“Look, you seem like a decent guy.” Johnson tugged the seatbelt over Luca’s lap. “Tell him what happened. If you weren’t there of your own free will, you’re not doing yourself any favors by protecting a dead man.”
“I wasn’t a prisoner. Nox was my friend.” And more, even though Luca wasn’t sure what thatmorecould be.
“Told you the doe eyes were an act,” Davies said. “I bet you a hundred bucks he’d gut you first chance he got.”
Johnson clicked the seat belt in place, then backed out. The door shut with a puff of exhaust tainted air. He got in the front, tossing a quick look back at Luca. Still no anger or disgust.
Davies bumped his partner’s shoulder. “C’mon, Johnson, not all of them are misunderstood angels. Some of them are just criminals. Some are psycho killers.” Davies started the car and cut across the parking lot.
The lights of the hospital building shrunk, eventually disappearing behind a new row of buildings. Most of them gas stations, a few mini-malls, and small restaurants. Davies pulled up behind a public transport bus. It stopped at the corner, and he went around.
Every so often the man’s gaze would reflect back at Luca.
He pressed his handcuffed hands between his knees and curled forward. The floorboard of the backseat offered nothing but a few slivers of grass.
Traffic hummed outside the window. Headlights broke across the glass caught by fresh raindrops. All of it noise Luca had heard most of his life but now foreign. What he wanted was a steady beat against his cheek, soft breaths, exhales caressing his neck. Hands gripping his hips, heat filling his body.
That’s what life was. All the things passing by his window, the two men in the front seat, the buildings, even the night, were flat and meaningless. Nothing but props to fill a space.
Unlike what Luca had felt with Nox. He was real. He showed Luca what life felt like. And not just being alive but living.
Luca closed his eyes. The sedan tires thrummed against the pavement. Davies spoke, but his words held no more meaning than the rumble of the car engine. Exhaustion fueled by the tranquilizer the nurse had injected into Luca lulled him into a dark numbness.
If only he could stay there, never waking up.
Static prickled Luca’s skin, and he shivered. Pine, earth, and rain filled his lungs. Sticks snapped. Leaves slapped against his sides. Vertigo tipped him forward before his stomach dropped, asphalt coming up underneath him. A car horn screamed, headlights blinded him.
Luca jerked his head up. Sweat beaded on his upper lip, and his heartbeat thundered in his ears. The fake leather of the car seat, the metal of the handcuffs, and the drone of traffic returned.
Johnson glanced back. “You okay?”
Was he?
“You having second-thoughts about spending a few nights in jail?” Davies said.
Luca focused on the distant buzz tugging at his senses.
Davies exited the highway. Trees muffled the hush of traffic. With no other cars on the back road, there was nothing to break the darkness but the headlights of the sedan.
Luca trembled and his skin tightened with anticipation. But for what? Yet he knew. It was impossible, but he knew exactly what or who he felt.
Nox.
Davies clicked on the high beams. The glowing points of illuminated eyes reflected back in green. Davies slammed on the brakes with a curse. The rear of the sedan swung around enough for the back tire to catch the shoulder of the road. Rocks popped up in a spray before the vehicle stopped moving.
A massive black shape blocked most of the narrow lane.
Anubis.
And it wasn’t Nox. The knowledge traveled down nonexistent threads spiraling outward. That Anubis wasn’t Nox, but he was coming. Anger that wasn’t Luca’s tempered his fear.
“What the fuck is that?” Davies said.
“No clue.” Johnson leaned forward as if looking for something. “Over there.” He pointed. Another creature cut a swatch of black out of the shadows. Its eyes glittered.
“Back up,” Luca said. “You need to back up now.”
Davies laid on the horn.