13
Ileft gray powdery footprints behind as I padded into the bathroom and cranked the shower to boiling. I let the steam clean my lungs and scrubbed the zombie off my skin and from my hair. Then I stood there, an ungoddessly amount of time, just trying to screw my head on straight.
It almost worked. I nearly found my Zen. But then a black mass scuttled across the shower curtain, and I screamed bloody murder, flinging a spell to zap the holy Hael out of whatever zombie critter had found me. I didn’t want to touch it, so it wasn’t much, but the creature screamed and slammed against the cabinet.
A cold breeze swept into the room as someone wrenched the door open, banging the knob off the wall.
“Zombie,” I yelped, expecting Clay to be my savior. “Where did it go?”
“It’s not a zombie,” Asa assured me. “It also shouldn’t be in here.”
He snapped out a command in a language that hurt my ears, and scuttling noises clicked on the tile.
Curtain fisted in my hand, I leaned around the edge and watched as a black…thing…made its exit.
“What is that?” I cringed from the sight of it. “What was it doing in here?”
“It was crisht’na.” He scanned the room, minus the shower, giving me my privacy. “They’re like crabs.”
“They?”The fabric crinkled in my hand. “There are more of them?”
“I counted three.” He kept his gaze away from me. “They’re a common species of subdaemons.”
“And they’re in here because…?”
“They smelled the gore.” He backed through the doorway. “And a challenger is in the woods.”
“Hold up.” I cut off the water. “I thought they didn’t bother you on cases.”
“They’re free to challenge me at any time, but they know I won’t retaliate on the clock.”
“You’re meeting with them?” I grabbed my towel and started drying. “Now?”
Sure, his wounds had healed, but Asa wasn’t fully recovered from his ordeal. That would take days.
Attention on the knob in his palm, he began to shut the door. “Yes.”
Desperate to keep him talking, I raked fingers through my wet hair. “How often does this happen?”
“Once or twice a week.”
Once or twice…a week? “How have I never noticed a strange daemon lurking in the woods?”
A wry twist found his lips. “There’s a reason why I handle perimeter checks alone.”
“You’re making yourself an easy target.”
“The first meet is an introduction,” he countered. “They challenge me, I accept, they leave.”
“When do you honor your agreement?”
“Once a case is done, I summon my challengers and clear the board before the next assignment.”
Wrapping the towel around my torso, I stepped out. “What happens to your challengers?”
Averting his gaze, Asa entered the bedroom then faced the door to the hall. The fact he had pressed me against that door earlier left me flushed from more than the steam.
But crabs.