Total pages in book: 130
Estimated words: 121008 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 605(@200wpm)___ 484(@250wpm)___ 403(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 121008 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 605(@200wpm)___ 484(@250wpm)___ 403(@300wpm)
There’s a loud hiss and then something that sounds like a five-year-old girl’s scream. Apparently, Dante didn’t lie about not liking cats.
Dante lands on his back as the cat pounces. Ain, as Liadan called her, is a hissing mass of claws and sharp teeth. Blood streaks across Dante’s face as the cat’s claws find purchase in his flesh. Dante wraps a hand around the cat’s throat and squeezes.
“I changed my mind,” Dante yells. “I’ll take the hag. You take the cat.”
“Too late,” says a voice right beside my ear. I turn and the hag is at my side, so close I can smell her fetid breath.
I twist my body and roll up into a crouch, every muscle screaming in pain. The hag’s fist comes out, lancing from her body. It crosses my jaw, and the impact snaps my head back. Pain flares and the gun slips from my hand.
I can’t lose the gun. I don’t have magic. The gun is the only weapon I have.
I grope for the gun, getting it back in my hand, but Liadan is too close. I have to keep moving. I kick out as Liadan tries to jump on me. I hear a satisfying groan from the hag as my foot makes contact with Liadan’s gut. I get to my feet, and Beck is whispering to me.
Take the advantage.
I kick Liadan again with all the force I can muster. I plant my boot in Liadan’s chest as the hag tries to get up. Liadan hits the muddy forest floor. I press my advantage, jumping on the downed woman, planting my knees on Liadan’s torso. I’m taking no chances this time.
I place the barrel of the gun against the hag’s chest. I steady myself to pull the trigger when a terrible pain lashes across my back.
Ain leaps on me, scratching and clawing through tender flesh. Pain screams across my skin. I try to get a hold of the blasted thing, but it sinks its teeth into the back of my neck and won’t let go.
“Oh, no, kitty cat,” Dante growls.
I look up and see Dante in full claw and fang mode. He’s covered in blood and looks like he’s had enough of out-of-control familiars for the day.
“We weren’t done,” Dante says.
Relief floods through me as Dante hefts the cat off. I pull the trigger to finish off the hag, but Ain bought Liadan just enough time. Liadan grins up and thrusts her hand forward.
I fly back, and this time my head cracks against the log where I previously found safety. The world goes woozy, and I see stars. My vision starts to fade at the edges.
You stay awake. The voice is ferocious now. It slaps at my mind and forces my eyes open. It won’t let me go under.
Liadan falls on me. She sits on my waist, holding me down with the bulk of her body, and wraps her good hand around my throat. I try to move but I can’t get my legs to move under the heavy weight of the witch.
“I need more blood to get through that fucking wall the king erected,” Liadan explains with a ghoulish grin.
I feel for the cool metal of the .357 Magnum. I dropped it when I hit my head. I claw through the mud, desperately trying to find it. Liadan’s hands threaten to choke the life out of me. I fight for breath, but the hag tightens her hold.
“Do you know what I’m going to do to those boys when I get to them?” Liadan moves close enough I can smell the blood on her breath. It turns my stomach. “I’m going to gut them. I’m going to pull their insides out. Why don’t I give you a demonstration?”
The witch cackles and pulls back, showing off the way her fingers change into thick, dirty-looking claws.
I drag in air the instant I can. Liadan pulls her clawed hand back just as my fingers meet metal. Pulling the gun up, I bring it between my chest and the hag’s.
I pull the trigger right before those knives on the hag’s fingers meet my flesh. The report booms through the forest.
Liadan looks down at the hole in her chest dumbly before falling over dead.
I’m shaking and trying to drag air into my lungs as I force myself up.
Is it really over? Did I just do that?
Dante walks over, holding a limp body in one clawed hand. His handsome face is a map of scratches, but his clothes already mended themselves. The nanites are fast suckers. I kind of wish they worked on throats. Mine is going to be sore for a while.
“You okay?” Dante growls down at the cat’s corpse before hurling it through the forest.
“I’ll live.” But just barely. I stare down at Liadan’s body. The flesh of the hag’s face is wrinkled and desiccated, as though the body before me has lay dead much longer than a few moments.