Chapter Seven
Every psychiatrist I’d been forced to see as a teenager told me my memories were wrong. It was only my mind creating a monster because my family’s loss was so great, I couldn’t accept that it had been caused by something as ordinary as a wildfire.
I’d known better, but somewhere along the lines I must have allowed myself to believe them.
Sure, the Beast was real, but it couldn’t have been that big.
Its black fur couldn’t ripple around its body like liquid tar.
Its claws couldn’t be that long, and its teeth couldn’t be sharp, shining triangles that more resembled shark’s teeth than a land animal’s.
Yeah, the doctors had been wrong. So wrong.
The Beast’s eyes were so black they blended into its tar-like fur until they moved, showing the whites as the Beast surveyed its surroundings. For an instant, the Beast looked at the camera. When those malevolent orbs seemed to stare right at me, my breath seized as if I were suffocating.
“Raine.”
Remy’s deep voice yanked me back to the present. For a moment, I’d been trapped in the same horror I’d felt when I first saw the Beast at fifteen. It took a few seconds to realize he’d paused the video, probably because I was gripping the iron armrest so hard that blood seeped from my hand.
“We can stop,” Remy went on. Each word sent soothing waves through me, as if his voice were acoustic Valium.
“I’m fine,” I gritted out.
Mostly true. I was only hurting my hand a little. Not having a full-blown panic attack.
“Turn it back on,” I said in a stronger tone.
Mandal muttered something that was probably a disagreement, but after another long look at me, Remy did.
On screen, the Beast towered over Remy. I stifled a shudder. God, my teenage memories were right. It did look like a cross between a bear and the alien from the movie Venom.
Remy backed away from the huge bipedal creature.
Mandal drew a sword from his coat and shouted “Gods, it is a beithíoch!”
“Leave,” Remy ordered, avoiding a swipe from the Beast that would have cleaved him in two. “And do not draw its blood!”
Why not? I wondered, but I’d save my questions for the end.
With a muttered curse, Mandal retreated.
The Beast chased Mandal. Remy darted behind it, kicking the Beast right in the ass. It swung around, enraged. Another swipe of those claws missed Remy again, making me gasp.
“You’re lightning fast!”
Remy shrugged, while on screen, Mandal gave Remy an anguished look as he ran into the elevator and closed the doors.
Screen Remy said something in an unfamiliar language. The area within the square perimeter of the steel pillars glowed with strange symbols that vanished in the next instant.
Remy slowed down his bursts of incredible speed.
The Beast’s next swipe grazed Remy’s arm. Four parallel lines bled, but Remy darted away as if unfazed.
“How did it not consume your violence from that?” I breathed out, forgetting my promise not to talk until the end.
“Not enough contact,” Remy replied. “It needs a sustained tether in order to consume violence or life force.”
On screen, Remy looked oddly pleased as his blood flowed from the slash marks. I didn’t understand until more strange symbols glowed to life as soon as those red drops hit the floor.
“Finished,” Screen Remy said with a savage smile.
The Beast swiped at Remy again—and roared in rage when it was flung back into the square perimeter between those steel columns. It looked like an invisible hand had just swatted the Beast! I never knew anything was powerful enough to stop the Beast at all, let alone knock it on its ass.
The Beast got up, throwing itself at the invisible barrier again. Its magic knocked the Beast down so hard that the Beast shook its head, dazed.
How’s that feel? I wanted to scream, but I didn’t. This was great, but it wouldn’t last. My sitting here was proof of that.
On screen, Remy gave the Beast a triumphant look. “You’re trapped, beithíoch.”
The Beast let out a roar that made me flinch. I’d heard that same enraged sound when Gran shot it. Even with its grisly wound, the Beast had torn into Gran. It was so occupied with slaughtering her, it didn’t notice me sneaking up behind it and grabbing her rifle.…
“Fuck you,” I whispered at the screen.
Gran’s last words. If I had the chance, they’d be my last words to the Beast, too.
On screen, the Beast stopped lunging at the trap’s walls. Now it moved with slow deliberation, reaching out one clawed hand toward the invisible barrier. When it touched it, the Beast was knocked backward again, but not as far.
Screen Remy arched a brow, looking unconcerned.
The Beast did it again, this time planting its massive legs before touching the barrier. The magic rocked it back, but it didn’t knock the Beast over.
Screen Remy frowned.
Yeah, I bet that wasn’t supposed to happen.
The Beast braced itself more firmly before touching the barrier again. It shuddered from the contact, but after several minutes of shaking as if being continuously electrocuted, the Beast took a step forward.
Screen Remy started chanting in a foreign language. The symbols around the trap appeared again, glowing brighter with every word.
The Beast dropped to its knees, but its hand was still planted on the trap’s invisible barrier. Then it pushed its entire body against the trap.
Lights exploded like sparklers. Screen Remy stretched his hands toward the cage as his lips moved faster.
Whatever he said muted the sparklers for an instant. The Beast bared its teeth, dropped its head like a lineman, and pushed against the barrier for all it was worth.
The sparklers turned into fireworks that briefly blinded the cameras. Moments later, the footage resumed, showing the Beast past the steel pillar that marked the edge of the trap.
“Fuck,” Screen Remy said.
That’s all he got out before the Beast charged him.
For the first several minutes, Remy outran the Beast. The Beast grew so frustrated that it leveled three of the four steel columns on the perimeter of its trap. Then the Beast moved toward the elevator.
Remy did something completely batshit. He ran to the Beast.
“What are you doing?” I gasped.
“Keeping it from getting out,” Remy said coolly. “The elevator shaft would be an easy climb to the hotel and its guests above.”
Screen Remy continued his charge. The Beast’s jaws snapped at Remy’s head—
That deadly bite never landed. Remy shoved his head beneath the Beast’s chin, wedging the Beast’s jaws closed with his skull. In another blur, Remy had the Beast’s arms spread in T formation, keeping those deadly claws away from him.
The Beast howled and tried to flatten Remy. Incredibly, Remy held it upright. Then he forced the Beast back a step.
“How are you doing this?” I burst out.
I caught a glimpse of Remy’s faint smile out of the corner of my eye. “I told you my powers were impressive.”
They weren’t impressive. They were beyond belief.
My admiration turned to winces. The Beast couldn’t bend its arms, but it could bend its wrists. The tips of those knifelike claws tore into Remy’s back. As quickly as those lacerations appeared, they vanished.
“You’re healing so fast,” I said with more shock. “Why did it take you so long to heal after?”
Remy grunted. “I was exhausted by then.”
The Beast kept trying to shred Remy’s back. Somehow, Remy kept it from digging its claws in deep enough to form a tether. But those shallow swipes were horrific. Still, Remy kept pushing the Beast away from the elevator. Keeping it from getting out.
If he wasn’t so arrogant, I’d call him a goddamn hero.
Remy began to fast-forward.
“Wait!” I said.
He arched a brow. “There’s another hour of just this.”
He had to be joking. Had to be … but the accelerated footage showed that he wasn’t. “If you’re that strong, why didn’t you knock the Beast out? Or use your voice to poof the Beast into dust like you did with that fancy sculpture?”
“I couldn’t.”
Remy turned to face me. His eyes seemed more startlingly blue, and the blood and dirt shadowing his face shouldn’t have made him more gorgeous, yet it did. His cheekbones were even more defined with the darker contrast, and his full lips remained sensual even when his mouth tightened.
But Remy’s next words demolished me.
“It’s how you were infected, Raine. When its current host becomes injured beyond repair, the last person to draw the Beast’s blood becomes its new host.”