Helgi lifted Neddie onto her shoulders. “Hold on, buddy, it’s gonna be a bumpy ride.” She bobbed up and down, making him squeal in delight.
Vesper snorted in annoyance. “If you’re done playing, we should get moving.”
“They ain’t playing, dude,” Bran said shortly. “They’re making sure the kids stay calm. Don’t you have kids in the Furtherlands?”
Vesper’s eyes narrowed. “I don’t have time to play with children. There’s a war going on.”
There’s also a stick up his arse, Azazel whispered in my head. I bit back a smile. This wasn’t the Vesper I’d come to know in the hours we’d spent together. The Vesper I knew was sarcastic and projected a relaxed demeanor even in a dire situation, so his being so agitated now could mean only one thing—every situation we’d come upon till now had merely been a teaser of dire.
“Let’s just get out of here.” Adjusting Gemma on my hip, I set off at a brisk pace. Bran rounded up June and Stefan and we were on the move.
The air felt thicker here, sluggish, as it made its way in and out of our lungs, and a strange whirr and buzz filled the air. We walked silently for long minutes, down a narrow street lined with derelict residences. People had lived here once. Humans with families and pets and lives. It was eerily preserved by the magick that hung in the air, and if the hairs on the back of my neck weren’t standing to attention warning me to keep moving, I’d have stopped to explore this place a little. But Vesper was up ahead and moving fast, forcing us to keep up.
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
