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“Hell. Fucking. Yes.”
Chapter twenty-six
Seth
We had another connection but the fact remained that we were without a definite location for where Erebus hid away his human captives. If he kept them at the abandoned warehouse where he trapped Erin, that’d be too obvious, too easy. He was far too calculating.
It was infuriating.
Derik sat crossed legged on a pile of pillows with Erin’s laptop propped open on his lap. He let out a frustrated groan as he waded through the factory’s history.
His jaw twitched. “Where else could they be keeping them? Those tunnels we ran through used to be mine shafts from what I’m finding. Way back when Riverside was first founded. Then when it was bought out, they were declared maintenance tunnels. Apparently, they were pretty shitty if they were still pure dirt. Can you imagine having to worm through those as a maintenance guy? Fuck that. No wonder the factories went out of business.”
Erin and Libby were on opposite sides of my couch researching on their phones, adamantly ignoring us while we groveled.
We’re at another standstill. One ah-ha moment and now we’re stuck again.
“You do realize, you can use my laptop instead of Erin’s right?” I cocked my brow.
“I could, but then I couldn’t snoop on these fanfic sites. Aren’t you a frisky chick, Snow?”
Erin dropped her phone and dove for Derik from the couch, tackling him and knocking her laptop out of his lap. “Stop it, you asshole!” She squealed. Her cheeks were pink as she scrambled for her computer. Derik grabbed her, tickling her. Erin laughed, begging him to stop. She rolled onto her stomach, attempting to escape and he sat on top of her. Pinning her down. Erin let out an, “Oof.”
I smirked.
Well. She won’t be moving for a hot minute.
Libby snorted from the couch while Josh briefly looked up from his own screen. His expression devoid of emotion beyond a slight twitch of his lip; a faint light glinted in his eyes as they swept across the squabble.
Erin grunted. “Fine! I give up, just get off of me, you brute!” Derik wiggled on Erin’s back and she groaned, giving up.
“Oh man, Seth, I’m really digging your new chair. Pretty comfortable. I could chill here all day.”
“Fuck off,” Erin grumbled. “Can you at least budge so I can use my arms to scroll through my phone? You’re a pain in the ass.” Derik lifted his ass, barely giving her space to yank her arms out, before plopping back down, causing her to let out another huff of air. Libby kicked Erin’s phone across the floor to her, stifling another chuckle.
I cracked a smile as mine and Libby’s eyes met; green and speckled like the blades of grass caressed by dew droplets in the morning sun.
My eyebrows furrowed, confused by the thought. I looked to Erin, begrudgingly scrolling through the browser on her phone, stuck under Derik’s frame. A warmth cradled me seeing her goofing around and slowly opening up around them, even if that meant she was pinned under Derik at the moment.
I shook my head and went back to my laptop, searching for any information on other buildings that had been left to ruin in the area, as that seemed a prime base of operations for the Demons. Somewhere in which humans wouldn’t go snooping around.
Avoid any suspicion. Not that it really mattered.
Most of them hid themselves unless they were hunting for prey.
Whether they were hungry, bored, or in need of…release.
I growled at the thought.
The next few hours were quiet as we threw ourselves into our browsers and newspapers. Searching for anything to find a potential lead on where Erebus could be hiding the humans. Every minute we spent searching, and not finding them, made my skin crawl.
Erin tapped away on her phone. Libby switched to various newspaper articles she’d printed, spanning the last decade, long before the factories shut down. Josh stepped out onto the front stoop and made a few calls. Derik had slumped down, moving to where he was then using Erin as a pillow instead of a seat, his head resting on the middle of her back. A slight pang of jealousy ran a clawed finger through the inside of my stomach at the sight of the two of them.
It would never happen.
Enemies to lovers, my ass.
My leg bounced as I swallowed the sour tang of the little green monster. I scrolled through the search engine on my screen, clicking page after page, for any tip-off. Nothing. I rolled my shoulders, neck and arms tingling. Setting my laptop onto the coffee table, I stood and reached for Libby, pulling her from her phone and off of the couch.
