Adrian Phoenix - Beneath the Skin

Dante pulls her into him, wraps her up tight in a hug. He hears the frantic beat of her heart intertwined with the steady pulse of his own. Smells strawberries and soap and the sharp tang of fear.

“Shhh,” he murmurs, pressing his face into her hair. “He ain’t gonna catch us. I’ll make sure of that. We’ll leave here, go to New Orleans. Go anywhere.”

“Promise?” Chloe’s voice is muffled against his shirt, a tight-throated sob.

Dante drops down to one knee in the wet grass. He gently wipes away Chloe’s tears with his thumbs. “Promise. Just you and me, princess. Forever and ever.”

“Forever and ever,” Chloe repeats, her blue-eyed gaze holding his, her face solemn. “Orem too?” She glances at the orca plushie squashed up against Winnie.

And just like that, she’s eight years old again.

Dante smiles. “Oui, naturellement.”

“Okay.” Chloe hesitates, then says, “But what about Mark and Tami and Perry and Jeanette? Mama and Papa are mean to them too and …”

Dante touches his finger against Chloe’s lips and her words stop. “I’ll think of something, I promise. Once we find us a safe place, I’ll come back and fetch them, one by one, d’accord?”

A smile curves the corners of Chloe’s mouth and her eyes cross in an attempt to focus on the finger against her lips. Laughing, Dante removes it. “Oops. Now you can talk. Sound like a plan, p’tite?”

“Yup, Dante-angel. Sounds like a plan.”

“C’est bon.” He finger-combs the tangles from her tresses, his skin pale as moonlight in the red sea of her hair. “You ready to go?”

“Yup.”

From the sidewalk circling the park, sharp, excited yaps pierce the air as someone walks their dog along the path. Looking over Chloe’s shoulder, Dante sees a chubby woman in a yellow rain bonnet and rubber boots scolding a small white-and-brown-patched dog — maybe a terrier — straining on its leash.

“Behave, Jasper! Bad dog, bad!”

“Let’s go.” Dante stands and holds his hand out for Chloe’s. Her cold fingers wrap around his and he pauses to switch their grips so he can warm her fingers against the heat of his palm. He walks them deeper into the woods and away from the park proper.

Excited yaps, sharp with let’s play! insistence, chase after them, the rapid tapa-tapa-tapa-tap of four small paws hot on the heels of its barked invitation racing through wet grass and withered leaves.

As Dante’s putting distance between them with each quick step, the woman in the yellow rain bonnet yells, “Jasper! No! Bad dog! Come back to Mommy!”

Tugging her hand free of Dante’s, Chloe stops and spins around just as Jasper reaches her. The dog leaps up, yapping, brown eyes glistening with joy, and dances around Chloe and Dante—a twirling, bowing, doggie whirlwind trailing a leash.

“Look!” Chloe says, her voice almost as excited as Jasper’s. “He wants to come with us.” Kneeling in the grass, she giggles as Jasper plants his muddy little paws on her shoulders and licks her face.

Rain Bonnet runs across the grass, huffing with each heavy step, her face flushed. “Please stop him!” she yells breathlessly.

Dante bends and nabs Jasper’s leash. The dog’s whole butt wags along with its stubby tail. He yaps, then sits, tongue lolling between his teeth. “Bon chien,” Dante says, straightening. His gaze lifts to Jasper’s red-faced mommy half running, half walking toward them. “Get behind me, Chloe,” Dante murmurs. “Hold onto my belt.”

Just in case I gotta move.

“ ’Kay.” Chloe rises to her feet and Dante feels a tug at the back of his belt as her fingers slide underneath and wrap around it.

Rain Bonnet stumbles to a stop in front of Dante. She fans her flushed face with her hand. “Jasper,” she pants. “Bad dog.” She smiles at Dante. “Oh, thank you so much, sweetie.”

Jasper leaps up, yapping and dancing around her jeans and rubber-boot-clad legs. Dante extends the leash to her. “Pas de quoi.”

“He’s still a puppy and he hasn’t learned his manners yet,” Rain Bonnet says, accepting the leash and slipping her gloved hand through its looped handle. She shifts her gaze to Chloe. “Hi, cutie. Why you hiding behind your brother?”

“I told her to,” Dante says. He backs up a few steps, Chloe moving with him, her fingers still locked around his belt. “You’re a stranger.”

A wide smile parts Rain Bonnet’s lips, warms her bonnet-shadowed eyes. “Smart boy,” she says, nodding in approval. “I hope you listen to him, cutie. He’s one smart boy.” Her hand dips into her coat pocket. “I want to thank you kids for your help. Who knows where Jasper woulda ended up if you hadn’t been here to stop him?”

“Ain’t necessary,” Dante says. “We gotta go.”

“I’ve got some change here I’m happy to give you.”

“We can use it to buy something to eat,” Chloe whispers.

Dante turns and swings an arm around her shoulders, hugs her close. “You hungry, princess?”

She nods, then she looks past him. Her blue eyes widen. Something whirs through the air and bites into Dante’s throat in several spots — like an angry wasp stinging and stinging and stinging.

Chloe sucks in a breath and she grabs his arm, her fingers digging into him.

Dante slaps a hand against the spot and feels a small, wheeled thing protruding from his throat. He plucks it free. A small ninja-type metal star, its points blood-slicked. It tumbles from his fingers into the night-shadowed grass.

“Run, run, run!” Chloe cries, tugging on Dante’s arm.

Dante tries to run, but his feet refuse to move. Ice water spills inside of him, cascading from his punctured throat, freezing his arms, legs, frosting his heart. His thoughts ice over as well, and he feels like he’s skating and spinning on a glacial lake.

The night whirls around Dante, a streak of pale clouds and glimmering stars and skeletal branches. He no longer feels Chloe’s hand. He tries to shove her away, tries to tell her to run, but his voice and lips don’t work either—numb and far away. He falls, the rain-beaded grass rushing up to meet him.

Rain Bonnet whispers into Dante’s ear as darkness sweeps over him. “No escape for you, sweetie.”

OUTSIDE DAMASCUS, OR

March 25

HEATHER WALLACE HELD THE motel room door open as Von carried Dante inside, Caterina Cortini on his heels. Annie stood in front of the muddy Trans Am, hugging herself against the predawn chill despite her wet clothing and stocking feet, her gaze on the sidewalk. Her travel-frayed gym bag rested on the rain-puddled blacktop beside her.

“Annie, c’mon,” Heather said. She scanned the dying night for any sign of black bird- V ’s; for any sign that more of the Fallen hunted for Dante. She listened for the rush of wings.

Annie looked up, her gaze slipping past Heather into the room’s dark interior. Her face, dirt-smudged and stark in the motel’s buzzing outside lights, wore a troubled expression. “No,” she said, her voice one twist of the knob past a whisper. “Let’s just get back in the car and leave them here. They don’t need us. Let’s go home. C’mon.”

“We can’t go home,” Heather said, stepping outside. She pulled the door shut behind her. “We’re being hunted. We need to stick together.”