"Oh crap!" I yelled as the van's tires smoked with the effort to stop it. It still slammed into the pickup. For a moment, we toppled on two wheels. Then another car rear-ended the van with a crunch, slamming the pickup and bouncing it back onto all four tires. I slithered into the driver's seat. Somehow, the engine was still running. I looked up the hill and saw the hounds, now both in human form, tearing down the hill after us. But they weren't running at superhuman speeds anymore. Maybe they were under orders to avoid exposing noms to their existence. I didn't know. Didn't care. I slammed the accelerator down and got the hell out of there.
"Take a right," Dad said. He directed me through several more turns as we ran red lights and dodged traffic for several blocks, the truck's engine rattling like spray-paint cans. He had me stop outside the huge curving structure of the Georgia Aquarium, where I parked in a no-parking zone.
My door was jammed shut from the hound's earlier impact and I didn't want to kick it off the hinges in front of all the tourists jamming the sidewalks, so I crawled out the window and almost face-planted on the sidewalk. Elyssa pulled me to my feet. Dad helped Katie out the other side. A huge crowd of people loitered around the outdoors ice-skating rink Centennial Olympic Park hosted during the colder months. A few of them stared wide-eyed at the ravaged pickup truck with steam billowing from beneath its hood. Maybe the poor woman with the blue Toyota would be off the hook for damages.
I drew in a sharp breath. "Dad, the woman in the parking garage—do you think the hounds hurt her?"
"They probably ignored her," he said as he set a very dazed Katie back on her feet. "Once given an assignment, they're single-minded to a fault."
I hoped he was right. If he was, it meant we could safely let Katie go around here where she could vanish into the crowd.
Elyssa pressed her palm against my slowly healing back. She gripped me and pulled me in for a quick but passionate kiss. "You just can't help it can you?"
"Help what?" I said, feeling a bit flustered and bone weary.
She smiled and shook her head. "Sometimes I don't know if I want to punch you or kiss you. You don't think half the time, you just react and it scares me half to death."
I gripped her hand and shrugged. "Life hasn't given me much time to think lately." I looked up and saw Shelton sitting on a bench fiddling around with something in his hand. He'd probably expected us a lot sooner. I'd expected a boring drive through traffic, not a fox hunt followed by a demolition derby.
We rushed across the plaza to him. He pointed urgently at a chalk circle on the brick pavers. Dad stepped inside without batting an eyelash. Shelton pressed a thumb to the circle and closed it with a word. A slight hum and crackle popped in the air.
"Christ, people. What the hell took you so long?" He looked me up and down, saw the bloody rags remaining of the back of my t-shirt, Katie's wide eyes, and Elyssa's frazzled hair. Shelton sat back on the bench and chuckled. "All right. What happened?"
"Hellhounds," Dad said. He turned his back to Shelton and pointed to the tattoo. "Can you get rid of this?"
Shelton cursed and jumped off the bench. "You're running from hellhounds? Even if I remove the tracker they'll just sniff their way to you."
"We lost them."
"Are you sure? I didn't think it was possible to shake a hellhound."
Dad nodded. "I've done it before."
"A spawn trick?"
"Only if you consider driving a pickup truck very fast through Atlanta traffic a spawn trick," Dad said with a grim smile.
Shelton laughed and looked at me. "I swear, Justin. You just can't keep out of trouble, can you?"
I dropped onto the bench next to Katie. Elyssa dropped down between us. "Shelton, trouble likes me." I scanned the crowd for any sign of the hounds but saw nothing but normal humans, goodness bless them, each and every one. The hounds were so tall and huge they'd stand out like a pimple on a fashion model's nose.
A dog yipped and I almost took off a passing Chihuahua's head as his owner led him by. A sheepish look crossed Elyssa's face as she slid a knife back into the sheath under her shorts.
"Guess I'm a bit jumpy," she said.
"You and me both."
"Who's this character?" Katie asked, looking Shelton up and down. He was wearing jeans, a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles T-shirt, cowboy boots, and his well-worn leather duster. While he didn't exactly look odd, he did somewhat resemble someone out of an old western movie, thankfully, sans the cowboy hat.
"This is Shelton. He's going to remove the tracker from my dad."
Katie glared at me. "When is someone going to tell me what in the hell is going on, Justin?"
I shrugged. "It's not up to me." I nodded at Elyssa. "If anyone knows how much we can tell you, it'd be Elyssa."
