Page 68 of Run Like the Devil

I’d escaped that blackness before by getting guided out by Yazmor. I hadn’t actually been anywhere else, so I had to hope this was the same, that this was just a tiny pocket inside the Path and I’d find my way out if I just ran fast enough.

As I ran, even with distance between me and the doppelgangers, I noticed that there seemed to be a slight clearing in the trees that led and guided me. It wasn’t as clearly defined as a trail, but still, I followed it.

The snapping of twigs behind me said I hadn’t lost the others, that they followed me. Were they tracking me somehow? Fuck, the Path probably allowed them to find me, made them drawn to me no matter where I went.

Funny that I actually missed Guardian right about now.

I almost tripped, catching myself on a tree, my chest burning from exertion. Just ahead of me, that same slight clearing of the way forked into two directions.

To the left was lighter, as if the trees lessened. It would be easier to run that way. I might be able to get farther…

To the right, appeared more densely forested. It was even darker, with the fog thicker. There was something else that way, something that rested on the edges of my senses. It took a moment before I recognized what I felt.

Them.

I had a strange pull, something that told me the Lords were that way—the real ones. Then, whispered through the fog and darkness that way, a voice.

“Loch!”

I peered down that path, into the darkness there, an air of ‘don’t you fucking think about it.’

The mess in my brain, the mixture of everything that had happened along with the faces of the Lords, it made me pause.

What if I was wrong? What if it wasn’t them down that way? What if it was just another trap?

Could I really rely on anyone else? Maybe it was best to just keep running? Or to turn around and fight the creatures stalking me? I was strong, after all. My fingers brushed my wrist, the mark of the dagger there.

But four of them was a far cry from a one-on-one. It was easy to be overwhelmed with those numbers.

“Where the fuck are you, Loch?” Hale.

I almost smiled at the anger in his voice, could see his expression in my head.

I had to choose. Would I trust myself? Trust them?

I gripped the bark of the tree once more just as the four fake Lords caught up to me. They stared at me, that same emptiness in their eyes.

It made the choice for me, and I took off down the way to the right, toward the voices. Just ahead was a strange wall of fog, and I pushed myself in that direction.

As if the things behind me knew they had the last chance, they seemed to run faster, closing the distance between us. Had they just been toying with me before? Screwing with me? Wanting me to feel the fear of being stalked, of being hopeless and helpless?

Fuck that. I wasn’t helpless, no matter what anyone wanted to see me as or make me feel.

A hand grasped my arm from behind just before I reached the fog, and I twisted, swinging my elbow backward. I connected with a hard jaw but didn’t bother to wait and see who it was. Instead, I yanked away and rushed through the fog, collapsing to the ground.

Someone grabbed me again, and when I turned, Gorrin’s face brought me back to the creatures. Had they followed me? I swung again, connected with his eye.

Just as quick, the others surrounded me, and panic took me over. I kicked, trying to get away, cursing myself for making the wrong choice.

“What the fuck?” Hale snapped, his voice breaking the trance.

Those things hadn’t spoken, had they?

Just as I convinced myself that these were my men, the doppelgangers broke through the fog as well, like nightmares made flesh. They looked identical to the four that surrounded me—well, other than the injuries they’d taken from me—and that made me shrink away, my brain unwilling to make sense of it all.

Thankfully, it didn’t need to for long. The things dissolved before us, as if they’d never been there all, which left me on the ground with the real Lords above me.

And wasn’t it funny just how much safer I felt with these? They were capable of doing so much more damage than the creatures before, could hurt me far worse, were significantly more twisted and devious, but just seeing them standing there…

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