Samir frantically searched the crowd, but couldn’t find anyone matching the description of the man Tara and the twins had given him.
“Do you see anything?” he yelled to Tara over the heads of the crowd.
“Not a thing. Are you sure this is the train?”
Samir confirmed that this was the number. As they spread out, he couldn’t shake an uneasy feeling about this. Perhaps Nergal did sense Anisa and Samir in the building. It was entirely possible they’d been recognized and instead of going after them right there, Nergal had decided to draw them out where he could attack them more easily. Now he had dragged his best friend and her lovers into this mess. If Tara and the twins got hurt, he’d never forgive himself.
Anisa waved to him from somewhere off his left. He turned toward her and she motioned for him to follow. Samir signaled Tara, who in turn raised her hand to the twins. They moved as one, closing in on Anisa’s location.
“I think I might have seen him,” she said. “Someone fitting Sparrow’s description just entered the terminal.”
“Was he carrying anything?” Donar asked.
“Was he with anyone?” Soren asked at the same time.
“He was alone. It was difficult to see, but I think he might have had some type of duffel bag.”
The twins glanced at each other. “Was the duffel bag black, with the image of a snake on it?” Donar asked.
“There was something on the bag, but it was too far away. I couldn’t see it very well. It could have been a snake. I don’t know.”
Samir turned to the twins. “What does the snake mean?”
Tara answered before the twins could speak. “Several years ago, all of them belong to a secret government organization called the Vipers. The group has since been disbanded, but the members are still fiercely loyal to each other. The organization’s symbol was a cobra getting ready to strike. Every member of the Vipers has a tattoo of a snake somewhere on their bodies.”
“We were also given certain items with a snake on them so that we could signal to each other. Jackets, cell phone cases, and bags,” Donar said.
“If he’s carrying the duffel bag with the snake on it, it might be a cry for help,” Soren said.
“It’s possible,” Donar agreed.
“Okay then.” Samir glanced around at the group. “Why don’t you three loop around the building to the front in case he evades us?” He looked at Anisa. “We’ll follow him in the building this way and try to catch up with him.”
Tara nodded. “Just be careful. If he was changed when we think he was changed, then he would have already acquired some of the deamhan abilities. He’ll most likely be stronger than he looks and more dangerous.”
“He was already very dangerous as a human,” Soren said. “He was the leader of our team, and had his black belt in tae kwon do.”
“Yeah, and he’s good with a knife as well,” Donar confirmed. “You better watch your back.”
“Got it. Anisa and I will go through the building and meet up with you in the front.”
“What should we do with him once we catch him?” Tara asked.
Samir glanced at Anisa. “Just hold him until we get there. Anisa and I have a plan.”
“You’ve got fifteen minutes,” Tara said, “then we come in after you.”
Samir thought about arguing, but decided against it. They’d already wasted too much time. “Fine. If anything happens, we’ll rendezvous at Theo and Miles’s bar down by the water.”
“Theo and Miles’s what?” Soren asked.
“I know where it is,” Tara said.
Of course she did, Anisa thought as another bolt of jealousy slammed into her.
Samir nodded. “With a little luck, Miles and Theo will still be there working on getting the bar ready to reopen after the fire.”
“So there won’t be a lot of people,” Tara said.
“Not yet,” Samir confirmed. “Now go, and good luck.”
He waited until Tara and the twins had left, and then motioned to Anisa. “Come on, let’s get this over with.”
Anisa followed him into the building. Samir didn’t think it was possible, but there were more people inside the terminal than standing on the platform. “We’re never going to find him in this mess.”
Anisa closed her eyes. “Sorry, I can’t sense him. Nergal had nothing to do with this guy’s changing, so I can’t even feel the residue of his essence.” She opened her eyes and scanned the room.
“Up there.” She pointed to a small balcony that hung over the larger part of the terminal. “If we go up the stairs, we’ll have a better view.”
Samir agreed. They hurried over to the stairs and took them two at a time. When they were in position, Samir placed his hands on the railing and leaned over so he could get a better look.
“Do you see anything?” Anisa asked when she caught up with him. She put her hands on the railing next to his, close enough that he could feel her body. Her sweet scent drifted over him, and his body immediately responded. Memories from the hot tub and brothel filled his mind and he struggled to push the surging desire aside. This was neither the time nor the place for such things.
“Let’s assume we find this guy and are able to rid him of the taint. What then?”
Samir turned to Anisa. “What you mean?”
“I mean what do we do next? Do we find each deamhan and turn them one by one? It will be a fruitless endeavor; you know that. Nergal would be making more of those monsters as quickly as we’d be saving them.”
“We have to try.”
“What if there’s another way?”
He glanced in her direction. “I’m listening.”
“What if we do like we talked about at your aunt’s and destroyed the stone?”
He shook his head. “You know I have no idea how to do that.”
“It can’t be much different from severing the connection between a deamhan and its master.”
