ChapterOne
Nox and Luca stood in a busted-up parking lot of an abandoned gas station surrounded by overgrown trees.
Four men and two women kneeled in front of them. Strangers who spoke to Luca with reverence, looked at him as if he held all hope, and called himCana.
Inhuman energy radiated from their bodies, rippling around them. A kind of heat that didn’t project warmth but static formed by thunderheads ready to give birth to lightning.
People who promised they meant no harm.
And Nox trusted none of them.
He dragged Luca toward the van.
“What are you doing?” Luca twisted in his grip.
Nox held on. “We’re leaving.”
“What? Why?”
Gravel crunched behind them. Nox whirled, baring his teeth at the man who’d called himself Jelani. “Get the fuck away from him or I’ll kill you.”
He stepped back. “Please, we will not hurt him.”
The Anubis within shuddered. If it had been capable of emotion, Nox might have called it fear. No, they would not hurt Luca. They wanted worse.
Nox just didn’t know what that worse was.
He herded Luca to the passenger side of the van.
Luca attempted to pry Nox’s fingers loose. “Nox...”
Nox opened the door and pushed Luca in. Just to make sure he didn’t do something stupid like jump out, Nox grabbed the door release on the inside and twisted.
The metal snapped.
“What—?”
Nox slammed the door. He kept his attention on the group of people as he backed up to the driver’s side. When he opened the door, Luca was in his seat. Nox pushed him back to the other side.
Jelani, the woman he’d called Cassie, and the others watched them with sorrow.
Luca watched them too.
Nox got the keys out of his pocket and cranked up the van.
“Nox…”
“Not now.” He hit the gas hard enough to spit up rocks with bits of mud and guided the van to the other side of the parking lot. The vehicle popped the curb, landing on the road.
Luca bounced, almost falling onto the floorboard. “What the hell is wrong with you?”
Nox drove faster, and the old engine in the van rumbled in protest.
“Slow down.”
No. They needed to get as far away from those people as they could.
“For God’s sake, slow down before we hydroplane.”