His fingers gently stroked my back. “You can’t.”
“I know, but I could have pretended.”
“Your five-year folly almost got you killed.” His arm snaked around me.
I closed my eyes, my grip on him tightening. I’d wanted to be free so badly that I might have gladly died for it. The demons and their ways weren’t for me. I belonged in the nine-to-five workday with the Starbucks coffees and kicking back on the couch, Doritos in one hand, TV remote in the other. I enjoyed the mundane. At least that’s what I told myself. It wasn’t exactly true. I could never run from the half of me that danced in the dark.
“Let’s go.” He looked into my tired eyes. “Wait here. I’ll make my excuses, and we’ll go back to my apartment.”
With a nod of agreement, I reluctantly let go of him and cast him a little curl of a smile before he turned and let the crowd swallow him up. He’d promised a night to remember, and the thought of being alone with him with no interruptions—exploring, tasting, teasing—warmed me in the most intimate of places.
A shoulder nudged mine, forcing me to stumble back, just as an arm hooked around me, reeling me into a crushing embrace. I opened my mouth, about to launch a verbal assault on my unwanted dance partner, when I felt the brutal nudge of a gun poke up under my ribs.
“Scream and I’ll pull the trigger.” Stefan drilled his gaze into mine.
We were moving, swaying to the music like those around us, his grip so tight against me that I had no choice but to step with him. “You won’t leave here alive,” I hissed.
“No?” His azure eyes scanned the crowd around us. “I don’t think you know me very well.”
I squirmed in his grip. The pressure of the gun began to bruise me. “I thought you’d have had enough of your games by now.”
He met my gaze as though something I’d said surprised him. “You’re in danger.”
“No shit.”
“You have to come with me. Now.”
“I’m not going anywhere with you.” I squirmed again. His grip tightened further, wrenching a gasp from my lips.
He suddenly bowed his head, his hair tickling my cheek, and whispered, “You must have realized by now that I don’t want to hurt you.”
Anger flash-burned through me. “Then you’re failing miserably because you have hurt me. You took away the only thing I ever really owned. You stole my life.” As he faced me, I saw his eyes narrow as though I’d hurt him with my words, but for the life of me, I couldn’t imagine why. “Who are you?”
“Please, come with me now. There are others here. You aren’t safe.”
I followed his gaze among the sea of party guests and saw the demons approaching, parting the dancing couples like lions stalking through long grass. Stefan jerked an eyebrow and then the pressure of the gun was gone. His cool grip tightened around my wrist, and before I could protest, I was jogging after him. He led me through a fire door. The music from the party thumped the air and echoed down the stairwell. Fluorescent lights hummed above us.
“Wait.” I snatched my wrist free, forcing him to turn. His long leather coat rippled around him. “Just tell me what’s happening.” I rubbed my aching wrist.
“They’re coming.”
The fire door burst open behind me. I had a moment to recognize one of my suspected demons from the party before he launched himself at me. He sprang off his legs in such a way that he literally pounced, hands and feet slamming into me, throwing me back against the wall. My head smacked against the block work, dizzying me and stalling my reaction. He threw his head back and yawned, revealing a mouthful of razor-sharp, needle-thin teeth. Repugnant ocher venom dripped from their points, dribbling over the distorted flesh of his chin.
I flooded my body with power, but it wouldn’t come quickly enough.
A gun blast cracked the air, and the side of the demon’s skull exploded in a burst of blood and bone. I blinked, ears ringing, and struggled to comprehend what was happening as the body collapsed in a lifeless mound at my feet.
Stefan stood a few steps down, gun poised in one hand. He snatched at my hand and tugged me stumbling down the stairs behind him. We didn’t stop until we burst through the doors into the basement parking garage. Orderly rows of cars lined the bays, their glossy paintwork shining beneath the orange strip lights. I saw his battered, old car ahead.
I pulled back, but his grip tightened. “Wait.” He didn’t stop. “Wait, dammit!” I dug my heels in and snatched him back. “I can look after myself.”
He rounded on me, his smile devoid of all humor. “Are you serious?”
