On My Way - Eve Langlais Page 0,71

my head, closed my eyes, and prayed. “Please don’t let me die.”

It was a pretty basic prayer.

“Shoot them!” Kane yelled.

“Shoot what?” I squinted open an eye, saw the tentacle reaching for me, squeaked, and blue balls of light burst out of me. My hands, to be more precise. I was a freaking light cannon.

Kind of cool, I had to admit. With unexpected results.

They smacked into the blob monster, and it uttered some kind of warbling cry before sinking into the lake.

Kane whirled to face me. “We have to get to your house. It has the wards to protect you.”

A plan that coincided with my own, only with one flaw.

“Wolves!” I panted, trying to aim my hands at anything but him. How did I turn them off?

“You mean the infernum canibus.”

“Whatever they are, they’re hungry.” And smart. After all, it wasn’t as if I could be attacked by normal dogs. Oh no. These guys had to be magical. Look at the way they waited out of reach of the lake monster, and now that it was gone, they slunk for us. Slowly.

With premeditation.

They knew they didn’t have to chase us, because we’d have to confront them if we wanted to find safety. Why chase us when we’d go to them?

Kane ran right for the biggest one. “Follow me.”

As if I’d stay behind alone. He swung his sword as he ran for the beast, which made me wonder, did he always have one with him? How did he hide it?

The wolves scattered, only so they could surround him and dart in to nip. Each time my heart stuttered, but somehow Kane danced out of their path, swinging the blade. Yet he never really connected. The wolves harried him more than anything.

As for me, they remained at bay, probably because I held my arms out to each side, showing off the glowing palms.

“Be afraid, hounds of hell,” I muttered, trying to find courage in the statement.

“They’re herding us somewhere,” Kane said.

“That doesn’t sound good.” Wasn’t that how the farmers culled their stock? “Follow me!” I took the lead.

I don’t know who was more surprised, me or Kane. Especially since I ran with my eyes closed toward the biggest wolf, hands held out. Probably not the smartest thing, but I just couldn’t watch myself possibly running to my death.

I stayed alive.

Never even had to fight. My glowing hands opened a path through the wolves, and soon we were running on the beach. For a while, the wolves kept pace but didn’t attack. That fact and the stitch in my side caused me to slow.

Kane noticed. “We have to keep moving quickly.”

“Says the guy who probably goes to the gym every day,” I grumbled, bent over in half, lungs heaving.

“You won’t be able to hold them off forever,” he said.

The remark made me realize my hands had faded since the big fight. “I know.”

We began running again, and my hands dimmed some more. The wolves strayed closer, weaving back and forth, taunting us with their presence.

The glow in my hands extinguished, and that might have been a bad thing except I saw a tree I knew. More important, it marked the edge of my property. A few acres all told, with five hundred feet of shoreline. I was almost home.

The wolves disappeared.

Not all at once, but by the time we reached the tree, they’d left us. I felt energized the moment I set foot on my property. Maybe there was something to the expression about feeling a connection to the land.

“They won’t follow you here,” Kane stated.

“Why would they pursue us for over a mile then suddenly stop?”

“Because.”

“Because is not an answer,” I tartly stated. “You know what those things are. I heard you back there calling them infernal cannibal something.”

“Infernum canibus. More commonly known as the dogs of hell.”

“And the thing in the lake?”

He shrugged. “That is a new one.”

“You don’t sound surprised. Why?”

“Because.” A non-answer as he sheathed his sword down his back.

Still very cool but it wasn’t enough to curb my annoyance. “What is going on? Who are you? Why do you run around in the woods with a sword, fighting monsters?”

“Swords are quieter than guns.”

I blinked. “That is the dumbest answer ever. I want to understand what’s happening to me.”

“There are things you don’t know.”

“No shit, Sherlock. It would help if people, present company included, would tell me. What’s happening?” I grumbled.

“There are reasons for why you can’t know.”

“According to you. I’m sick of the secrets in this town.” I glared