We stepped through the gates onto frozen leaves that crunched beneath our feet.
Kian drew in a shallow breath, and I frowned. His eyes bulged with fright that kept me on edge. Lachlan’s face was devoid of emotion.
I didn’t say anything, instead, I chewed the inside of my cheeks as we walked through the opening of the village and into a clearing surrounded by older wooden buildings that were crumbling. It seemed even without the upkeep, they were still lived in.
The smell of death seeped into my nostrils, and I scrunched my nose. There were no animals running around or in the village, like Kian had told me before. It was eerie and unnatural. Chills zipped down my spine as I pulled Kian and Lachlan closer. Their shoulders rubbed against mine, providing a small amount of comfort before we came to a screeching halt.
A few necromancers were surrounding what looked to be a human in the middle of the clearing.
Kian’s pallor grew, and I felt the blood drain from my own face.
“It’s pathetic.” One of the warlocks spat on the human, who kept a blank face and tried to get up.
It tried to get to its feet several times, but another one of the necromancers would either physically knock it down or use their powers to knock it down.
My stomach turned at the altercation. It looked to be a reanimated corpse of a human, and it kept trying to pick up the stacks of wood that were littered around it. I hated humans as much as the next supernatural, but this was sickening. Bile burned the back of my throat.
One of the guys in the group stepped forward and grabbed hold of the human’s hand while a girl grabbed the human’s other hand. They pulled until the disgusting sound of ripped flesh and tendon hit my ears. The reanimated corpse’s arms popped off, sending the stench of death into the air at a stronger rate as the human dropped to the ground before trying to get back up without its arms.
I bit down on my sour anger as a desperate gasp clipped the silence from Kian.
The group turned to us, and varying looks of satisfaction and excitement twinkled in their eyes, but not in a good way. Every instinct I had was on high alert. My gut screamed that they were dangerous.
I squeezed Kian and Lachlan’s hands tighter as Nightshade nestled against my neck.
“Kian fucking Cortse! That you?” one of the guys asked with a dark chuckle that made me cringe.
Fear pricked at my scalp as they closed in on us. Their magic was dark,evil.
It suddenly made sense why Kian was so surprised that I wanted to touch him last term. If all necromancers were like them, Kian was definitely the odd one out.
Kian didn’t reply, but he’d stopped trembling.
“Still shy?” one asked.
“Huh. Doesn’t seem like Fate Hollow Academy changed you very much.” Another laughed.
Lachlan squeezed my hand and snarled at the group. “Don’t fucking speak to him.”
One guy held up his hands. “Whoa! And you’re bringing a werewolf in here?”
“And a shifter?” One of the girls snickered.
The guy that had pulled off the arm of the reanimated corpse dragged his gaze down my body, and I cringed, pressing against Kian.
“Don’t look at her,” Kian choked out as he shook with anger.
Nightshade crawled out from under my shirt and perched himself on my shoulders, crossing his arms.
Panic exploded through Kian’s expression as a girl threw her head back with a laugh. “This one never learns!” She held her fingers up as she squealed with excitement. “Let’s kill it!”
A blast of black magic shot toward Nightshade and me. I grabbed him off my shoulder and turned my shoulder toward her to shield him as he struggled against me.
I couldn’t let another animal of Kian’s fall prey to these monsters, especially not sweet little Nightshade.
Kian dropped my hand and threw himself in front of me, and Lachlan jumped in front of him. But at the last moment, Nightshade wiggled an arm free and pushed out toward her magic.
A vibrant purple magic circle appeared in front of them and deflected the spell she cast. It bounced off and hit the girl in the chest, throwing her backwards.
