The Hunt (18 page)

‘Alpha dog!’ she exclaimed.

Luke’s eyes brightened. He immediately grasped what she meant. ‘Yes!’ he exclaimed. ‘When the alpha was injured and left the clearing, the other wargs went with it. So we really don’t have to fight all of them’ – he swept his arm at the waiting hellhounds – ‘only the alpha.’

‘But how can we tell which one that is? They all look alike.’ Jess swallowed hard enough for Eve to hear it. ‘And there are so, so many of them.’

‘They don’t
act
alike. The alpha will be the one that leads the attack. We can use that,’ Luke said.

‘Um, problem,’ Jess said. ‘Is it really going to help us to ID the alpha when it’s
leading an attack
? Seems a little late to me.’

‘The attack won’t be on all of us. It will be on me,’ Luke said. ‘I’ll go down there as bait.’

‘No!’ Eve yelped, her imagination supplying a picture of Luke lying on the ground, his body mauled, the hellhounds lapping up his blood, his life force.

‘What else is there to do?’ Luke asked. ‘Look at all of them. The only way we’re going to have a shot is to target the alpha.’ He rushed on before Eve could protest. ‘I’ll go down there. The alpha will lead the attack on me. As soon as it’s clear which one it is, you blast it.’

‘And afterwards I’ll take you home and put a mango-butter hair masque on you. You’re getting a little frizz, the way you do when you zap,’ Jess offered. Her voice quivered a little, but she managed to smile at Eve.

Eve’s heart constricted. Jess was the best best friend imaginable. Eve had to fight demons? Jess was there. Even with no powers of her own to protect her. ‘I love you,’ she told her friend. ‘You too, Luke.’

It was true. Yeah, he was a player. Yeah, he wasn’t interested in her like that. But that didn’t have anything to do with the kind of love for him that was flooding through her.

‘Me too. Both of you,’ Luke answered. ‘OK, I’m going down there. You ready?’ he asked Eve.

‘What should I do?’ Jess asked. ‘Besides the masque when we’re done, obviously.’

‘
Please
just stay up here, Jess,’ Eve pleaded. ‘I have to concentrate on bringing down the alpha. I don’t want
to worry about what’s happening to you. And you know I would.’

Jess nodded. ‘OK. You’ve convinced me. I didn’t really want to go down there anyway, but I would have if you needed me to. Luke, you have the sword, so it’ll be good.’

‘Wait!’ Eve burst out. ‘You can’t use the sword – not until we figure out which one is the alpha. If you start off by attacking, all the wargs will attack – just in selfdefence. Like they did with Payne. It won’t tell us anything.’ Thank God she’d realized in time. If Luke was going to put himself in horrible danger, it had to at least be for a good reason.

‘I’ll wait until the alpha shows itself,’ Luke promised. He walked to the far end of the roof, as far as he could get from the pack of hellhounds. None of the demon dogs tracked him. They stood where they were, intently focused on Eve. She crouched down, ready to blast her power as soon as she spotted the alpha. She wasn’t sure exactly what the range of the lightning bolts was. Could she even hit the alpha from the roof? She’d just have to hurl the power out with everything she had – and hope.

‘Hey, mutts! The dog catcher’s here!’ Luke yelled, then leaped.

Eve’s eyes jerked over the pack. A couple of the wargs turned their heads towards Luke, but none of them made a move. Luke put one hand on the hilt of the sword, but made no move to pull it free. He simply looked at the wargs, waiting.

The demon dogs continued to hold their focus on Eve, their muscles tense with anticipation.

‘Uh, hello? Right here!’ Luke shouted. ‘Come and get me.’

The ear of one warg twitched. That was the only response Eve could see. It was like on Friday night. ‘It’s like in the clearing. They only cared about Vic, unless someone else was attacking them,’ she said.

‘Now they only care about you, Eve,’ Jess said softly. ‘Look at them. They’re all staring at you, right at you.’

‘Helena tells them who to feed on,’ Eve answered. ‘She admitted it. That was her deal with the wargs.’ Her mouth and throat started to go dry as she spoke the words.

‘And Helena ordered to them to ki— to get you. Not Luke,’ Jess said. ‘That’s why they don’t care about him.’

‘This plan won’t work then,’ Eve said desperately. ‘Maybe I should jump down there. I can try to kill the alpha before it gets to me.’

