The beast, which had begun running full speed at us before, skidded to a sudden halt at our mass advance. Molly, Tianna, Cass, and my Japanese warrior protectors continued to surround me as best they could while we ran. Brock, Sabine, and Ray contorted as their shifts ripped through their human bodies. Brock’s wolf was large, Ray’s only slightly smaller. Sabine, though significantly smaller than the alpha and his second, bared vicious teeth at the monster.
At the creature’s pause, I skidded to a stop a few feet from it, and my friends slid to a halt next to me.
“I think we scared him.” Relief poured through me. Maybe he’d retreat. “We don’t want to hurt you. Go home,” I shouted, shooing with my arms toward the gate. Of course we’d have to hurt it, but in the off chance it spoke English, I was going to be diplomatic.
A thin tendril of gray smoke started to curl its way out of his nose as the beast exhaled a huge, rancid breath.
“Evie, duck!” When Cass’ panicked voice reached me, I jumped out of the way, drawing the beast’s attention away from my friends, while making myself the smallest target I could.
From where I crouched in a ball on the ground, I watched as the giant five-armed idiot spewed fire onto the forest floor.
What. The. Holy. Hell?
I sprang from my squatting position and pulled my purple-hued blade in front of me.
“Is it part dragon?” I shouted to Cass, who was perched once more on his hoverboard.
“Looks like it,” my bestie replied, though I’d been kidding of course.
Dragons weren’t real.
Right?
‘Act now, think later,’ Cass reminded me.
Right.
Last time I’d simply cut the demon giant and it had exploded—more or less—so maybe the same might happen this time. If we were lucky, it might be that easy.
Now, how to get within range of a five-armed, fire-spitting dragon … thing?
The apollyon took one look at Brock, my glowing sword, and the rest of our crew, and turned about-face, running away from the gate and us, heading in the direction of the town.
Shit!
He was smart enough to know when he was outnumbered, but there was no way we could allow it to reach the city.
I was just about to take off after it when I heard a strangled gasp come from Molly.
“We’ve got another live one!” she shouted as she stepped in front of me, popping off her shotgun before I could even process what was happening.
I pivoted in the direction of her shot, where a nasty little winged creature had just popped out of the gate. It had leathery bat-like wings and glowing red eyes. On an ordinary day, it might’ve been intimidating despite its smallish size. But compared to the damn apollyon, it didn’t stand a chance of stealing my attention.
“Kill that thing! I’m going after the apollyon,” I shouted at Molly, Cass, and Tianna.
Brock, Reo, Haru, and about twenty members of the pack, which had caught up with us, followed me down the hill toward my cabin. The beast was crashing across Brock’s land, crushing plants and small trees as it went, lumbering in the direction of the main road. Due to the size of its stride, it was covering ground quickly—too quickly.
“I need to get within range to slice it,” I told Brock and some of his wolves as we ran.
Brock’s wolf head nodded. ‘We’ll circle it and cut off its retreat so you can use your weapon.’
Good plan. Maybe having the pack help out would turn out to be a good thing.
“Hey, you big dumpy oaf,” I screamed after the apollyon.
It halted just behind my gran’s cabin and turned, malice glowing in its eyes.
“Fan out,” I called to the wolf pack.
They hesitated until Brock repeated the order, then they obeyed. Good ol’ werewolves and their hierarchy.
“Look at the shiny, pretty purple light.” I waved my sword at the monster in a figure-eight pattern, tracers branding the outline in the fading light of dusk. The beast watched it as if in a daze. Its big, googly eyes rolled left and right as they followed the glow.
Score! I had been hoping it was relatively dumb.
While it was busy watching the arcing purple light, the pack surrounded the beast in a dense semicircle. I continued to spin the light, stepping slowly, drawing closer and closer to it. Reo and Haru closed in on either side of me, about ten feet away from the apollyon.
‘Now!’ Brock commanded.
The pack attacked.
Brock, Ray, and one of the other dominant wolves leapt into the air, each latching jaws onto one of the beast’s five arms, while the more submissive, yet equally fierce, wolves tore into its ankles.
With an earth-shaking roar, the apollyon shook its arms, flinging Brock, Ray, and the other wolf high into the air. They crashed down against the ground—hard. The thuds stole the breath from me for a moment before I remembered I didn’t have time to stop and worry. The third wolf, whose name I didn’t know, whimpered before attempting to drag himself to standing.
Holy shit.
What the apollyon lacked in intelligence, he made up for in brute strength. Resisting the urge to check on Brock, I lunged forward, awkward as I jumped over one of the submissive wolves gnawing at his ankles. I managed to slice a gash in his forearm with my sword.
Black goop like crude oil oozed from the wound as a screech I could only describe as a dying cat shoved inside of a dying bear ripped from its throat. My skin crawled as it pinned its fiery gaze on me. I shook away the sensation and commanded myself to focus. Bouncing on the balls of my feet, I gripped my katana.
