Lust (Saints & Sinners #1)

Chapter 25

25

LUKE

T his sure as fuck isn’t how I expected to spend my first semester at St. Lawrence.

Cody and I are off in a sprint, Cody’s phone light shining our way as we dodge trees and jump over branches, rocks, and logs.

Seeing the Slasher catapult Brad into the air like he was weightless has helped me grasp how strong this thing is.

As it pursues us, I hear something like gurgling and dog growling. As far as I can tell, the Slasher is gaining on us—fast—and I fear looking back will only slow me down.

Even with my track past, I doubt I can outrun this thing, and Cody’s starting to fall behind, his intense panting suggesting he’s not gonna be able to keep on like this much longer.

I have no doubt what the Slasher will do if it catches us, and while I can’t stop it, maybe I can slow it down.

I listen carefully as that growling/gurgling sound nears, keeping my pace just behind Cody’s so that if it grabs for one of us, it’ll be me. Then I bring my bat in front of me, gripping the handle with both hands.

“Just keep running,” I tell Cody.

“What the…fuck…are you about to do?” he asks between breaths.

“Maybe kill myself, so don’t let it be for nothing.”

He’s about to say something—object or tell me what a dumbass I am—but I’m already spinning away from him, swinging. My timing’s just right because the bat slams against something, and as my eyes adjust to the moonlight, I see the cloaked monster. It snatches my bat, just like it did with Brad, but now that I’ve seen what it can do, I know to release. And as it discards the bat, I slip my hand in my pocket and retrieve the pepper spray, since I’d prefer not to have to get that close to the Slasher for an attack.

It takes a swipe at me, and I aim and fire, dispensing the stream straight into the hood of the cloak. The Slasher withdraws its hand, the gurgling sound intensifying as it claws at its face.

It worked! At least somewhat, so I take advantage of the opportunity, sprinting toward the light from Cody’s phone. He’s a decent way ahead of me, giving me confidence that even if that thing isn’t down for long, it’ll likely get me before him.

I sneak a glance over my shoulder, then scan my phone behind us. I can’t see it in the night-vision app. Maybe that pepper spray has bought us some time.

But what if it backtracks and goes for Brad and Seth?

Hopefully, now that they know what we’re dealing with, they’ll be smart enough to get the hell away from it.

Navigating through the foliage, I speed up a hill. I assume Cody must be on the other side, but I can’t see his light anymore. When I reach the top, I hear, “Luke, no!” before I lose my footing, sliding down some kind of trench.

As my momentum carries me over the edge, I manage to spin around and grip on to a sapling, which is rooted enough to stop my fall. Hanging from it, I reorient myself and grab at the sides of the trench. I start to climb the side when I hear, “Luke,” behind me.

Glancing over my shoulder, I search the trench and see Cody poke his head out from a shadow, into the moonlight.

“I didn’t see it either,” he says, clearly referring to this big-ass trench.

“Come here. I’ll help you out.”

He hisses. “I can’t. I sprained my ankle. Also, my phone’s busted from the fall. I’ll just hide here, but you keep running.”

“Not fucking happening.”

I use the ridges and roots in the trench to climb down—it must be at least eleven feet deep. I hurry to Cody and kneel beside him. He cringes as he removes his bookbag. “Can you get out the salt? If it gives us a few minutes, I can make a circle of protection.”

I’m tempted to say fuck magic and hide, but from what I’ve seen so far, it seems to fare well in the dark, so I doubt it’ll have any issue discovering our whereabouts.

I fetch the salt and pour it in a circle around us.

Cody uses the ground and my shoulder to get on his knees, and as he gets into position, I search overhead, waiting for the Slasher to discover us and jump down to finish us off. Fortunately, it seems my pepper-spray attack bought us more time than I expected.

Cody grabs hold of the cross on his necklace and whispers to himself…not loud enough for me to make out what he’s saying. Even with the extra time we’ve earned, I fear he’s not gonna have time to do this and we’re both gonna die.