‘It won’t work. They’re watching the tiniest move you make,’ Jess told her. ‘The second you even start to jump, they’ll pounce. By the time you land, the alpha will be on you already. You won’t have time to get your power going.’

‘I’ve got to do
something
,’ Eve said.

‘Come here.’ Jess grabbed Eve’s arm and pulled her back, away from the edge of the roof and over to the chimney that rose up from the centre of the house. They couldn’t see the hellhounds from here, and judging by the sudden bellowing and barking the hellhounds couldn’t see them either. ‘I might have an idea,’ Jess said. ‘Trade coats with me.’

Eve didn’t like where it seemed this plan of Jess’s was going. ‘Jess …’

‘I can be the bait instead of Luke,’ Jess told her. ‘In your coat, I’ll smell like you.’

‘Jess …’ Eve began again, but Jess wouldn’t let her interrupt.

‘I know, I know. Those are demons we’re dealing with. But they are a lot like dogs, huge scary dogs with huge scary teeth and claws,’ Jess continued. ‘They aren’t that smart. The alpha’s a little smarter, but it’s taking commands from Helena. How smart can it be?’

Eve gave a snort of laughter – almost hysterical
laughter, but still laughter. It dried up when Jess reached for the zipper on Eve’s pink jacket. ‘Jess, no—’

‘Come on. I promise not to get it dirty,’ Jess said. ‘Unlike the Zac Posen blouse with the organza collar that you borrowed and spilled salad dressing on.’ She put her hands on Eve’s shoulders. ‘Luke’s down there with the sword. You’ll be right behind me with your fingers. This is a good idea. It’s more than a good idea. It’s our best chance.’

Eve tried to think of an alternative plan, but nothing came to her. She slowly unzipped her jacket and traded it for Jess’s black sateen one. They turned round and went back to the edge, hand in hand.

‘Luke!’ Eve called. When he looked up, she pointed to her jacket and then Jess’s, hoping he’d understand the new plan.

‘I’m coming down,’ Jess added. She turned to Eve. ‘Don’t worry. I’m a cheerleader – strong, flexible and able to scream really loudly.’ She illustrated by screaming really loudly as she jumped off the roof.

Eve’s heart gave a desperate thump as she watched her best friend fall. She tried to look at all the demon dogs at once, feeling her power pulse inside her, hot and ready. She couldn’t think about Jess. She had to find the alpha.

One warg tilted back its head and sniffed the air. Was that it? Was that the alpha?

Her question was answered when the hellhound gave a bellow and ran at Jess. Eve aimed her hands at it. When the lightning bolts burst from her fingers, they were edged with pure blue flames.
This is going to work!
Eve thought.

But before the bolts drove into the alpha, the hellhound leaped into the air, going for Jess’s throat. Eve jerked her hands, trying to follow the warg’s trajectory. She winced as the bolts hit one of the columns on the porch, but she managed to redirect them in time to strike the alpha on the flank. Eve hadn’t killed it, but she’d knocked it off course, throwing it to the ground before it could touch Jess.

Her power churned inside her, molten now. She felt the burn of it, but it didn’t bring any pain. Instead it brought strength and energy. Eve aimed her hands at the alpha as it struggled to its feet. ‘This time you die,’ she muttered.

But just as she threw out her hands she heard a horrible cracking sound. The column she’d hit with her power had snapped in half, and the section of roof under her feet was giving way. Eve was thrown off balance, her power shooting out harmlessly into the air.

She started to slide. She’d landed on her back and was moving fast. In a few seconds she’d reach the edge and plummet to the ground. Eve flipped onto her stomach, then struggled to shove herself to her knees. But before she could, her feet slid all the way off the roof.

Eve tried to dig her fingernails into the shingles, but she couldn’t get a grip. Her knees were off the roof now, her thighs, her belly. If she hit the ground, the plan would be ruined. The wargs would get her scent, and it would be so much stronger than the scent coming from the coat Jess was wearing.

Her chest was off now. Her shoulders. But before she dropped to the ground she was able to grab the rain gutter with one hand. She had to get back up on the roof. What was happening with Jess and Luke? Her back was to the yard and she couldn’t see them or the wargs.

Eve managed to get her other hand on the rain gutter. She struggled to pull herself up. Why, oh why, hadn’t she done more pull-ups in her life?

The gutter buckled, then cracked, and Eve was falling again. She gasped as she hit the ground. Pain raced up one leg, but she ignored it and jumped to her feet. She expected the alpha to come rushing at
her, but the whole pack was on the move, galloping across the yard.

