The Unveiled

Veiled Chapter 9

Chapter 9: Just do it fast

Agnar awoke with a start and jerked up, immediately alert. He winced at the pain in his ribs.

"Sorry, it's okay, you're fine." He turned to the voice, an exhausted looking Turid was peering at him with concern from the driver's seat. Her hands frozen in the air above his pants, she sighed. "I used the last of my money last night on the gas. It's almost eleven thirty, I have to get some sleep. I was going to get some cash out of your pocket and pay for the room before coming back for you and Buddy."

He froze, he'd slept the whole way. He been stupid enough not to put up proper warding at the hotel. Then he'd slept and left her unprotected all night. He rubbed at his eyes trying to calm his frustration. Then he remembered.

"How is the dog?" She sighed.

"Better I think. I still can't get clear speech from him, but when we stopped he held his head up and looked around for a minute. He seemed pretty alert. He went right back to sleep though." He leaned enough to reach his hand in his pocket and pulled out his wallet.

"I'll go get the room, you wait here with the dog." He paused when he heard her sigh.

"Agnar I can walk twenty feet into the office and get a room without anything bad happening to me. It's the middle of the day, the chances of something attacking are slim. That and you have to stay out of sight until you get changed. The back of your shirt is covered in dry blood, and I'm pretty sure it's stuck to your wound.

I'm going in there, getting us a room, then you're going to show me how to ward it, then sit down and let me take care of you, got it?" He sighed, she was right, he didn't have the energy to make everyone they encountered forget what they saw. He pulled his knife from his boot with some effort and placed it in his lap. He gave her a wry smile.

"Yes ma'am." He said, giving her a small salute. Normally she would have shoved him for that, but she was either too exhausted or too afraid of hurting him. She just gave him a withering look before getting out and heading toward the office.

He opened the door and extended his senses. He didn't sense anything other than a few people and some animals. Wherever they were. He wrapped his arms around him. It was freezing, he'd gotten hot in the room and took off his long-sleeved shirt. Most of their stuff was gone, including their coats, his cellphone, some of their food, they'd need a new cooler.

He noticed a bottle of water in the cup holder and reached over to get a drink. It was warm, it had been in the direct path of the heater for a while. Still it was better than nothing, all the blood loss had him feeling dehydrated. He turned his head to get a better look at the dog. It was breathing, that was about all he could assess. Turid returned a few minutes later with a key card.

"It's just down here, but I'd rather drive over than walk. The shorter the distance you have to go, looking like that, the better." He sighed. He must look as bad as he felt the way she kept talking. He shut the door and turned back in his seat.

"Where are we anyway?

"Not sure, but the last sign I saw said Angelica NY. That was about half an hour ago." He jerked around to look at her and immediately regretted it. He breathed slowly and didn't speak again till she'd parked and took the keys out of the ignition.

"What the..?" She sighed.

"Look you said drive, so I drove, I just kept following random signs and this is where we ended up." She said exiting the driver's side door banging it shut. She opened the door to their room first. "You go in, I'll get our stuff then Buddy." She said outside his door motioning him toward the room.