Clasping Aisling’s elbow, I pulled her against my side as we started forward again. They had targeted her, and there was no way I would let one of these teeth-clattering fucks get their hands on her. They were humans; if there were no fog covering them, we could take them out without a problem, but this was their world, and they were using it to their advantage.
More shadows slid through the fog, but they didn’t try to attack us again. Most of the hounds stayed close to us, but some of them vanished into the mist before reappearing again. The clattering of the teeth didn’t ease until it abruptly silenced.
Aisling stepped closer as the fog shut out all sounds of the world beyond it. Behind me, a hound emerged from the mist while in front of us two materialized. They fell into step beside Corson and Bale and directed them toward the right.
The mist lifted so suddenly that I recoiled from the sudden influx of light and squinted against the sun. I kept Aisling moving forward as I turned toward the fog. A tendril brushed against my cheek, and I thought the chattering resumed, but it was difficult to tell as, outside the mist, a rush of sound returned. The singing of the birds and the squirrels jumping from tree to tree grated against my previously dulled eardrums.
I watched to make sure no one followed us from the fog; I didn’t see anyone, but I could still feel their eyes following our every movement. I didn’t have to see them to know they weren’t happy about our escaping them.
“Whatwasthat?” Wren asked.
“Just another part of Hell on Earth,” Lix said as he uncapped his flask and gulped some down.
“But they were human, or they had souls…” Aisling’s brow furrowed as she pondered this. “I guess you could call them souls anyway, but they could have been like me or Wren and Hawk.”
Lix recapped his flask and returned it to where it hung on his waist. “And they’ve discovered a way to trap and kill others.”
“But could one of them create the fog?” Wren asked. “It’s definitelynotnatural.”
“Yes, and it was probably Amber who created it,” Corson said. “Humans have abilities, such as Aisling’s talent for seeing souls, and many demons and angels have different talents. Some demons can control the elements. Besides, anything is possible now that Hell has come to Earth.”
Chapter Twenty-Two
Aisling
Caim was leaning against a tree when we arrived at the top of the next mountain. He had his black wings folded behind him and his arms over his chest as he smiled grimly before waving a hand at the valley below us. “Aren’ttheya bunch of assholes?”
I cast a nervous glance into the valley below us. The wall of fog shimmered in the sun, but nothing followed us, and it wasn’t expanding. Still, I didn’t like being this close to it or the vile people inside it. I wouldn’t relax until we were miles away from Amber and her crew.
“You could have warned us,” Corson said.
“I didn’t get the chance. I got a little lost in the fog, as did the horsemen. I landed to try to get a better view, and that was when I met Amber and her bunch of merry fucking nutsos. You were already in the fog by the time I came out. Instead of getting lost in there again, I figured you were at least smart enough to find your way out and, my goodness, so you have!” Caim exclaimed; Corson glared at him.
“Where are the horsemen?” Bale asked.
“Where indeed,” Caim murmured. “They went into the fog, and I went in after them. I’m the only one I saw come out. Personally, I think those assholes down there are working with them. I’ve searched the mountain for the past hour, but I can’t find any sign of them.”
“Youlostthem?” Corson accused.
Caim blinked at him before replying very slowly. “They went into the fog. I went in after them. They disappeared. I. Can’t. Find. Them.”
Corson scowled at him, but Caim pretended not to notice the furious glint in his eyes or the blood dripping from his talons as he yawned and scratched the ear of one of the hounds.
“Now, what do we do?” Wren asked as she rested her hand on Corson’s arm. He visibly relaxed beneath her touch, but his anger still simmered beneath the surface.
Caim glanced at the sky. “I’ll keep searching for them, but…”
“But?” Hawk prodded when Caim stopped speaking.
“But I don’t think I’m going to have much luck,” Caim finished.
I glanced back at the mist. “Do you think they’re still in the fog?”
“I don’t know,” Caim said, “but I don’t think so. If the horsemen are working with them, then it was to distract me, which they succeeded at doing. They would have used that distraction to get as far from me as possible.”
“If they were still in the fog, the hounds would know,” Corson said. “It probably distorted their senses too, but they would have detected the horsemen. I think Caim’s right; I think they used it as an opportunity to lose him.”
“Then we have to find them again,” Bale said. “Let’s go.”
