“Earthquake?” said Theo.
“I don’t know,” I said, and kept my eyes on the road, scanning for danger. But the car, while closing the gap, was still nearly a hundred yards behind us.
The air went heavy and cold, and the SUV slogged, the engine revving as it tried to push its way through the semisolid slurry the air had become. There was magic here, and not of the pleasant variety.
That slurry became nearly solid, and the SUV rocked like a giant had taken a swing at it. The vehicle swung hard to the left, tires skidding as inertia battled magic. Theo grunted as he worked to keep the wheel straight, but I felt the tires leave the road and prayed we wouldn’t flip—or hurt the woman we’d been trying to save.
We made a complete circle and came to a grinding halt, the vehicle hitting asphalt again with a resoundingthud.
“What the hell was that?” Theo asked.
“Magic,” I said.
“What are you doing?” Rose demanded. The tears were pouring now, her eyes wheeling with fear. “You have to keep going! We can’t fight them. We don’t have the power.”
“Whatever it is, it stopped our car,” Theo said, trying to turn the engine over. It made no sound.
Adrenaline started pumping again.
Rose cursed, turned again to watch the road, as if monsters would emerge behind us. “Shit. They’re going to kill me.”
“They aren’t,” I said. “Theo and I aren’t going to let anything happen to you.”
She wasn’t convinced. “You said you’d help me get out. Does this look like help to you?” Her voice was nearing hysteria.
Fortunately, vampires had a wide range of skills.
“They won’t get to you,”I said again, pushing as much glamour as I could into the words.
I don’t know if that worked—could sympaths even be glamoured?—but her heaving breaths slowed a little.
I reached for the door handle. I hadn’t had much wine at the event, but I was utterly sober now. “Stay with her.”
“You aren’t going alone. I’m your partner.” Theo’s voice was lower now, more intense.
“And she’s the mission, so you’re going to protect her with your body and soul. Call 911 and get this road blocked off. We don’t need more cars getting stuck because they tried to drive into—whatever this is. And tell Roger. Because maybe he’ll know what it is.”
“Be careful. I don’t want the wolf’s claws in my back.”
That wolf was Connor Keene, my boyfriend.
I opened the door and climbed out, then unsheathed my katana, sending metal pinging amid the wind’s howls and whistles. The hair on the back of my neck lifted.
And that wasn’t my only reaction. By some quirk of biology or magic, I wasn’t alone in this body. There was another consciousness, a supernatural presence, which shared the space. I called it “monster” because it was usually eager for a fight. It had no interest in whatever was going on here, but I’d earned enough of its trust that it didn’t disappear completely. I could feel it watching, hovering, in case it needed to add its strength to mine.
Appreciate it, I thought, and closed the door as quietly as I could, not sure if that would help or not; something clearly knew we were here.
I crept forward through the soup of fog that now glowed faintly green and thought of a horror story I’d read as a child about the things that lived in the mist. Monster was notably unenthused that we were moving toward the danger.
I waved an arm through the fog as if that would clear it up and give me some visibility. It didn’t, but the green glowed brighter as I approached the gate—or the place I thought the gate had been. There was no sign of any other vehicle, including the one that had been chasing us. There was no sound of traffic or the squeal of tires as other cars were caught in the magic.
The air grew heavy and cold, and swirled around my feet like ocean waves. Voices began to emerge from the direction of thegate. A multitude of them—sobs and growls and groans that coalesced and grew into banshee-like screams. The volume made my ears ring.
Then the howls began. Not human but animal. Canine. Yips and howls that put goose bumps on my arms and had me wishing I’d stayed in the car with Theo.
And then fingers, frigid fingers that tingled with magic, grazed the back of my neck. “Hilarious, Theo,” I murmured, even though I knew, rationally, that he wasn’t there. He was still in the car, now hidden by the fog, protecting Rose.
I made myself look back... and screamed.