Free Demon Bait: Children of the Undying, Book 1 by Moira Rogers

reclaimed by the forest as well.
    “This road leads straight to the museum. Huge silver building on the edge of the river. I’ve got a place in the basement, with plenty of locks and supplies. Even ADS, if we need it. So just keep running until you get there.”
    Maybe Marci sensed his emotions, because she didn’t wait for him to urge her along, or try to make sure he followed. She took off, sticking close to the cover of the buildings that faced the river. Moving fast—as fast as he could, with half of his senses straining for the slightest noise from behind them.
    Or above them.
    No demons appeared. Nothing appeared, not until they burst out of the trees and into the ruins of what had once been a university. Some buildings stood sturdily enough, and some walls had long since crumbled. Straight ahead was the monstrous metal construction that housed rotting paintings and broken sculptures.
    It perched on the riverbank like a castle out of an ancient movie, representing all the same things.
    Safety. Fortification. If they could get to it.
    With so much of Gabe’s concentration tied up in the dangers lurking behind them, Marci was the one who saw it first. She skidded to a stop and shrank back against him silently, clapping one hand over her mouth.
    The man who stepped out of the side street wasn’t a man at all, but an empty husk. A puppet, one whose jerky steps mimicked human movement in a way that never failed to turn the stomach.
    Popped. The guy’d been popped, which meant a demon was driving him. Recon, probably, since skins couldn’t get a view from the sky like their winged brothers. Tightening his arm around Marci’s waist, Gabe dragged her back behind a building. “They’re slow,” he whispered. “Clumsy. We can get past them or put them down.”
    “They act as the demons’ eyes. I remember you saying that.” She worried her lower lip. “So…we move fast.”
    His safe room would keep demons out, but with Marci’s power blunted by his mark, it would be easier if their enemy wasn’t sure where they’d gone to ground. “We move fast,” he agreed. And make sure no one’s watching where we end up.
    She kept up, he had to give her that, and even when faced with the shambling creatures that may as well have been the walking dead, she remained silent.
    Killing them was a mercy, and at least half the reason he veered off course. The first one went down silently, his jugular severed. Gabe spun and sank his knife into the chest of the second, a blank-eyed man who stank of the organic diesel fuel some of the haulers used to transport their equipment. Probably a crew that had gotten ambushed on the road and had paid for a moment’s inattention by being thrust from their bodies.
    Mercy, to be sure, but enough self-interest to speed his steps until he was at Marci’s side again. Ahead lay the concrete foundation and two openings large enough to drive a truck through. “In there,” he managed, straining for breath. “Before any more show up.”
    She hauled ass into the garage, her steps echoing in the empty, cavernous space. Only one door still stood, the one Trip had helped him secure. Beside it hung a faded yellow sign emblazoned with a distinctive symbol. “Bomb shelter?” she panted.
    “From the last wars before the Fall.” He had to pry the silver casing open, but underneath was an old-fashioned biometric scanner. Pressing his palm to it popped open the door. “Down, quick.” She hurried down the stairs, sometimes taking them two at a time, but she managed not to fall. At the bottom, she leaned against the wall and pressed a hand to her side. “Is that it? Tell me that’s it.”
    “That’s it.” The dull glow of the emergency lights along the stairs barely illuminated her face. He eased past her, groping along the wall until he found the control panel. “There are a few solar panels on the roof of the building. Since I’m not here that often, there’s plenty of energy to run the