He’s still muttering to himself when a crack comes from outside the trench. My heart races as I place my hand on Cody’s wrist.

He quiets.

Fuck, did I stop him too soon?

Are we sitting ducks?

I retrieve my pepper spray from my pocket, readying myself in case I need to strike again.

A dark silhouette steps into the moonlight, and the hood of the cloak searches around before zeroing in on us. I wait for it to pounce, come down like it did from that tree, but it moves backward quickly, disappearing into the darkness.

Did Cody’s spell work? Or is it fucking with us? Toying with its next meal?

We wait a few moments before Cody says, “I’m pretty sure it worked.”

I catch my breath, not just from holding it while that thing was searching for us, but from that intense sprint.

Maybe it really worked after all.

But a rustling comes from overhead.

I keep my finger under the safety of the pepper spray and pull the stun gun from my other pocket.

The rustling gets closer.

There’s a hope in me that it’s Brad and Seth, but suddenly, a figure appears, looming over Cody and me.

It’s not them.

But it’s not the monster either.

“Luke? Cody?” Alexei asks, moonlight illuminating his face.

The fuck?

“Alexei, come down here. Quietly.”

“Quietly? And why were you guys running through the woods?”

“Please. Just get down here.”

“Quickly,” Cody follows.

Alexei’s expression is scrunched up like he’s confused as fuck, but he nods and searches around.

The crack of a branch heightens my senses once again, followed by a sound I can’t make out until I see something push through Alexei’s torso, like a long, straight rod. Too straight to be a branch. Alexei cries out in agony as he’s yanked back.

“Alexei!” I shout just as something tumbles over the side of the trench, landing away from us, in a depressed part of the ground, like a spot that used to hold water.

It’s Alexei, impaled on—

Bucktooth Beaver.

“Oh God,” Cody whispers.

The blood that scattered across Brad’s face and mine.

Now this.

The vision is coming to pass.

Alexei grabs at the rod in him and curses.

“I have to help him,” I tell Cody.

“You’ll break the spell if you cross the salt,” he warns.

“You can heal, right?”

“Cuts and scrapes. Not that .”

Fuck.

“We can’t leave him like this,” I say. “He’s still alive. We can make another circle around him.”

“We might not have time.”

“Isn’t it worth it if we might save him?”

“Of course.”

“The pepper spray bought us some time before,” I explain. “If it comes again, I’ll spray it. I’ll electrocute it. I’ll keep it back. You think you can get that thing done in thirty seconds?”

Cody grimaces. “I can try. Help me over.”

“Luke?” Alexei groans.

“We’re coming,” I whisper.

Cody tosses his bookbag strap over his shoulder, and I keep my finger under the safety of the spray as I help him to his feet, out of the circle, checking overhead. Cody hops alongside me as we settle in the depressed part of the ground near my fallen roommate and friend.

As Cody gets back on his knees, I tuck the stun gun in my pocket since I need my hands. With one hand, I hold the spray. With the other, I run the salt along the sides of the trench.

Cody’s gripping his necklace and muttering to himself before I’m even finished, and as I complete the circle, there’s a sound from above. My head snaps toward it, and a black mass comes at me. I raise my pepper spray and shoot, the stream flowing into the hood of our attacker.

Another perfect shot.

I jam my finger down on the spray, and the Slasher’s claws withdraw to its face again, pulling back the hood, the moonlight shining off a jaw of lengthy teeth. But it doesn’t back away, like it’s getting better at enduring the pain, so in a panic, I fire up the stun gun, pressing it up against the back of its wrist.

The Slasher unleashes another cry, and I dodge a swipe before it retreats over the side of the trench, its screeching so high-pitched I need to cover my ears.

Another victory!

Maybe we’ll make it out of this alive after all.

Cody continues his spell as I hurry to Alexei, whose eyes are wide open, mouth agape as he struggles to breathe.

