Mud sucked at Luca’s feet. He lurched forward, kicking up wads of forest floor. Any light penetrating the trees evaporated with distance from the motel, and night engulfed Luca, rendering him blind. His foot caught a hard form jutting up from the ground. He threw out his hands to catch himself. Grit and sludge slapped him in the face.
Luca got back to his feet.
The black of the Anubis cut a void in the darkness. Its eyes, two glowing slits. Luca scurried back, clawing his way up the hill to where fragments of halogen lights broke through the foliage.
Then a burst of thunder warped the air, knocking into his chest. Leaves slid from under his feet, and he wound up propped up by a sapling.
A cold kiss of air swooped over Luca’s head, and the tops of the small trees plummeted to the ground where they’d been cut by long claws. The Anubis rolled up its lips, giving it an eerie human expression. Luca shot through the gap in the trees. The cracking of limbs followed him then silence.
Luca skidded to a halt. The woods behind him were empty. He turned.
Still nothing.
His heart clawed at his rib cages. His gasps burned. The muscles in his legs trembled. He spun in a circle, squinting at the shadows made deeper by the droplets of halogen light hitting the ground.
A huff of heated air spread over Luca’s shoulders. He whirled only to have his feet knocked out from under him, and his shoulders slammed into the rotted remains of a tree. Pain stabbed Luca in the ribs, but the wood was too soft to break the skin.
He kicked, pushing himself up.
A massive foot landed in front of him.
The Anubis lowered its wedge-shaped head. Saliva clung to the fur around its gaping mouth. Rows of white razors lining its gums promised an agonizing death.
Luca raked his fingers across the ground; the dirt under his right hand didn’t give. The rock wasn’t much larger than a softball, but it would have to do. Luca snatched it up and swung. His fear, his anger, boiled out of him in a scream. The stone connected with the Anubis’s muzzle, and it jerked its head back. The leer it wore melted into a vindictive snarl.
Luca wanted to close his eyes, but he couldn’t get his body to obey. The Anubis snatched Luca by his leg. The brush of its teeth searing his nerves. Somehow it missed his flesh and wound up gripping Luca by his jeans as it turned.
There was no sound as a second blur of darkness met the first, only the cry of splintering wood and the tap of earth kicked up by its feet. Luca hit the ground, and a tornado of ebony spun above him. The snarls thunder, their speed the wind, heated droplets of black blood rained down, soaking his clothes. Luca curled his arms over his head, caged in by the dance of clawed feet as the two creatures locked onto each other.
The smaller Anubis twisted, throwing out a front leg at Luca, but the larger beast blocked it with his body. They parted, and the Anubis standing over Luca remained while the other circled it. Tension shimmied down the massive beast sheltering him, and its muscles rolled under its fur. Threads of black spiraled down its legs, and they thickened. Right in front of Luca, the creature expanded, becoming larger. A rumble welled in its chest, spilling out until the space around it vibrated with the sound rattling Luca’s skull. The surrounding air thinned until he gasped for breath. The presence of the Anubis became a weight crushing Luca’s reality.
The other Anubis flicked a look at Luca before shrinking away, melting back into the shadows. Leaves crinkled under Luca’s head, and he closed his eyes.
*****
Nox carried Luca back toward the motel. Red and blue lights splashed color on the side of the building. The police pulled into the parking lot, filling the rows between parked cars.
The cops spilled from their vehicles. Intercoms crackled. Their voices rose up. They spread out with their guns drawn.
Nox crouched in the shadows of the green space almost a hundred feet from the motel. Details enlarged, lights brightened, smells bombarded every inhale. He needed to get back to the room, get the key, the money, the computer, phones.
The residents who’d witnessed the ordeal had their attention on the cops and their cell phones focused on the decimated bodies of four Anubis.
Nox moved around the perimeter of the parking lot. He’d have to wait out the police for at least a few hours; then he’d have to find a way to get their things and the van.
An older model Cadillac with two flat tires sat by the dumpster behind the sports bar. Nox slipped around the side. The door was locked. Black covered his hands, forming claws. He punched them into the metal, severing the catch. He pulled open the door, hinges squeaking in protest. If it hadn’t been for the chaos, someone might have heard it. Dust covered the back seat. Nox slid inside, keeping Luca cradled against his body.
Excited chatter broke through the intermittent crackle of radios.
Nox closed his eyes.
Death surrounded Nox. His team, his Alpha.
There was silence where there should have been the hum of his connection to Koda’s death.
So quiet it was as if it had never existed.
Crimson covered Nox’s chin. Copper flavored his tongue.