It lumbered forward, obliterating bushes, kicking at the wolves who got in the way. Wolves flew in every direction, landing with sickening thuds and horrible whimpers.
The apollyon faced off with me. I worked to pretend I wasn’t frightened, because bounty hunters weren’t supposed to get scared. But damn … this thing was monstrous.
While its fury was pinned on me, Reo and Haru zipped around behind it and sliced into the back of its legs, but it didn’t seem bothered. From the angle of the lashes, it looked like my warrior protectors had severed its Achilles tendons, as well as the tendons behind its knees. This should’ve sent it tumbling into a devastated heap, unable to attack ever again. Any normal creature would’ve been down for the count.
Instead, the apollyon continued plodding in my direction, its gaze transfixed on my sword. Why the fuck hadn’t it blown up yet? I’d sliced it good in the forearm. Maybe I didn’t get deep enough.
I ran straight at the beast, launched myself into the air, and swiped at the monster in a small arc, intending to stab its gut at the end of the motion.
It caught my sword midair.
Triple fuck.
With a yank, it dragged my katana from my hands as I fell to the ground, and then a snap rang throughout the trees.
We all froze. All but the beast.
No!!!
The fucking idiot hulk had broken my katana in half like it was a candy cane.
“Was that…?” Reo couldn’t even voice his question.
“Yeah,” I said, working to keep the panic from my voice.
I was fucked, and not in the good way.
“You stabbed the demon giant through the heart when it exploded before,” Molly’s voice came from behind me, making me jump. “I think you have to do that again.”
Stab it with my broken weapon? Which meant getting even closer to the nasty-smelling fucker? No big deal.
A hideous cry sprang from the apollyon again when it finally took notice of Haru and Reo and batted them away with a hand twice the size of a catcher’s mitt, sending them flying above its head—which was fifteen feet in the air.
Dammit!
My protectors landed with a loud crunch, their bodies tearing through foliage. I strained my ears for any indication of life from them, even a miserable whimper, but nothing. I had to believe they were okay and that the bushes or trees had broken their fall.
I shoved aside concern for my friends—simply because I had to. We’d have greater problems if I didn’t manage to take this thing down. It was up to me. My kitsune power was connected to the gate, which I suspected meant I was somehow connected to the creatures seeping from it. Hadn’t the warriors said something about my powers activating around demons? Well come on, baby. Activate!
I lunged for what was left of my katana before the apollyon could turn around. A mere six inches of blade protruded from the hilt. Purple magic still flowed along the short blade—go kitsune powers—but it was little compared to the intensity of my magic that had sparked through the weapon before.
It would have to do.
But would it do? Dammit, I had no choice.
Cass whizzed next to me on his board and Brock limped out of the forest to take his place at my side.
‘You okay?’ I asked the alpha.
‘I’ve had worse. But that thing is made of cement and hits like a Mack truck. Be careful.’
Noted.
“I have Gran’s pepper spell,” Cass called out to me, whizzing circles around the beast—to confuse or entertain it, I couldn’t tell which.
Perfect. The pepper spell was super simple yet annoying as hell. Nothing like having an explosion of pepper sweep into your mouth and nostrils to fuck up your day.
“Do it,” I shouted, charging forward with my pathetic stubby knife.
My demon imp partner flew straight at the beast’s face and smashed the glass vial on its forehead.
‘Homerun!’ Cass cheered.
I chuckled while the pepper bomb exploded in the apollyon’s face.
It coughed, wheezed, and gagged, swatting at its head. Every variety of gnarly sound emitted from its throat as I advanced on him.
Stab a monster from the underworld in the heart with a six-inch, broken and dull blade … all while careful not to breathe in any remnants of the pepper spell until it fully dissipated … got it.
‘Careful,’ Brock warned—yet again.
God, I couldn’t wait to push out this baby so he’d stop treating me like glass.
I weaved in and out of the mess of arms that hung from its body, all of which were busy attempting to brush pepper spell off its face. It apparently wasn’t intelligent enough to realize the spell was a diversion to draw attention away from the more serious threat. Thank God.
I inched forward until I was close enough to strike.
‘Now,’ Cass yelled from atop his hoverboard, and I shoved off from the ground and bounded upward in the mother of all leaps.
Damn, this dude was tall as fuck. I started to drop before I’d even reached its abdominal area. It began to turn its attention toward me instead of the effects of the pepper.
No, no, no. Fuck!
But just as I began to plummet, something bolstered me, sending me racing back upward. What the…? I craned my neck around.
Tianna. Glowing like she was on fire. Hands outstretched toward me. Bless the fae-witch. I was gifting her and Cass an all-paid weekend getaway to Hawaii filled with sexy times—just as soon as we survived this. My bounty from Mack should be wire-transferred to my bank account in the morning.