Declan halted him before he could chase it. “That’s what it wants. Saxon, keep going.”
Saxon flashed the light toward Declan; in the beam, his eyes were nearly black, which was the color they became when something took him over. His skin was paler than normal, and his lips were clamped so tightly together they’d turned white. Declan read into things far more than any of them, and he suspected that what Declan sensed here had rattled him.
This time, Saxon kept the light on as he continued forward. A shift in the air alerted him something was there again, and he spun to face it. The fist flashed out of the darkness a split second before his head shot back. Stars burst before his eyes as his head hit the wall and his skull caved in.
His hand flew to his head as he fired the crossbow, but the thing was already gone. “Son of a….”
He felt along the broken bone at the back of his skull. The blood spilling from his broken nose pooled in his lap before he shoved himself to his feet. A wave of dizziness assailed him, and he almost went over as he swayed unsteadily.
“It hits like a Mac truck,” he muttered.
And then, from out of nowhere, the thing leapt onto Lucien. A noise unlike anything he’d ever heard filled the tunnel as the thing brought Lucien down beneath it. Saxon lunged for it while Declan fired his crossbow. It jumped off Lucien as the bolt sliced through the air, and Saxon turned in time to avoid taking it to his shoulder.
Declan’s horrified eyes met his. “I’m—”
He didn’t get a chance to finish apologizing before the thing was on top of him. From Lucien’s position on the ground, he lunged for Declan and caught his ankle before the monster could drag him into the shadows.
Saxon jumped over Lucien and ran at the thing still holding his friend. Lowering his shoulder, he barreled into the creature as it released Declan and spun toward him. Bony hands enclosed on his upper arms. The skeletal fingers felt like they should be fragile, but there was a surprising amount of strength in them as they lifted him.
He half expected this thing to treat him like a wishbone and tear his arms from him as it hissed. It was shorter and weighed less than him, but it easily lifted him until his head brushed the ceiling. A pair of white blue eyes, the same color a hunter’s eyes turned when they became a vampire and were enraged, shone from under its hood.
He recalled Killean’s description of the thing he encountered when he was living with the Savage’s and knew this had to be it. Well, maybe not the same one as Killean said the one he encountered stood over seven feet tall, but what was it? Despite being only feet away from it, Saxon couldn’t make out any other details of the beast holding him as the black cloak it wore shielded its face and body.
Lifting his legs, Saxon planted them on the thing’s chest and shoved back. The creature’s grasp slipped as he worked on freeing himself.
“Will not escape me,” a voice hissed, and he realized it was coming from the creature.
Killean thought the creature he encountered might be an ancient hunter turned vampire. But that whispered voice made Saxon realize Killean was wrong. This thing sounded like hundreds of snakes slithering over top of each other;nothingshould sound like that, and nothing should be this strong.
Instead of tearing him apart, the hands clamped down and pinned his arms against his sides. Its face remained mostly in the shadows of its hood, but two massive fangs glinted in the light. He’d never seen fangs like them on a vampire before as they were hooked like a rattlesnake’s fangs.
What the fuck?
Diving forward, Lucien slammed into the creature’s legs and wrapped his arms around its knees. He yanked it forward to try to pull the thing off its feet; while at the same time, Declan landed a one-two combination to its gut.
The creature didn’t grunt from the impact, but its eyes flickered to Declan before focusing on Saxon again. Was this thing the reason Elyse had been imprisoned and tortured? Saxon suspected it was, and that suspicion made his blood boil.
Thisthingwas behind all the torture she endured. Thisthingwas the reason her father was cut to pieces by the woman he loved and why Elyse received those pieces on her doorstep. Thisthingwas behind the increase in Savages and the hell they’d been through recently.
Elyse’s blood fueled his strength as he pulled one of his feet off the thing’s chest and kicked it in the chin. The blow snapped the creature’s head back. Saxon kicked it again and again, as a bellow worked its way up to his chest and broke free.
The creature yanked on one of his arms, tearing it from the socket and pulling on it until Saxon believed it was going to tear the limb from his body. The white blue of its eyes turned to a blazing, vivid red as it glowered at him.
Thatdidn’t happen to turned hunters. His heart thundered in his chest as adrenaline coursed through his body. This thing was stronger than him, but he would dowhateverit took to return to Elyse.
He kicked the creature again as Lucien plunged a stake into its thigh, and Declan aimed one at its heart. The monster pulled back its hand and backhanded Declan so hard it lifted him off his feet and flung him into the wall.
Declan collapsed onto the ground and shook his head as if trying to clear it. The creature grabbed at Lucien, but he rolled out of the way and came up on the other side where he plunged another stake into the back of the creature’s thigh.
With the thing only holding onto him with one hand and distracted by Lucien, Saxon pulled a stake free. The monster was turning back toward him when he swung the stake forward and plunged it into the bastard’s eye.
An eerie howl erupted through the tunnel as the creature swung him out and smashed him off the side of the tunnel. Stars burst before Saxon’s eyes; a ringing went off in his head as he hit the ground with a thud. A hand gripped the collar of his shirt and plucked him off the ground like he weighed no more than a feather.
Before this thing could bash him against the side of the tunnel again, Declan and Lucien tackled it around the waist and brought it down beneath them. When it released him, Saxon bounced across the ground and hit the side of the tunnel.
Staggering to his feet, Saxon rushed back toward them as the creature seized Declan’s throat and lifted him off the ground to hold him over its head. Blood spilled from the sides of Declan’s throat as it dug its fingers into his flesh. Declan beat at the hand holding him while Lucien lifted a stake over his head.
Before he could plunge the stake into the creature’s chest, the thing slapped him aside. As he was falling, Lucien released the stake and Saxon caught it with his good hand before it hit the ground. Spinning it in his hand, Saxon straightened it out and plunged it into the creature’s heart.
