Of course it hadn’t done so in a dozen years, not since his powers had been taken from him. Foolish, wishful thinking to hope that he’d have access to those lost abilitiesnow. Of course, the last time he’d faced a pack of hell hounds, he’d been in full possession of his powers, but now...
“We are going to have to run hell for leather,” he said quietly to his friend.
“What the devil is that?” Daniel asked, his gaze trained on a set of glowing eyes down the darkened path ahead.
“I would rather not find out,” Alec replied instead of telling his friend the truth. Daniel wouldn’t believe him anyway. He hoped he’d kept the fear from his voice. Those hounds could smell fear, they could probably hear it too. “I do not know the way, Elstone. I can keep up with you, but you’ll have to lead the way.”
Daniel swallowed nervously, but he nodded. “We’ll lose them at the crossroads. Stay close.”
Then Daniel urged his mount forward and the race was on. Alec kept his steed so close behind his friend, he could almost reach out and touch the other horse. The two of them raced down a twisting path in the dark as though the devil himself was chasing after them. It was fortunate that Daniel knew his way in the dark or they never would have made it down the narrow country road in one piece.
Snarling and snapping seemed to surround them from all sides. The darkness suddenly seemed darker. The growling grew louder. And that presence Alechad sensed seemed everywhere. His heart pounded as hard as it had during the seige of Badajoz. Perhaps even harder.
Damn it all! How many hounds were in this pack? And how much further was Halwell Chase?
From a darkened patch of woods, a hellhound leapt from the brush toward Daniel, its fangs and razor-sharp bristles glistening in the moonlight. The hound missed Daniel’s leg, but caught the side of the man’s gelding which let out an anguished cry into the night.
Alec’s horse reared back on its hind-legs. In the blink of an eye, he fell backward through the air and landed on the road with such a force that he could not even cry out in pain. His head pulsed and his vision blurred. He thought a flash of blue light surrounded him, but darkness took him completely before he could wonder about any of it.
* * *
Moonlight lit justa small patch of a darkened path through the fog.Something chased Poppy in the darkness. She could hear it behind her, snarling slightly. But she did not dare to slow enough to look back over her shoulder. She simply ran as far and as fast as she was able. The night air stung her lungs, but she pushed forward, hoping against hope to evade her pursuer.
In an instant, she came to a stop.
A crossroads.
Poppy sat up with a start. That dream again! She’d had it so often, it was surprising that the nightmare could still make her heart pound as rapidly as it had that first time.
She sucked in a breath of air and held it in her lungs, hoping to bring her pulse back to its normal state. As she blew out her breath, a thunk sounded against her window.
What in the world?
THUNK! It came again.
Poppy pushed her counterpane away and slid from her bed. She threw open her drapes and...
Stormy! Her little grey cat was balanced on a tree branch knocking on her window with his head.
Goodness!
Poppy opened the window and snatched the little ball of fluff up into her arms. “Storm Cloud! What are you doing?”
As the cat caught her eyes, she knew.
The dream, the nightmare. Someone needed her help.
She wasn’t sure how she knew. She just did. Without thinking, she pulled a robe from her wardrobe and quickly slid into a pair of half-boots. Then she bolted from her bedchamber to find Laurel dressed in a similar fashion, rushing down the corridor with her poofy white cat Snowflake following in her wake.
“Laurel!” Poppy whispered. “What are you—”
Her sister shook her head. “It’s Daniel. He’s in trouble.”
Daniel?
Their cousin, Daniel?
Poppy followed Laurel down the steps, through the house and out the garden door. Fog blanketed the Devon countryside and Laurel came to a sudden stop. She shook her head.
