“Why would we get separated?” Pamela asked softly.
Will put a hand on her head. “My Destruction are the ones who keep the Druids safe. I’m on the outs with them.”
“Why?” I asked, not wanting any more politics than we already had.
Will shrugged, or I think he did in the dim light. “It’s complicated.”
“Fuck, isn’t it always.”
Will said nothing more and the conversation was over.
I beckoned for Pamela to step back behind me as Will’s body hit the ground. I’d never seen a shifter actually shift and the morbid curiosity had me by the throat for a split second.
“Pamela, turn around,” I said, as a visible tear in the skin along his face appeared. One hand on her shoulder, I tried to turn her alongside me, facing away from Will.
“I can take it,” she said, stiffening beside me.
“It’s not about you. Ever think he might not want an audience?”
She relaxed and turned her back; the rip of flesh was obviously painful if the soft groan he let out was any indication.
We stood there, backs turned to a creature that had skin-rending claws attached to all four limbs. It took everything I had not to grab for one of my swords. A soft whuffle, that noise only cats make, brought my head around.
Will was one big-ass kitty. The outline of his feline black body was barely discernible against the darkness around us.
“You do realize that following a black-as-sin cat in the middle of a stormy night isn’t going to be easy for us?” I grumbled, irritated by the whole situation. I just wanted to get this over with, to get back to London, find O’Shea and then go after Berget.
“I can make a light,” Pamela said, lifting her hand, and I had a vision of the forest burning down around us.
“Wait, you think that’s a good idea?” I put my hand on her arm.
“I can do it,” she snapped, jerking her arm away from me.
I shrugged. “Okay, but try not to burn the forest down.”
Will gave that soft whuffle again several times in a row, almost as if he were laughing.
A bloom of soft pink appeared above Pamela’s head. “There,” she said. “See, it’s not even real fire.”
“Hunky dory,” I grunted. “Let’s go.”#p#分页标题#e#
Will led, Pamela was in the middle with her pink glow ball, and I trailed behind. The deeper we went into the forest, the more my back itched. Like some bad movie cliché; we were being watched. Most likely by Will’s Destruction, if what he was saying was true.
Unable to stand the tension any longer, I loosened up my two swords and slid them noiselessly from their sheaths. It made me feel better to hold the weapons, to know I could use them quickly if need be.
The soft breath of air displaced was the only warning I had. I dropped to my knees and rolled as the creature leapt across me.
“Pamela, get down,” I yelled. Everything happened in a blur. Pamela hit the ground with a scream, her pink light going out, but the creature ignored her. It seemed more intent on our guide than anything.
Scrambling to my feet I ran to Pamela’s side, and helped her up as the screams of two very large cats echoed around us.
“What do we do?” Pamela gasped out.
“Get your light going again, we’ll have to make a run for it.”
“What about Will?” She lifted her hand and light blossomed above us, a pure white cluster of what looked like fireflies.
I slid one sword back into its sheath, grabbed her arm and ran deeper into the forest. “He can take care of himself and he told us we had to book it, so let’s go.”
“The lorry’s the other way.”
“But the Druid is this way.” And above all else, we were going to meet with the Druid. One way or another.
18
Pamela and I were totally and completely turned around. Lost didn’t even begin to cover what we were. I briefly Tracked Will. He was way behind us and going further away. My gut feeling was that he led the other cat further from us to give us a chance. The thing was, I had no way to find the Druid on my own, and fuck me, we couldn’t even find our way back to the damn ‘lorry.’
We were crouched in a cluster of trees, the rain seemingly not inclined to ease up, not even for a second. I wiped my face, wishing for a warm fire and some dry clothes.
Beside me, Pamela shivered violently. I’d already given her my jacket and that had helped, but now that we weren’t moving it was harder to keep warm.
“How . . . long . . . are we going . . . to stay . . . out for?” Pamela’s teeth chattered and even in the dim light I could see how little color her face and lips had.
Through the downpour of rain, the trees were becoming visible, highlighted at the tops from the slowly rising sun.