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The next morning, a ray of sunlight shone through the window of the carriage and onto Linda’s face. Her eyes fluttered as she yawned and rolled over before stretching out her legs and arms. She exhaled as her eyes opened and brushed her hair out of her face. “Good morning, world,” she said as she threw off the blanket and sat upright. Her brow slightly furrowed when she realized Cleo wasn’t in bed with her even though she clearly remembered the lizardman sneaking in last night. She looked around and saw Raea beginning to stir. Elrith was lying face-up staring at the ceiling—dark bags once again decorated his face underneath his eyes. Sally was lying face-down on the ex-general with her head nestled against his chest. Palan was nowhere to be found.
“Good morning,” Elrith whispered to Linda. His voice was hoarse.
“The hell is wrong with you?” Linda asked and furrowed her brow. “Couldn’t sleep or something?”
“You could say that,” Elrith whispered before looking down at Sally. She looked so peaceful when she was sleeping—he couldn’t bear to wake her up. Usually, she’d have a frightened expression on her face. It was only when she was sleeping that he could see her so relaxed.
“Been up all night then?” Linda asked as she smoothed out her hair and made herself presentable before putting on her veil. The carriage was parked in the center of the town where the market would open. She looked outside the window and saw a couple of merchants opening up their stalls. They were selling fruits and vegetables. “Looks like I don’t have any competition for clothes.” She turned around to inspect her wares, deciding on what to sell.
“Where’s Palan?” Raea asked as she sat up and cleared the crud out of her eyes. She recalled waking up at night because he got up, but she fell back asleep without asking where he was going.
“I thought I heard him leave,” Elrith said. “But I wasn’t sure and couldn’t get up to check.” Sally was beginning to show signs of waking up. Her eyelids trembled, causing a smile to bloom on Elrith’s face. For the briefest of moments, he finally understood why Cleo stood over people and stared at them when they woke up.
The door to the carriage swung open. “Rise and shine!” Cleo shouted from Palan’s shoulder. There were smudges of dried blood on her cheeks. “Wakey, wakey! Up and at ‘em!” She looked around. “Oh, you’re all already awake.” She hopped off of Palan’s shoulder and began to whistle as she ambled through the carriage, leaving bloody footprints on the floor. No one noticed though because they were all staring at Palan. Sally groaned as she turned her head to look at the demon. She screamed.
Dried blood caked Palan’s forearms, face, and tail. There were a few spatters on his torso, and his pants had stains as well. His hands dripped fresh blood. “What?’ Palan asked as he closed the door behind himself, leaving a bloody handprint on the wood.
“Are you injured?” Raea asked after a moment. Linda and Elrith were still grasping for words.
“No,” Palan said. “Even if I was, what could you do?” He tilted his head before yawning and walking over to a corner of the carriage. His feet left bloody footprints on the floor like Cleo.
Raea’s brow furrowed. “What happened?” she asked.
Palan shrugged. “I couldn’t sleep,” he said. “There was something unsettling about having no safe havens, so I decided to clear some areas out in case we needed a place to hide.”
“There were merchants outside,” Linda said as she whirled around and looked out the window. “I’ll be implicated if they report this!” She scanned the surroundings, but it was empty except for a few bloodstains on the ground near all the stalls.
“I know when to leave witnesses and when not to,” Palan said and snorted as he rolled his eyes. He approached Cleo who had pulled out a bucket of water to wash herself off, humming the whole time as the water turned red. She didn’t really care if Linda knew her powers, not after seeing what Palan did last night. Her tail swished back and forth as she began to clean Danger Noodle with a wet towel.
“I’m a monster,” Elrith said, his face pale. Sally hid behind Elrith as the two watched Palan and Cleo clean themselves. They were getting the floor wet, but Linda didn’t say anything. She had seen Palan kill travelers in the rest stop the other night, but that brought a very different feeling. Just a few minutes ago, she was planning the words she was going to say to the two merchants outside. Now, they were dead and gone without a trace. They didn’t even scream.
“What about the bloody footprints?” Linda said. Her face was pale underneath her veil.
“I hovered to the carriage,” Palan said as he scrubbed bits of flesh out of his nails. “Quit worrying. Even if we’re found and chased by archangels, I created those safe havens for a reason.”
“By creating safe havens…,” Raea said and bit her lower lip.
“You know exactly what he means, Ray,” Elrith said as his hands curled into fists. “He slaughtered people. And by the sheer amount of blood on his body, it looks like he slaughtered a lot of people. If it weren’t for the fact that you’d die if Palan died, I’d seriously try to kill him right now. He’s a monster. A demon. He needs to be treated like one.”
“Aren’t you awfully cheerful today,” Palan said to Elrith. “If it makes you feel any better, I didn’t leave behind any witnesses. Sometimes people just die due to natural causes.”
“Murder isn’t a natural cause of death,” Elrith said.
“It is in Eljiam,” Palan said and shrugged.
“I thought cities paralyzed your senses,” Elrith said. “How were you so carefree and able to do something like this?” Sally wrapped her wings around Elrith’s trembling body, burying her face in the space between his neck and shoulder.
“It’s different when everyone’s asleep,” Palan said. “It’s ridiculous how carefree you angels are. There were only two people who woke up when I broke into their dwellings.”
“Aren’t you afraid of creating a witch-hunt?” Elrith asked. “You were afraid of everyone attacking you in the first city. Now, they have a reason to.”
“Do you not understand the concept of a safe haven?” Palan asked and furrowed his brow. “I created them so we’d have a place to escape to if people did decide to attack us.”
“People wouldn’t attack us if you didn’t slaughter others to create safe havens!”
“Whatever,” Palan said and shook his head as screams began to punctuate the surroundings. The city was beginning to wake up, and the residents were terrified by what they found. Palan sighed. “Cities are so noisy during the day.”