Out of House and Home (Fred the Vampire Accountant Book 7) by Drew Hayes

Author:Drew Hayes [Hayes, Drew]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2021-06-22T22:00:00+00:00

6

We’d been going for around another fifteen minutes when the first howl came. Initially, it sounded like the wind was picking up, until the note continued to rise in pitch and fury, building to a crescendo that was more roar than anything else. Hard as I strained to listen, there was no telling exactly where it came from through the storm. Our pursuer might lie in any direction.

“Sounds like we’re dealing with a bear, I guess?” Troy suggested. There was a franticness in his eyes, one I’d seen before in Charlotte Manor. It was the face of a man desperate to cling to reality, aware that his grip was starting to falter.

Felisa shook her head. “I’ve been camping and hiking since I could walk and have heard many a bear. That is not what they sound like.”

“Also feel reasonably certain they can’t lift, aim, and throw pieces of machinery,” Ethel added. “We keep breezing over that, don’t we?”

Troy paused to adjust his grip on Alonso, the third time he’d done so in the past few minutes. He was clearly getting tired, they all were. None had been dressed for prolonged exposure to a snowstorm. If we didn’t reach safety soon, our attacker might not prove to be their greatest threat. Despite the evident weariness, Troy still kept his voice steady. “It was probably trying to rip into a food pouch and rolled away the snowmobile, just happened to be in our direction.”

“You call that a roll? It literally flew through the air. I heard it whistle.” Ethel’s eyes shifted from Troy, her current partner, to me, the only other person here she’d known before the day’s start. “How about you, Fred? Think we’re dealing with a rogue bear?”

“I’m not sure what is out there,” I replied quite honestly. “All I know is that, based on that sound, we haven’t lost it yet.”

No response this time. Although, in fairness to Ethel, that was probably because we heard another howl tearing through the night. Like the first, it was still too hard to pin down, but there was one discernable difference. The noise had gotten louder, meaning we were either dealing with an expert ventriloquist capable of throwing their voice, or, more likely, our pursuer had drawn closer. Without another word, we hustled forward, exhaustion shoved aside by the humans as they soldiered on.

It wasn’t until I spotted the next tree marker on our path that we paused for a few minutes. Determination was well and good, but they were still bound by physical limits. Occasional rest was essential, especially at this particular marker. Based on my mental map, there was only one more small chunk of forest left before it had appeared to break into nothing more than a few scattered trees. Getting to the Clyne home would mean crossing a section of open snowfield, one where we’d have no cover from the storm or whatever unseen presence wished to do us harm. Our only option at that point would be

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