Chapter 39: Chapter 39

Two hell hounds. As Kate would say, of course there had to be two. One just wasn’t challenging enough.

We run in a group, with the werewolves on the outside. Mason tries to lag behind, but he doesn’t try very hard, and I only need to look over my shoulder for him to glower and grumble and catch up. Even he isn’t keen to put himself in the path of two hell hounds.

As the hounds pursue, the spellcasters hide us with fog and blur spells. They don’t bother forcing the beasts to materialize. We can hear them crashing through the forest. That’s all they do, though, and I feel like a rabbit being run to ground. They could catch up. I’m sure of that. But they don’t.

I catch glimpses of Kate’s sweat-streaked face, and I know she’s in pain. Elijah is, too, when I bother to look his way. Whatever his initial game plan with Kate, I grudgingly admit he’s carried his weight in battle. The rest can be tackled later.

So the hounds could catch up. They’re toying with us, and one of the first things we learned from our parents was not to toy with prey. Yes, the chase and the hunt are fun. Exhilarating, adrenaline pumping fun. But you must enjoy that part while your prey still has an actual chance of escape. Once they’re cornered, it doesn’t matter if it’s a mouse or a rabbit or a coyote—you do not prolong the torment.

“I see the cabin!” Kate calls. “Logan? Elijah? Grab sticks if you see them.

Allan and Holly, we’ll need your casting.”

The cabin appears, rising from the forest. We all bear down, finding that last bit of energy as we barrel toward it.

We clamor onto the porch, and Kate starts hammering on the door, trying to smash it down. We form a knot around her, with me and Elijah in front, both brandishing sticks. Mason has one, too, and he’s backed against the spellcasters, letting them work their magic. Fog spells, cover spells, knockbacks and fireballs—they unleash their entire arsenal as the hell hounds snap and lunge at us.

“We’re going to run out of juice soon,” Allan warns.

“I know,” Kate says. “This damned door isn’t budging. Logan?” I flip around and dodge between the two spellcasters.

“Count of three,” I say, and we ram our shoulders against the door simultaneously. Pain shoots through me . . . and the door doesn’t budge.

“Son of a bitch,” Kate snarls.

“Window,” I say, and I shove past Mason to get to the nearest front window. It’s boarded from the inside with simple plywood. I slam my fist into it, pain arcs through my hand while the wood only cracks down the middle.

Okay, not simple plywood. It’s reinforced with two-by-fours. I lift my hand again.

“Stand back,” Kate says, lifting a branch.

She smashes the stick into the wood. It cracks more . . . and the branch snaps in half. She starts battering with the broken branch.

A hiss of pain behind us. Allan staggers, blood dripping from his arm. I grab him as Kate yanks on the broken boards, clearing enough for Allan to scramble through. He falls inside, cursing, but I’m already hefting Holly.

“Mason!” I shout. “I got this.”

“Forget him,” Elijah calls. “Get yourselves inside. That fog is about to disperse and when it does—”

Elijah flies back into the wall with a thud and an oomph, and Kate dives to his rescue. Inside, Holly and Allan must be casting, because I catch a glimpse of black fur, a flash of monstrous fangs. My sister is makes contact with the latter. Elijah and I grab Kate at the same time, and we heave her, still fighting, through the window.

As Kate tumbles into the house, Elijah turns to me with a wide smile and a hand lifted for a high five. I shove him toward the window. He shakes his head and scrambles through. Then I turn to Mason.

“Go on, pup,” he says, not looking my way. “I’ve got this.”

I hoist him by the back of his shirt, ignoring his “Hey!” and his struggles, and I shove him through the window. Inside, Kate hauls him through.

“Let go—” Mason begins, and she does, tossing him unceremoniously aside. Then she reaches through the window, wraps her hands in my shirt front and heaves. As I fly up, the four-inch fangs of a hell hound clamp down on my foot. Pain sears up my calf as I tumble through the window.

“Shit!” Kate drags me away from the window and drops over my leg as red rivulets run down it.

I grit my teeth and pull my leg in, waving off her concern as I push to my feet. We all turn toward the window. Outside, the hounds snarl, and when I ease closer, I see them, half materialized, pacing.

“You know why I wasn’t in a hurry to get inside?” Mason calls from across the small room.

“Because you love us and want to keep us safe?” Kate says.

He snorts. “Because I’m not stupid enough to trap myself in an old wooden house, especially after the big, bad wolves busted open a window big enough for those things to squeeze through. But thanks, pup, for trapping me in here to die with you. I appreciate that.”

Kate pats his shoulder. “Don’t worry. You won’t die, big guy. You get to

come back as a giant mosquito.”

He lifts his middle finger in front of her face.

“Truth,” she says. “However, as you may have noticed, the hounds are not at our door. Or our window. Remember that night you died?”

“You mean last night?”

“Time flies, huh? Well, after you slunk off on Logan—” “I didn’t slink—”

“After you slunk off, the rest of our Scooby gang went exploring. We found this place, which is warded. Now we know what it’s warded against.” She waves outside. “Voila. Thou shalt not cross, hell hounds.”

“Yeah? Well, you know what? We can’t cross either, not with a couple of hell hounds out there. You think demonic beasts get tired? Take naps?”

“You are such a ray of sunshine. You’re lucky my brother feels responsible for you or I’d toss you out for the hounds to chew on.”

“Feels responsible for me?” Mason sputters.

“You didn’t think he was letting you hang around for your charming personality, did you?”

She grins at Mason, who scowls back, and I feel like I’ve missed a joke.

Clearly Kate is teasing Mason, and I’m not sure why.

She walks over and grabs his good arm, and I tense, ready to intercede if he gets pissy. He can mistreat me all he wants, but he’d better not try that with Kate. Especially not when she’s been much more considerate than he deserves.

When she grabs his arm, though, he only shoots me a glare, like this is all my fault. She hauls him to the window and waves out at the prowling hounds. “You really think you’d be better off out there?” she says. “If you do, be

my guest. I’ll keep Logan from stopping you.” He grumbles, nothing intelligible.

“Yeah, that’s what I thought,” she says. “You’re just being a pain in the ass for the sake of being a pain in the ass.”

“No, I’m pointing out the flaws in your plan, Goldilocks. Those wolves are at the door, and they’re not going away.”

“Goldilocks is bears. The three bears.”

“Either way, you’re gonna get eaten. We all are. So is anyone who comes to rescue us.”

“Well, then, it’s a good thing no one will come to rescue us. Did I mention we found our cell phones? They took out the SIM cards. We’re stuck here until we come up with a plan. So how about you brood on that for a while, big guy. Find yourself a corner, and we’ll all stay out of your way while you pretend to be thinking up a plan.”

He glances at the window. “You’re sure it’s safe in here?”

“No, we are not,” I say. “We presume that’s what the warding is for, given that it seems to be working. Time to catch our breath and, as Kate said, come up with a plan.”

“Uh, guys?” Allan says. “I hate to interrupt but . . . I think I know why Kate couldn’t break down the front door.”

“Is it barricaded?” I ask. “You . . . could say that.”

We follow him into the hall. Holly peeks out from a room where she’s been poking around. Elijah is right behind Allan, and he sees the front door first and stops short.

“Holy shit,” he says. “Is that . . .?”

“The reason why we couldn’t get in?” Allan says. “I think so.”

I round the corner into the entry way, and my shoes squeak as I stop. The door is indeed barricaded—thick planks are nailed across it. There’s something nailed to the planks, too. Long white bones.

“Tell me those are deer,” Elijah says.

“No,” Kate says, her gaze rising to the ceiling where human skulls grin down. “I don’t think they are.”

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