Several hours after Deidre walked through the portals back to Atlanta, Gabe's soul radar began working again. He felt the subtle shift and stopped on the stairwell down to the gym. With her taste in his mouth and scent on his skin, he was about to go insane, especially after walking away from her.
He tested the portals to see if his door to the underworld was back. It wasn't. He crossed through anyway to the soul on the list to be claimed. It was dark where he emerged, but the body was where it should be.
Along with two demons. Gabe's weapons were out before his second foot was out of the portal. He hacked down one, and the other managed to get in one strike before it, too, fell.
They'd been struggling to beat the demons to the souls, and Gabe stood over the dead demons, furious. How did they beat Death? Granted, Death's soul radar just kicked in. There was no telling how long this soul was waiting.
"Come on out," he told the soul, kneeling over the body of a dead human.
The green fog appeared. Gabe had never been so relieved to see it as he was now. He watched the emerald form then placed it in his pocket before returning his attention to the demons.
He searched their bodies to find another twenty souls they'd already claimed. He knew he wasn't collecting fast enough, but the amount left him horrified to imagine how many he was missing. Disconnected from the underworld, he had no way of knowing.
Gabe shook out the jacket of one demon. Something fell with a clunk to the ground. He tossed the coat and froze.
Soul compass. Gabe swiped it off the ground and studied it. It showed no wear of time. None of his dealers reported one missing, which left two options, neither of them good. He debated which he trusted less: the Ancient Immortal that made the compass or the death-dealers that carried them.
He went to Tamer first.
It was too early for the silver shop to be open. Gabe knocked then took a portal inside, to the foyer he'd walked through last time. He sensed the wards he tripped and waited for the Ancient to appear.
"I wasn't expecting you," Tamer called from the third floor balcony.
"I just need a minute," Gabe replied.
The Immortal sighed and trotted down the stairs. Gabe assessed him. Tamer hadn't bothered to put on a shirt, appearing as if he'd leapt out of bed the moment the wards alerted him. He wore silk pajama bottoms and was barefoot, his muscular upper body on display. He was irritated but not wary, unarmed and relaxed. Gabe knew without touching his mind that Tamer wasn't the one who had betrayed him.