Carpathian 17 - Dark Celebration

along parallel to them.
    "What is it?" Skyler asked. She had gone suddenly silent as well, her gaze sweeping the forest as if she too sensed an enemy.
    "I don't know, honey, but take my hand."
    Skyler swallowed hard, staring at the gloved hand. "I'm sorry. I can't. I never touch people. I feel everything they're feeling and I overload."
    Alexandria dropped her arm to her side. "I'm the one who is sorry. Don't look so distressed. I should have remembered that about you. Just stay closer to me. Has Gabriel or Francesca ever flown with you before?"
    "Of course. I'm not afraid of it. I like to fly. Did you see something?"
    "I'm not certain, but if I did, I want to be able to get into the air fast."
    Skyler took a careful look around. "I don't see anything."
    "Neither do I— now? Aidan. I'm a little uneasy. I thought I saw a wolf, but I don't know for certain. I'm going to get Skyler to safety, but meet me at Gabriel's house. I don't want to come home alone. I will be there . Aidan's voice was warm, reassuring. Do not take chances, Alexandria. Gabriel or Lucian will be coming to meet you .
    I don't know them . She sent her preternatural senses out into the region around her, trying to ferret out anything that might be the scent of an enemy. Wolves were abundant in the forest, but stayed away from the Carpathians. Many of the men had a preference for shifting into wolves. Seeing one shouldn't be enough to trigger her alarm system, but it was shrieking at her.
    "We challenged the males to a paintball game," Skyler said, continuing walking toward the cabin. "It was Josef's idea and should be fun, but Josh and I can't shapeshift and neither can the other children. I told Francesca we need rules. Like no shifting and no communication between the males; otherwise, they have too big of an advantage, don't you think so?"
    Leaves rustled again, just a whisper of sound. A twig broke. Alexandria turned her head toward the sound. "There's no wind. Something or someone is moving in the trees just to our left, Skyler. I think we should take to the air. I thought I glimpsed a wolf again through the trees. He was quite large, and moving at our pace, but it could have been my imagination."

    "Well, then, we're both imagining the same thing," Skyler said, moving closer to Alexandria. "I sometimes can feel things near. Let me just…"
    "No!" Alexandria said sharply. "You have no way of knowing if it is a friend—or monster. If you open your mind, you might lead him right back to you. I've called Aidan to us and he is sending Gabriel as well." She spoke as Skyler stepped into another ice-covered puddle. The crunch was loud in spite of the snowflakes, and muddy water spurted out in a long spray.
    A shadow fell across the snow, a dark stain looking all too familiar to Alexandria. An arm reaching—stretching obscenely—growing as if made of rubber. Insubstantial—shadow only—yet she could see it reaching toward Skyler, slithering over the rocks and through the shrubbery like a snake. If it hadn't been snowing she would never have seen, but with the white background, the fingers of the hand appeared bony and gnarled, an old hand with talons for fingernails.
    To her horror, the dirty water from the puddle moved as well, ringing a tall tree like a dark noose, cutting into the trunk as if it were a garrote.
    "Skyler!" Alexandria leapt forward even as Skyler instinctively jumped back. The tree splintered and cracked, the earth rocking beneath them. Alexandria could have dissolved into vapor, but she refused to leave the teenager exposed. She hurtled herself at the girl, intending to use her blurring speed to sweep them both to safety, but the shifting ground split, taking Skyler from her grasp. The best she could do was shove Skyler as far from her as possible, hoping to keep her from being smashed by the tree toppling down.
    Even as the tree trunk groaned and splintered and the earth rolled, there was a terrible sound as the tree broke in half, knocking the top from the tree and driving the large, heavy branches straight down on them. Alexandria felt the blow to her head, the branch that picked her up and swept her down with alarming force. For one moment she thought she heard voices murmuring in a foreign language quite close, but she couldn't make out what they said. She tried to turn her head, to see where Skyler was, but the movement brought on pain, a haze of stars that faded away to leave a black, yawning void.
    "Alexandria?" Skyler