Dark Light of Mine Read Online Free Page A

hell is going on?" I asked, shaking off the melancholy mood as both the men continued to howl while they slowly advanced across the parking deck roof for us.
    "Their howls kill hope," Dad said.  "They bring back our worst memories and nightmares.  Thankfully, we spawn are not as easily influenced."  He dragged Elyssa to her feet, tried to shake her out of her misery, but it didn't help.
    Katie dropped off my back like a sack of potatoes, bawling her eyes out.
    "Dad, they're coming.  We have to carry the girls."
    He glared at our pursuers, his eyes glowing ice-white with fatigue.  Mine probably matched his.  I wanted to find a nice quiet spot, go to sleep, and dream about kittens.  "Justin, if they corner us while we're this tired, we may spawn."
    "We'll manifest into our demon forms?"
    He gave me a sideways look.  "If that happens, we won't be able to control ourselves.  We might rampage.  People could die."
    "What do we do?"
    He took a deep breath and picked up Katie, slung her over his shoulder.  "We're almost downtown.  No matter where we go for miles in any direction we'll run into densely populated areas."
    "So, our only chance is to outrun them."
    He nodded.  "Yeah."  The answer sounded dry in his throat.
    I looked back at the hounds.  "Why aren't they running?"
    "I don't think they can howl and run at the same time.  They probably think we're immobilized."
    "On three?"  I scooped up Elyssa and slung her over a shoulder, grabbed my duffel with a spare hand.
    Dad gave me a lopsided smile.  "One.  Two.  Three."
    We bolted.  The howls ceased.  Elyssa and Katie bounced against our backs with each long stride, and flopped with each leap.  We cleared six rooftops and leapt to the parking deck roof.  The hounds leapt each gap with high, graceful jumps belying their huge lumbering forms.  I spotted an old tire leaning against the parking deck wall.  Dropped my duffel.  Gripped the inside of the tire with my free hand.  Spun and launched it as the hounds leapt the next-to-last roof.  It caught one square in the chest as he hit the apex of his jump.  He yelped, sounding like a wounded dog, and vanished between the buildings.  His comrade ignored him and came at us, face snarling, his unnaturally long tongue flapping and slavering.
    Dad paused at the top of the ramp when he realized I wasn't right behind him.  I retrieved my duffel, sprinted to him, and we made our way down the ramp and into the parking deck.  Shouting echoed from ahead.  A man stood outside his white crew-cab pickup examining the side where a woman in a blue Toyota must have hit him.  The woman cowered in fear as he screamed obscenities in her face.  Fury rode a rising tide of hot anger in my chest.
    "You stupid, blind idiot!" the man shouted.  "How could you possibly miss seeing me when I backed out?  Women drivers are all brain-dead.  Shouldn't even be allowed behind the wheel of a car!"  The man's eyes widened with shock the moment he saw us rushing down the ramp, girls slung over our shoulders like a couple of cavemen.
    I lengthened my stride, reached him, and punched him square in the nose.  He staggered in a wobbling half-circle before face-planting on the concrete.  I grabbed him with my free hand and dragged him against the opposite wall, out of the way.  "We have an emergency," I told the shocked woman with the blue Toyota.  "Tell him he can get his precious pickup later."  I glanced back up the ramp.  "Now get out of here and hide!"
    She bolted like a crazed jackrabbit.
    Dad and I slung the girls into the back seats of the crew cab, not bothering to buckle them in as the panting of the hound grew louder.  I unslung the duffel from my shoulder, tossed it to Dad, and hopped in the driver's seat.  The truck peeled out under my desperate guidance while Dad turned around and tried to buckle the dazed girls in.
    "What—what happened?" Elyssa asked, seeming to recover her wits.  She buckled herself in before Dad