Closing his eyes, he gave a brisk nod beforeturning to gather our things again.
“Kobal.” He glanced at me over the set of hisrigid shoulder. “Icandothis.”
“I know you can.”
“Then relax a little.”
I walked over to stand before him. My fingerstrailed across his taut skin and across the markings and flames onhis arms. Those marks undulated beneath my touch when sparksflickered from the tips of my fingers. His skin warmed and hisbreath froze when I caressed the fresh bite mark I’d left on hisshoulder. I rose on my toes to kiss his lips when motion to myright caught my attention. Frowning, I dropped down to stare at thespectral vision in the tree line.
“Angela,” I whispered.
Kobal spun away from me, throwing his arm outto push me back from the nonexistent threat. I grasped his forearm,pushing it down as I stared at the girl. Through her body, I couldsee the young saplings of the forest and the underbrush lining thefloor. She remained unmoving, her blonde hair falling about hershoulders and her green eyes somberly watching us. Kobal’s headmoved as he searched the forest for her.
“You don’t see her either,” I murmured.
“Who?” he demanded, his fangs extended andhis eyes a molten gold.
“The little girl. She’s standing right infront of us, watching us. At first, I’d assumed she was a figmentof my imagination when I saw her from the house. Then, I assumedshe was maybe some kind of ghost, but she’s also more colorful thanany ghost, and if you can’t see her…” My voice trailed off as Itried to puzzle that part out.
“Why didn’t you tell me about her?”
“She’s not a bad thing.”
“You can’t know that.”
My fingers dug into his arm until he turnedto look at me. “Ican.”
His muscles relaxed a little, but I couldstill feel the hostility thrumming through his body when he turnedto look at where I’d indicated. “Do you still see her?” heinquired.
“Yes.”
As I watched, Angela lifted her arm andpointed toward where we had left the others. My heart plummetedinto my shoes. “We have to get back to the others!” I blurted. Hebent to retrieve our bags, but I snatched hold of his hand. “Now,we have to get backnow.”
Releasing his hand, I spun away and rantoward the camp. I ignored the underbrush and trees tearing at mypants and shirt as I leapt over fallen debris and dodged obstaclesin my way. Kobal stayed beside me, but he was far faster and couldget to them before me.
“Leave me!” I cried as his hand shot out tostop a tree branch from slapping me in the face.
“Never.”
“Kobal, you must. Something’s wrong.”
“Did you have a vision?”
Maybe that was what little Angela was. Maybemy visions had chosen a new way to manifest themselves in her. “Ijustknow!”
The second the words left my mouth, gunfiretore through the air and screams shattered the still night. Mylungs burned and my legs felt like rubber, but I kept pushingmyself forward. “Go!” I shouted at him.
Instead of leaving me, he spun around, seizedmy waist, and lifted me. My legs instinctively locked around hiswaist, and my chest molded against his as his long legs ate away atthe ground between us and the camp. I kept my head buried in hisshoulder to avoid the branches slapping and tearing at me.
Despite the extra burden of carrying me, he’dbarely broken a sweat by the time we burst free of the trees, andhis breath was no faster than normal. I lifted my head to take inthe unfamiliar figures darting in and out of the trees as thehumans fired at them and the demons clashed against the ones theycould catch. The features and figures of the attackers wereobscured by the blood-red cloaks covering them from head totoe.
Kobal pounded across the earth as moregunfire erupted. I spotted Hawk lunging at one of the figures whohad their arms around someone else. He bared his teeth as he leaptagain, but the figure swung out an arm, knocking him aside.
Vargas jumped into the fight to try to help,but before he could get more than two feet, he was slammed into theground by another figure. A spate of gunfire filled the air. Thecreature on Vargas howled and jumped away before fleeing into thetrees.
“Hold on!” Kobal grated in my ear beforethrowing out his arm.
Fire shot from his fingertips, blazing acrossthe earth and blasting into one of the hooded creatures. It howledin agony, its body going up like tinder. I gawked at where it hadbeen standing less than a second before, but didn’t get much timeto stare as Kobal came to an abrupt halt and released another wallof flame at the fleeing creatures.
