“What the fuck now?” Nik bit out, bracing for another attack. “It won’t take on corporeal form.”
“And our abilities are voided on the hellscum in that shape,” Race growled.
Expression like granite, Nik’s entire focus fixed on the agitating fog. In a fast-moving tornado, the creature leaped at them, taking physical shape. Black as night, eyes like burning coal, with a car-size head and a mouthful of deadly fangs.
Oh, shit. She stumbled back, her ice flowers falling and shattering. No way couldshefight this horror and hope to win.
Dammit, she needed a blade. While her satiated symbionts made her stronger and her senses sharper than a human’s, she couldn’t summon weapons. If only she had a dagger—
Something warm and solid took form in her hand.
She gasped, staring in confusion at the obsidian dagger in her palm, the one she’d seen in Nik’s closet. How…?
He must have willed it to her. Her fingers clenched around the hilt.
Nik slammed his fist on the ground. A crack echoed, and deadly ice shards ripped through the surface. Shadow scrambled backward as the ice formation, taller than a house, rushed toward the creature. The hound yelped, a deadly long spike spearing through its body. The ice broke, blood poured, and the demon hound dissipated into mist again.
Aaandthen it reformed a second later, fully healed.
Nik cursed. Both he and Race flew into the air, their weapons coming down in deadly arcs, but the beast dove into them, ramming them hard and sending both men flying some distance away.
Leaving her alone to face the colossal monster.
Chapter 19
Oh,God, oh, God!
Her heart jammed in her throat, Shadow braced for attack. The hellhound sailed past Nik’s tall, dangerously sharp ice spears, landing a short stretch of space from her. It prowled closer like a living hell. Eerie red eyes fixed on her.
“Shadow!” Nik’s terrified cry came from afar as the hellhound’s gait gathered momentum.
The dark shape leaped.Oh, shit!
With only survival instincts driving her—heck, she was dead either way—she charged it, went in low, sliding between its massive forelimbs, thrusting the dagger upward with both hands. She shut her eyes as its heated, furry belly grazed her hands, and a river of something hot, thick, and coppery splattered her.
A guttural howl exploded, claws scraping on the granite surface reverberating in the quiet.
The sounds of ice crackled. A roar resounded. Shadow swiped the gore from her face, then cursed as a tsunami-like wave rolled toward her.
Crap! She grabbed onto a rocky outcrop, and the huge breaker crashed into the creature, sending the menace sliding away from her. Caught in the flood, Shadow fell, hitting her head against the rocky ground, water cascading over her, into her mouth and nose—
“Shadow!” Hands grabbed her, palms pressing on her chest.
She coughed and spat out water, lungs burning. Groaning, she pushed Nik’s hands away. “I’m okay, I’m okay,” she croaked, her gaze darting about her. “Where’s the—?”
“Vanished.” He scooped her into his arms, his heart pounding like a runaway freight train against her ear, and dematerialized them back to the monastery.
They reformed moments later in their room. The lights brightened. She gripped him tight around his neck, refusing to let go of her only safety net, shuddering, still caught in her terror at being so close to an evil entity that could have killed her, or worse, dragged her to Hell.
“Are you all right?” He pressed his mouth to her ear, his arms equally tight around her.
Too shaken to answer, she shook her head then nodded, shivers wracking her body. Her teeth clacked. “H-hold me.”
“I have you, Starshine,” he whispered, sitting down, keeping her on his lap, his chest rising and falling impossibly fast against hers, palms stroking her back.
After several minutes, he drew back, expression dark with worry. “I can’t pick up anything, are you hurt?” he demanded. “You’re bleeding—”
“N-not mine, the hellhound’s.” She trembled, staring blankly at the watery, reddish-black blood covering her hands, her arms, and soaking her clothes. “Why is it here?”
