Chapter Twenty-Three
I hear screaming and desperate gasps for breath.
It takes only a second to realize that both sounds are coming from me.
Blinking hard, I try to force my eyes to adjust quickly to my surroundings.
I’m in the woods. Glancing to my left and right confirms that my mates are laying down beside me, though their eyes are still closed.
I push my aching muscles into action as I sit up. My head swims with the movement, and that laughter– that horrible fucking laughter– fills the space around us.
When my vision finally adjusts to take in the scene before me, I have to force the sourness in my stomach to stay down. Retching its contents won’t help anyone right now, and I don’t need anything else to drag down my fleeting energy levels.
The Creatori crawls off my father’s body.
This means that the past few hours never happened. Or they did… except it was only in our heads.
We never defeated the beast and it has been sipping off our energy while torturing my father.
“What the fuck is the purpose of that, you sick fuck?”
The beast laughs at me like I’m just a stupid being beneath it. Although, to be fair, right about now I feel pretty fucking stupid.
“The female who was , wanted one last play time with the male she desired.“ The creature tilts its head to the side, no doubt gauging my reaction.
News flash.
That fact wasn’t all that hard to conclude on my own. Thanks.
“She hopes we can conceive. I do not understand her desire for a child.” I bite my cheek to hold back my shock and horror.
Surely that can’t actually happen.
Right?
“Her idiocracy will pass with time as she fades away and I become more.”
Wow.
Talk about a low blow.
It’s pretty sad that even the monster thinks you’re stupid.
The thought still makes me cringe though.
Conceive? Seriously? Because Euyriale Tynnan was such a world class mother.
Her son’s self-worth issues clearly prove just how much of a bang up job she did in her parental duties.
Bitches like that shouldn’t get second chances.
I push to my feet and my mates finally begin to shuffle a bit. Most likely waking up from their magick-induced dream state. I need to keep the thing distracted until they can help.
“Yeah, I actually don’t care. Although it is incredibly sad that the only way something as disgusting as you could get laid is by a guy that’s pretty much dead.”
My words send a twinge of pain to my aching heart. In the dream state, I had already said goodbye to the vessel that held Orobas. That’s not something I am excited about doing again.
“This type of play, this enjoyment, is new for us.” It runs a hand down its body. Caressing its curves in a way that has me literally gagging. “Unlocked, like many other things by those who worshiped me.”
I laugh at that, I can’t help it.
And then– because I have clearly spent far too much time around Blake– I channel my inner dickhead. “You mean those assholes that my mates and I killed? Damn, it felt good ripping off Hudson’s head. Was he your favorite pet?”
I don’t mean to ‘poke the beast’ but I’m tired and bitchy… and I’m pretty fucking pissed that I keep reliving the same shit.
The creature takes a step towards Lucian, who just started opening his eyes.
“Perhaps I will make your large mate my new pet. He will be fun to play with.”
I didn’t know I could move that fast.
One minute I’m standing between the guys, and the next I’m in the monster’s face, screaming as I tear and rip bits of stretched membrane from its body. I hear it hiss as it hits the ground, but I hear nothing else. My blood roars in my ears, pumping my rage faster and faster through my body.
Using a strength I have never felt before, I kick the monster in the face hard enough to send it cartwheeling into a bush.
I’m panting heavily as a large hand touches my back. A moment later, another hand touches my shoulder.
Good. We are stronger together.
The Creatori screams and hurls itself out of the bramble, nearly within touching distance.
“You think you can defeat me, you disgusting little witch? Only the blood of the female can defeat me.” It laughs at some lame joke it just told. Leaving the rest of us clueless.
“Any idea what that means?” I whisper to the guys.
“No.” Lucian is such a chatterbox.
Blake stays silent and, when I look at him, I discover that his face is scrunched up in thought.
Whatever. Maybe he just needs to think about it. Maybe it’s something he read on that ritual page of his mother’s.
However, I don’t get to think about a damn thing, because that creature fights dirty and lands a punch right to my boob.
Now somewhere between the boob punch and my sumersault backward, my guys decided to attack. Of course, it all goes tits up from there.
When I stop rolling and finally get my vision to focus again, it’s like this horrendous image frozen in time.
Lucian has his daggers sheathed in the Creatori’s back, and Blake stands in front, no doubt going for a frontal attack. The monster saw him coming, though.
I watch in horror, unable to get my bearings quick enough, while the creature dances gracefully around the blade before turning it around and using the full force of its body to stab Blake’s blade straight into his gut.
All the way to the fucking hilt.
“No!” My screams sound inhuman as I lunge my body into the fray, ignoring Blake’s crumpling form and ripping into the monster’s flesh with my shifted claws and new-found aggression.
Lucian rushes to Blake, but leaves his blades in the monster’s back. I jump up and grab them, ripping them out quickly before stabbing them right back into its neck. I take the opportunity to launch up with my wings and kick out with both feet crunching into its face this time.
It hits the ground with a thud, and I use my air magicks to hold the fucker down.
It’s breathing, and since it has no fucking eyelids– seriously, eww… it can’t close its eyes, but I know that I have knocked it out.
For how long?
Who the fuck knows at this point. I am just hoping it’s long enough for me to check Blake and formulate a plan.
I get to Blake’s other side just as Lucian is yelling at him.
I just can’t leave these guys alone for a second.
“No. There has to be another meaning. I won’t do it.”
“Lucian, my father always theorized this was the solution. This is why I was the one hunting the Creatori before I met Forsythia.” Blake gestures to the blade. “And it seems like the best opportunity to test it out.”
“What do you mean?”
Both men go quiet. I guess they didn’t notice me. Wow, what an ego boost.
Blake sighs. “My father thinks my blood– her blood– is the key.”
I look at the dagger in his abdomen and all the blood seeping from the spot. I bite my cheek and weigh my options, but it doesn’t take long. I look up to Lucian and he meets my gaze with fear in his eyes.
I think that a good dose of fear is healthy in a relationship. And since I tend to be a little batshit crazy from time to time, I think his reaction is just.
I don’t give myself a chance to rethink this strategy. It’s the best chance we’ve got.
“Fix him,” I grit out between clenched teeth, and reach forward to quickly pull the dagger out of Blake.
Lucian lets out a string of words in Fae that I don’t think are anything very nice, and Blake proceeds to come up with new pet names for me, none of which are very flattering.
But I’m already on the move. I throw my body on top of the beast and raise the dagger above my head.
A single drop of blood falls from the tip and it sizzles as it hits the Creatori’s skin.
As I swing the blade down with all of my might.
In my enthusiasm, the entire blade and half the hilt sink into the space where the creature’s heart should be.
There is no scream, or thrashing. No final words or last blows.
There is only still and silence.