Something popped and fizzed above us and Helgi came to a standstill. “What the fuck was that?”
Cables hung in the air, strung up between poles. “Power lines.” These were live power lines, but where was the power coming from? “Keep moving.”
We came to the end of the street and spilled onto a main road. The poles holding the power lines were bent and twisted, the lines dipping and hanging slack between posts. Vehicles lined the road, some intact, others pressed together to make one horrific mechanical creation, and several melted like candlewax, their metallic bodies pressed to the asphalt. Greenery shot up from every crack and cranny to caress and cover the buildings and vehicles. Strange colorful flowers unlike anything I’d ever seen bloomed on the cement.
Vesper faltered. “We need to take this area at a run. It’s warp-heavy, and if we linger then—”
“Yeah, I get it.” Couldn’t have him scaring the kids. “Let’s bolt.”
Gemma whimpered against my shoulder, her tiny hands gripping me harder.
“It’s okay, poppet.” I smoothed her hair. “Just hold on.”
“On the count of three,” Vesper said.
Wait. Azazel’s voice yanked me back. Someone is watching. Several someones.
“Stop.” I grabbed Vesper’s elbow. “I think we’re being watched.”
Vesper’s smile was mocking. “Yes, Anya, we are. And if we don’t get moving, then they may decide to do more than watch.”
They? Who were they? But Vesper was already jogging onto the main street and there was no option but to follow. Boots crunched way too loud as we hurtled down the wide road, the only other sounds the buzz of the power lines and our raspy breath. We were fast approaching the top of the street, which forked into two smaller ones, and the pressure of magick on my shoulders was easing slightly. We were almost out of this heavy zone.
A yelp followed by a short scream had us grinding to a halt.
“Denny, where’s Denny?” Bran scanned the street.
Gemma buried her head in my shoulder.
“He’s gone,” Vesper said. “They got him and we need to go. Now,” he demanded.
His eyes were doing that bright flare thing again.
Bran and the remaining merc with the flared nostrils exchanged glances and then looked at Vesper with defiance.
“We never leave a man behind,” Bran said simply. He drew his gun. “You guys get out of here. We’ll be right behind.”
Vesper’s jaw ticked. “You go after him and you’re dead too.”
Bran offered him a grin. “Then we go out swinging. A good death.”
The merc code, the merc way, and dammit, if not for the kids, if not for the letter and the promise Dad had asked of me, I’d be all in. But the kids needed me. I had to keep them safe.
Anya. Azazel’s voice was laced with panic. There’s no time. More come. They’re unlike anything I’ve ever seen. You have to go. Now.
Howls filled the air, followed by the thud of heavy paws, and then they spilled out of the buildings behind us—huge, gray-and-silver beasts with gaping jaws and crimson eyes. They hurtled toward us.
“Anya, monsters!” Neddie screamed.
Vesper’s head whipped up. “Run!” He broke into a sprint.
Bran and his companion didn’t argue this time because what was headed toward us defied all explanation; it stabbed through all bravado and nudged the primal part of the brain that cared only for survival.
The next few moments were only the pound of my heart and the throb of my pulse as we ran. Vesper was up ahead, almost at the top of the street, and then something dropped from the sky. Twice as large as the monsters chasing us, its body shimmered in the sunlight, fur melding with metal that clicked and clacked with its every move. Vesper skidded to a halt and there was no choice but to follow his lead.
We were trapped.
Chapter Three
The beast shook its head and then settled its gaze on Vesper. Its jaws dripped with saliva that pooled at its massive feet, twice the size of my head. Its jaws were so wide it could have swallowed Vesper in one bite, and its body took up the whole street. This was a wolf, but not a wolf—part flesh, part machine—and we were surrounded by miniature replicas of it. They circled us but didn’t attack, as if waiting on a command.
A pack. This had to be a pack, and the beast staring down Vesper was the alpha.
“Don’t move,” Vesper said. “Just stay completely still.” He raised his hand inch by inch, his gaze still fixed on the monster. “Hello, old friend. Do you remember me? It’s been a while.”
The wolf beast growled low in its chest, and the muscles in Vesper’s shoulders rippled with tension. “I’m sorry I haven’t been to visit. I truly am. You didn’t deserve to be abandoned.”
The wolf took a thundering step toward Vesper, and I clutched Gemma tighter to me, resisting the urge to bolt. Vesper held his ground, lifting his chin to look straight into the monster’s eyes.
“I know it’s been hard,” he said. “I know you fought for too long, and I know you’re still in there, old friend. Can you hear me?”
There was emotion in his voice, real, raw emotion that tugged at my heart. He knew this creature. He had a history with it. The crimson in the wolf’s eyes pulsed and then died down slightly before a voice filled the air—deep, rumbling, and ancient.
“You have come to see what has become of me. To mock me,” the beast said.
“No.” Vesper shook his head. “Never that.”
“And yet you left me to rot. You left me trapped in this accursed place.”
“We had no choice. The magick was too strong back then. We could not retrieve you.”
“But you have come now. Now you will set me free.”
Vesper’s jaw tightened, his fists clenching at his sides a sure sign he was going to deliver some bad news. “There is no freedom for you, my friend. You know this.”
Silence, deep and heavy, followed Vesper’s words.
“No freedom. Yes. Yes, I remember. I remember the fool I was.” It swung its head toward Bran and then slowly swept its gaze across our paltry group.
Was it drooling more now? Oh shit. Low whines lit up the street, scraping at my ears and pleading for some kind of release.
“My pack hungers. My creations hunger,” the wolf said. “It has been too long since they fed.”
Vesper took a step into the beast’s line of sight, catching its attention again. “No. You are not a murderer.”
The beast’s head whipped forward, jaws snapping inches from Vesper’s body. My heart shot into my throat, beating erratically, but Vesper didn’t even flinch.
“You know not what I am,” the beast growled. “I have fed on the hearts of mortals. I have feasted on flesh simply because I could. But it is my mind that hungers as it slips away. I do not wish to slip away. You will stay. You will stay and you will ground me. I will have your minds. Your minds I will have. No more hunger. No more slipping.”
What was with the repetition? What was wrong with it?
“What is Vesper doing just staring at the thing,” Helgi whispered from the side of her mouth. “You think they’re communicating somehow?”