A/N: heck, that was a long hiatus! Sorry! I'm taking an essay writing course this summer, like I said, and it's terrible. For example, this week I was supposed to take a tradition my family has and unravel the underlying meaning, then say what it reflects about our current culture in 21st century America... brrrrrhrhrhrhr. But here's a chapter, if I haven't lost you all already.

The monsters had been relentless. They had followed Reyna all the way down the West Coast, tailing her, attacking her, hunting her down. Each time she looked to Hylla for guidance. Each time she remembered Hylla wasn't there, and berated herself for looking. She was finally on her own. She could handle herself.

Now, though, she was really in a jam. She was walking along the side of a road which, unfortunately for her, was empty. It was two in the morning, though. The moon was surreally bright and the shadows were inky dark. They unsettled Reyna. The only sound was her soft footsteps on the pavement and the quiet rustling of leaves stirred up by the wind. And the growling.

The growling had begun a while back, probably around a mile. At first Reyna had thought it was a truck coming up behind her. Now, though, she knew it was something stalking her. With the choice of either staying on the shoulder of the road, close to where the monster was hiding, or moving into the open, where it could clearly see her but have her more distance, she chose the latter. Whatever the beast was, it had yet to show itself, and Reyna wasn't even sure where it was. All she knew was that it was lurking in the darkness to her right.

Her dagger was out and she had called her dogs. Aurum and Argentum circled her, snarling at everything. Their rudy eyes glowed sinisterly in the dark. Their claws made clicking sounds on the asphalt. Reyna felt safe with them, taking comfort in the fact that she had two highly technical, sentient and loyal weapons on her side.

Of course, their usefulness would depend on how big the monster was.

A lone car came slowly down the highway. Reyna moved to the opposite side of the road and watched it pass. The headlights slowly faded into the distance. No one seemed willing to let her hitchhike, although she understood that. To put it bluntly, she looked like hell. Days of being more or less in the wild did that to people. Also, the lack of sleep wasn't helping. If the unknown monster hadn't shown up Reyna probably would have camped by the side of the road, but now that wasn't a possibility. She was pushing on until the next exit, when she would follow it, hopefully to some place civilized with a cheap motel at the very least. The money the Amazons had given her was slowly dwindling.

The growling abruptly stopped, leaving only dead silence like something had fallen out of the world. Aurum barked once, the sound ringing. The hairs on the back of Reyna's neck slowly rose. Either the monster was gone… which was unlikely… or it was advancing.

There was a blood-curdling howl and a something like a living shadow bounded from the darkness between the trees. Blood red, feral eyes gleamed from under the fur and rotting teeth were on full display as the dog-like creature revealed itself. Reyna could have taken it, if it hadn't been as tall as the first floor of her old home.

Aurum and Argentum held their ground, snarling. Reyna's knife suddenly seemed much too small to make any difference. The hell-dog and the metal ones stared off, tension thick like an approaching thunderstorm.

Another howl rang out, this one farther away and higher pitched. Another answered it. And another.

Wolves.

The black dog pricked up its ears, listening, then, with a growl, it turned and sprinted in the opposite direction, leaving Reyna alone.

Reyna had about three seconds to be completely stunned before getting her head back on straight. Whatever was formidable enough to scare a monster of that size, she didn't want to meet. Even though the calls had sounded like normal wolves, she wouldn't want to meet a pack of those, either. She took off at a maintainable jog down the road.

Before long she felt the hairs on the back of her neck rising again. It was weird how they did that, she thought as she paused to look around. She could see nothing, but the darkness made it so that there wasn't much to see anyway. It was like with the massive dog. She had never seen it until it had confronted her, but she had known it was there. This was the same. She could feel the presence of creatures in front of her, but she couldn't actually tell where or what they were.

A loud, low snarling came from behind her. Reyna whirled around. Perched on the concrete divider between the lanes was a massive wolf. Not massive like the hell dog had been, but massive as in it came up to just above her waist. It bared its teeth at her and snarled, eyes glistening black.

Another snarl answered it. Reyna turned again. Wherever she wasn't looking, wolves crept out into the open, slinking in low to the ground. Soon she was surrounded.

She looked toward Aurum and Argentum. They were doing absolutely nothing, sitting docile on the pavement, watching the wolves but not threatening them, like they had done with the earlier monster. Perhaps it was some kind of wolf/dog relationship, Reyna thought as she kicked one. her foot made a hollow ringing sound, but Argentum didn't move.

Your dogs will not fight us, said a feminine voice. This one was unlike Bellona's. It had the same, slightly ringing quality but also was harsher, rougher and lower. And we will not fight you.

The alpha wolf slunk into the center of the circle. Reyna watched it like it was the one that had spoke.

I am Lupa, said the wolf. Reyna got goosebumps as she recognized the name. And I have come to guide you, Child of Rome.