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one
similarity we had was our eyes. They were the same constantly
shifting tone of darkness. Right now, they were the same color as
graphite. He was a mixture of nerves and relief, the same way he
always was. Simon was always worried about something. But he was
still the only brother I sort of got along with.
     
    Simon ran a hand through his shaggy mess of
brown hair. “I wasn’t going to let anything happen to you,” he
admitted. “You know that, right?”
     
    Damn him. Hearing shit like this kept me from
punching him, and reminded me of how alone I’d been. Judging from
the sincerely depressed look on his face, I wasn’t the only one
feeling it.
     
    But he wasn’t getting off that easily.
     
    “Whatever. How the fuck do we get out of your
shooting gallery?”
     
    Simon stepped to the side and let me see the
collapsible metal ladder unfurled over the edge of the pool. I
grabbed my weapons and stomped over to it, forcing the tough guy
act on even though my human body was screaming at me to take it
easy.
     
    “You should take it easy,” Simon told me as I
started to climb up.
     
    My brother wasn’t a mind reader. He just knew
me too well. Just like he knew I’d glare at him once before
climbing up the ladder without help. I pulled myself back onto the
resort grounds and debated detaching the ladder from where it was
planted in the ground by the poolside. I wouldn’t mind leaving
Simon trapped in the pool with a bunch of corpses for a
timeout.
     
    By the time I made up my mind, Simon was
climbing up the ladder. I sighed internally and waited. He was
about as graceful as a newborn calf with a whiskey-filled brain,
but at least he got to his feet.
     
    Simon stared at me hesitantly, like he didn’t
know what to do now that he’d seen me again. Of the four of us, we
were the only two that could tolerate each other. Kade had a
superiority complex that was only outsized by his arrogance, and
Logan was as sociable as a cactus dripping with cyanide. At least
Simon and I could stand in front of each other without wanting to
depress or kill one another.
     
    He observed the tears in my clothes, the
blood and grit on my face, hands, and arms. His graphite eyes
sparked nervously.
     
    “How far away was Vance?”
     
    “He jumped me on the highway a few hours ago.
He did his disappearing act before I could kill him. I kicked the
shit out of his Soulless, so he might be getting new party
crashers. I have no clue where he’s going, but something tells me
he’s gonna give Ciaran a status update.”
     
    Simon’s eyes flashed again. He was scared.
Couldn’t say I blamed him, though I was more worried about the
possibility of live humans running around this patch of wasteland.
Simon glanced around as the sky continued to darken. Night was
always the hardest time of day. We had to find a place to hole up
and get as much half sleep as we could, just in case Plagued got
hungry, Soulless became restless, and demons wanted to play
pranks.
     
    “Let’s get inside,” Simon said. “I’m
starving.”
     
    The moment he turned his back and walked
away, I couldn’t help it. Simon’s irony never failed to make me
smile.

Chapter 3
     
    Living in a fancy resort after the
Tribulation wasn’t as luxurious as you might think. Sure, there was
no shortage of rooms, if you don’t mind that half of them have
rotting bodies in them. Yeah, the views are great, if you like
staring at endless amounts of sand. There are tons of supplies and
amenities, if you don’t mind that half of them are broken or
expired.
    Being inside the Ravella made me feel about
as glamorous as a five dollar whore that just did a face plant into
pig slop.
     
    Simon picked the biggest, most expensive
suite in the whole hotel. Made sense to me. It wasn’t like there
were creditors to check if his deposit was going to bounce. The
suite’s pale yellow walls continued to leech their color. All the
photos and frames were covered in dust. The edges of the