BLOOD AND BONE | rewritten

30

They waited a long, long time. More than a day perhaps, though it was difficult to tell because of the city's non-cyclical solar pattern. Delphinium always wondered how thick the smog had to be to successfully smother all signs of the sun and moon.

Thankfully, she and Jake had refrained from killing each other despite being holed up in the tiny room. He mostly kept to himself, watching the hotel across the street dutifully for hours on end. Delphinium had both slept and eaten enough to replenish the majority of her vitality. Due to the holes blown in her leg, it wasn't completely renewed, but at least she didn't feel in danger of succumbing to infection or blood loss any longer.

She looked up from her leg, on which she was applying new bandages, to where there had been a slight shift in Jake's demeanor. Throwing the supplies aside, she limped to peer through the open air beside him.

A small group of men and women recognizable as Needles were being accepted into the hotel across the street. The doormen were all too eager to graciously show them inside.

"They're going to her," Delphinium said. The plan was ruined.

"She's taken precautions, which means she already suspects we have eyes on her." Jake straightened, heading into the room. "We'll have to go to her too, then."

Insisting he had an idea to do so, Jake dragged Delphinium the long way around until they found themselves in the rear entrance of the hotel, which was not quite as luxurious as the front. It was a single door likely used for the staff to throw out waste. And it was unlocked, because what normal person would want to break into servants' quarters?

The thin hallway was empty. Jake strode forward as if he owned the place. He never hesitated, not even when two staff members crossed their path ahead and stopped to give them dubious looks.

"Get them to come closer," Jake murmured before the servants could say anything.

"Hello," Delphinium said in the Kybeshi language, spinning a story as she went. "My friend and I were looking for the hotel's administration office, but it appears we've gotten lost. Would you mind pointing us in the right direction?"

The two staff members were not convinced by her bumbling excuse. They strode forward with the intent to escort Jake and Delphinium out the exit, but instead they had the life sucked from them as soon as they got close enough. Cold filled the hallway, making Delphinium's teeth chatter even though she stood behind Jake. She clenched her jaw to stop it.

Watching the staffers freeze was like watching a fast-forwarded death. Jake exerted all his power at once, not bothering to prolong the torturous process as she'd seen him do before. One moment they were halted, wrapping their arms around themselves as if there was something deeply wrong inside them, the next they were stiff husks with skin like gray plastic.

Delphinium dragged one body to the dumpster outside while Jake dragged the other. She hated the feel of hardened skin beneath her fingertips, unnaturally cool even for a corpse. They didn't have to die. Jake could have just knocked them unconscious and tied them up somewhere. But here they were, dead anyway. And Delphinium, terrible as she was, was filled with relief that she wouldn't have to worry about the staffers waking up too early.