“Who the hell are you, and why do you think you can drag me around like this?”
He snorted a derisive laugh. “I just saved your life—again—and you doubt me?” His voice echoed around the parking lot, bouncing off the walls and returning with just as much derision in its tone.
“What do you mean, again?”
He looked as though he might answer, when a blood-curdling howl sounded throughout the parking garage. I turned, sensing the source was somewhere behind me. I knew that sound. The beast it came from was no friendly dog. Fear flushed through my veins, and my adrenaline spiked, racing my heart and ratcheting up my breathing.
Another howl went up, followed quickly by another. The wretched baying echoed.
“Muse! C’mon!”
I searched the shadows among the parked cars but couldn’t see anything, but then I wasn’t going to. I was too human to see them. Then I heard the panting, the tick of claws on concrete, and the thump of heavy pads.
I swung a glance back at Stefan. “They’re for you!” I hoped they were, because Hellhounds cannot be outrun.
He dipped his chin and shook his head once, then lifted the gun and fired over my shoulder. The gunshot cracked the air, the deafening boom followed by a dire whine. I trembled even as I summoned my element, because I knew it wouldn’t be enough. I couldn’t see the hounds—they were constructs of pure demonic power—but I could hear them. My imagination unhelpfully filled in the blanks.
Stefan grabbed my arm and tugged me backward. I finally found my nerves again and ran beside him, heeled boots skidding on the concrete as I ducked around Stefan’s car and tugged open the passenger door. “Can you see them?” I panted, throwing myself into the seat.
“Oh yes.” He turned the key in the ignition, and the engine roared to life. Thrusting the stick into reverse, he flung the car from its parking bay and stamped on the brakes.
Twisting in the passenger seat, I peered out through the back window but couldn’t see anything. The car suddenly bucked, the roof above caving inward. Four gashes ripped through the roof as though it were paper.
“Hold on!” Stefan planted the accelerator to the floor, lurching the car backward again.
I snatched at my seat, clinging on as the invisible hound on the roof tumbled forward, cracking the windshield and denting the hood on its way down. Stefan locked an arm around the back of my seat. His unwavering glare focused through the rear window, and his other hand twitched the steering wheel. I had a moment to wonder where we were going, when the rear of the car plowed into a sizeable chunk of nothingness. The hound yowled.
“Is it dead?”
“Nope, just pissed.” Stefan slammed the car into gear and yanked the steering wheel, accelerating hard toward the exit ramp. The rear end fishtailed, tires squealing, before the car finally found traction and lunged forward. Its raw horsepower threw me back into my seat.
We burst onto the street, narrowly missing passing traffic. Stefan fought with the steering wheel. The car slid sideways, but he didn’t ease off the accelerator. Engine revving, the car gobbled up the road. Buildings blurred past us. Weaving between the sparse nighttime traffic, Stefan swapped the car from lane to lane. Horns sounded around us.
“Put your seatbelt on.” He stared ahead, his attention divided between the road and mirrors, before changing gears to squeeze yet more acceleration from the engine.
&n
bsp; I fumbled with the seatbelt, watching the needle on the speedometer creep higher. Glancing out of the rear window, I couldn’t see anything but the angry flash of headlights from other drivers as they resented our disregard for traffic laws.
“I can’t see them.”
“Take this.” He tossed the gun into my lap before dropping a gear. The car roared, and we burst through an intersection, the red lights little more than a blur in my peripheral vision.
I picked up the weighty gun. “But I can’t see them.”
He stole a brief glance my way. “Call your power. You’ll see them.”
Stefan jerked the car to the right. I clung on, leaning away from the turn as the car drifted toward oncoming traffic. If the hounds didn’t kill us, his driving would. I caught him smiling and frowned at him. He was enjoying this.
Straightening the car out, he said, “You might want to start pointing and shooting about now.”
I twisted in my seat, gun heavy in my hand, and peered out of the rear window. Spilling a little of my element into my body, I let it pool outward, dropping a warm veil over my vision. At first, very little changed. As the car twitched and jerked, I struggled to focus. Then I saw the glass windows blow from the ground floor of a nearby building. Ahead of the devastation, a parked car bounced sideways, an entire side caved in. I tried to focus on where I thought the beast to be, using the wake of destruction as a pointer, and saw its hazy outline shimmer into existence.
