This Wild Justice: An Urban Fantasy Thriller: Harker & Blackthorn - Book Nine by J.A. Ironside

Author:J.A. Ironside [Ironside, J.A.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Blue Stone Press
Published: 2022-09-06T04:00:00+00:00

Chapter Thirteen -- Little Vixen

It wasn't much of a plan in the end. I knew the Hell Hound would be drawn to the scent of my blood and I hoped if I left a trail, it would ignore Steve and Rebekah and come after me; the more appealing prey, already wounded and unprotected by stinging, mystical barriers. I'd calculated that I just needed to draw the Hell Hound off and stay out of its reach for fifteen minutes. By then the sun would have cleared the high rocky ledges and its light would deter the hound. Probably.

The first part of my plan worked all too well. I didn't dare look back, but the Hell Hound was done playing with its prey. I felt its hot presence breach the stone circle which collapsed into empty heath and then my head-start was all that kept me alive. A howl rent the murky grey pre-dawn and I flinched, unable to shield myself from its effects completely. Hopelessness descended on me, its weight dragging my footsteps. Reality bunched and rippled, before resettling.

I couldn't outrun a Hell Hound. No one could.

What was I thinking? It would catch me and kill me, and if it got through with me quickly enough, it would double back for my friends. Did I really think my pitiful attempt at a folk charm would keep them safe?

My eyes stung, tears trailing down my cheeks, but I put my head down and forced more speed into my legs.

A dark shape surged out of the heath on my right. I flinched, stumbling. Sheer luck prevented me sprawling headlong and even then, I ran an unwieldly three steps with my body bent parallel to the ground before I regained my balance. A low, yelping whimper cut the through the soul tearing howl from the Hell Hound behind me. My heart sank. If there were two of them, any last hope I had was gone. My gaze cut fearfully sideways.

A large black dog gazed at me steadily with intelligent brown eyes. Too intelligent, perhaps. It let out another yip, then billowed into a turn, its shape melting and reforming like smoke. It brushed against my hip as it surged past, arrowing towards the Hell Hound. I gasped at the icy chill which swept over me. No time for questions. The spectral dog seemed to be on my side, and I needed all the help I could get. Ignoring the terrifying snarls and howls that came from behind me as the vaporous black dog and the Hell Hound joined battle, I threw myself into a last, all-out sprint.

In the dim, greyish light, impaired by barely contained panic, I had lost my bearings. A light mist lay over the moor -- natural, not the clinging, silver mist which had announced the Hell Hound's arrival. A huge dark shape loomed out of the vapour. I uttered a thin, breathless cry of fear before it resolved itself into a chunk of granite. Swerving left, I rounded the rock and was confronted by twisting, moss covered tree trunks, coiling away into thick forest.

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