Galloping after Jess.

Jess sprinted through the front gate. Luke was right behind her. And the entire pack of hellhounds was right behind them both.

Eve took off after Luke and Jess. Maybe she could run fast enough to circle around the pack and zap the alpha. She quickly realized that would be impossible. The pack was halfway down the block. Eve’s lungs and legs were straining and she was only moving fast enough to keep them in sight.

She couldn’t see her friends. There were a hundred hellhounds between her and Luke and Jess. Not knowing what was happening to them made Eve feel crazy with fear. At least Luke had the sword. Eve had sent her best friend into a pack of demons with no protection. What had she been thinking?

And what had Helena been thinking, to let the wargs into their world? How could anyone be so selfish? She’d put the whole town in danger just so she could do things like punish an unfaithful boyfriend. That was more than selfish. Luke was right. It was
evil. Helena was as evil as the demons themselves.

Sparks crackled from Eve’s fingers as she thought about Helena. She forced her power down. She couldn’t waste even a little of it venting her anger at Helena, or at herself for putting Jess’s life on the line.

Eve was gaining on the hellhounds now. It took her a few moments to realize that the reason she was closing in on them was because they had stopped. She moved around the side of the pack, straining to see.

‘Not good,’ she breathed when she spotted Luke with his back pressed against a tree at the edge of the woods. He was whipping the sword from side to side, barely managing to keep the demons a few feet back. Jess was perched in the branches above him. The hellhounds had them cornered, their baying rising to an unholy pitch.

Thank God Luke has the sword
, Eve thought. But her mind provided a picture of Payne fighting with that same sword. He was an experienced demon fighter, and a hellhound had killed him. What chance did Luke have?

He has me
, Eve reminded herself.
The Deepdene Witch
. And unlike on the night in the clearing, she still had power. She wouldn’t let anything happen to Luke and Jess. She would
not
.

She’d reached the front of the pack. They hadn’t noticed her. The wind had picked up. Maybe that was keeping her scent from them. Eve could see the alpha. Her lightning bolt had singed the hair off part of its flank. The bare skin, red and sore-looking, was easy to spot against the demon dog’s black coat. The creature was positioned right in front of Luke, inches away from the reach of the sword.

Eve raised her hands, flexing them to stop them trembling. She would only have one shot at this. If she missed, the alpha would have the whole pack on her. She took aim.

‘Boo!’

Eve dropped her hands and whipped her head towards the sound. Helena had appeared beside her, riding on the back of one of the largest hellhounds. ‘This is going to be even more delicious than I thought,’ Helena told Eve. ‘I get to watch you watch your friends die. And then I get to watch you die yourself. Fun!’

Don’t listen to her
, Eve told herself. She turned back to the pack. It took her a second to spot the alpha again. When she found it, its head was raised and it was sniffing. Its tongue slipped out and flicked back and forth as though the demon were tasting the air.

Eve’s heart gave a painful double thump, then began beating twice as fast as before. She slowly raised her arms, not wanting to draw attention to herself with a sudden motion. As she took aim on the alpha, it turned its head towards her – along with every other hellhound.

They’ve spotted me
, she realized.
They know I’m the one they really want
.

The alpha took a few steps towards Eve, and the entire pack swung round to follow it. Eve’s hands were shaking so hard that her aim was jumping from demon to demon. She
had
to hit the alpha.

The alpha’s muscles bunched as it broke into a run, kicking up the fallen leaves as it moved faster than it should have been able to, even with its long, powerful legs. Jess gave a shriek of terror. If the alpha killed Eve, it would mean death for Luke and Jess too. Helena wanted them all dead. She’d turn the wargs on them as soon as Eve was taken care of.

Eve narrowed her focus to the two gleaming red orbs that were the alpha’s eyes. The beast was so close she could smell its rancid breath. She thrust out her hands, putting every molecule of her body behind the power as she let it fly. The lightning bolts lit up the night. The burst was so strong that the recoil
knocked her to the ground.

She scrambled up, searching for the alpha. It lay at her feet, a raw red hole between its eyes. Eve noticed that the fire had gone out of them. They were empty and black now.

‘Poor boo-boo.’ Helena climbed off her mount and knelt beside the alpha. She stroked its coarse black hair, then looked up at Eve. ‘But it doesn’t matter. I have lots more.’ She rose to her feet and smiled. ‘Kill her!’ she ordered the pack, pointing at Eve.