Chapter 30 #2
“How? Hillcrest Hollow is twenty miles away!” I pointed in the direction I knew the town lay.
I couldn’t see it through the trees here, but I knew we weren’t possibly close enough for help.
The sounds of the woods creaking and sighing around me made my skin crawl.
It felt like we were being watched, and I wasn’t sure whether it was someone from Sunworld or something else. ..
Bats fly fast. He zipped off before I could argue, so I did the only thing I could: I ran—deeper into the darkness beneath the trees but steadily aiming myself toward the town, as if it were a beacon that pulled, that called to me with the lure of safety, of sanctuary.
Every nerve screamed that someone was watching me.
The forest felt wrong: too quiet, too tense.
Images flashed through my mind: mutilated livestock, torn fences, whispered rumors.
How far from Hillcrest Hollow did that thing roam?
That thing that might very well be the nightmare I’d been reading about all day.
A howl split the night, and I gasped in horror: the wolf was back.
Then another howl came, different, deeper in pitch, and I knew the first one had gotten company.
I bit down hard on my lip to muffle the terrified scream that wanted to break free, lowered my head with determination, and kept running.
They weren’t after Luther, I told myself; they were after the book. They were after me.
Shapes moved between the trees, fast blurs my eyes couldn’t track.
They were circling, and when I saw movement flash ahead of me, I knew I’d never make it.
They had me trapped, cornered; I was surrounded.
I skidded to a stop, terror freezing me in place as they charged from several directions: a wolf, something else—a bear, perhaps—and two lightning-fast people with flashing fangs.
Then Luther dropped from the sky like a shadow given teeth.
He hit the wolf with brutal force, fangs flashing, movements sharp but uneven.
Blood streaked his temple, his coat torn.
He was fighting on borrowed time—I could see it—every strike costing him.
With the wolf out, there was an opening, and he snatched my arm and swung me toward it, then stood protectively in front of me and faced off against the rest. “Jade,” he said, voice rough but real. “Stay behind me.”
One of the vampires, eyes flashing, fangs on display, stepped forward.
No fancy suits for these guys, they were all jeans and biker jackets: thugs.
“Hand over the book,” he said, calm and cold.
“And this ends.” There was such finality in that word that he made “end” sound like a mercy he’d bestow on us, a swift death rather than torture.
I curled my fingers into the hem of Luther’s jacket, sidling closer and drinking in the warm, steady heat of his body.
He looked bad, bleeding, unsteady, but there was nothing but determination in the set of his shoulders.
“Fuck you,” Luther snarled. “You’re a dead man; you just haven’t realized it yet.
” The three facing off against us laughed, or rather, the vampires laughed, and the hulking grizzle roared, as if offended.
I held my breath, cast my eyes about for a weapon, fervently prayed that the fancy bracelet had another trick, and came up short.
As the sound of the bear faded away, the forest held its breath, waiting, hungry.
Luther’s body tensed, his weight shifting on his leg as if he were preparing himself for a charge.
The silence crashed to a violent halt when a roar rolled through the forest, ancient and furious.
Everyone looked up, myself included, and I saw only darkness that blotted out the stars.
Luther had me around the waist, and then we were in motion, running, no, tumbling.
My back hit moss and dirt, then we rolled, and I found myself first sprawled on top of Luther, and then back in the moss beneath him.
Fire exploded through the trees, bright as day, blinding.
I heard screams as a golden dragon crashed through the canopy, wings tearing branches apart, flames washing away the night.
I did not see what happened to those three Sunworld agents, but I heard their pounding footsteps—their screams—as they retreated.
They were still running when Luther helped me to my feet and tucked me protectively into the safety of his arms. I got a face full of torn shirt, smeared with blood, but I didn’t care.
He was alive, and I was pretty sure we were saved.
Turning my face, I stared at the golden dragon, as big as a freaking airplane.
It was one thing to be confronted with vampires and werewolves; another to see an honest-to-God dragon in the flesh; even if I knew he existed.
Belfry had come through for us, I didn’t know how, but he had, and Sunworld was running with their tail between their legs.
I clung to Luther, and he clung to me, the book squashed between us.
I was glad I wasn’t looking at them, because I’d never seen Luther grow pale in the face from shock before. Not like this. I heard it, though.
Wood groaned, and goosebumps rose along my skin. For one moment, it seemed like the night went so black I was blind. And then there were no more footsteps, no more screams, there was nothing. “What was that?” I asked, but I already knew the answer.