Bone and Blood Volume I

38 - Colorado Springs, Colorado, 1927

Errek breathed in the still night air. Cool. Crisp. Infused with tangy sweat. That perfume never escaped the streets. Twining between buildings, it drew him to the city's heart. Away from dark corners. Out of the side alleys. Straight into—

Pulled back from lamplight. Stumbling, he caught his weight on the singular crutch he had begrudgingly brought with him.

"You don't need to go that far."

Turning to Torani, Errek leveled his tone. "It's been slim pickings so far. I have to go somewhere."

"Don't pretend you don't know where you're headed."

"When Kordi took me out, we went to the town center to scope out targets."

"The city is a different beast. Stick to the alleys."

"All right." Errek shrugged. "I guess I'm not so hungry that I can't skip a meal." The crutch clacked forward three paces. Errek only heard that and his own footsteps. Torani had remained in place. Gotcha. "You coming?"

Torani's brow furrowed. He chewed his lip. His tense shoulders drooped. "Okay, maybe we do need to look somewhere else. But not downtown."

An opening. "There's a neighborhood a few blocks back. Quiet. Small houses. Looks promising."

"And neither of us know how to break into a house."

"Now's a good time to learn." Errek's impish smile painfully contrasted Torani's one-sided frown. "Let's just take a look."

Torani crossed his arms. Never a good sign.

"My instincts are telling me this is the way to go." A blatant lie. His instincts had no opinion on the matter. Honestly, they were silent these nights.

A subtle nod. "Okay. We'll look."

Hobbling ahead, Errek kept his smug grin concealed. Asking for too much and compromising down to something reasonable worked wonders. Errek got what he wanted. Torani got to pretend he was in control. And as long as Torani never figured out the game, they would stay on good terms.

Errek guessed Serana would have seen through the ruse instantly. That she would have been tickled by it. His expression faded. Odd how much he thought about her lately. Especially when Torani had said nothing about her in weeks. Especially when she was the reason why Torani wanted Errek to ascend.

Problems to brood over later. The neighborhood was ahead. The hunt was on.

handing the crutch to Torani, Errek exited the alley. Strolling ahead on the main street, he nonchalantly limped through lamplight. The vision of a young man returning home after a night on the town. Harmless. Ordinary. The only oddity was that he was alone on the streets. But someone had to be the last to leave the speakeasy.

If noticed, his casual appraisal of the houses would be seen as him thinking about the future. About owning his first home. Surely, he was not sizing up the properties. Counting the cars parked along the street. Analyzing the few lit windows. Keeping track of entries, exits, and secluded spots where his stalking would be hidden.

No. Not in this neighborhood. They were not rich enough to invite that kind of crime nor poor enough to be the seat of it.

Errek paused when he saw the one. A single-story house framed by distant mountains. There was no car parked on the roadside, but a shadowy figure darkened a lit window. It was hard to see much else. The front yard was framed by bushes. He thought he heard something though. Music? Maybe the window was open.

ALERT.

Their agreed upon huddle-up clickpulse. Errek walked into the tree line. "Yeah?"

"Don't gawk for so long. Especially when you're directly under a lamp."