds until they could see out, but no one could see in.
Camriel cocked his head to the side and his eyes went distant. Then he grinned so widely that Grace wondered if he’d spotted a pile of gold. “What?” she hissed at him.
“I just received a message from my boss,” he said, suppressing his excitement. Amaros and Zoe were about to become bonded and they wanted privacy.
“What’s the message?” she asked.
“It’ll have to wait,” he said as a group of four men slowly drove into town, obviously trying to be quiet. Their truck was almost the same size as Amaros’ tank.
Grace rolled her eyes when she saw Camriel’s face light up even more this time. “I guess you just found your new truck,” she figured.
“It’s beautiful,” the warrior said reverently. Midnight blue, it didn’t have a scratch on it. “We need to lure them away from the vehicle,” he said craftily, turning to beseech her with his sky-blue eyes. “I’ll owe you one if you act as my decoy.”
“I’ll call you on that one day,” she vowed, then stepped around him to open the door.