It was huge, the size of a small car, and hairless except for several razor-edged spikes running down its back. Its hideous bulk bounded toward us, bouncing off the city obstructions like a dog through an agility course. I tried to steady the gun on the seatback, but the constant twisting and lurching made aiming impossible. “I can’t get a shot.”
“You want me to pull over?”
“No!” I saw a gleam of mischief in his eyes and swore at him. Sarcastic and arrogant, what a charmer.
“It’s gaining!” The hound had our scent, its crimson eyes wide with fury as it chased us down.
I pulled the trigger. Nothing happened.
“Flick the safety off,” Stefan helpfully suggested, suppressing a laugh.
I fumbled with the safety, yanked the slide on the barrel back, and fired. The recoil nearly tore my arm off. The bullet punched through the shatterproof rear window, but the shot went high, completely missing the hound. To make matters worse, its pack mate raced up the street, leaping over slow-moving traffic without breaking its stride.
Stefan’s car slowed. “Don’t slow down,” I said, “They’re almost on us.”
He checked the mirrors and cast a glance ahead at a tourist bus lumbering its way down the street.
I looked back and yelped. The hound’s snout was level with the rear of the car, black tongue lolling, saliva foaming around its mouth. It snapped at the rear fender, bumping its head against the metal. The car broke away, threatening to spin. Stefan steered into the slide, regaining control as we drew level with the bus. The hound slammed a muscular shoulder into the rear door, growling through bared teeth. Head level with Stefan’s door, it thrust its skull into the window. Glass exploded over Stefan. Great gleaming jaws snapped together, inches from Stefan’s shoulder.
“Shoot!” he yelled.
I fired out through the rear passenger window, hitting the hound clean in the rump just as Stefan tugged against the steering wheel and slammed the car into the beast, pinning it against the side of the bus. Shattered glass and screaming metal assaulted my senses, but we swerved free of the coach as it veered off the road, smoke billowing from its brakes.
Behind us, the stunned hound slumped on the road, its hollow whimpers lost among the squeal of brakes and the traffic fast backing up behind us. The second beast didn’t hesitate as it galloped past its fallen pack mate.
“Go, go!” I screamed.
Stefan fumbled with the gear shift, and the car shuddered forward. He muttered something, then found the right gear and rammed the accelerator to the floor. The Dodge growled as Stefan demanded every ounce of horsepower from its engine. As we thundered forward, the hound snapped its jaws at my side of the car. It missed then struck again. This time, its teeth crunched into metal, tearing out the entire rear light cluster and tossing it aside.
As our speed increased, the hound fell back. We were pulling away. I watched the beast closely. The street blurred, and the engine roared in my ears. The Hellhound had me in its sights. Its penetrating stare held me transfixed. Stefan was right. It was after me, and if it got me, those vicious teeth would tear strips of flesh from my bones. I shuddered and called more of my element.
“You can’t stop it.” Stefan must have sensed the change in me. He probably felt the ambient temperature rise.
“I’ve got to try.”
“We—”
A horn blared. We both looked out the driver’s side just as the truck t-boned into the side of the Dodge. The massive grille and blinding headlights were the last things I saw before my entire world spun. Metal and glass shrieked, groaned, and shattered. Abrupt needles of pain dashed against me from all sides. I don’t recall exactly how Stefan’s car ended up on its roof. It’s likely I blacked out and only reawakened when Stefan tugged on my seatbelt.
I heard him calling to me, his voice flowing in and out with the ringing in my ears. Peeling my eyes open, I realized I couldn’t see, at least not at first. My muddled mind tried to comprehend which way was up. I blinked rapidly, clearing my right eye. The car no longer resembled a car at all, just a twisted hunk of metal entombing me. I pushed down on the roof, scraping my bare arms against serrated metal.
“The belt!” Stefan reached in through the compressed passenger window and tugged on my seatbelt again. “Quickly.”
