Laughter filled the woods as the twin warriors moved to stand side-by-side in front of me. Seamus and Niall were so identical that I doubted even their mother could tell them apart. They were the same size with bright green eyes, spiky red hair, and boyishly handsome faces. Right now they sported identical smirks.
“Now where would you be off to on this fine day?” asked the one I thought was Niall.
“Just taking a walk and I was already heading back. You can go back to patrolling or whatever it is you do out here.”
“Well, unless you are planning to spend the night in the mountains, you’re headed in the wrong direction,” said the other who might or might not be Seamus.
Mountains? I must have been thrown off by all the weirdness I’d been experiencing a little while ago. It wasn’t like me to get turned around in the woods.
“Come on, back you go.” The twins moved to flank me, and I held up a hand to stop them.
“I can make it back on my own. Just point me in the right direction.”
“Sorry, lass, we have our orders.”
“Oh come on, you guys, not again.” My plea fell on deaf ears, and I found myself being escorted along a trail I hadn’t even known was there. The twins were watchful as if danger was hiding behind every tree, walking with me between them like a wayward child . . . or a prisoner.
“I was only getting some fresh air. You can stop treating me like I’m some fugitive.”
The twin on my right spoke – I’d given up trying to tell them apart. “Isn’t that what she said the first time, brother?”
“Aye, and we were near fool enough to be taken in by that sweet smile.”
“That was over a week ago. How long are you going to hold that against me?”
“And what about three days ago?” asked the twin on my left.
“I told you I just wanted to hang out by the lake for a while. Where is the harm in that?”
The right twin snickered. “Like the last time you went to hang out by a lake, huh?”
“How do you know about that?”
He gave me a lopsided grin. “We’ve heard lots of stories about you.”
“Which is why you won’t be pulling the same trick with us,” added his brother. “Though I am starting to feel a wee bit sympathetic to those guys.”
The trees thinned and I saw the stone walls of the sprawling building I now called home. We passed the edge of the woods and stepped onto the wide green lawn. “I think I can make it from here,” I told them.
Neither of them took the hint, and they stayed on either side of me as we walked toward the building. I folded my arms and went with them. No one had told me when I came here that being under Mohiri protection meant being treated like someone in a juvenile detention center. The twins were always good-natured about it, but they were still my guards no matter how you looked at it.
We neared the courtyard outside the training wing where two men stood talking, and as we approached they turned to watch us with knowing looks. Two more men walked around a corner, and I recognized them as Callum and the blond man who had shown up in training earlier. Callum gave me an amused nod, but the blond man’s expression was unreadable.
I pulled away from the twins without a word and marched toward the door, trying to hide my anger and embarrassment. I’d promised to give this place a try, but I couldn’t take much more of this. If this was going to be my life from now on, I wanted out.
I was almost at the stone archway of the courtyard when I heard shouts and saw the two men in the courtyard staring behind me with horrified expressions. What now? My heart raced as I whirled, expecting to find an army of vampires descending upon us.
At first, all I saw was Seamus and Niall drawing their swords along with Callum and his companion. “Run, lass!” yelled one of the twins. He jerked his head to the left to look at something. I followed his gaze and gasped at the sight of two monstrous creatures bearing down on us.
Bearing down on me.
Chapter 2
THE WARRIORS FORMED a defensive line in front of me a second before I realized what I was seeing. The creatures were coal black and so big they made a Great Dane look like a lap dog. Their huge jaws opened wide to reveal massive fangs.
The last time I had seen these two beasts had been over a month ago in the wine cellar of a mansion in Portland, and they looked just as ferocious in the sunlight as they had in the dimly lit cellar. Back then, I’d used my power to soothe them, but from the looks of them they were not so friendly anymore. All I could do was stand and watch huge claws gouge the ground and saliva flying from snarling jaws as the hellhounds thundered toward us.
The four men in front of me raised their weapons, and my mouth went dry with fear. My knowledge of hellhounds was very limited, and I had no idea if the Mohiri were even a match for the powerful beasts. I didn’t think my power was going help much this time.