“No, it doesn’t,” Bale agreed.
When the mist rose to my knees, I almost grasped Hawk’s arm, but I restrained myself. I wasn’t a scared little damsel in distress. I was a trained killer, and this wasfog.But the fog was so thick that it was impossible to see more than five feet ahead of me. It also distorted and muffled all sound. When Hawk stepped on a branch, it sounded as if it were coming from my left and farther away, but it was coming from a few feet directly behind me.
With the fog distorting our senses, we would be more vulnerable in this place. And then, one of the hounds growled.
Corson stopped, and his earring spun in his ear as he turned his head toward the hound. The hair on the hound’s back rose as it stared at something to my left. I pulled my gun free.
“Shit,” Wren muttered.
When the hound growled again, the others prowled closer to it, and Corson turned to Wren. “Stay here.”
When he walked away from her, she grabbed for him, but he’d already moved beyond her reach. She started after him as Corson approached the hound. Then, through the swirling fog, figures emerged.
I raised my gun and gripped it in both hands while holding it before me; I’d prefer my enemies didn’t know I had the weapon until I put a bullet in them.
“Hello,” a beautiful, melodic voice called.
Corson didn’t relax, and the hackles on the hounds rose as the fog parted to reveal one of the most gorgeous women I’d ever seen. Her golden-blonde hair swayed against her hips as it spilled in thick waves down her back. Her blue eyes were so vivid they pierced through the mist gliding across her perfect features.
Her body would stop most men and women in their tracks, and she emphasized it with form-fitting pants and a shirt that looked about to bust open over her breasts. A smile curved her lips as she stopped walking and jutted out a hip.
Despite her beauty, what lay beneath her surface was something so hideous it caused bile to rise in my throat.
Her soul wasn’t a light anymore; it had twisted itself into a malformed beast with two glowing, yellow eyes. Its head kind of resembled a Doberman, but it was far more revolting than that beautiful dog. The flesh of the dog thing’s muzzle had been stripped away to reveal all its pointed teeth, and it surveyed us with the calculation of something seeking to devour us.
I’d seen many corrupted souls over the years, but only one came close to this level of hideousness. That soul belonged to a man who went to church every Sunday, played against my dad’s softball team, worked at the factory, and was always seen laughing and slapping his friends on their backs. He hung out at the local bar, volunteered at the food pantry, and was an all-around great guy… who terrified me.
I was only three when I first encountered him at a bake sale for our church. He wasn’t a parishioner there, but his wife made some cookies for the sale anyway. My mom said I screamed so loud and cried so much when I met him, they had to take me home. My parents didn’t understand why I was rambling about a monster living inside the man, but they kept me away from him anyway.
Thankfully, I didn’t see him again until he started playing in the same softball league as my dad. I was seven, and by then, my parents and I knew I was different. When I saw him this time, I could articulate there was somethingwrong with him instead of screaming about a monster. I could tell they wanted to believe me, but by all accounts, he was a great guy who was a pillar of the community.
Three years later, the police led him away in handcuffs for doing things to his daughters that no child should have to endure. Then the FBI went in, raided his house, and pulled out boxes of pictures and videos. The community was stunned; it couldn’t be true, he was such a great guy, but the life sentence with no chance of parole calmed the chatter.
And now, I was staring at a woman who had me on the verge of screamingmonsterall over again. My finger twitched on my gun and slid toward the trigger. I was better off putting a bullet in her head right now, but before I could pull the trigger, six more figures emerged from the mist. None of them were as corrupted as she was, but maliciousness tinted every one of their souls.
They’re humans, but as I thought it the fog shifted around us until the whirling, disorienting pattern caused me to sway. I closed my eyes but quickly opened them again. I didn’t dare take my attention off the woman who was smiling at Hawk in a way that made me want to rip her mongrel soul out of her body.
Chapter Twenty-One
Hawk
I stepped closer to Aisling when more people emerged from the fog, but my gaze returned to the woman at the front of the group. She oozed sex as her eyes ran over me, and she smiled before licking her lips. I didn’t smile back.
Usually, a woman like her would have excited me, especially since I was hungry, but the idea of touching her repulsed me. Something was not right here; I had to get Aisling away from this woman and this place.
“Who are you?” Lix demanded as he pulled his sword from his back.
“I’m Amber,” she said. If she was surprised to find herself talking to a walking skeleton, she kept it hidden. But, if she lived in the Wilds, nothing probably surprised her anymore. “And you are?”
“A Guardian of the Gates.”
I’d never heard Lix give this response to someone. It was true; before humans tore a hole into Hell and blew it open, the skelleins had guarded the gateways to Hell with the hounds and the varcolac demon. The first step to passing through the gates was to have the balls to approach the skelleins; the second was to answer their riddle.
“I see,” Amber murmured before she looked questioningly at the rest of us. No one offered their name. “And what are you doing in our valley?”
Aisling shifted beside me, and her lips compressed into a flat line. I’d never seen the hardness in her eyes before. Her finger rested against the trigger of her gun, and something about her demeanor said she was close to firing it.
“What areyoudoing in this valley?” Wren countered. “I didn’t see any sign of Wilders in the area.”
