CHAPTER FOURTEEN
Aurora didn’t get the chance to ask what it was.
A creature, one that could only be described as pure darkness, entered the clearing ahead of them. It stalked closer to where they stood, allowing Aurora to see the creature clearly in the pale milky moonlight. Its body appeared almost fae-like if one was to walk on all fours and whose body was covered in black oil. Its head didn’t resemble any animal she had seen before.
There were no eyes on its face. Its dark oil-like skin was smooth where the eyes should have been, and two slits sliced in the middle of its face instead of a nose. The creature”s mouth was filled with razor-sharp teeth, no lips to cover them.
It stepped forward, frontal legs ending in spikes, sharp enough to easily tear through skin. Its back legs were strange, knees bent backward. Back feet were accompanied by sharp claws, most likely to aid in running across the land and ripping through skin just as easily as the spikes could.
Aurora watched, eyes wide, as it crawled forward. Its back arched upwards, showing its spine lying just under its thin skin.
She wanted to cry, scream, run, curl up in a ball. Anything that would stop her from staring at the creature.
She was paralyzed.
Looking over at Eli, she noticed him gripping his daggers more tightly. The small smirk on his lips did not falter. His eyes sparkled as if the threat had sparked something forgotten in him, something he had hidden for a long time. A joy that came with fighting another living thing.
This side of him was something she had never seen before. She watched as Eli, her mentor and the male that had protected her for so long, slipped away, and in his place stood someone she had never met.
The Phantom.
The assassin was no longer past stories that Aurora was told. He was real. His whole demeanor changed. He was no longer the Eli she knew, instead the killer the Guild had created.
She couldn’t help but observe. Curiosity gripped Aurora, her fear muffled as she watched Eli. He could never scare her, and the energy radiating from him gave her strength and banished the last vestige of vulnerability she had felt.
Throwing a glance over at Aurora, he gave her one last piece of advice. “It can’t see you but has impeccable hearing and can smell you a mile away. Use what I taught you to help me win this fight. Good luck, Aurora.” He spoke to her quickly, his tone clipped and yet quietly spoken. As she watched, the demon turned its head from side to side.
It heard every word Eli had spoken.
Wasting no time and using the element of surprise, the creature rushed forward and headed straight for Eli. He turned to the creature, his reflexes just as quick, and stood ready for the attack.
Aurora”s eyes widened as he rushed forward, meeting the beast in the middle of the clearing. Dagger blades clashed with sharp spikes, and from where she was standing, Aurora could hear and see every blow. She was frozen in place, a nearby tree giving her enough cover not to be noticed right away. She watched the fight between the man who raised her and a creature that belonged in the fiery pits of Gehenna, where creatures, death, and fear called home. She had been told stories as a youngling of how the place was created by all the gods to trap deadly creatures that had assaulted the land that the fae had made home. Aurora wondered how this creature hadn’t been banished as well. Unless the stories were just that, stories.
Eli moved faster than she had ever seen before. She watched the battle before her, and any fear she had felt quickly morphed into admiration.
In all the time she had lived with Eli, Aurora had never seen him fight as gracefully as he was now. His movements were a beautiful dance. His daggers sliced through the air; they were an extension of his arm.
As Aurora watched, she realized how much Eli had been holding back in all the years that he had trained her.
Eli leaped to the side, ducking under a spike that was meant to go through his chest. He was angled perfectly, quickly, with expert precision. He sliced his dagger through its side, dark blood instantly spraying from the wound.
The creature bellowed in rage, a horrible noise causing Aurora to cover her ears. A sound that would surely haunt her dreams.
As he fought, another awful creature broke through the trees. Unsure if it had traveled with the one he fought or if the creature”s cry of rage had called it, Aurora glanced between it and Eli.
Eli didn’t react to the new arrival and continued dodging the original creature”s attacks. Did he not notice it? How could he not?
True horror and panic rose in Aurora. Her gaze erratically shifted between Eli and the monster who had just entered the fray. Her hands shook.
Eli never turned to acknowledge the creature staring at him, waiting to attack.
After taking a few calming breaths, Aurora slowly crept forward, making her way through the trees. The grip on her dagger tightened painfully, and she once again got familiar with the weight of the dense wooden grip and ornate rounded pommel. Its triskele-detailed, five-pointed crossguard protected her hand as the unnaturally sharp blade pointed threateningly in the direction of the creature. It only took a breath for the calm to wash over her. She forced herself to focus.
She would only have to run a short distance to get in front of the creature. Eli had trained her for a moment like this. Aurora was confident that she’d be able to hold her own, but she couldn’t help the hesitation that took over. She had never come face to face with a creature like this, she had only fought Eli, and she knew he had always held back. Watching him now was even more proof of that.
The creature stalked forward, ready to pounce. The creature’s snapped their jaws aggressively, dangerously razor-sharp teeth desperate to rip through skin. Eli still did not react; instead, he kept his focus on the creature already in front of him.
Fear for Eli’s safety forced Aurora into action. Instinct took over as she sprung forward and landed in a crouch in front of the demon. The creature hadn’t seen her, so using that to her advantage, she wasted no time. In one swift movement, Aurora sliced her dagger up and across the creature”s face where its eyes should”ve been.
The creature shrieked in pain, lashing out as it fought to strike at whatever had struck.
Moving quickly, she leaped back, escaping the deadly spikes now swiping frantically for her. The encounter was anything but quiet, and yet, looking around, she took note of how no other creatures or monsters seemed to be summoned by the noise.
