Free Dr. Wolf, the Fae Rift Series Book 2- Demon Spiral by Cheree Alsop Page B

what happened.”
    Aleric pulled the shirt off over his head. He motioned for Dartan to do the same.
    “You don’t think they’ll notice it’s two shirts?” the vampire asked skeptically.
    “I’m hoping they won’t have a reason to look that closely,” Aleric replied. He rose slowly and waited for the room to stop spinning again before he picked up Dartan’s shirt. He took the two shirts and crumpled them before he set them along the far wall. Aleric cross to the door and surveyed his job. From the short distance, the mound could be mistaken for a body if one didn’t look too closely; at least he hoped so.
    “Now what?” Dartan asked.
    “Now, we wait,” Aleric replied. “If your theory’s right, they’ll come back when the sun goes down and they are certain to be rid of one of us. It’ll give us some time to answer the most important question.”
    “Which is what?” the vampire pressed.
    “If the Archdemon is here and he has an unlimited supply of humans, why does he need me?”
    Aleric’s question hung in the air. Dartan shifted from foot to foot in his corner, but he didn’t move from the shadow. When the sun sank lower, he took advantage of the extra shade to lay down. Neither of them spoke or moved. They conserved their energy for whatever the evening would bring.
    Night had turned the sky to a dark canvas, the moon had passed over the glass-ceilinged room, and the sun was starting to rise once more when Aleric heard footsteps.
    “They’re coming,” he whispered.
    “Finally,” Dartan replied, taking his place behind the door.
    They had made several plans. Aleric wasn’t sure which one the vampire would go with. If they blew their cover by him attacking, they would never find out what the Archdemon wanted and the city would still be at risk from the goblins. But Dartan had to make it out of the room. Aleric’s only hope was to distract whoever came so that the vampire could escape.
    The sound of a key in the lock made Aleric’s heart race. He leaned against the wall closest to the door and waited. It opened outward slowly.
    An ogre poked his overly large head inside.
    “Whew!” Aleric waved his hand in front of his nose. “I hoped that if any of your kind made it through the Rift that your smell would stay behind in Blays.”
    “Shut your mouth, werewolf,” the ogre growled. His beady eyes flickered to the crumpled shirts along the far wall. “Good,” he said with a satisfied grunt.
    Aleric gritted his teeth, but didn’t reply. He crossed his arms over his bare chest and pretended not to care.
    “Walk,” the ogre commanded.
    “Seriously? Ordering me around?” Aleric asked. “Aren’t we a little more humane than that?”
    The ogre held the door in one massive hand. “No listen, you stay here.”
    He made as if to shut the door again.
    “Okay, fine, I’ll walk,” Aleric said. “But I still don’t think ordering other people around is civil.”
    “You werewolf. Dog, not civil.”
    Dartan gave a barely perceptible snort of laughter.
    Aleric fought back the urge to glare at him. He turned his gaze on the ogre instead. “Was that a joke? I sure hope so, because if not it was quite rude. I didn’t think ogres were prejudiced, but I’m going to have to change my opinion. Do you really want your bigotry to cast a shadow on your entire race?”
    The ogre glared at him. “Go on. Master Pravus doesn’t wait,” the ogre said.
    Aleric stepped into the hallway. “What you mean is that Master Pravus doesn’t like to wait. He is obviously waiting.”
    “Huh?” the ogre asked.
    Aleric glanced behind him to see the metal door standing open. Dartan peeked through. Aleric waved behind him so the ogre wouldn’t notice.
    “What I mean is that everyone waits. Even an Archdemon overlord has to wait once in a while,” Aleric continued, distracting the ogre from hearing Dartan’s nearly silent footsteps.
    The door stood at the end of a very long hallway without any other entrances, so