“Have you got your gun?” Apollo asked Valen.
He nodded once. Apollo returned a single nod.
“Good. Go. Be safe.”
The two men clasped hands and I didn’t know what passed between them, but I’d never seen them so serious. But then Valen was grabbing my arm and dragging us towards the dorms. I gripped Florence’s hand tighter so we wouldn’t be separated.
“Slow down,” I told him. “Your legs are like twice as long as our entire bodies!”
Valen whirled and pulled my body into his as he bared down on me, heedless that Florence was standing right there. Danger, protection, and annoyance swirled around him and wrapped around me as he fixed those grey eyes to mine.
“You will do as you are told and you will do it without question,” he said, his voice dangerously low and it sent a tingle through me. “There are times I will indulge your rebellious streak, but this is not one of them. Come.”
He went back to dragging us, and it was all Florence and I could do to keep up while we shared a look at his words. He’d never given any indication that there was anything going on between him and me in front of anyone. I didn’t know if Florence and I thought he was doing so now because we knew something had happened, or if the situation was making him not care what Florence did or didn’t know. The thought was enough for me to know that he was worried. And if he was worried then there was something to worry about.
Valen didn’t slow until we got back out of the woods and the lights of the school grounds were falling on us. I could see there were a few kids still running for the dorms. There had been the occasional gunshot during our mad dash through the trees, but otherwise relative silence.
After the woods, there was a swath of grass and then the path that would take us to the dorms. On the path, there was a collection of nuns, peering at the woods and, no doubt, us as well. They weren’t chasing after the fleeing students, or even calling out after them. Uncharacteristically, Valen swerved towards them.
“What is going on, Mr Kincaid?” Sister Agnes asked.
“Infiltration. We’re sorting it.”
“We abide a lot from ‘God’ and his ‘Angels’, Mr Kincaid,” she said slowly. “Since Saint Benedict’s conception, we have allowed a lot to slide. But you would do well to remind the Nameless that business is not to be conducted on school grounds.”
“You think I have any control over any of them?” Valen asked her sarcastically.
Sister Agnes just blinked slowly like she couldn’t care less. “It is conveying a message, Mr Kincaid. Is that not your job?”
“I will convey your message, sister,” he replied, his tone icy and heavy with warning.
Sister Agnes held her own. The woman didn’t flinch under the wrath of Cillian Kincaid’s son, God’s tame wolf, or any of Valen’s other roles he was forced to play.
She just nodded, looked us over and swept away with the other nuns. Her final unspoken parting instruction to go to bed and stay there was felt by all three of us.
“Come,” Valen huffed at me.
“What is going on?” Florence asked him. “Who were those people, and whose blood are they after?”
“Is this anything to do with Vinnie Rossano?” I asked.
Valen stretched his neck like he was trying to stop himself from answering or turning.
“Vinnie Rossano?” Florence cried. She pulled to a stop, which forced me to stop, which forced Valen to stop.
Valen was not pleased. “We need to get inside. The sisters will put the whole fucking place on lockdown in…” He seemed to be counting, “seven minutes. If you’re not in your dorm by then, I can’t guarantee your safety.”
But Florence was more stubborn than all the Angels put together. She shook her head. “No,” she laughed humorously. “What the fuck is going on? What did that idiot God do to piss off Vinnie Rossano?”
Valen huffed. “We haven’t got enough time to cover all of Apollo’s idiocy. But that’s not Vinnie Rossano.”
“Okay, so who is it?” Florence asked.
Valen growled, letting go of me and flailing his arms.
“I’m not moving until you give us some answers, wolf-boy,” Florence pressed.
Valen stepped up to her, but she was about as cowed as Sister Agnes had been.