She sighed in relief, but the feeling was short-lived as the demon shook its head before it lunged forward once more. A scream lodged in her throat as Eli’s warning about the creature”s hearing slammed into her. The demon lurched forward, trying to find Aurora. But she dodged its blind attacks as she continued to move silently on her feet. Spinning on her heel, Aurora quickly turned, spreading her weight equally on each foot as she stood ready at the creature”s side. Unwilling to give it the upper hand, she swung her gripped fist, the dagger held tightly within it. She slammed the dagger hard, piercing the creature”s ribs. Once again, her ears were assaulted by the creature”s blood-curdling scream.
Even as she fought, her mind raced as it sifted through everything Eli had taught her. She had no idea where the creature”s heart was; therefore, she hadn’t known if there was a specific way to kill it.
She leaped back as the monstrous creature swung its spiked leg. Its quickness nearly undid her, as she barely escaped being beheaded.
Hearing a grunt from Eli, she fought to maintain her focus, not daring to take her eyes off the creature. She would go to him soon, but she was very aware the smallest distraction could send her straight to Empyrean if she even deserved her eternal rest there.
The creature swung its spiked leg again. Its movements were now erratic, desperate. Aurora allowed herself to smile a little.
She would win; she would make sure of it.
Embracing her building confidence, she rushed forward. Quickly ducking and sliding under its leg, she got as close to its jaw as she dared. Its sharp teeth would surely tear her apart. Not wasting a second, she pushed the dagger underneath its strong jaw through where she hoped its brain rested. Aurora prayed to all the gods that it would kill the demon.
Through the dagger, she felt skin and muscle tear as dark blood splattered over her hands, onto her face and hair. The creature screeched loudly; its back legs reached forward, clawing at the air. The spikes couldn’t reach back and stab her.
Aurora didn’t move.
Feet firmly planted, she anchored herself as she twisted the dagger. Pushing it up with all of her strength until she felt the resistance of its skull. There was no leaving until it was dead. Aurora was stone. Even when its clawed back foot met with her thigh and tore at her flesh, the claws digging deep.
She refused to move. A scream tore from her as skin and muscle tore apart, her warm blood soaking through the fabric of her pants; still, she held her ground.
With one final scream, she thrust the blade up, slicing through bone and penetrating its brain. The creature thrashed wildly at first as if the intrusion in its skull had accomplished nothing. Until finally, it went still. Losing all rigidity to its terrifying form, the beast began to fall to the ground, all its weight collapsing on top of Aurora. The creature was more solid than it looked, and both it and Aurora hit the ground hard. Through her chest, she could feel its heart flutter before finally hiccupping to a stop as its dead weight pinned her to the ground.
It was dead. She had killed the creature.
She strained to listen for any sign of it still being alive as she panted, swearing she had heard her name being yelled. Her breath caught in her throat as the creature began to move again. She gathered the remnants of what little energy she had left, readying to fight. The creature was dragged off of her and shoved to the side. She was looking up into Eli’s green eyes. His eyes wildly scanned her from head to toe, he was speaking, but she couldn’t hear him. His mouth moving, yet no words reached her ears.
Had the screech of the monster damaged her hearing? Blinking, she looked past Eli and took in the image of the unmoving monster that, moments before, was alive and ready to take her life. Everything was in slow motion. A laugh bubbled from her chest and up her throat until she was laughing loudly as the reality of the fight sunk in.
Eli gripped her and shook her by the shoulders, the motion jarring her, and her hearing slowly filtered back, “Aurora, talk to me.”
Although his eyes were ice-cold, they shone with concern. His gaze traveled over her again until it snagged on the lacerations on her thigh.
He worked quickly and pulled out a canister that contained their remaining water. He poured it over the wound. Using his dagger, he slashed a couple strips of material off his cloak, using one to dry her wound, wiping away some of the blood. Shuffling through his pack again, he found a small container. He quickly opened it and began applying a thick layer of some kind of ointment to her large wound. He wrapped the final cloth around her leg, forcing the blood to slow down.
Aurora yelped at the pressure.
“Good. Feeling pain is a good sign,” Eli said, a small, teasing smirk on his lips.
Reaching over, Eli tore her dagger from under the creature”s jaw. Wiping it clean with his cloak, he sheathed it once again at her thigh.
Aurora narrowed her eyes at Eli in annoyance as she steadied her breathing, adrenaline still coursing through her from the fight. She looked at the now-dead creature, “What in all the gods is that?”
Eli gave her a small smile, “Those lovely creatures are what we call a Kolec.” He quickly got up and grabbed Aurora’s pack. It must have fallen off her shoulders at some point during the attack. He slung it to the opposite side of his own.
She was aware of his movements but not exactly watching them as her gaze landed on the beheaded Kolec he had fought. Blood that looked black in the moonlight spilled from its neck. Silence roared in Aurora’s ears as she watched Eli stand and walk over to its head. Without hesitation, he bent and gripped it, wrapping a cloth around it before stuffing it into his pack.
Returning to her side, he positioned himself so he could scoop her up. He brought his arms under Aurora’s legs and back. Holding her like she weighed nothing, he stood.
“What are you doing?” Aurora demanded as she began to shake.
“You think you’re going to be able to walk the rest of the way?” Eli asked, raising a brow.
Not waiting for her reply, he turned from the carnage and began to walk forward, away from the two unmoving Kolec.
Having reluctantly accepted she was injured, her leg throbbing. The pain traveled up and down her leg. She would, in fact, find walking with the wound to be painful. Aurora finally settled. Aurora watched the two dead Kolec over Eli’s shoulder as he retreated with her in his arms. The shape of their bodies still looked so fae, it troubled her, and she did not know why. She knew they were far from anything close to what she was, but something was off.
Aurora tore her gaze away from them. She focused on the trail in front of them as Eli carried her away from the battlefield.