I smelled fuel and heard the tick of the cooling engine. Panic spilled ice water into my veins. “Oh god.” I fumbled at the latch, jabbing at the red button to release me, but my own weight pulling down on the belt trapped the buckle in its latch.
A monstrous howl rippled through the night.
Stefan snapped his head up then pulled back out of sight. I whimpered in frustration, tugging on the damn seatbelt. Weren’t these things meant to save lives? My breath rasped in short, sharp gasps. My heart galloped behind my ribs. The tingling sensation of my element trickled forth. The source of it at my core broiled in response to my panic. Considering how I was hanging upside down over a pool of gasoline, the last thing I wanted was fire or heat of any kind, but my instincts weren’t listening. Goddammit, I wasn’t dying there, trapped in a steel coffin. I hadn’t survived years of torture and countless assassination attempts to die like that. I was stronger than that, better than that.
Rage chased away the debilitating effects of fear. I screamed at the damn seatbelt, punching the buckle until it finally released me, depositing me unceremoniously upside down amid the mangled wreckage. Twisting around inch by inch, I managed to get myself into a position where I could grab the passenger door and drag myself through the tiny gap that had once been the window. My head barely squeezed through. My cheek grated against the shattered glass. I reached out with a hand, clawing at the pavement to try and find purchase so I could pull myself free.
I saw Stefan.
He kneeled on one knee in the road. Sparkling vines of ice rooted him to the ground. His entire body, clothes and all, glinted sharply with fragments of ice. But it was the wings that held me spellbound. They rose from his back, insubstantial and not quite solid enough to touch, but very real. Each feather appeared to be made of ice. The light from the streetlights fractured through each fine barb, casting multicolored shafts of light on the black asphalt surrounding him.
I watched, awestruck as he hunkered down, wings flexing behind him while he summoned a sword of ice into his right hand. Jagged fragments of crystalline ice layered one on top of the other, creating a long, thin weapon. I’d been mistaken. It wasn’t a sword, but a spear.
A snarling growl tore my attenti
on from Stefan. The remaining hound stood within leaping distance of Stefan. Its monstrous head hung low, lips rippling over glistening teeth. Drool pooled on the road just ahead of its substantial paws. The spines along its back rippled, making a hideous hissing as they scraped together. It stood still, leg muscles bunched, ready to spring forward at any moment.
Then it saw me and cocked its head to one side. Its leathery lips formed a grin.
“Hey, not her! Me!” Stefan stood, ice cracking off him. Fragments of it tinkled against the road surface.
I heard sirens nearby, but the authorities were the least of our concerns. Clawing again at the road, I attempted to drag myself free, but every movement drew the hound’s attention right back to me.
Stefan growled and flung an ice shard at the beast. It shattered against its thick, hairless flesh, doing little damage. I realized we were probably about to die. You can’t kill them, and you can’t stop them. What chance did we have?
He flung a second shard of ice. A third. The hound snarled its fury then sprang off its feet, leaping at Stefan. He hunkered low, wrapping his right arm around the spear and thrusting it up, right through the belly of the hound, using its own momentum to fling it over him. The beast yowled and slammed into the road with a heavy thump. Its front leg pawed at the air. Its keening whimpers were hollow and chilling.
Stefan came for me, tossing aside the ice spear as he reached down and clasped a bitterly cold hand around mine. He tugged me free of the wreckage just as the police cars squealed into the street behind us. As his icy visage melted away, wings dissolving into snow and dissipating, he scanned our surroundings. The buildings lining the street were huddled close together.
“There, the alley. Go.”
I ran, adrenaline fuelling my fight or flight response, and kept up with Stefan as we ducked into the alley. A chain-link fence blocked our path. He didn’t hesitate, but clambered up a dumpster and leaped over the top. I scrambled after him, landing awkwardly on the other side. Then we were off, sprinting across the small open space of a children’s playground. A howl resonated around the empty space. I managed to find an extra burst of speed, and bowing my head low, I sprinted with every drop of physical strength I had left.
[The Veil 01.0] Beyond the Veil Page 6