Page 43 of Helsing: Demon Slayer (The Dragon’s Paladins #1)
D ianne felt restless. She didn’t know why.
She’d spent the past weeks pushing herself to exhausted oblivion, training during the day using the workout regimen that Beta had provided her, learning hand-to-hand combat with the laconic Elioud warrior (in baby steps, yes), and hours at the range where she’d shown remarkable ability with guns of all types.
When she wasn’t running, grappling, or shooting, she was trying to learn her new world in as much detail as she could, the people, places, and culture.
Beyond that, she kept watch over her silent brother-in-law deep at night while Olivia slept, passed out in a nearby chair, or spent time with her niece, who’d decided to pull up and take her first wobbling steps in the midst of an adult world that had no time or awareness to celebrate.
Not unlike her.
Tonight, something pulsed in the air. Expectation. Warning. Foreboding. Dread. Whatever made up this toxic brew, it gripped her by the shoulders and twisted in her gut. The air was unnaturally still, a pungent hint of rot lingering like a bad taste over the training compound.
She wished she knew where Ryan was. She’d tried, over and over, to put him out of her mind.
Out of her heart. But he always returned to her during her sleep.
Him in the library of the cruise ship, startled and speechless as she leaned in to kiss him.
At dinner in the steakhouse, his hazel eyes drawing her in, his powerful body a lure that still made her breathless thinking about it.
Fighting against daemoniacs on the dock in Split.
At her side as they made Molotov cocktails together, his fingers brushing hers when she handed him a bottle.
In Me?ugorje where the geomagnetic flare seemed to bring Heaven and Earth together.
Where she’d first realized that she was all in.
Falling in love and seeing it through. Even with Ryan’s rejection, she wouldn’t change that decision if she could.
Because now she’d experienced something real, something worthy and lifechanging. The pain only brought that truth home.
What was the saying the British had? Keep calm and carry on.
She just needed to face her own fears without Ryan at her side.
Her fingers drifted to the thigh rig she wore, drawn to the grip of the Glock—Ryan’s weapon of choice—she now carried openly everywhere with her, much to her mother’s consternation and her brother’s amusement.
“Rangers lead the way,” she said to herself, remembering his quiet comment when Olivia had ordered her to support his efforts to get them safely back to Fushe-Arrez.
As she walked toward the guesthouse that Olivia had offered her not far from the main Kastrioti house, Dianne saw Olivia’s nanny emerge into the twilight with Luljeta.
The little girl had likely had a late afternoon nap and would be awake into the evening, eager for stimulation and distraction.
Dianne hastened her steps toward them, longing for the same.
The deep rumble of wolves caught her up short.
The hairs on the back of Dianne’s neck fluttered as the skin there tightened uncomfortably in the suddenly chill air. She surveyed the area around them as she’d seen Beta do, almost as a tic it was so second nature for the Elioud warrior.
And then she saw them: half a dozen wolves as tall as a pony skulking under the dwarf ornamental trees on the far side of the back garden, the evening sunlight glinting from their hollow eyes.
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 Fushe-Arrez, 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 would not acknowledge 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. Not prey. 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. To her .
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—he winked for 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, the zoti , 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 wolves knew . There were security guards at the clinic, but it was minimally staffed, especially now as the Elioud and 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.
She needed to warn everyone, to get Ryan and the others to return to defend the clinic.