CHAPTER FIVE #3
There was no time to argue. I scooped her back into my arms, racing outside. Night cloaked us with the chaos of everyone escaping. But I saw no sign of Brennan, nor his friends. And I knew mine were still inside.
I had to help them.
“RUN!” I roared at Cecelia
But she stood still, taking my hand in hers, until her eyes moved to my arms, seeing how they’d become thick and muscled, the way they burst through the seams of my tunic.
Cecelia released my hand, taking a horrified step back. “You—your arms. They-re—you’re…” She shook her head, backing away from me. And then a feeling poured out of her, overwhelmingly strong. And directed at me. My mind connected to hers, as her fear manifested into a single thought.
Demonos.
The backs of my eyes burned. I’d tried for years—tried to take care of her, to protect her. And yet …
It wasn’t the first time someone I’d cared for, or loved, had looked at me that way—with hatred and disgust. I’d been on the other end of those looks my entire life. I was well practiced at receiving it.
But it never got easier. Not once.
It was one thing to think I was a monster. It was another to see it confirmed in the eyes of someone I cared for, someone I thought was my friend.
“Go!” I said, my voice cold.
I turned away, blinking my eyes dry. The connection between us was severed. My heart ached, breaking for what I’d lost, but there was no time to dwell on it. I ran back to the tavern.
Finlay was still in danger. I ran after him, screaming his name, but crashed into a farmer running from the wolf.
He knocked me and an entire table over in his panic.
My ass hit the floor, and glass shattered at my feet.
But I grabbed at a tablecloth nearby, shoving the shards of glass on top, then tied the ends together.
My new weapon in hand, I jumped to my feet, just as Finlay’s weapon speared the beast, piercing its chest. He pushed the spear in deeper as he shouted a guttural war cry.
The sheer force of his strength had been unexpected.
And had it been any other animal on the other end, it would be dying by now.
But the chimera barely noticed. Even if Finlay had struck its heart, it didn’t matter.
That wasn’t how to kill a chimera—that wasn’t how to survive.
My mother had thrown a dagger at the chimera’s heart, too, that day in the woods. The blade cut right through its torso. It didn’t even flinch. Finlay’s attack had only made the chimera grow more agitated. It charged forward, the spear in its chest becoming another weapon.
“Finlay!” I screamed. “Run!”
He stumbled back, his feet tangling beneath him, his hands still wrapped around the end of his weapon.
No!
He fell, his leg twisting underneath him.
I ran, twirling the glass shards above my head. I spun it around and around, then released, letting it soar. The cloth opened, the shards raining down and smashing against the chimera. But they all seemed to hit the goat skull.
Fuck! I’d been aiming for the Godsdamned lion’s head.
Rowan was at Finlay's side in seconds, brandishing a dagger. He threw it sharply, his aim true. The steel cut through the lion’s eye, the hilt bobbing grotesquely as blood poured down its face and splattered onto the floor.
It reared back, letting out an ear-splitting roar, before its front legs slammed into the ground, its hoof sliding back before it charged again.
Rowan threw himself over Finlay, wrapping his arms and legs around him. He rolled the two of them aside just in time. The chimera snarled, its eyes set upon them.
And I knew they had seconds before they’d be crushed. Or worse. Burned.
I took a deep breath.
Cecelia had already seen how unnatural I’d become. She’d seen that I was different. Demonos. Azete.
And in a minute, Finlay, the man who’d become a best friend to me, or as close to one as I’d ever known—was going to look at me the same way. Going to see how I’d changed, how I fought. How unnatural I was.
But at least he’d live.
“Get him out,” I yelled at Rowan. “Take Finlay! Now!”
He jumped to his feet without hesitation, hauling my friend’s body up with him.
“Samara!” Finlay yelled, his voice full of panic. “Sam! What are you—”
“Go!” I roared.
Rowan swept his arm beneath my friend’s knees and pulled him up.
“No! Sam!” Finlay reached out for me.
I shook my head, breathing a sigh of relief as Rowan nodded. I didn’t know what he saw. If I looked strangely capable of fighting in his eyes, or just brave and stupid. But he’d listened to me. He had taken my friend, and he ran.
Alone, without anyone to see, claws extended from my fingers. My calves began to thin, the muscles lengthening so I could jump. My magic buzzed through every limb of my body as I shifted.
The goat and lion both cocked their heads to the sides, gnashing their teeth. Then four milky white eyes scanned me up and down, stopping when they saw the claws I’d created.
Azete, it thought, sending the word into my mind.
Dread washed over me. The invisible scar along my inner arm began to burn.
The chimera knew me.