Wrong Side of Hell (League of Guardians 0.50)

She turned back to the old woman. “You need to follow the light.” Catherine pointed behind her. “Understand?”

Hell, no. I think you’re crazier than I am.

“I don’t . . .” Kira shook her head helplessly.

“You need to go now.” Catherine’s voice changed and Kira jerked her head up. Cat nodded. “Now.” She nodded behind her. “Toward the light.”

Kira took a few steps past the old woman, but paused as thunder joined the lightning now crossing the sky. The tourists walked about the market as if unaware that everything had changed. They laughed among themselves, hands reaching for fantastic bargains as they chatted animatedly.

For the first time she noticed that not everyone was dressed the same. Some wore clothes that looked to be from centuries ago—velvet and silk ball gowns, top hats, and powdered wigs. There was a woman dressed smartly in a simple dress cut to just above the knee and a royal blue pin hat. At her throat was a thick strand of pearls, and white kid gloves adorned her hands. She looked like she was from the 1960s. None of this made sense.

Kira blinked rapidly. Now that she’d taken a moment to look closer, some of the tourists didn’t even look human.

Where the hell did that thought come from?

She turned around and a chill rolled over her. Two shadowy figures stood at the edge of the square. They were tall, well over six feet in height, with wide shoulders and powerful arms. They were dressed in long robes that billowed around their feet, dancing in a breeze that seemed not to touch anyone else.

Their faces weren’t clear and in fact the hoods they wore seemed to hide nothing but dark space. They moved forward slowly, their heads turning in unison as if an invisible rope tethered them together. As they perused the market, something about the way they moved sent panic crashing through Kira.

They were unnatural. Just like the monster from her childhood. A flash of fur and fangs and the sensation of heat erupted in her mind.

Their feet didn’t touch the ground, and the air shimmered around them as they started toward the market.

And yet, no one seemed to notice them. A young woman jogged in place as she reached for a basket of fruit, her caramel-blond hair held in place by a bright pink band. An elderly man shuffled along slowly, his cane tapping the cobblestone at his feet as he sang a strange tune. The dog reappeared once more, its yipping accelerated as it dove into the crowd.

In that moment everything expanded and then constricted into a tight beam of energy. The world was off-kilter and Kira had no idea what the hell was going on.

“Go, now.” Catherine’s voice was urgent and this time Kira didn’t hesitate.

Follow the light.

Kira kept her head down and ra

n toward an alley just behind Catherine’s market stall. She slipped between the walls and paused, glancing back toward the square once she was hidden in the shadows.

Something thick and dull pounded against her skull and her gut churned in fear. Confusion didn’t even come close to describing the images that haunted her head. The things that had driven her mad years before rose to the surface and Kira backed away as the two shadows converged at the end of the alley.

They effectively cut off any means of escape, and for a second Kira struggled to see past the darkness that seeped from beneath their robes, pouring out like thick billowing clouds of smoke. She tried to speak but her vocal cords froze, and her hands clenched so tightly she drew blood.

The specter on the left made a screeching noise and pointed its arm toward her. “You.” Its disembodied voice cut through her brain. It hurt.

She jumped as a growl erupted behind her. Kira whirled around and her fist flew to her mouth as she tried to squelch the scream that caught at the back of her throat.

A man stood, his tall length cloaked in shadow, though his eyes burned through the darkness, a fierce red that cut through the gloom.

She knew those eyes. She knew them well. They belonged to her savior—or at least that’s what she called him. How many nights had she dreamed of him? Of seeing him again? Of touching him? Of losing herself in his embrace?

As a child he’d been nothing more than a memory to cling to. Something that was real in a world of chaos and pain. Yet as she grew older, stuck in the hellhole that was the Institute, the way she thought of him had changed.

When her world had spiraled out of control it was him she’d turned to. Her angel. Her savior. Mergerone had come for her again and again, drugging her, hurting her . . . touching her . . . and it was the stranger and his strength that had gotten her through.

Oh my God. It was all real. What the doctors called delusions were in fact real. She wasn’t crazy.

A tremulous smile claimed her lips, but faded just as quickly because she knew that if he was back, then maybe the beast wasn’t far behind.

Kira Dove had slipped down a rabbit hole fifteen years ago and it seemed as if the ghosts that haunted her head had found her once more.

No longer were they spectral nightmares that kept her awake. They were real.