The heavyweight that gathered on his chest disbanded, and his shoulders sagged as he stared at the man, puffs of air gathering around his scaled face as he breathed a little heavily into the crisp air. It might be his most gruesome kill. That darkness drifted around him again, and his sore, aching body relaxed.
It was like some sort of HP in a game.
"Zephyr!" Dain whisper-shouted from where he was hiding. "They're coming back."
Zephyr looked over his shoulder at Dain and the others, who had finished killing the guard he had initially sought out as prey. "Then you better put your skills to good use, then."
The moment the others saw their boss dead and in mostly two pieces on the ground, they charged towards Zephyr, unaware of who was under the hood until it fell back after he killed the first man. He sank to his knees as the Slinktail stepped past him, grinning at the other man while the others fought with Dain.
"The fuck…" He was backing away, unsheathing a small blade. They were definitely small-time thugs, but his senses told him about the man's crimes. He was not innocent.
Zephyr's sword swiped across, barely blocked by the tiny blade before it flew from the man's hand, hitting the brick wall. Zephyr sheathed his sword, smirking as he held his hands up in a fighting stance, beckoning the man forward. His ego dented from Zephyr's mockery, the man charged at him, attempting to tackle Zephyr first.
The Slinktail only skidded back from the force, kneed the man in the gut, and punched him in the head. It was a pathetic attempt. Zephyr lost himself in the haze as he continued to strike the man in the head, turning his limp body around, watching as his face became misshaped and unrecognisable. Zephyr was brimming with energy the more he hit until the man stopped breathing.
"Zephyr!" He was yanked back and glared at Dain for interfering. "If we don't go now, we'll be discovered!"
That was never an issue before.
Zephyr huffed, wiping his bloody hand on his trousers, and followed Dain further into the backstreets. Then, when his direction was wrong, not sensing the danger of running into others around the corner he was leading them to, Zephyr tapped his shoulder silently and directed him elsewhere.
Their return to camp was silent. Zephyr didn't bother with idle chatter, instead finding solace in the eerie radiance of the moon's silver beams, which partially illuminated their figures amidst the enveloping darkness of the night sky. Dain broke it, though, when they finally saw their camp in the distance. Whatever he'd been stewing over would now be brought to light.
"Did you know you could do that?" Zephyr looked at Dain for a further explanation because his line of questioning was stupid. Was he a mind reader? Dain answered his silence. "Your footsteps become silent, and I swore you…"
"Oh, for fucks sake. Spit it out," Zephyr clipped, raking his hand through his straggly damp hair. He'd found a water source to clean his face and hair from the blood before this long, arduous journey back to their camp.
"I swore you disappeared for a few seconds."
Zephyr waited for the punchline and looked at the other Slinktail. "Disappeared? As in vanished?"
For a few seconds…
"How much did you drink tonight?" They'd had a few, but not enough to get tipsy. "That's called blinking, Dain." He scoffed, waving him off.
It could have been the latter, Dain not seeing clearly, but there were a few occasions, ones that were becoming a little clearer now that Dain had pointed it out, where he should have been discovered but wasn't. It was like they never saw him.
Dain scowled at him but didn't comment further. "I'm surprised you're not commenting about my murdering ways," Zephyr continued to distract him.
"Why?" Dain asked, not understanding Zephyr's line of thinking.
Point taken. Dain was a demon. Why would he care? "It could cause us issues."
"It's a bit late for that now." Dain shrugged. "They're already coming."
That was true. The demons would have to be careful from now on. "What did you think of tonight?" Zephyr asked, side-eyeing him. Did Dain feel any different after killing those men? "Feel any… different?"
Dain shrugged. "I feel… energised."
Zephyr's eyes snapped back to the Slinktail. Energised? Like how he feels after killing humans. Was this a demon-
Zephyr's attention instantly flicked to the three Draegorths leaving the camp. It was the same time as before. Zephyr stopped Dain from walking to greet them and snuck off to the side out of their line of sight.
"What are-"
"Aren't you curious what they're doing?" Zephyr cut him off.
His answer was immediate. "No." As was customary of Dain.
Zephyr shrugged. "Suit yourself."
He started to follow after the Draegorths. He'd also noted their routines and knew they would leave every two weeks for a meeting. No one knew their destination or what these meetings were, except perhaps Fig, who chose to keep that information to herself.
The more knowledge Zephyr acquired, the better.
"For fuck sake. Why do you insist on-"
Zephyr turned to Dain, who'd been too loud. "If all you're going to do is whine, go back to camp."
"I do not whine." Dain huffed but didn't speak again after Zephyr's eyes grew frosty at him.
Zephyr and Dain weren't at camp but were in the middle of fields without any cover to hide them. If one of the Draegorths decided to look in their direction, they were done. Their large bodies also shortened the distance between their camp and the nearest town. Zephyr wasn't tired, but Dain's stamina was beginning to slow them down.
Fortunately for Dain, the Draegorths weren't going further than the nearest village. Zephyr and Dain stopped in front of a run-down building, shutters nailed to the exposed windows, mostly keeping the cold air out but not any that wished to spy. Zephyr knelt, gazing inside, instead of following them for fear of getting caught.
His head tilted slightly at what he saw, though.
Garzon was handing a large coin pouch to a hooded human.