Page 2 of Stalk the Dark
My nape tightened, instinct guiding me to look not at the fields or the forest, but up at the sky, heavy with churning clouds. My pulse pounded thickly in my throat, a sure sign that some sort of supernatural shit was about to hit the proverbial fan.
“Get in the carriage. Now!”
Jeremy yanked the door open and shoved Mary inside just as the clouds parted to reveal an almost full moon. Dark shapes sat against its silvery innocence.
Birds?
No. Bats!
Crap.
“Move. Now!” I swung myself inside, slamming the door to the snap of reins and a heartyYah!
We lurched into motion, clattering down the road.
“They’re getting larger,” Mary cried, head sticking out of the window, curls whipping in the wind.
Her husband hauled her back. “It’s all right. They can’t hurt us. We’re safe.”
But he didn’t sound so sure, and one look at the fast-approaching flock of bats told me he had every reason to worry. I counted five. Too large to be a regular species and getting bigger the closer they got. The wingspan had to be at least seven feet, and their bodies…humanoid?…No. How could this be?
I pushed my head out the window. “Faster! We need to go faster!”
“Yah, yah!”
The carriage picked up speed, clattering and swaying dangerously, and all the while the things in the air ate at the distance between us.
“What are they?” Mary sobbed. “Jeremy, what are they?” She clutched at him as he hugged her—a full-body hug that made my stomach twist.
He fixed blazing eyes on me. “Dosomething, Miss Lighthart!”
I was a member of the Order. Protector of humanity. But without my sword, I was just a human with a dagger.
It would have to do. “Be prepared to make a run for it if need be.”
Mary’s whimpers were lost beneath the ominous beat of wings and the thunderous rumble of the carriage wheels, but Jeremy nodded his understanding.
I took a deep breath, grateful that I’d declined to don a dress, and made to swing my body out of the window and up onto the carriage.
A loudwhooshwas followed by a gust of air.
“Argh!” The driver’s scream shattered my eardrums.
The carriage lurched.
The horses whinnied.
The driver was gone.
“What is it? What’s happening?” Jeremy cried.
There was no time to explain. The creatures fell back, their shadowy frames getting smaller. Maybe they were done with us. Satisfied with the driver as prey.
But I wasn’t taking any chances.
I swung up onto the carriage, clinging to its wooden frame as I made my way to the driver’s seat. The reins had snagged on a post by the driver’s footrest. I grabbed them and sat down.
Now what? I’d ridden horses but never driven a carriage.
