Brock was trying to pace behind me to work off his coiled energy while simultaneously not wanting to let go of his grip on my shoulders. I couldn’t bring myself to be bothered by the contradiction.
‘Eve,’he warned.
I’d have to give him a way to help me, and fast. Before Cass could answer, I gasped, the sudden realization enough to interrupt the pain.‘It’s the gate,’I said, attempting to broadcast to Brock and Cass at the same time, without any idea whether it could be done.‘Something’s come through the gate. And whatever it is, it’s really bad news.’
I had no idea where the certainty came from. Maybe it was a kitsune thing, a new power from the fourth tail I’d sprouted this morning when I’d shifted to stave off the vampire killing curse. Whatever the explanation, the fact couldn’t be denied—a monster unlike any other had just entered our world.
And I was the only one who could stop it, that was for certain.
I gritted my teeth against a wave of pain and shot to my feet. After sharing a single look with Brock, we set off at a run, Ray and Sabine on our heels. They might not know what set us off, but they were experienced enough to understand something was wrong.
Something was very, very wrong.
14Beaten with the Ugly Stick
Brock stuckto me like glue, but the more I ran and settled into the repetitive rhythm of my strides, the easier it was to push away the waves of power and the consequent pain they caused. The nausea receded and I stretched my legs to reach farther and faster.
The gate was on the other end of the property, farthest from Brock’s house and mine. Given the circumstances, that was a very good thing. I didn’t want this creature that had slipped through anywhere near people I cared about. I had the distinct feeling the creature would want to eat my friends.
‘Cass? You coming?’I asked while we ran.
‘On your tail. Everyone’s with me too, even T.’
‘Good,’I said. We’d need every one of our strengths. I couldn’t explain the clear knowledge that a demon had just crawled out of the gate, but I’d bet my life on it. A new kitsune power, and a useful one.
‘The baby,’Brock warned.‘You’re going too fast.’
‘Honey, I’m not going fast enough,’I said.‘If whatever this is makes it off the property, we’re fucked.’And I didn’t mean “we” as in my group of friends and my baby daddy, I meant the entire town. We’d barely managed to kill the demon giant the last time something escaped from the gate, and I recoiled at the thought of what it would have done had it made it into town.
Brock, Ray, Sabine, and I loped silently through the woods. When I spotted the creature in front of us, my step faltered and I stumbled before catching myself.
“What the...?” Brock whispered.
I snapped my mouth shut. I had no fucking idea what the hell this creature ahead of us was.
Brock, his wolves, and I, whirled at the sound of crunching branches to our right. A relieved exhale escaped me when Haru and Reo moved through the forest as light on their feet as deer. They took one look from me to the creature standing near the area of the gate and the immovable Japanese warriors’ faces settled into lines of shock.
Ah, so they didn’t know what the hell it was either.
Half a minute later, Cass whirred up on his hoverboard, and Tianna and Molly skidded to a stop next to us.
“Holy motherfucking fuck,” Molly whisper-screamed, far less creative than usual, but I wasn’t about to blame her.
The monster was easily fifteen feet tall, but I couldn’t decide if it was half lizard man, half deformed troll, or half an uneasy mixture of the entire contents of the underworld. The thing had five arms, all hanging in the wrong places, and only some ending in a semblance of hands. It had three legs, though only two reached the forest floor, the other one hanging from his waist like a spare part. This thing had definitely been beaten with the ugly stick. Repeatedly.
Its face was human-like, if said human were standing in front of a funhouse mirror. To further make the image the stuff of nightmares, it had a head of dreadlock-looking hair, only the dreads were moving, like Medusa gone terribly wrong.
Cass’ hoverboard sputtered as he lost momentum in his shock. “I can’t believe it,” he whispered.
“What? You know what that thing is?” Brock asked immediately.
The creature was standing far enough off that it hadn’t spotted us yet. It was looking stupidly at its feet, probably wondering what world it had just stepped into.
Cass nodded slowly, as if he were struggling to comprehend what he was seeing.
“Then what the hell is it?” Brock pressed.
Cass popped his hoverboard into his hands and shuffled between me and Tianna. “It’s an apollyon.” His voice suggested we were witnessing a walking legend, the monster kind. He shook his head. “This is so not good. This means the situation is even worse than we thought.”
