Part 5 (2/2)

Both of the PIs were focused on the strangely silent foliage. When had the rustling stopped?

Slowly, Dawn dragged her gaze there, too.

Three pairs of red eyes were staring, blinking.

Waiting.Holy...

”Here,” Breisi whispered.

Dawn felt something solid, steely, nudge her left hand. She opened her fingers and grabbed whatever the other woman was giving her. It didn't feel like a gun or a knife, items Dawn had been trained to use.

”And stop looking into their eyes,” Kiko added. ”Rule of thumb in this business? It's never a good idea to do that.”

She followed his advice and glanced just above their steady red gazes. Were they guard dogs? Had Marla Pennybaker gotten defensive about them coming over to see her husband and set the hounds loose on them? Maybe looking into their eyes sent some kind of predatory message that would rile them up.

Dogs. Okay, she could handle this. She'd dealt with canine actors before.

Dawn raised the object she was gripping, ready and willing to fend them off.

But when she saw what Breisi had given her, she froze.

A silver crucifix.

And as one of the creatures moved forward, to the edge of the darkness, she realized that these sure as h.e.l.l weren't dogs they were facing.

FIVE.

THEd.a.m.nED.

EVENbefore Dawn could choke out a question-What are these things?-Bresi shoved what was clearly a gun, a .45-caliber revolver, into Dawn's right hand.

”Listen, you must hold up the crucifix, cover me with the gun-you've been trained to use it,si?-and don't you bleeping move from that spot...”

Her voice trailed off, and Dawn had the bad feeling that Breisi was hightailing it back to the SUV, deserting them. When she heard a door pop open, her fears were confirmed. But then it sounded like Breisi was rooting around in that back storage area. For what? s.h.i.+t! She'd left Dawn standing all alone with Kiko, who'd thrust out his own crucifix and gun and...

The red eyes were getting closer, framed by the hint of pale faces outlined in the darkness.

d.a.m.n it, what was she doing here again?

Dawn's gun and crucifix started shaking in her hands.

Gradually, moonlight revealed three black-clad creatures hunching out of the trees, moving in a way she'd never imagined possible. It was like they were wildly palpitating heartbeats, stopping and starting in a fluttering stalking motion that iced her blood.

More out of panic than anything else, Dawn pushed her crucifix at them, corrected her grip on the revolver.

Closer. Dear Lord...

Even bent over, they were hulking, like jittering shadows looming against a pale wall. Their skin was white and shot through with blue veins, their heads hairless, their hands shriveled into sharp claws. When they hissed at the crucifixes-a throaty whistle that rose above the wind-a peek of dull gray caught the faint light: fangs. Iron, sharpened to points. Dawn's legs wobbled, but she stood, d.a.m.ned if she would back down from anything-even a...whatever these were.

Just cowboy up, she told herself. Just do it.

Surprisingly, Kiko didn't seem to be much affected. He took a cool step toward them, brandis.h.i.+ng his weapons. ”Talk to us before we mess you up.”

Talk?

Dawn's head scrambled into itself, dizzy cuts of nightmare flashes. Not real, she kept thinking. Make-up, prosthetics, fake movie monsters...

As Kiko took another step forward, the things cringed and shrieked at his crucifix. It was like the silver symbols provided some sort of force field, pus.h.i.+ng the creatures back.

Dawn imitated him, emphasizing her own crucifix. In the background, she heard Breisi's feet hit the ground running.

Kiko was mere yards away from the things now. ”Not a chatty crowd? Fine. If you're capable, just tell me why you're here, that's all.”

That's when Dawn did something stupid.

Out of habit, a split second of forgetfulness, she looked one of them in the eyes.

Red fire, sucking her in.

She dropped her crucifix, helpless.

Kiko and Breisi yelled something at the same moment, but she had no idea what they were saying. She just knew that she wanted to jump into the fire, wanted to end it all because everything was so, so hopeless.

Her dad was missing; she was a pariah in the movie industry; she was a loser...

Unable to stop herself, she raised her gun, wanting to point it at her head, wanting to fill all the empty s.p.a.ces inside of her with lead and peace. Wanting- A million jagged shards through her mind-the memory of this evening in The Voice's office...fighting off the personal intrusion...

struggling to get back her body, her mind...

Get out of my head, you a.s.shole.

With a determined cry, Dawn jerked her gaze away, feeling her sanity rush back. Separating from the eyes had been like tearing away from an umbilical cord that had given her dark serenity and direction, even for a muddled instant.

Stumbling backward, she sucked in a choking breath, focusing back on reality with sharp, growing horror.

Wouldn't you know it? The creatures had backup plans.

Without missing a beat, the things all turned their backs at the same time, and that's when Dawn, even in her fl.u.s.ter, noticed a detail she'd missed from the frontal view.

Tails. Long, barbed, whip-fast.

One tail whooshed out to knock the crucifix from Kiko's hand. The others sang through the air, propelling the remaining two creatures skyward into stop-and-start-motion flight.One barreled toward Breisi, who was aiming what looked like a crossbow at it.

And the other was zooming toward Dawn.

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