Had Gadreel sent them? At least then, his Dimi would live. But as he stared the creatures down, daring them to come closer, he feared that was not the case.
You are nothing but what I made of you.
If these hounds were Elena’s somehow—if she’d bent the Darkness to her will—then Katerina’s life would be forfeit the moment they dug their fangs into her flesh. And Niko would never, ever let that happen.
“Katya,” he said, aloud rather than through their bond. “Run.”
Katerina laughed, but there was no humor in the sound. She stepped to his side, damn her, hands extended. He felt the power rush through her, felt the tug on the part of his soul that still belonged to the Light. The earth buckled beneath the first two hounds, which howled as they tumbled into nothingness. But behind them, the next two leaped the crevasse, jaws cracked wide and spittle dripping from their fangs.
His Dimi called her witchfire, catching the rowan trees alight. Flaming branches flew through the air, impaling one of the hounds mid-flight. It shrieked, an earsplitting wrench of metal-on-metal, and plummeted to the ground, snapping its teeth inches from Katerina’s face.
Niko plunged one of his blessed blades through its heart, and the creature collapsed, silver-blue blood staining the earth beneath it. He spun, and his own heart sank.
Katerina had incinerated the second hound. It chittered and wailed, engulfed in flame. But more and more emerged, from the rift and from the undergrowth that surrounded their campsite. His Dimi’s eyes narrowed, and through their bond, he felt the first hint of her fear.
Should he shift? Change? But what if he lost control of the shades? What if he became one of these creatures, turning on the person he loved above all else and dragging her down into the Darkness?
And in the name of all the Saints, where was Ana? In the chaos, he’d lost track of her. If the demons had killed her, Alexei would never forgive him—especially since they’d been arguing right before the attack.
Or was this somehow her fault? She had tried to strangle Katerina. Elena’s words had fallen from her lips. She smelled different, strange. Wrong.
A hound reared above him, slashing the air with its paws like a wild stallion, and Niko used its momentum to his advantage, slicing its throat as it fell toward the earth. Saliva and demon-blood sprayed his face, its sickly-sweet reek filling his lungs. He spat, disgusted, as familiar footsteps sounded in the woods to their left.
A moment later, Alexei burst into the clearing, Sofi and Damien right behind him. “Ana!” he bellowed, loud enough that even the hounds froze mid-attack. And then three of the creatures lowered their heads and came for him.
Pack or not, instinct overrode reason. Niko Changed and leapt, colliding with one of the beasts in midair. Entangled, they fell to the ground with a thud that shook the clearing, rolling over and over as Niko fought to tear out the hound’s throat. Beside him, Damien knelt, stabbing a second hound as Alexei Changed and charged the third. Niko glimpsed his former second severing the tendon in the beast’s hind leg, and then his vision was obscured by his attacker’s brindle fur. Silver-blue blood stained the fir needles that coated the forest floor, visible and then gone as Niko and the hound rolled once more. It gained the upper hand, looming over Niko on all fours, its rotten breath hot on his face and its acidic drool burning his skin.
Katerina. Where was his Dimi?
He struggled to rise, but the beast lowered its weight onto his belly, pinning him. Its growl reverberated through its chest and into Niko’s own. And then, to his shock, the beast’s voice echoed inside his head. Surrender, little Shadow, it hissed. Heel for your mistress, for she misses you, and would sacrifice much to have you back again.
Enraged, Niko fought harder than ever to throw the creature off. It lowered its head, its teeth grazing his skin and its black tongue slipping between its lips.
So hungry, it whined. Just a taste. Mistress would understand. Would forgive.
Oh, hell no. He was not going to serve as an appetizer for this abhorrent creature, just to become Elena’s main course. He still had five months left, damn it. Five months to walk aboveground and breathe fresh air, five months to protect his Dimi and drive back the Darkness.
Nonetheless, he was running out of time. Every day, his Mark faded a little more; he’d had to take pains to hide it from Katerina, though today, he could’ve sworn she’d seen. Every day, Elena’s pull grew stronger, until he half-expected to see her strolling between the trees.
Tell her to forgive this, he said, when the two of you are reunited in the Void.
Drawing a breath of the befouled air, he reached into the vein of ore inside him and grasped a handful of Darkness. The shades came willingly, as if they had been waiting for this moment. Yessss. Use us. Eagerness coated each syllable. We were meant for this.
The black-and-orange flames in the hound’s eyes flared brighter as Niko prepared to open his fist and let his shades free. But just as his fingers loosened, Alexei gave a roar of triumph and the stench of viscera filled the air. The hound above Niko stiffened, as if it shared its brethren’s agony, and he strained upward, sinking his teeth into its bitter flesh. He shook his head viciously, digging in his canines until he hit bone. With a satisfying crack, he snapped the creature’s neck. It went limp on top of him, and he flung it aside, howling his victory at the unnatural moon.
In the forms of their black dogs, Niko and Alexei stood side by side, just as they had so many times before. Unlike when they’d shared a pack, he could not hear Alexei’s thoughts, but he didn’t have to. Battle-hunger shuddered through his fellow Shadow’s muscles, even as blood dripped down Alexei’s flank. The other Shadow’s head swiveled left and right, searching the clearing for his Dimi, and Niko did the same.
He didn’t see Ana anywhere.
Sofi and Katerina stood back-to-back, as they’d been taught to do in training when fighting without their Shadows. Sofi had whipped the wind into a fury, shaking branches loose from the rowan-trees that surrounded the clearing as Katerina set them aflame. They worked in concert, stabbing the hounds with their makeshift spears. Everywhere, hounds were burning, but the earth disgorged more and more of them, in an endless stream. As Niko watched, one of them slunk beneath the onslaught, crawling toward Katerina with its belly low to the ground and its ears back. She didn’t see it; her gaze was fixed on Damien, battling a hound by the treeline. He stabbed at it, but it evaded his attempt, its teeth drawing back to show blackened gums as it reared over him, going for his throat.
Katerina’s brows lowered in concentration, and the tree next to the creature burst into flame. A gust of wind, and the hound caught fire as well, screeching as it flew across the clearing, away from Damien.
Sofi’s Shadow was safe. But Niko’s Dimi?—
Katerina! He screamed it through their bond as the hound crawled closer still, heedless of his intention not to infect her with his Darkness. Watch out!
Her head swiveled, searching for the threat. But the clearing was filled with smoke, and the beast was canny. It changed color, camouflaging itself, and crawled faster.
