Page 65 of Huntress

One held a heavily pregnant woman in front of him, his hand on her shoulder, claws at the base of her throat. There were scratches on her arm and chest, evidence that she’d initially fought back. Fat tears rolled down her cheeks, but she’d been scared into silent submission. It was an effective way to keep the others in line.

Following the others, a boy no older than seven let out a shriek when he saw the rats. He tried to run but was quickly snatched up and hurled into the crowd.

Elsie started snapping out orders. “Morgan, Banks, pick a roof.” The sniper and assassin split from the group, obeying her command.

“Trenton, Marley, and Steve, draw the guard on the left away from the humans, we need to give them a chance to escape. Trisse and Grady, you’re with me,” Elsie said, then looked to Perrie. “I want a barrier around the tram station entrance. Start funneling the humans in as soon as it’s up. Nothing, and I mean nothing inhuman gets through until we’re finished, understand?”

“Yes, ma’am.”

“Where the hell are they?” Elsie muttered, scanning the crowd.

“There.” Mutt nodded to a man a touch left of center. Jeshua was among the humans, staring at her as though he’d just been waiting for her to notice. The puppet was here, but his master remained a mystery.

She squinted at him, her keen eyes picking up a magical link so faint it was invisible if she didn’t look at it just right. This was his connection to the necromancer. She hadn’t seen the link before, but she hadn’t known to look for it. And even if she’d seen a wisp of magic attached to him, she’d have assumed that it was weeks-old remnants of some spell.

The necromancer had mastered his craft to use the lightest of touches to maintain Jeshua’s body. He must be the reason there were no magical trails to and from the nest, or in any of the tunnels.

He grinned, holding her gaze, then jerked his chin to the side. A signal.

The rats moved with synchronized precision. One held a man at arm’s length, raising him up before snapping his neck. He dropped the body to the ground with a heavy thud. The pregnant woman suffered the same fate; her captor laughed as she went limp before he let her fall.

Blood rushed to Elsie’s head, her body flashing from hot to cold. She wasn’t fast enough. Before she or Trenton’s group closed in on their targets, each of the four rats took another victim. Six lives lost in seconds.

Fury spread through Elsie’s veins. The humans were still internalizing what was happening when the first screams tore through the night. Panic set in quickly, triggering their fight-or-flight instincts.

Some clutched each other, forming tight knots of flesh around Jeshua, looking to their trusted leader for salvation. Others ran for it, and two idiotic souls rushed the rats with nothing more than bare fists. They paid for that foolishness with their lives.

Elsie bolted past the corpses, the hostages becoming background noise. She must ignore them to save them. The faster the rat demons fell, the fewer humans would die.

The world sharpened into hyper-awareness until she heard everything at once. Her own breathing, the pounding of her team’s footsteps, the gnashing of the demon’s teeth, the shrill metallic grating of her demon drawing his sword, and the heartbreaking cries of a boy clinging to his dead mother’s body.

The rat reached for a child. Elsie got there first.

Dagger in hand, she made first contact. Mutt took the hind end while Trisse slid in to badger the demon’s side. A flaming arrow buried itself behind the rat’s ear, and it shrieked wildly, blood streaming down to its shoulder. That deadly wicked tail whipped around, and teeth snapped, but it was no match for the three of them. In less than two minutes, the first rat demon was dead.

Elsie whipped her head in Jeshua’s direction while pointing at the next rat guard. Trisse and Grady accepted the command and bolted forward, away from their captain. She cut through the crowd, and her demon stayed with her, never more than a few feet away.

Out of the corner of her eye, Elsie saw Trenton’s group take down their first rat and start toward their second. Half the guards were dead. Blue light flared to life, and Perrie’s barrier was up. A handful of humans broke away and made it through to safety.

“Get to the barrier!” Elsie shouted as she pushed through the crush of bodies surrounding Jeshua. By the time she reached him, the third rat dropped. If the humans would get their asses moving, the majority of them would be saved, but they clung to each other like koalas.

She grabbed his collar, thumb brushing his throat, then almost let go by pure reflex. It was like coming into contact with the soggy, shedding skin of a corpse. No remnant of the man who’d once inhabited this body remained. Jeshua’s eyes were cold and dead, but something intelligent loomed, watching from behind them.

He laughed, low and guttural in a voice nothing like his own. “Do you think you’ve beaten us?”

The humans who’d remained glued to him shrank away, confusion and terror on their faces. Her demon shoved them toward the barrier, urging them to use their heads and help themselves.

Elsie raised her dagger to his throat. Beheading was the only way to separate a puppet from its necromancer. She’d haunt these people’s nightmares for years to come, but it was a necessary evil.

Dread slithered down her spine, intrusive enough to distract her. Heavy, overpowering magic filled every unoccupied space around her. The air she breathed was tainted with it. Something powerful was coming.

The pale line of magic connecting Jeshua to his master flared brightly. His head tilted back, and his mouth gaped wide. Thick, dark green gas spewed forth, rolling across the ground like a living fog. Elsie recoiled, letting him go, unwilling to let it touch her until she knew what it was.

“Perrie!” Elsie shouted. The witch was in the middle of bodily hauling humans one at a time through the barrier to safety, but she turned at the call. Her eyes widened, and she planted her feet, raising her hands.

“On it!” Perrie’s magic cracked like a whip, working to contain the fog, but it was like trying to catch a pouring rain through open fingers. Her brows furrowed as she focused, blocking out the chaos around her.

The fog’s tendrils expanded, searching. It touched the foot of a corpse and reared up in an arc, then plunged into the dead man’s mouth, invading every part of his body. Muscles twitched and expanded, popping and cracking under pressure. Claws ripped through lifeless fingers that fumbled and grasped, and slowly, he sat up.