“Fuck, Luke. Fuck,” he says, but my gaze is focused on the spot where he’s impaled. Not just because it’s horrifying, but because this is the exact image from my vision, as if someone recorded what I was seeing in this moment.

Alexei grunts. “It hurts.”

My gaze meets his, his usual playful expression locked in strain as he grits his teeth. “Cody might be able to do something for the pain,” I say. “Just give us a moment, okay? Hang in there.”

Oh, please, Cody, fucking get this sorted out.

I turn to see how he’s progressing. He has his necklace in one hand, and he’s moving the other about vigorously. Again and again. This isn’t part of what he did before, and he’s not muttering the spell. What the hell is he doing?

I hurry over to him. His eyes are open, black as the night, and he’s not just moving his hand about. It looks like he’s writing something in the air.

Something’s happening.

I unzip his bookbag and retrieve a notebook and pen, placing the pen in his grip and holding the notebook out for him. I glance between his writing, the opening of the trench, and Alexei, my adrenaline keeping me on top of my surroundings.

Cody writes gibberish at first, but then I start to make out letters:

I AN KARM

I AM KYMS

I AM KYS…

He goes on like this, which is not getting us anywhere, so I release the notebook, but just as I do, Cody lets go of his necklace and grabs hold of the notebook, writing:

I AM KYSAR

LUKE LUKE LUKE

This is followed by squiggly lines, and then my name again, with even more squiggly lines.

“Cody, did you finish the spell?” I ask, but he doesn’t reply. Just keeps on writing the same thing over and over again, then turns the page and keeps going.

“Cody—”

A growl comes from overhead, sounding different than before—deeper, more menacing. This thing is fucking pissed.

I was so busy trying to keep the Slasher off us that I hadn’t considered how much I was irritating it. Like spraying a hornet’s nest with vinegar instead of Raid.

A few yards along the trench, something shifts, and I turn to see that black mass again, hunched over, making its way toward us, slowly, like something out of a horror movie.

We’re fucking dead.

And then I hear:

“Cody?”

“Luke?”

Brad’s and Seth’s voices.

The Slasher stops in its tracks, then turns in their direction.

“Luke?” Brad calls again as the creature climbs up the side of the trench.

“Brad! Seth!” I call. “Don’t come here!”

I turn to Cody, who’s still writing Luke , but the squiggly lines aren’t as erratic. It’s a drawing of…

Fire.

The image of me, burned to a crisp, springs to mind.

But I can’t think about that right now. I have to make sure the guys get the fuck out of here.

Before I can give that another thought, Cody drops the pen and snatches my wrist.

“Cody, what the—”

I’m lightheaded all of a sudden, and then a familiar sensation sweeps through me before everything goes dark.

I’m standing in the woods, over two bodies. I recognize Seth’s and Brad’s jackets. Seth lies facing away from me, the side of his face covered in blood. Brad lies with the Slasher squatting next to him, concealing everything above Brad’s neck. As I walk around it, I see the Slasher’s mouth wide as it crunches down on Brad’s face.

As my chest constricts, I’m transported over the trench, looking down to see Cody lying alongside Alexei, his face covered in blood, his jacket torn open as a mess of what looks like black ground beef spills out of a gaping hole in his torso.

“Luke!” I hear Brad’s voice again, and my eyes pop open.

I’m back in the trench with Cody and Alexei.

I turn to the page Cody wrote on, with my name and the image of the fire.

An awareness moves through me.

It reminds me of the Moment.

There’s no doubt. No confusion.

I raise my hand, concentrating, and there’s a sensation…heat swelling in my chest. It moves down my arm to my hand, and as I roll my hand toward me, a flame pushes from my palm. It’s so fucking hot that I cringe at the sting before cupping my hand to put it out.

That horrifying image from my vision returns to me, then the words Cody received from the Guides: He must go. It’s time for him to go. Go now. And suddenly, I understand what it means.

“I have to go now,” I mutter.

If I don’t, the Sinners and the people at Alpha Alpha Mu’s party will die tonight.