Katie narrowed her eyes and pursed her lips. "What makes you so special?"
Elyssa smiled, showing her teeth. "Just shut up and stay on my good side."
"Don't tell me you've dragged another civilian into the Overworld," Shelton said with a groan.
"I didn't drag the other one, in case you've forgotten," I said. "The rogue vam—uh, you-know-whats did that."
"Oh, yeah. Guess you're right."
"Are you going to look at the tracker?" Dad said, obviously losing patience.
Shelton turned back to him. "Yeah, yeah." He stared at the hummingbird tattoo for a moment, his eyes seeming to lose focus. A split second later, he cursed and jumped backward.
"What?" I asked, searching the area for danger.
Shelton sank onto the bench, his face white. "This isn't good," he said, voice hoarse.
Ice locked my heart in mid-beat. "What?"
"This is no ordinary tracker on your dad. It's a death mark."
Chapter 4
The shock in Dad's eyes said it all as his hand raced for the tattooed spot on the back of his neck. "A death mark? You're certain?"
"It gets worse."
"How can it be any worse?" Dad said, eyebrows pinching together.
"Worse how?" I asked, jumping to my feet and staring at Dad.
Shelton stood up and motioned Elyssa over. "The Templars train you to recognize marks?"
Her face went very pale as she stood and nodded. "I know most of them, yes."
"You can be my second opinion."
"Templars?" Katie said. "Like from Indiana Jones?"
I put a finger to my mouth to shush her.
She huffed like a spoiled brat. "When are you going to tell me what in the world is going on?"
Elyssa stared at the mark for a moment before shaking her head. "It doesn't look like a mark at all."
"What does it look like to you?"
"A red and gold hummingbird."
Shelton snapped his fingers. "Ah, dammit, that's right. Hold still." He pulled out his smartphone and consulted something for a moment before stepping in front of her. "I'm going to modulate the air right here." He traced a small square in the air in front of her nose. "So don't move."
"Modulate?" she asked, jerking her head back.
He pshawed. "Jeez, woman, no need to freak out. It's so you can see the mark."
"I can see it just fine."
"You see the disguised mark. The real one doesn't show itself until, uh, the job is done."
"You mean when I'm dead," Dad said. "No need to sugar-coat it, Shelton."
"Whatever, old man." Shelton turned back to Elyssa. "Now hold still."
Elyssa gave him a sharp look but did as he told her. Shelton stared at the air in front of Elyssa's nose for a moment before mumbling something I couldn't quite make out. Then he stepped to the side. Elyssa gasped.
Shelton nodded, looking pleased as punch. "You see it?"
I walked next to Elyssa, stooping down a little to place my eyes level with hers. Instead of a hummingbird, I saw a skeletal hand reaching up from a mound of earth, the bony fingers clenching and opening. It was so vivid it no longer looked like a tattoo, but a three-dimensional hologram projected from Dad's skin.
"This is Underborn's mark," Elyssa said. "Underborn from the Devoted."
"Like I said, this ain't no ordinary death mark."
"Since when is any death mark ordinary?" I asked. "What makes this one so special?"
Shelton took a seat next to Katie and gave her a lopsided smirk. "Ready for your first lesson, cupcake?"
"Is this guy supposed to be your friend?" Katie asked. "He's kind of a jerk."
I gave the sigh of the long-suffering and said, "He's a special kind of jerk."
Shelton chuckled and leaned against the backrest of the bench. "Most death marks are handed out by the Brotherhood of Assassins—"
"Assassins Guild," Elyssa said. "They're equal opportunity now, remember?"
"Whatever," he said, waving her comment off as if it were a pesky fly. "That's how I learned it. They're not an above-ground organization so to speak, so you don't hear much about them. Fact is most of the so-called Brotherhood-related deaths are false alarms and rumors."
"Because they're so expensive," Elyssa said. "And anyone caught dealing with the Brotherhood answers to the Templars."
Shelton stared at her for a moment. "You gonna let me finish?"
Elyssa looked up as though praying for heavenly intervention to keep her from pummeling Shelton into the dirt. I was about ready to strangle him myself. From the short time I'd known him, Shelton wasn't the easiest guy to get along with, and his "charming" personality didn't help matters much.
"Now, as I was saying," Shelton continued, tossing a wink at Katie, "The Brotherhood is deep, mysterious, and very expensive to hire. They're made up of all sorts—sorcerers with a taste for the dark side, vampires, werewolves, and some kinds of supers I ain't never heard of before."