CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN #2
He screamed, his entire body smelling of fear.
It was pouring from him, rushing out of every pore.
I felt like I’d been plunged into cool waters on a hot day, like I’d woken from a long, restful sleep, like the first full-body stretch I took before a night of dancing.
I was feeding, swallowing, devouring, taking more and more.
I was more alert, more energized than I’d been in days.
Since I’d spent the night with Brennan. But I was nowhere near full.
My body collided with his, and he fell backward, smacking his head on the ground as I dug my claws into his neck, keeping him down, my legs straddling his chest.
“I will kill you,” I said. “You know that, don’t you?”
He laughed, the sound nervous and forced. “But not tonight?”
Another man got up and ran, one I’d danced with at the engagement ball. Then only three remained. Stephen and two more men who had just pissed themselves. Erick and Donovan. All House Bathiner, all spending their time between melees at the Bathiner pavilion. And all three were feeding the Azete.
I hissed at them, sharpening my teeth to fangs, drinking even more before turning my ire back on Jaron, who was still beneath me.
“Maybe,” I said. “Maybe I just want you to feel some … anticipation.”
He narrowed his eyes. “No. You aren’t going to kill me.
” He shook his head. “You would have by now. You were just as capable of tracking me. But you didn’t.
Why? Why wait? You have me at your mercy.
Do you need more time?” he hissed. “Or maybe … are you off to save someone? Someone else named Jaron?”
The feeling of his energy began to slow. He knew. He knew who I was, knew I was going after Brennan. Knew I didn’t have time to kill him.
But I had time to hurt him. With one thought, I enlarged my fist and punched him in the face.
His eyes shut. I looked over to the three men who had stayed behind. Stephen, Erick, and Donavon.
I flung myself onto Stephen, the only one not reeking of piss. I grabbed at his neck, wrapping my fingers around him. Then I squeezed.
He screamed, his fear rising to the surface like a current of warm air blasting against my skin.
I’d forgotten—forgotten how easy it was to take, to feed, to steal when I was touching someone, when their feelings were unguarded and urgent.
The more afraid he was, the stronger I became.
He was wearing gloves, all of them were, but in his effort to fight back, to try and pry my fingers from around his neck, he took them off.
I only squeezed harder, scaring him more, and taking in even more energy as more of his skin made contact with mine.
Turning my head slowly, my eyes grew larger and glowed with light. Erick and Donovan both had straw-colored hair and pale blue eyes. And all at once, they stilled, freezing with fear. Their emotions practically oozed off of them to me. Smiling, I reeled in my catch.
Their feelings seemed to soar toward me, traveling across an invisible bridge that connected to the Azete.
And still, it wanted more. I needed more.
I stuck out my tongue, lengthening it to an absurd level.
Erick fainted from the sight, his body unable to handle the loss of power, and when I growled, Donovan followed him.
Both had been drained. Both had offered me a year of their life within seconds.
Then, when Stephen, the man beneath me, closed his eyes, I let go and stood, feeling the power rise inside me, feeling it rush and move through my limbs, through my bloodstream.
It wasn’t enough to become the beast. To become the thing that hunted chimera when my mother died.
The strength required for that had been the equivalent of taking a life.
But what I had was enough to sprout witchmoth wings, enough to fling me into the sky above the trees, and light my way through the Dark Woods with enhanced sight and hearing.
Most importantly, it was enough to save Brennan.
I flew further down the hill, my eyes wide, searching and praying I wasn’t too late. I just needed Brennan to hold on until I reached him. To hold on a little longer.
And then, just as I was losing hope, I heard it. I heard him.
I soared over the trees, and finally, down in a clearing, where the trees grew like they did that day my mother died, where the birds had stopped calling, where even the insects had gone silent.
He was pushed up against a tree by the chimera, struggling to reach his sword, his body shaking. They snapped their mouths at him, two sets of sharpened teeth just inches from his face.
By the Gods. It was going to kill him. I was out of time.
Fear raced through my heart, thumping out a beat of absolute terror.
I swooped down, my feet touching the forest floor. My wings vanished, and I started to run, faster and faster.
The chimera growled. One head was a skull, in the shape of a bull. The other was a wolf. There were embers in its nostrils, glowing brighter and brighter.
Brennan cried out, his dark curls slick with sweat, his face pale but determined. Brave even in the face of certain death.
