Page 100 of Gray

Speaking of muscle, the one in Alastair’s cheek twitched. “Then let’s go. We need to hurry.”

Raiden nodded, and the two of them spread their wings before shooting up into the sky, their cloaking abilities camouflaging their bodies. Not that the sight of them would cause much alarm with literal monsters roaming the streets.

“Help!” a man’s voice echoed from up ahead. “Oh my god. Someone please help!”

Galen sprung forward, his massive black-and-red wings propelling him toward the warehouse the yell had come from. Clutching my gun, I ran behind him, making sure Gray was beside me. Graffiti marked the outside of the off-white building, and boards covered some of the windows. The place had been abandoned for a while by the look of it.

On the way, people lunged at us, their growls croaky. No, not people. Corpses. I shot one, while Galen ripped the head off another.

We burst through the heavy door, the chains already dangling free from whoever had broken in before us. A mildewy smell hit me, and areas of the floor were slick. The man’s screams continued, though as we neared him, other sounds reached me too. Guttural growls and scratching, like sharp nails on concrete.

The screams stopped. As we entered the room, I saw why.

We were too late.

Blood splattered the floor, and some sprayed the back wall. The man’s body had been torn into various pieces, his muscles still twitching. There was a sick crunch as smokers—or shades—chewed on his flesh and chomped on bone. Six of them, though there could’ve been more. Their dark bodies blended in with the shadows.

Gritting my teeth together, I shot at the bastards, their smoking bodies flashing bright orange and turning to ash. Galen helped me kill them and watched as I kicked at a crate afterward.

“Goddammit!”

“Throwing a fit won’t bring him back,” he said in a calm tone.

“Yeah, well, it makes me feel better.”

“Really?”

“No.” Nausea churned in my stomach as I turned away from the scattered body parts. I was more pissed than anything. If we’d just reached the man fifteen seconds sooner, he’d probably be alive.

Gray turned around as footsteps approached.

“There’s more,” Bellamy said from the open doorway. Cuts marred the left side of his face, as if he’d been clawed across the cheek. The wound began fading in seconds. “Ten bodies at least. Looks like some people were using this place to keep warm or take shelter from the shit out there.” He nodded to the window.

“Ten?” The breath rushed from my lungs. Eleven counting the dead man in front of us.

I was no stranger to seeing dead bodies. Even before the ghoul attack, I’d seen men blown apart by grenades and riddled with bullets. But death wasn’t something I’d ever get used to. It hurt each and every time I lost someone, especially when I knew I could’ve saved them had I been quicker.

“Do you sense that?” Galen asked, cocking his head.

“Someone else is here.” Bellamy dashed down the hall.

The three of us followed behind him, boots echoing on the concrete floor with the occasional squeak of Gray’s Converse. We reached a larger room moments later. Long rectangular windows lined the top of the wall, the glass clouded over, and dark stains covered the ceiling, probably from water damage. How this place was still standing was anyone’s guess.

People lay in bloody pieces, similar to the man we’d failed to save. The stench was fucking awful.

And standing over the bodies? A woman in black.

“I’ve come for their souls,” she told us, her dead tone eerie. Her face lacked emotion too, like she was a living doll crafted without a soul of her own. “You’d do well to stay out of my way, Nephilim.” Dark eyes flashed to me. “And human.”

A twisted dagger then appeared in her hand.

“Should we do something?” I asked. “What if she’s one of the reapers working for Asa?”

“I work for no one but Death,” she told me. “He is my only master.”

“What’s the dagger for?”

Galen watched her, gaze hard. “It’s how souls are reaped.”