Elf [Book One of The Elf Chronicles]

 Teeth and claws and flaming eyes.
 In that moment, an eardrum-shattering howl hit his sensitive ears. It was both obscene and mournful, carrying with it the scent of rotten meat and ordure. At his back...
 Some part of him recognised the sound, the stench, and his body broke into a sweat.
 No mere memory - something worse. They say the smell brain never forgets...
 Hunters. Hounds.
 And in that moment, he was suddenly certain they'd been waiting for him...

Chapter One

 Quist picked up the phone reluctantly. I'm not here, he said, with a sigh. This is a recording. Call back next year. He added sarcastically, Maybe you haven't noticed, but it's the middle of the night -
 But it wasn't the damned fool he'd thought - it was his damned fool of a brother instead.
 Have you seen Zander? Mac's voice was worried.
 Quist smirked at the phone. What - no 'hello'? he retorted. What's this sudden fascination with Zander? He sniggered. 's there something you're not telling me?
 No joke, Quist! The concern in Mac' s voice made Quist frown. He's in trouble.
 Quist shook his head, still unwilling to accept it. What kind of trouble? Have you been sniffing something nasty again? he asked kindly.
 Find him, Mac ordered.  Now.
 I've got company. I can't just go off and abandon a beautif-
 Mac cut across his blathering, to say harshly, If we don't find him - soon - he's going to die.

***

 Quist ripped out of his driveway with a squealing of tyres. This kind of night affected him much the way it did Zander. Truth be told, he was happier being out on a windswept evening, than cloistered in the so-called safety of his house.
 He wondered, briefly, whether he should be worried about Mac. He'd had these premonitions or whatever they were, before, and they'd always proved out. If he said Zander was in trouble, chances were he was. Shame Mac couldn't be a little more specific, though. It would be nice to know whether Grocery Man was facing the long end of a knife, or the short end of a gun. Things that might make a rescue a little more difficult.
 He glanced around. Who the hell would mug somebody in a place like this? Maybe ol' Zand had changed his route, and was now jogging through the red light district.
 I would, if I worked nights...
 Mac sometimes acted like Zander was his kid brother as much as Quist. Maybe he felt that way. Both Zander's parents had died when he was sixteen, and Mac had been watching out for him ever since. It had been years now, but Mac still kept tabs on him. They' d never lived very far from Zander, either.
 Quist raised his eyebrows. Mac had always seemed flamboyantly heterosexual to him, but there was no accounting for tastes. Maybe Mac did have a thing for Zander. He thought about it: my best friend and my brother. And grimaced. How totally unappealing. Appalling, even...
 He was still silently berating Mac when he reached the locked gates of the supermarket loading yard.
 No Zander - and stupid Mac was supposed to have met him here. He felt like a fool for chasing down a grown man, who'd no doubt elected to spend the night at some lady's house. And I'll be damned if I'll ask him where he's been! he thought. Mac could be a real dumbass sometimes.
 It was obvious there was nobody here. Quist's eyes were as keen as Zander's and it was easy to scan the parking lot. For thoroughness' sake, he climbed off the motorcycle to make a better search.
 He'd no sooner lifted the helmet than he heard it.