Page 33 of Untethering Dark

“What is it?” He went to join her. And that’s when he smelled it.

The cigarette stench had distracted him.

“Blood,” she said, pointing to a trail of red droplets leading off into the trees.

Red eyes glinting like fire stared at him from the deepest shadows of night. A blink later, and they were gone.

He shrank back with a low rumbling growl and pushed Astrid behind him, shielding her with his body.Protect. Protect. Protect.

In his periphery, the witch snatched up her ax, ready to hack and cleave.

A ringing filled his ears, his vision narrowing to hyperfocus on that spot amongst the trees. Every muscle tensed to strike.

Gudariks.

Gudariks.

Someone was saying his name. There was a light tug on his arm, but it felt so far away.

“Altes Geweih!”

Behind him.

He whirled around, and Astrid ducked down, just missing the swing of his antlers. “Gudariks, it’s me!” She shouted, throwing up an arm to block her face, while the ax-wielding one was poised for a vicious uppercut.

Heart hammering, he skittered back, a cold sweat trickling down the length of his spine. Stars above, he almost gored her. “Are you okay?” His words came out shaky and breathless.

“I’m fine.” She lowered her ax slowly, letting the head come to rest on top of her boot. “You missed.”

She’s fine. Everything’s fine.

He nodded. To himself, to her, he wasn’t sure.

She leaned her ax against a nearby tree.

“You’re shaking.” Slowly, she drew near, like she was approaching an injured, cornered animal. First, her hands slid over his arms, then across his back, pressing them chest to chest. A hug, this was a hug. “What happened?”

“I thought I saw something, but only for a moment. I don’t know why I reacted like that.”

“It’s okay.” She patted his back, soothing instead of running. Why wasn’t she running? “This is a weird situation.”

And getting ever weirder.

“Did you see it? The red eyes?”

Astrid didn’t answer at first, heartbeat ticking up a fraction. With reluctance, she replied, “None but yours.”

Gudariks buried his face into her hair, breathing in its light floral scent. Even if his mind was playing tricks on him, this was real.Shewas real. And he held on to her just a little bit tighter, letting her solidity coax him back into his mind and body.

But not too tight. He didn’t want to hurt her.

“I’ve got you,” she whispered.

Astrid held him until the shaking stopped and his heart settled back into its natural resting rhythm.

He was slipping, just as he feared, but not completely. Now he had confirmation that the vanishing humans were real, and not an elaborate figment of his imagination.

“We should go look,” he said, reluctantly withdrawing. Already, he missed the firmness of her touch, and the delicate sweetness of her hair. “See where the blood leads.”

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