Page 130 of Grave Beginnings

“I’m seriously putting a tracker on you and assigning you some hellhounds. Why are your pants down? Do I even want to know?”

“Goo burning through fabric…” was all I could offer in explanation as I shut my eyes again. Something had sucked all the energy out of me, not unlike the faerie lights that had burst as the darkness swam toward me. I had no doubt that thing would have eaten me, too.

“He’s bleeding,” Ezra pointed out as he bent in half and breathed hard. “Not sure who our blue-haired friend is. You okay?” he asked.

Angel cursed and tugged me out from under the stranger. My blood smeared over both of us, or maybe it wasn’t all mine. “Glass shards?” Angel asked as he carefully glanced over the other man before focusing on me.

“Lots of specimen containers exploded,” Ezra said. He dropped down beside the stranger and examined his back. “Shit. Why did you do that?”

“I’ll be fine,” the blue-haired guy wheezed. “Just give me a minute.”

“Not sure how long we have,” Ezra complained, glancing over the long hallway of gap-toothed doorways. At least I was back with Angel. “Looks like we are in some otherworld nightmare.”

“Hi,” I said to Angel.

He glanced up to meet my eyes. “Why are you bleeding? Why is your skin blistered on your legs?”

“Goo from a jar I broke,” I said, blinking past him as faces seemed to press to doorways nearby. How many of them were filled with captives like Ezra and Blue-hair? “Burned through pants,” I told him, too tired to do more than lie there and breathe. “It doesn’t hurt, just feels numb. I think the faeries died. They were lights, and then something destroyed them. Ate them. Wanted to eat me, too.”

Other than my rough breathing, silence stretched through the hall, only occasionally peppered by a smallplink.

“Are you pushing the glass out?” Ezra asked.

Blue-hair grunted.

“Handy skill,” Ezra said.

“We can’t stay,” Angel said as he dug through my gear andpulled out the mini first-aid kit. He swabbed my knees, which burned, and wrapped bandages around them. He sniffed at me, frowning. “Fae?”

“Are fae and faeries the same things? Like Hanna and tiny things with wings?”

“About as much as we have in common with dogs,” he said. “Mammals, and that’s about it. Fae are fae and faeries comprise of about a million different species with more animal than humanoid tendencies. You said there were dead faeries? And goo? What type of goo? I’ve never seen anything eat through tactical pants like this.” He cut the last of the fabric away with my utility knife, leaving my shoes and socks in place.

“Didn’t stop to break out a science kit,” I sighed heavily.

“Species specific,” blue-hair said. He swallowed a few more groans as the glass slid out of him and clattered to the floor. Ezra swept a careful, gloved hand over the man, brushing away the remaining shards.

Angel leaned in close, sniffing my face and neck, and down my chest. I could feel the little creature snuggled up under my shirt. Was he smelling it? I hoped it wasn’t something bad.

“Uh…” I protested.

“Never mind,” he said. “Let’s get out of here first.”

“Sure,” I agreed. “As soon as I can feel my legs again. Does everything across the Veil try to kill us all the time?”

He cursed. “Only you. What did you do to piss them off?”

“Hey, Ezra was in some sort of dissolving tube, so it’s not just me.”

“I was watching the Veil split one minute while waiting for Cassidy to reappear, then waking up as the tube broke and your boyfriend was sans pants,” Ezra complained.

“Did Cassidy come back?” Angel asked.

“Not that I saw,” Ezra answered as he helped the blue-haired guy up. “The fissure blossomed through the center of the building. Normally it takes a few hours to split, but this one went fromvisibility to full tear in the time it took me to make a call to headquarters.” Ezra stared at the stranger. “You sure you’re okay?”

“I’ll heal,” he said gruffly, his gaze flitting back and forth from one end of the hall to the other. “We need to get out of here.”

I agreed as I followed the direction of his gaze down the hall. Every now and then, I’d catch a glimpse of something moving at the edge of my vision, a flicker of movement darting out of sight.