Soulbound

28. Ashe

This was not how I saw my night going. Ideally, this would not be how any night in a long history of bad nights would ever end up. And yet here I was, racing along a winding country road during the witching hour with only the lone headlight from my bike and the sliver of a Cheshire moon leering down from up above to guide me. A frightened barista at my front and harpies at my back.

This was hardly the wildest night I've ever had, but it definitely tops the charts for being my first high-speed chase with a human in tow.

“What are they?” Dani screams over the roar of the motorcycle. Despite the biting cold that claws at my skin as the wind whips through my hair, I can feel the warmth of her breath in my ear and it sends a chill up my arms that bites deeper.

“They're wind spirits,” I reply as I lean us into a curve. “Harpies, lechuza, whatever you want to call them. Does it matter?”

A high-pitched shriek reaches my ears as tendrils of air slither like icy fingers down my spine and I grit my teeth. They were getting closer. How in the hell was I supposed to outrun the wind?

“What do they want?”

“I don't know!” And I did not intend for us to find out. We were still miles away from the city limits of Trinity Valley, from the blinding lights and steel skyscrapers that would deter these demons of the woods from pursuing us any further. Out here under the open sky we were little more than sitting ducks.

I hit the next bend in the road too fast and the bike wobbles as I try to overcorrect. Dani tightens her grip, pressing so close that I could feel the panicked beating of her heart against my chest, and my own fear churns in my gut. Christ, at this speed I might end up wrecking us if the harpies did not get to us first. Fending off one demon would be hard enough even with the Reaper's mark at my disposal; contending with three pissed-off elementals while keeping Dani out of harm's way, however, was just asking for death. Her safety was my top priority right now.

A rustling of wings sounds overhead, drowning out the steady hum of the motorcycle, and in my peripheral I see a weightless form materialize beside me. A second figure flanks my left, feathery smoke wisping like black fire with each movement and long talons gleaming like razor blades as it swipes at my leg. Fire rips through me as it snags my thigh and I gnash my teeth against the pain. Another lash rakes across my back and it takes everything I have not to lose my grip on the handlebars—or on my mounting anger.

“Hold on!”

I roll the throttle, picking up speed as we crest a small hill. Dani buries her face in the crook of my neck, her stifled scream vibrating throughout my body as the tires lift off the asphalt. Up ahead I catch a glimpse of city lights shining in the distance like the beacon of a lighthouse guiding lost ships to shore in the middle of a storm, and relief washes over me. We had to be no more than twenty miles out. We were so close!

The bike lurches on the landing, the screeching of tires as they reconnected with the road mingling with the shrieks that assaulted us from all angles, but I dare not stop now.

Just beyond the glow of the headlight, a blur of shadow and wings gathers over the road, flocking before us like a murder of crows as they swirl together and take shape. The sharp angular face of a pale woman glares at us from the fringes of the surrounding darkness, long black hair billowing behind her as her winged arms fan out, blocking my view of the road. Talons like daggers scratch at the ground as she flies backward at a steady pace, matching my bike's speed and keeping herself at an even distance. Her squamous abdomen glistens like polished onyx as the muscles beneath her scales contract.