It wasn’t so fucking certain anymore.
My fingernails lengthened and sharpened, as large and deadly as daggers.
Brennan couldn’t reach his weapon at this range.
But he didn’t need to. Because I was the weapon.
Within seconds, I had reached the chimera and sliced off its snake tail before it could even hiss.
The snake’s eyes closed, its black, scaly body fell to the grass, curling limply, and rolling before stilling with death.
The beast roared in pain, turning from Brennan to me.
It was just what I wanted it to do. Its front paw palmed the ground as Brennan finally reached his sword.
Something light and powerful began to emanate from him, soaring toward me with a fierce, powerful speed, as if his emotions could fly, as if they had wings.
It wrapped itself around me, grounding me, holding me.
Protection. It was his own protectiveness, his need to keep me safe.
He wanted to keep fighting, to shield me, to save him.
He couldn’t. I had to protect him.
“Who are you?” he asked.
I shook my head. “Doesn’t matter! Run! Now!”
But Brennan stayed and held his ground.
The beast lowered its skull and charged.
I extended my claws further, and with a battle cry, I stabbed the eyes of the head nearest me as soon as it was in range, dodging to the side as it bolted passed me.
The bull skull. Its white smoky eyes went dark, the sockets now leaking with a bloodied discharge as the chimera swiveled again towards me.
Azete, it spoke into my mind.
Chimera, I thought.
The remaining head bared its teeth, its breath hot and full of the promise of fire.
Again it charged, snarling, claws and hooves churning up the ground as it rushed at me, quickly gaining speed.
But I was faster. Both arms swung behind my back, and with a scream of pure rage, of rage at these monsters, rage at all they were, at all the violence and hurt and pain that they brought me, I snapped my hands forward, my claws slicing through its neck and decapitating the wolf.
Its head plunked to the ground, its tongue lolling out as smoke lingered at my feet.
I jumped back, meeting Brennan’s eyes, just as another growl sounded in the air.
Fuck! Rowan had said there were three. They’d killed one. And so had I.
But the third approached.
“Get behind me,” I yelled. “Quick!”
Brennan didn’t hesitate. He ran for me. But the chimera came out from behind him, charging through the forest, and knocked him to the ground.
“Brennan!” I yelled and ran for the beast. I leapt into the air, using all I had, using too much. I sent magic through my legs to make me jump higher than was natural, and I landed backward on the beast’s back. The snake that was its tail rose and with a hiss, it struck.
I screamed, not fast enough to block the first bite. But its fang only pierced my cloak, leaving little more than a scratch against my skin.
Sweat beaded my forehead as I dodged its next attack.
When it reared back, its fangs out, its poisonous venom dripping, I lunged and sliced it in half.
Brennan swung his sword, slicing into its hind leg.
The chimera bucked, and I toppled over, my claws retracting into my hands as Brennan reached out to catch me in his free arm.
With a surprising amount of strength, he hugged me to him and lifted me up, dodging out of the chimera’s way, just as it charged back for us.
The moment it roared past, he stumbled toward a tree, bracing his back against it and set me down, his chest heaving.
I tried to find my footing on the uneven terrain, before I pushed back from him.
“What are you still doing here?” I yelled. “Go! Get back to the camp, your guard is out looking for you. You’ll be safe.”
“No!” His eyes slid side to side, searching for the chimera in the dark. He shook his head. “I’m not leaving you,” he yelled.
“You don’t even know me,” I shouted.
“Don’t I?” he asked, his green eyes blazing. “You knew my name. Do I not know yours?”
“No,” I said.
He let out a shaky breath, so much emotion rushing toward me. “Is it not Samara?” he asked.
I froze, and my heart thudded to a stop. But before I could formulate an answer, the chimera growled. It was coming from behind me. I turned slowly. This one had the head of a goat and a lion. And it was ready to kill.
“The eyes, right?” he asked, coming to stand beside me. “That’s how you do it? Take out its eyes, its weakest point, and then its heads.”
I nodded. He’d learned that from me after the last chimera fight. “You always have to destroy the heads. All three. Or it finds a way to survive.”
The chimera stopped then and backed away from us, moving with the slowness of a predator. It was a trap.
Leave him, a gravelly voice spoke into my mind, leave him and you’ll live.
I seethed. Or you leave before I kill you.