Blade Song - By J.C. Daniels Page 0,81

in the hell did I have to go and think about him?

“Perhaps you missed me…even if you will not admit it, dearest Kit.”

Unable to focus on everything around me and still talk to him, I stopped once more.

“Kit?”

I looked at Damon and shook my head, holding up a hand. “I’m not your dearest anything, Jude and I’m…having problems. Go away.”

“Are you ready for my offer of assistance? You’re so far away it will take some time to get to you.”

“No—”

Damon’s eyes narrowed.

Error—error—

Swearing mentally, I covered my face and turned the conversation inward. “No. I don’t need assistance. I’m handling this fine on my own.”

“Ah…but you’re not. Where is the cat, Kit?”

Something lurked under his voice and I felt a presence on my mind. A weight. Pushing. Prodding. “That doesn’t concern you. Leave me alone, Jude. I’ll let you know if I need you.”

“Oh, you’ll need me, dearest Kit…and the cat will not be able to help you. I will. Don’t wait too long.”

His presence didn’t fade.

It was just gone and I groaned, dropping my hands.

Damon was staring at me.

I waited. He had something to say, I knew it.

But he didn’t say a damn thing, just turned and started to walk, pausing only long enough to grab his pack. The shreds of his clothes, he ignored. I didn’t. There were too many witches around who do weird things with magic and all it would take was a shred of clothing, a single hair. I shoved the ruined clothes into my pack, aware of the fact that he was watching, waiting in silence.

Once I was standing, he started to walk. A slower pace this time, more careful.

The sun was getting closer and closer to the horizon. But I didn’t bother to mention it.

He already knew.

Moving slower meant we could see the few remaining traps easier.

There was another pit.

One more that would take a leg off. The one after that was the worst, though. And we caught it because there was just next to no scent there. Nothing. The scent that was there was faint, so faint we barely even caught it.

“Nobody walks around this spot,” he said. “Right here. Easiest path over and everybody goes around. Why is that?”

I stared at the mostly cleared path that separated us from the area ahead. That was where we needed to be, I knew it. It was practically shining like a beacon. It called to me and even I could smell something up there…something not human. And voices…was it me, or did I hear voices?

“They want us walking there so they can blow us up?” I offered.

He shot me a narrow look. Then he looked around. “Stay there. Don’t move. Got it?”

I lifted my hands and gave him an agreeable smile.

He didn’t look overly convinced, but he disappeared into the growth and I stood there, sword in one hand, bow in the other.

They wouldn’t have …well, seriously. Would they have planted a landmine sort of thing there? Really?

I pondered that idea for the next ten minutes, scratching absently at a mosquito bite. The medicine Kori had given me had really worked. Needed to put it back on. But before I could, I felt the warm brush against my senses that meant Damon was coming back and then he was there.

“Move.”

I glanced over my shoulder and then gaped.

He was hauling the dead body of the python. “What are you doing?” I asked.

“It’s heavy,” he said, shrugging. “If it’s rigged, it’s going to need something more than a rock and I’d rather not toss something that will turn into shrapnel on us.”

He looked around and then nodded. “Behind the tree. Check it.”

I groaned and then looked at the tree in question, checking it very well. A couple of small things skittered away. The biggest was another grass snake. Not a problem. It didn’t even crawl over the toe of my boot.

“…careful…”

I tensed.

“Did you hear that?” I whispered.

“Yes.” He looked at me again. “Get behind the fucking tree, Kit. If they are watching, we need to move.”

I moved.

I heard a thud—

Saw the blur of his body as he came at me.

And smoke.

Chapter Nineteen

Wails rose in the air, flooded it as surely as the smoke and debris.

Tortured and pitiful, broken and sad.

“No, no, no, no!”

They really had used a landmine.

What in the hell—?

And those voices. I really did hear voices.

As we eased closer, I gripped my sword.

Three voices. I could pick apart three distinct voices.

“They’re gone, damn it…they’re gone…”

I saw the lip of the pit and my mind tried