I was actually starting to feel somewhat hopeful. Except that when we left Eamonnn’s, there was a fire giant watching us.

I didn’t like that, and reached out to deliberately take Kanesha’s hand. Maybe it would put her in more danger, but he did seem to be backing off a little.

Or, perhaps, being patient. What was Kanesha’s lifespan to an ancient giant? I glanced over at the one on the corner – a woman. She winked at me. I wondered about her personal feelings for a moment, then dismissed them.

“Was that?”

“Yeah. Ignore her and keep walking.”

But that was the point at which she broke into a run, darting through traffic towards us.

I moved between her and Kanesha, but saw Kanesha shift into a stance out of the corner of my eye.
She could handle herself, I knew, but I was still ready to block any fire attacks. “We’ve got a real problem,” the fire giant hissed. “Run.”

“I’ve got plenty of real problems.”

“Run!” And she then took her own advice, tearing off down a side street. I thought for a moment, and then followed her. Maybe it wasn’t the smartest thing to do, but anything that could scare a fire giant warrior might be the kind of trouble I didn’t want to meet.

Kanesha’s footsteps were behind me. I slowed to let her go first, making sure anything really nasty would hit me rather than the fragile mortal. When had I started thinking like that?

I kept running, and the fire giant ducked down a different street, then zagged again. We could just about keep her in sight.

Behind us, I heard a faint thrumming sound, something that vibrated through me. “You hear that?”

“No!” Kanesha called, between pants.

Which was a bad sign – it meant it was definitely something supernatural. “Well, keep running. I think something’s about to blow up.”

And then it did, the wash from it falling just short of us. I knew instinctively that whatever it was wouldn’t hurt mortals.

Whatever it was had been aimed at supernaturals…and I sensed there might be a new player in the game. One who just wanted to hunt us all, regardless of sides.

I hoped Bruce was alright.

I hoped whoever it was only had one of whatever did that.