Page 167 of Terror at the Gates

“Do you think Lisk is at the church already?” I asked.

Zahariev glanced at his watch. “He usually arrives fifteen minutes before the service, but it’s difficult to know exactly. When he remodeled everything, he added an underground tunnel so he could go between the church and his house unseen.”

“Is it really about being seen, or do you think it’s just another way he’s preparing for the end of the world?”

Zahariev shrugged. “Maybe both.”

Lisk would keep his chosen few in the temple while he slept comfortably in his own bed. I should have brought a bag of ground rose hip to sprinkle on his sheets. That would have him itching all night long, and the thought brought me more joy than I’d felt in a long time.

I needed a fucking hobby.

We waited.

At first, I was fine, but as the hour neared, I grew impatient.

“He has to be there by now,” I said.

“Probably,” Zahariev agreed. “But we need to wait for a lull in the electricity.”

“Zahariev,” I said, irritated. “That could take all night,and by then, that fucker will be home.”

“Hiram is set to go dark around six,” said Zahariev. “It’s just thirty more minutes.”

“If you knew, why did we get here so early?” I asked. “I could have slept a little longer.”

I needed it too. I’d had a blissful, dreamless sleep and still woke up feeling worse than when I’d drifted off.

“Because we’re not just here to search Lisk’s house,” he said. “We’re here to see who comes and goes, and the most activity happens now.”

“Then it all must be happening in that tunnel,” I said. “Because I don’t see anything.”

Zahariev smirked, but he didn’t say anything, and I grew restless waiting. The power had been flickering all day across Eden, especially in Nineveh, and now that we’d arrived in Hiram, it hadn’t wavered once.

Where were those goddamn demons when you needed them?

I hated even thinking that since I actually wanted to eradicate their fucking gooey bits from the world.

“My ass hurts,” I said. “Can’t we just…I don’t know, cut the electricity to the house?”

Zahariev gave me that amused half smile that I sometimes loved and sometimes hated. Right now, I couldn’t decide.

“Sure,” he said. “But then he’ll have us on camera, cutting the electricity to his house.”

At this point, I’d risk it.

I sighed and rolled my eyes, shifting in my seat.

“I could give you a massage,” Zahariev suggested.

“You just want an excuse to touch my ass,” I said.

Zahariev’s brows rose and his smile grew, but his eyes were trained on the house. “Touch is a rather tame word forwhat I want to do to you.”

My whole body flushed. I wasn’t used to those kinds of words coming out of his mouth, but I liked it.

“There’s plenty of space in the back for a demonstration,” I said.

“Space isn’t really the issue,” he said. “It’s time.”