Rapture Untamed (Feral Warriors #4)(18)

Humans knew so little of what really went on in their world.

She prayed to the goddess the Ferals and other immortals could keep it that way. If Satanan and his Daemon hordes ever managed to get free, life as the humans knew it would be over. As they'd done five thousand years ago, the higher, thinking, Daemons would once more begin to round up humans by the thousands, mostly children, torturing and terrorizing as they fed on their pain and fear. Panic and misery would quickly rule the world.

Olivia continued to walk and feed for a few minutes more, until she felt full and strong, then headed for the doors. As she strolled into the sunshine, she wondered how long before she turned hungry again. She'd gone almost twenty-four hours without feeding this time. Would she be able to go longer next time? Or less? Almost certainly, she'd have to escape Jag again sometime tomorrow. When the time came, she'd have to come up with another excuse.

She headed for the Hummer, anxious to get back to Harpers Ferry before Jag realized she was gone. Ahead, she saw the two boorish males hitting on yet another female in the parking lot.

One adjusted his hat while the other tugged up his pants. Then suddenly, as one, they went perfectly still, their arms dropping limp at their sides.

Olivia's eyes narrowed, her instincts ringing a warning alarm. As she passed the trio, she glanced at the attractive auburn-haired woman, then looked quickly away, her heart beginning to race. The woman's green eyes had been ringed in copper.

Mage eyes.

Which meant the enthrallment of those men was real.

Why? What would a Mage possibly want with humans, and two such poor examples of the species, at that?

Keeping her stride casual and even, she continued to the Hummer, watching out of the corner of her eye as the three climbed into the red pickup truck they'd been standing in front of. The men moved like automatons.

Olivia climbed into the Hummer, then pretended to study herself in the rearview mirror as she watched the truck drive off at a calm, sedate pace.

She started the bright yellow vehicle and followed, wishing like hell she was in something a little less eye-catching. Clearly Jag's work rarely called for clandestine pursuit. If only she could contact him to tell him she was following a Mage and her victims.

But she was out of range, and on her own. For the time being, they both were.

She followed the truck back toward Harpers Ferry, but lost it as it turned left between too small a gap in oncoming traffic for her to follow. And by the time another gap presented itself, her quarry was nowhere to be seen.

Olivia?

The sound of Jag's voice in her head sent her pulse into a small, odd skitter.

I'm here.

Where in the hell have you been?

Thank goodness she had a decent excuse.I saw something suspicious and followed. A Mage witch enthralled two human males. I tried to follow their truck ,but I lost them.

Shit.

What would a Mage want with humans,Jag?

I'm afraid I know. Get back here and pick me up, and I'll fill you in. We've stumbled onto more than a wraith Daemon on the loose,Red. This is going to get ugly.

When the Mage were involved, it always did.

"Where do you put all that? It's bigger than you are."

Olivia took another bite of the footlong sub piled high with everything she could fit on the sandwich as she met Jag's disbelieving look with a shrug.

"I have a healthy appetite." And she had no way to know when she'd get another chance to feed her way.

Jag had bought three footlongs for himself and she'd have liked to have bought herself a second, but he really would have gotten suspicious.

They sat across from one another in the back booth of a deli down the road from Harpers Ferry, in Charles Town. Jag had been afraid to eat in town, not knowing how many Mage were about or whether any might recognize him as a Feral. He'd taken to wearing the green military-style canvas jacket he apparently kept in the back of the Hummer to cover his armband. They needed to figure out what the Mage were doing before the Mage realized they were here.

After she'd let him in the car, and he'd shifted back to human and dressed, they'd driven up and down every road in that town, hunting for the red truck while they filled one another in. But they'd found no sign of it.

"How do we know the Mage don't have the Daemon caged again, as they did in the caverns?" she asked. "I thought you believed the wraith Daemons weren't controllable."

"I don't know what the Mage are doing, or what their involvement is. All I know is I'm catching Daemon scent all over the place. That thing is definitely loose."

"Would the Mage have a reason to follow along behind it, cleaning up the mess he leaves? And if the Daemon is feeding on its own, why did they enthrall those two men this afternoon?"

"All good questions, and I can't answer a one. The scent's old. Better part of a day. As if it hasn't been through here since last night."

"You think it's nocturnal."

"Yep. That's what we've suspected all along, and that scent trail supports it."

Olivia finished her sandwich and wadded up her trash, watching with envy as Jag took a big bite of his third.

"What's our next move?" she asked.

"As soon as it's dark, I'm going hunting."

She caught the singular. "I'm going with you."

"That would be ano way in hell , Red. You heard what Lyon said about Kougar and Hawke running across a draden swarm in the mountains. There were nearly forty of them. I'm good, but even I can't take out forty at once. Unless you want to get your pretty little ass killed, you'll be hanging out in the Hummer until daybreak."