Page 72 of In Between Death and the Devil

We both looked to the door. And then we were moving.

“Stay here,” he said, shutting the door in my face.

I reached for the handle and then stopped. He was right. I should stay put. Even though I had a legitimate excuse for being here in the Dungeon, it was better to not be seen.

A second scream sounded, closer than the first, until it abruptly cut off with a strangled gargle.

The hair on my arms rose and my feet moved of their own accord. I couldn’t sit here and listen to what was happening. I needed to see firsthand.

I opened the door to absolute chaos.

Tempters ran in all directions, a host of them stampeding towards the entrance while others ran in the opposite direction. A few people tripped over each other, too busy looking over their shoulders to watch where they were going. Murmurs rose into panicked cries.

“Wraith,” someone cried.

My eyes found Fen, striding towards the center of the action, shadows already streaming from his hands. They coalesced into a dome around the dais. I followed his gaze, and my heart stuttered.

At the entrance to one of the corridors leading deeper into the Dungeon stood something I’d only seen a glimpse of in a vision years ago. A Wraith. It looked vaguely human, aside from the fact that its outline was blurred, like it wasn’t all there. Its eyes gleamed completely black. As I watched, its outline grew clearer and my mouth dropped open in a horrified silent scream, because it clutched a Judge trainee to its chest while it drank from their neck in deep gulps.

The trainee struggled, but their movements grew slower until they stopped moving altogether. A few heartbeats was all it took.

The creature dropped them in an undignified heap at its feet. Glittering red soul essence dripped from its mouth, which it hastily caught on its fingers and licked off. No. Not fingers. Claws. Its hands ended in long, talon-like claws. It looked around the room as if seeking something, its head tilting this way and that, like an animal.

Fen’s shadows went streaking for it, but the creature vanished in a blur before they could reach it.

I backed up a step, my head jerking around as I searched the room for the thing.

“Seal it,” Daphne shouted, running into the room from the entrance, a group of Tempters at her back. Each of them clasped a silver cuff at their wrist. Daphne grabbed something from her belt and smashed it on the ground, leaving a puff of white trailing in her wake. I felt something pull at the power in my chest, like a summons.

Shadows appeared in every opening, blocking all exits. Fen stood next to the shadow-encased dais, turning slowly in place as he ran his eyes over every surface, searching for the creature.

“Shields.” Marcus’s voice rose above the clamor.

The Tempters with him each bent one arm at a right angle in front of them. Shadows bloomed from the silver cuffs they wore, one after another, until each one held a large shield. They fanned out around the room, heads swiveling as they searched for the creature.

“Get back inside.” Titus was running for a group of Judge trainees who’d tumbled out of a door on the other side of the room, his own shield held at his side.

My eyes went wide when I recognized Bea in the crowd.

She was looking at me, her face white. No. She wasn’t looking at me. She was looking at the wall above me.

My entire body went cold as three things happened at once.

A cloud of shadows engulfed the trainees around Bea and the Tempters trying to force them to safety, causing panicked shouts.

Fen twisted towards me, hand out, ribbons of shadow already streaking for me.

And a low growl sounded right behind me as arms circled me and yanked me back against a hard chest. My arms were pinned in place by what felt like steel bands. I screamed as claws bit into my skin, the pain like a starburst, bright and searing. A burst of hot, noxious breath at my neck made me freeze.

This was it. The end. This creature would drain me, and I would cease to exist.

My eyes connected with Fen’s across the room. I felt his shadows twining around me and gratitude washed over me, that he was here at the end. Because it wasn’t my family that I thought about. It was him. The walls I’d erected between us, my refusal to trust him, suddenly felt confining rather than protective. I’d told myself I only wanted a platonic bond, but that was a lie. I wanted so much more, I was just too afraid to admit it. Maybe it was because of our Death Chord—maybe I had no choice. In the face of annihilation, it didn’t matter. I’d never get to know him now, and that was a tragedy.

Teeth snapped at my neck and I yelped, but no pain came. I could feel the creature trying to bite me, the scrape of teeth through what felt like velvet. Fen’s shadows, I realized, had slipped over its mouth like a gag.

Relief was short-lived as the creature’s claws dug harder into my arms, piercing muscle. I let out another scream, and squeezed my eyes shut so I didn’t have to see the glittering red that welled around its claws and dripped down my skin. Pain was a fiery cage from which I couldn’t escape. The more I struggled, the tighter I was held, and the further in the claws set.

“Let her go.” Fen’s voice cut through the haze. He sounded calm, firm, as if it were a simple request, despite the rage swirling through our connection.