“Even if I could do that, Nergal only has a shard. There are other shards of the stone out there.”
“Urian has one, and the rest are in Celestial Wood.” Samir gave her a sharp look. “It’s part of the reason why Urian wants to breach the walls so badly. He wants to get at the other shards of the stone so he can make it whole again.”
“It will take too much time. We need to act now, before Nergal’s army gets any stronger.” He pointed toward the north end of the terminal. “There, I think I see something.”
Anisa looked where he pointed and they both watched a man with sandy hair shift his black duffel from one shoulder to the other. A flash of white crossed his vision as the duffel bag moved and Samir could clearly see the image of a viper on the side.
“That’s him!” he said.
“Let’s go.” Anisa turned toward the stairs. Samir grabbed her arm, stopping her.
“Stay behind me. I don’t want you to get hurt.”
“I am perfectly capable of taking care of myself.” She lifted her chin. “In case you forgot, I survived for years in the Netherworld on my own.”
He raised her arm, holding her gloved hand up between them. “Yes, but not without sacrifice, and not without pain. You have already given too much to the cause. I don’t want to see you hurt anymore.”
He pushed past her before she could respond. The subject wasn’t up for discussion, and the more they stood around bickering, the greater the chance they were going to lose him. Samir hurried down the stairs and wove his way through the thick crowd of passengers.
“Samir, wait up!” Anisa called from somewhere behind him.
Samir kept moving. He knew that Anisa would catch up in time, and he didn’t want to lose the deamhan in the crowd. If Sparrow got away, he’d become a threat to Tara and her home. The man had to be stopped at all costs.
Finally Samir made it to the spot where they had last seen him. He came to a stop and desperately scanned the crowd, searching for the deamhan.
“Over there!” Anisa shouted from behind.
Samir turned to see her pointing frantically. She was still several paces away from catching up to him. Samir twisted around and saw a flash of white enter the men’s room. Samir pushed his way through the crowd and burst inside the small room.
“Stop, deamhan!” he roared.
Samir’s loud voice startled a man at the sink. He jumped back and turned to face him. When he saw Samir, he fisted his hands and sneered. His eyes changed from brown to bright red as he reached down for the bag at his feet.
“Oh, no you don’t.” Samir kicked the bag out of reach. “You’re coming with me.”
The deamhan lunged for him and it took all Samir’s energy to stay upright.
“Get away from me, human. Nothing will stop me from finding that FBI leader. Nothing will stop me from killing Darien and making those Iatros suffer.”
“Take it easy, buddy.” Samir tried to push the large man off him, but he was too strong. Samir took several steps back toward the door as he tried to wrestle Sparrow to the ground. “I’m not here to hurt you. I’m here to help.”
“No one can help me now.”
The tattoos around Samir’s wrists burned as he struggled against the creature. “I can.”
The deamhan laughed. It was a sick, animalistic sound that made Samir queasy.
“If you can help, then why didn’t you help her?” the monster asked.
“Her?”
“Yes, they made her suffer. She cried out for help and they laughed.”
Samir struggled to follow what he was talking about, but it was difficult when he was using every muscle in his body to fight off the attack. The deamhan must’ve been talking about Anisa. Guilt washed over him as he thought about what she’d had to endure.
“I didn’t know. I thought she left me because she wanted to.”
“No, you didn’t help because you didn’t care. No one cares.” With a surge of energy, the deamhan wrestled Samir to his knees. Samir knew that if he didn’t get help soon, this creature was going to kill him.
The door to the bathroom swung open and Anisa hurried inside. After quickly taking in the scene before her, she fisted her hands. Her eyes glowed red as she took a menacing step forward. “What are you doing?”
“I’m getting rid of this human,” Sparrow said. “He’s getting in the way of my master’s mission.”
“You’re doing it wrong.”
“What you mean?”
“Didn’t Urian teach you anything? You’re killing him, you idiot. They want this one alive.”
Samir reached out to Anisa. “Help me.” He was losing air and his voice was barely more than a whisper.
Anisa glanced at Samir then returned her focus on Sparrow. “Let him go.”
“No, he’ll just create more trouble.”
Anisa’s eyes glowed brighter as tension in the room rose. She turned, grabbed the paper towel dispenser, and ripped it from the wall. “I said let him go!”
Sparrow immediately let go of Samir’s throat and took several steps until his back hit the wall. Crouching low, he hid behind his hands. “Okay, okay, no need to get angry.”
Samir gasped for breath and coughed as air finally filled his lungs.
“I told you, you’re doing it wrong. Our masters want him alive,” Anisa said.
Sparrow lowered his arms “Oh yeah? Then how would you do it?”
“Like this.” Anisa raised the paper towel dispenser over her head.
“No. Anisa, what are you doing?”
“I’m sorry,” she whispered as she swung down.
Too late, Samir thought as he realized what was about to happen. He had been betrayed yet again. The dispenser crashed into his head and everything went black.