Staying Dead - Laura Anne Gilman [70]
The first barrier passed without confrontation, Wren settled comfortably on the grass. Her weight was balanced evenly, her spine relaxed and flexible, like a gymnast ready for the next set of tumbles. You can’t rush things, not if you want it to work. Don’t force the moment, let it flow…
Without warning, she felt a presence behind her, then another in front of her. Low to the ground, not towering man-height. Two more came in from the sides, with a fifth waiting just off to the right and forward, almost out of range. By the prickling of her thumbs—not to mention the distinct aroma of wet fur—she knew what they were. No real surprise on that. She just hadn’t expected so many.
Five hellhounds, she thought in disgust. This guy just has way too damn much money.
Quarter-breed hellhounds, actually, about half their grandsire’s estimated size. Nobody she knew of had ever seen a purebred hellhound. Or if they had, they hadn’t been in any condition to talk about it afterward. But their offspring showed up often enough to prove that they existed. Those pups usually came to a quick, bad end. If their own dams didn’t smother them, disgusted owners or annoyed ASPCA workers did it.
Hellhound crosses were mean.
But enough breeders had seen the potential, crossing those pups with a calmer breed—Saint Bernards were popular—and selling them to very selective owners as the ultimate in guard dog. Quarter-hounds were smart, aggressive, and trainable. Barely. They were also strong enough to take down a person, one-on-one. And she had to deal with five.
And they were starting to get restless.
“Sergei, I’m blaming this on you,” she said in a calm, even voice. “And if I get torn to bits, I swear every single bit is going to come back and haunt you.”
One hound snarled at the sound of her voice, and the others shifted, but they didn’t attack. Yet.
The thread of energy she had used to call the deer to her was still loose. She picked it up, mentally, and extended it toward the closest-in hound, on the odds that this was the alpha. Canids were pack animals. One brain, many bodies. Please God let that hold true.
Nothreat. Noalarm. Nodanger. Noprey. It was more wordlike than what she had used with the deer, playing on the animal’s reasoning and training to direct it where she wanted its brain to go. All concern, all wise-ass comments faded into the back of her brain. Dropping focus meant losing control of the current, and losing control meant ending up like Neezer. Or, in this case, torn to shreds physically before her mind shattered. I’m no threat to you, no danger…no reason to be here, no reason to stay…
There was a heavy wuffling sound way too damn close by, the wet smack of jaws snapped together, but she didn’t let it distract her. Nothreat. Noalarm. Nodanger. Noprey.
A whine, then the furthest-away hounds backed off a step, then another. And the alpha let them do it. Another step back, out of immediate lunging range, and all five were gone into the shadows, dismissing her as insignificant.
Okay, thank you, God. I do truly appreciate it, and know that you’re telling me to get my ass in gear, which I will do just as soon as my heart gets itself down out of my throat, and my stomach picks itself up from my knees.
According to the information she had been able to sneak out of the local police department mainframe, the digital gate and dogs were the only protections the mark had outside the house. But the legal stuff was usually only the surface. He was a collector. Think like he thinks. How would he safeguard his pretties, so that no one could take them away from him? Think like the nice crazy person, Wren. Get into his head and make yourself at home.
Wren got to her feet and started moving toward the house, keeping alert for any noise or sound out of the ordinary. Security lights every twenty yards, easy enough to skirt around. Low to the ground, look like one of the dogs. Any camera will only pick up a shadow, any heat sensors could mistake her outline for one of the equally-sized dogs. If he had anything that picked up pulse rates, she