ShadowSong [Book 3]

Chapter 50 - Hunters

This was real, she told herself, over and over again. This was real.

"Fantastic," said Banshee. She pulled back from the hug and pressed her hands against Cryo's chest, flicking her gaze from one finger to the next without much thought to what she was doing. "So Wyvern really did steal Nereid's Ascended."

"If the civilian is to be believed, yes."

Banshee reached for her daggers. "I'm gonna kill that stupid bat."

"That may not be the best course of action," said Cryo, his eyes on the daggers. "If nothing else, Wyvern's involvement proves Adande's innocence."

"Or it's yet another convoluted plot and I'm gonna stab pretty boy Adande right after I stab that Other-cursed hypocrite of a bat."

Cryo raised an eyebrow. "You couldn't even stab Skinwalker when you were fighting her."

"Oh, I stabbed her," said Banshee, twirling Grief. "She just shifted out of it, and after that, we had an audience."

Her partner paused for a moment, watching her with the slightest frown before he turned his gaze to the peak and slowly shook his head from side to side. "Skypillar help me, my partner has become a psychopath."

"I really don't think you want to be asking Skypillar for help on that matter," Banshee said lightly, sheathing her daggers once more as Cryo gave her a curious look. She shrugged it off, chewing on the side of her lip. She'd have to figure out what to do about that information later. "Don't worry, not gonna stab anyone without good reason. Besides, I'd have to find the bastards first."

"We may have a lead to find Wyvern," said Cryo. "However, it's from the Lumi Hunters, so we aren't sure how reliable it is."

"But it's the only one we have, right?" said Banshee. Cryo nodded. She exhaled. "So we're all on the same page before we march into a room full of fanatics, what did the civilian tell you guys?"

"The civilian, Lara Aquaheart, informed us that she was in the storage room when another girl entered," said Cryo. "Lara didn't see who it was, only heard her talking on her Liaiser, when another man followed the girl in, turned off the lights, and attacked the girl. There was a scuffle, the man handcuffed both girls to filing cabinets away from each other, and shortly after you entered, asking about Nereid. The girl said something that Lara didn't catch, you freed the other girl, then came back for Lara and jumped her to the rooftop to inform Pegasus of what had happened while you searched."

"Gotcha," said Banshee, committing 'Lara's story to memory. "Sounds about right. Now, onto the next order of business: getting useful information out of a room full of fanatics."

"Are you ready?" asked Cryo.

Even with the situation, the stress, the stakes, and her mind wandering off to a million scenarios where this wasn't real and she woke up to the Serpent's eyes, the small little smile resting on the corner of Cryo's mouth right now was enough that it nearly killed her with sheer relief.

She was mangled and scarred, bruised and barely holding it together, and he still looked at her like that.

Banshee winked at him and touched two fingers to her forehead. "Don't worry, I'm well-versed in speaking to fanatical morons after these past few weeks."

She meant the confidence, but even so, when Cryo held out a silent arm and gave her a meaningful look just as she was about to turn away, she still stepped closer to him and let him pull her in for one last, one-armed hug.

"You've got this," he murmured into the top of her head.

"We got this," she replied, leaning her head onto his chest for a close-eyed moment. "Just please don't leave me alone with a bunch of crazy fanatics again. Please."