---
By the time the short roadside hunt ended, four bodies lay cooling in the ditch and the patchy roadside grass, their blood already sinking into the hard earth. The fifth man, the one Auri had cornered near the broken cart wheel, was still alive only because Sekhmet wanted answers before the night was allowed to finish properly.
The man was on his knees by then, one hand pressed uselessly against his side, his breath ragged and panicked. Auri stood a step behind him with the calm patience of a woman who did not need to threaten anyone loudly because the shape of her shadow was already enough. One black wing remained half spread behind her, not for display, but because it made the trapped man feel smaller whenever he tried to look back over his shoulder.
Sekhmet crouched in front of him and asked only what mattered.
Was there a larger group nearby? Was there a handler? Was there a buyer? Had anyone paid them to watch specifically for Dawn traffic.
