One of them put on a burst of speed and got in ahead of me. It turned abruptly, and came straight at me. I put my foot down, intending to run the thing over, but it leapt into the air at the last moment and gained a purchase on the long green bonnet. Its heavy clawed paws scrambled for purchase, but somehow it held its balance, and advanced towards me. Up close, the lack of a head wasn’t the least bit funny. The creature reeked of menace, and bloodlust. I slammed on the brakes, and then jerked the steering wheel hard left and hard right, but it didn’t throw the hound off.
It forced its way forward, jumping up onto the windscreen and blocking my view, its massive front paws holding it in place. The metal frame buckled under the hound’s weight, but the windscreen glass held. I armoured up one hand and arm, and grabbed hold of the hound’s left leg, just above the paw. It felt reassuringly hard and solid and real, in my grasp. I clamped down with all my armoured strength, and the dog howled horribly. I hauled the hound off the bonnet and threw it away. It went tumbling through the air and crashed to the ground yards away, somewhere behind me. And even as I drove on, I couldn’t help but think, How can it howl, when it doesn’t have a head?
I grinned despite myself. These things might be disturbing, and really tough, hard-to-kill sons of bitches, but my armour could still deal with them. It was good to know there was something I could depend on in this ever-changing world.
I realised I’d lost track of the running woman, and looked frantically around for her. She was right ahead of me, running headlong with the complete lack of grace that showed she was on her last legs. As I looked, she fell suddenly, sprawling full length on the muddy ground. I slammed on the brakes and hauled the wheel right round, and the Bentley screeched and churned to a halt just short of her. I had to armour up to protect myself, to keep the seat belts from cutting me in half. I shouted to the young woman to get up and get in the car. She tried to get up, then cried out and fell again. She’d broken something. And the headless hounds were almost upon us.
“They’re coming!” I yelled. “Get in the car! I’ll get you out of here!”
“I can’t!” she yelled back miserably. “Please! I’m hurt! Help me!”
I threw open the driver’s door, the seat belts retracting automatically. I got out of the Bentley and hurried forward to stand between the fallen young woman and the advancing hounds, ready to take them all on, if necessary. And just like that, everything changed. The woman stopped her piteous crying and looked at me with a cold triumph. I stared at her stupidly as she rose easily and unaided to her feet. The headless hounds came running forward to surround us, forming a great circle, cutting off all hope of escape. They didn’t look like pursuers any more. They looked like they’d caught what they were really after. The young woman in her long, shimmering white gown stood before me, tall and arrogant and in command. And I realised at last that she was the bait in the trap, and I was the sucker. I looked back at the Bentley, but several of the headless hounds had already moved in to block the way.
“Kate?” I said, through my torc, “can you hear me?”
But there was no response from my handler. I’d broken the connection when I left the reality generated inside the Bentley. I should have remembered. Never leave the car.
* * *
The young woman seemed to shrug, and her appearance changed in a moment. She was still tall and slender, but now she was wearing black motorcycle leathers—jacket and jeans and boots—covered with steel studs. Her face was high-boned and narrow, with her long, straight black hair hanging down on either side of it, and her skin was unnaturally pale. Her eyes glowed golden, without any trace of pupil, and her ears were pointed. If all that hadn’t been enough, the aristocratic arrogance that she radiated would itself have marked her as an elf. She smiled at me with slow, cold satisfaction at having put something over on a mere human. Elves live to mess with humans; it’s all they’ve got left.