“I’m bored now.” He watches us with sharp, hawkish eyes. “This isn’t the entertainment I was hoping for, so I guess I’ll have to make my own fun.”
“No!” Valen shouts as more ferals pour in out of nowhere, keeping him from reaching us.
My mouth drops open. There are so fucking many of them.
Any hope I had that we might make it out of this alive melts away.
We’re fucked.
Faster than I can track, Damien is in front of me, unnaturally sharp claws extended from his fingertips. I try to summon more magic, but it’s no use. I’m tapped out. He reaches out to slash, and I brace myself, praying to whatever being will listen that I might make it out of this, and at the very least, that Valen will be taken care of.
The pain never comes.
Peeking an eye open, I cry out at the sight before me. The scream that leaves me sounds inhuman. It’s high-pitched, laced with pure, unadulterated fear. Celine collapses in a heap on the ground, blood everywhere. She looks like she’s been slashed and run through. Her breaths come out in rapid pants, and it looks like any movement hurts her deeply.
“Celine!” I squeak out. She took the hit that was meant for me.
A roar of pure rage and despair echoes through the hall as Zav spots her body. He absolutely decimates the ferals left around him with spite. Valen doesn’t have to do much before they’ve cleared them out.
“Celine!” he screams with a fear that cuts through the entire room. “Celine! Hold on, baby! I’m coming!”
Damien sighs. “I missed my target, but this works too.” He talks to himself so casually it makes me sick. “Stupid human. So foolish.” He clucks his tongue.
“Are you guys here?” a voice calls from around the corner. “Ava!” I jerk my head up and see Luna and Levi charging toward us.
Thank goodness they’re okay.
“Oh my God, what happened?” Luna cries as she stops in front of Celine, looking like she’s not sure what to do. Her eyes dilate at all the blood. Levi holds her back by the wrist, scanning the area for threats.
I look up and realize Damien is gone.Weird.
He’d give up Valen that easily?
Something’s not right.
“Celine, baby?” Zav lifts Celine so he can support her against his chest, and she lets out a whine of pain, which makes Zav cringe. “Hey, beautiful, look at me. Let me see those brown eyes. Don’t close them.” He strokes her hair back from her pale face. Tears coat his lashes, and I feel my own dampening my cheeks.
Valen hugs me to him from behind, and I sink into his warmth. I hold his forearm for strength, feeling like I could collapse at any minute.
“I know it’s cliché to say,” Celine coughs out. “But I feelreally cold.”
Zav blanches and looks around at us with a desperation I’ve never witnessed before.
“Do you two know how to get out of here?” he asks Levi and Luna.
The demon nods. “Follow me.”
Celine groans when Zav picks her up in his arms bridal style. “It hurts,” she whimpers.
“I know, baby.” The normally humorous vampire looks like he’s on the verge of tears.
“Where does this take us?” Valen asks Levi.
Levi looks over his shoulder. “We’re beneath the hotel.”
So they didn’t move us far. I suppose that’s a good thing. We reach a door and start the trek up a set of concrete stairs. Celine begins to cry.
“It hurts s-so bad.”
