Chapter 29
Chapter
Twenty-Nine
Kainda
H e handled this better than I’d thought. I gave him a minute to collect himself, while I looked over the supplies in the trunk. Knowing she lurked somewhere in these woods had my nerves on edge. My head stayed on a swivel, looking every which way as I waited for him. Checking my watch for the time, I compared it to the sunlight overhead. We’d make it, but we wouldn’t have much time to spare.
Finally, he opened his door and climbed out. His movements shaky and uncertain. Every muscle in his body stretch, taut with tension. He gave me a weak smile that I saw right through, and he knew it. Joining me at the back of the car, I handed him, one of the backpacks. I slung mine over my shoulder before shutting the trunk and grabbing a duffle bag from the backseat.
“Open the cooler and get out enough drinks to get us through til tomorrow. The side pockets on the packs and duffle should hold enough.” I said as I stuffed food into the duffle at my side.
It’d be better if we could take another bag with us today, but Elijah couldn’t haul any of these heavy bags plus his pack. He’d worked a desk job before getting abducted and tortured. While he’d been fit, he hadn’t exactly trained for carrying heavy bags of gear through miles of rough terrain. I hadn’t either, but I’d gotten accustomed to it over the years and spent time in the gym back at home lifting weights. And given the forest surrounding my home, I spent a lot of time hiking to get some privacy and quiet.
After he shut the cooler and drinks secured, I locked the car. Pulling out my phone, I pulled up another app on my phone, entered the coordinates and followed the path on the map into the forest. E kept pace with me and his anxiety had leveled out. Oh, it was still there, but it hadn’t continued to increase. The spell worked, at least something good had come out of it. Don’t go down that road, Kainda, not the time.
We didn’t speak as we headed deeper into the trees, leaving the old access road behind us. The undergrowth was thick and the hike, difficult straight out of the gate. After about ten minutes, the line on the digital map intersected with a game trail. Yes! This would make the trek so much easier. I’d need to check myself for ticks when we got settled at base camp. Hiking through thick vegetation in the south meant you picked up all kinds of parasitic hitchhikers.
Only a few minutes into the game trail, the trees thinned out, and more light filtered down through the canopy. I’d just thought that this hike might not be too awful when the hairs on the back of my neck stood up. Oh, joy, oh, joy, we had company. I didn’t mention it to E, because he’d panic, and I needed to focus to figure out what was pursuing us.
Something stalked us through the forest. The birds and animals of the forest still moved about and made noise in the near distance. So whatever watched us belonged here, lived here. None of the forest creatures sensed danger, that didn’t leave me with many options for natural predators. A bear, cougar, or wolf I could handle no problem with the weapons I had on me not to mention my magic. But if something supernatural lurked out of sight, I’d have to fly dark.
Every supernatural was different. Some could be killed in any manner that you could kill a human: blood loss, decapitation, damage to the heart and lungs, or cutting off the airway. But then you have others that didn’t go down so easily. Those fuckers required specialized weapons, potions, or methods. By the time I figured it out, it could be too late to act.
I didn’t like this one bit. Paying closer attention to my surroundings, I tried to narrow down the list. Not a human, they made too much noise, like we were currently doing. Well, mostly E. Given the time of day, whittled it down a little further. Regionally, speaking it didn’t help very much. This area got hot in the summer and cold in the winter, so most anything not temperature sensitive could live here.
The sensation continued, so it wasn’t a casual checking us out before determining we weren’t a threat. We were being hunted. Fantastic. Okay, think Kainda, you can figure this out. It could be a Were-creature, but since the full moon cycle had ended a few days ago, I dismissed the idea. For some reason, I also ruled out the demon we hunted. She wanted Elijah so badly, she wouldn’t stalk us, she’d just attack.
This forest was too close to people’s homes, and too often frequented by outdoor enthusiasts, for a Sasquatch to call these woods home. A creature of demonic origin like Cu Sith or a Manticore. Although the former mostly only hunts during the twilight hours, and the latter tends to make noises to trick its prey. A Drake might work as a theory, but I’d most likely have seen or heard reports of a ‘living dinosaur’ in the area. Needless to say, I’d gotten no such reports. Not large water source ruled out a Kappa and a Kelpie.
My sixth sense hadn’t kicked in, so it couldn’t be an evil spirit or a ghost. Nothing lined up with what I felt, sensed with this area. It left me with only terrible possibilities, something humanoid turned evil or gone feral. A run in with a feral shifter could get dicey faster than the speed of light. Or, maybe, we’d crossed into a shifter’s territory.
That would explain the silence, the lack of spooked forest critters, and the fact it hadn’t attacked yet. A shifter pissed we’d violated its territory would track us until it figured out where we were going and what we were doing here. If we left, it’d go on about its business. But if we lingered or became a threat, it’d attack. Okay, call the creature an it was rude, even by my standards. They protected their space and homes, but were people killers.
I bid my time until we reached a mostly flat area with no large rocks or fallen limbs. It gave me plenty of space to work with. The shifter stalked us from behind, I still felt their gaze on our backs. Keeping my hands out of sight, I tucked my phone in my pocket and pulled out one of my knives. Next to me, E remained completely in the dark about the danger. His focus on his feet, watching where he stepped.
Time to act. I stopped grabbed his backpack pulling him to a stop. He stumbled for a second as I spun us, so my body was behind him and the shifter. Letting him go, I used a magical trick Evin had taught me. Magical white and gold flames twined around my fingers like snakes. Thankfully, he stayed quiet as I scanned the surrounding trees. As soon as I’d become a threat, I’d no doubt the shifter had changed their position.
“Show yourself shifter.”