Page 73 of Helsing: Demon Slayer
Dianne choked a gasp back, her hand going to her throat.Dire wolves. Harbingers of evil.
The wild animals had appeared not long after she and Ryan had arrived in Fushë-Arrëz, killing a farmer and terrifying everyone, including the tough security forces and knights.
No one had told Dianne anything about them, but she knew in her bones that it was her fault.
At her reaction, the largest wolf, clearly the leader, looked at her before deliberately turning toward the young woman bouncing her giggling charge in her arms.
Dianne’s petrified state exploded into hot motion. “Lirika!” she yelled as she pulled the Glock from her thigh rig and ran.
The nanny, who turned at her name, gave a hoarse shout at the sight of the massive predators stalking her but kept her presence of mind. Pivoting, she began sprinting back toward the Kastrioti house.
The lead dire wolf began to run as well, his pack trailing a few paces behind.
Dianne planted her feet, raised the Glock, and sighted on the beast’s head. She took a moment to control her breathing, the memory of Beta’s warm whisper brushing her ear, and then squeezed the trigger.
Her bullet impacted the brute behind an ear, causing him to stumble and then catapult and roll in a tangle of lanky legs and clublike paws. The other wolves, unable to stop in time, either veered around their fallen leader or crashed into him, turning the entire pack into a snapping, snarling mess.
Dianne launched herself on a path to block the wolves from following Lirika, who’d reached the steps to the Kastriotis’ front door and took them two at a time, her hand pressing Luljeta’s head into her shoulder despite the baby’s scared wailing and efforts to free herself.
Dianne planted her feet on the wide walkway paved in flat Albania slate and allowed herself a quick glance at Lirika at the top of the flight of steps.
When she looked back, to her shock and horror, the lead dire wolf growled, and, shaking off his packmates, rose to his feet. His malign gaze settled on her, a large black, bleeding hole over one eye attesting to her marksmanship.
Dianne swallowed, heart jumping to flutter at the base of her throat like a moth beating itself against an outside light. Still, she straightened her shoulders and kept her gaze focused on the animal. She wouldnotacknowledge her fear, even if the monster smelled her sweat or saw her trembling or whatever way an animal sensed the terror of its prey.
No.Notprey. She would not be its prey. She would make it take her down fighting.
At that thought, the beast opened its mouth into a recognizable—if gruesome—smile. The other dire wolves, eerily silent, lined up on either side of their captain, studying her. Then all at once, from some signal Dianne didn’t see, they all extended their forearms and then leaned back into the familiar down-dog yoga position.
A clear bow. Toher.
The charm bracelet on her wrist burned her as if the wolves’ incendiary regard called something from it. She ignored the fiery pain to lift the Glock and sight it on the lead wolf’s intact eye.
After a long moment in which Dianne’s heart failed to beat, the dire wolves returned to a normal stance. The majestic villain in their midst winked—hewinkedfor the love of all that was holy—and then spun away, his tail flying as he ran down the walkway toward the main path that circled the estate. The claws of the pack rattled against the smooth slate, shivering the stone under her feet. A fresh breeze sent a rank odor of decay and animal musk to her.
Dianne turned, sprinted to some bushes edging the walkway, and vomited.
Shaking, she stood up and wiped the back of her hand over her mouth. It wasn’t until she glimpsed the vile creatures running down the terraced slope from Olivia’s house toward the pass-through under the highway that led to the clinic on the other side that she realized the attack wasn’t over.
Mihàil. Her brother-in-law, thezoti, had awakened for the first time today. A vivid image of him, his cheeks covered in rough stubble under the white bandage disguising half his face, lying propped upright against pillows while Olivia, silent tears sheeting her cheeks, stood next to his bed filled Dianne’s tumultuous thoughts.
She didn’t know how or why, but somehow the dire wolvesknew. There were security guards at the clinic, but it was minimally staffed, especially now as theElioudand Ryan had pulled many of their people onto guard duty on the perimeter of the Kastriotis’ defenses in the Albanian countryside.
How many would die protecting their lord?
And Mihàil … would he be able to defend himself against the dire wolves?
She didn’t want to find out.
Taking off at a run, Dianne gave thanks that she’d spent the previous six months at the gym instead of clubbing. Never much of an athlete, she at least had the gas to plunge down the slope toward the ingenious stone-lined tunnel that Willem had designed to allow foot traffic to cross to the road without danger. The dire wolves ignored the tunnel and sped across the empty highway, their long legs flying over the shadowy ground at the bottom of the valley.
Crap, crap, crap.
In the evening air around her, a harsh programmed voice wailed, “Intrusion! Intrusion! Intrusion! Sectors Six, Seven, and Eight. Tactical breach confirmed. Deploy to assigned rally points. Condition Umbra. This is not a drill.”
Yes! The harmonic public announcement system. She wasn’t out here all by herself against the vicious monsters.
Those sectors, if Dianne remembered the map of the system displayed in every hall, office, and conference room at the training center, included the Kastrioti estate, clinic, and chapel grounds. But the alarm wasn’t specific enough. The system relied on physical markers in the environment for data, and that included pings from on-duty personnel gear. As far as she could tell, she was the only one close enough to the dire wolves to know exactly where they were, at least until the clinic’s system picked them up.
