“What do we do? There must be at least fifteen of them,” she said, staring at the window across from her. The curtains were drawn, and briefly she wondered exactly what she’d see if she pulled them back.
From what Haddie had told her about Gargoloscks she had no desire to see one, let alone a horde of them snarling for blood.
“Stay here,” Blaze shouted to her. “You two try putting up more wards to keep them out of the house,” he ordered Gertie and Sergei before following Axel out the door.
The second they were gone, the first crash of shattering glass came from somewhere further in the house. Sergei let loose a string of words that were decidedly Russian.
He moved to the door, palms pulsing and flaring with light, while Gertie did the same to the window.
A rough snarl rumbled on the other side of the window. They all watched with bated breath.
“Get back—” Sergei was cut off with a thunderous crash.
A massive grey creature burst through the window. Glass, jagged and sharp, flew through the air. The beast’s maw was wide with black, razor-sharp teeth that flashed in warning. It pounced at the closest person: Gertie.
Emma dove to intercept it, not thinking. The Gargolosck looked to be larger than a wolf, and when she wrapped her arms around its middle, its skin was cold and hard, like stone. She tackled it, both of them hitting the floor with enough force to crack floorboards. Emma’s teeth knocked together painfully, but she ignored it.
Any pain from the hard landing was muted by euphoria. The pull of its power feeding Emma was instantaneous. Its raw, carnal hunger for blood and death filled her veins, streaking her vision with red. It was animalistic. Wild. Stiff skin grew brittle and crackled beneath her.
She hissed in anger and jumped to her feet. More, her body demanded.
When she stalked for the exit, a man moved to block her way.
Rip his head off, her blood sang.
“Emma, honey, I know you’re in there. Let us deal with these creatures, okay?”
“Move,” she snarled.
Fear flashed in his eyes, making her lips curve upward, but still he didn’t move.
As if her prey heard her call, Sergei was knocked out of the way when the doorframe shattered. Tiny shards of wood and sheetrock rained on the floor. Two more massive Gargoloscks fought to enter the room before their solid black eyes switched to her, glittering with anticipation.
A tingle of excitement, mixed with glee, raced up her spine. From her, their soulless eyes fell to the man now unconscious on the floor, then to the woman who sent a blast of blinding magic at them. Their skin deflected it, a large, charred spot marring each of their furless bodies. Yet they seemed unaffected.
They each locked onto their selected targets, foamy saliva dripping from their jaws.
Emma jumped to action before they had the chance, lunging with a grace that rivaled Blaze’s. She rolled over the top of the first one and landed on her feet between the two beasts.
Touch them. She didn’t need the wicked voice to tell her what to do.
Her gut clenched with a hunger that only their power could sate. She jumped, gripping the Gargolosck around the neck, and let her legs kick out in front of her. The momentum swung her up as she tried to straddle its back, but it thrashed.
The flow of energy hit her bloodstream like a shot of adrenaline, and she hissed. She kicked her feet back in the air, still clinging to the beast’s neck, but it dropped to the ground and its front legs crunched to dust. Its weight landed atop her, lasting only a moment as she drank the last of it.
The second beast had gone for Gertie, going from the cry she let loose. Emma rolled, sprinting for it.
Sensing her from behind, it turned and swiped its paw that was easily the size of her head at her torso. An audible, sickening crunch sounded.
The air snapped from her lungs, fabric and flesh giving way to its steel-like claws. Pain seared in her ribs as she staggered back a few steps. She wheezed, feeling the heat of her powerlaced blood spill down her belly, soaking the tattered scraps of her shirt. Assessing the damage, she cupped the gaping wounds as best she could.
Her breaths came in pants, the effort of drawing in air nearly overwhelming.
The creature circled her with a snort. Was it…smiling? Glancing to her left, she saw Gertie sprawled on the floor, her own pool of crimson staining the carpet. Sergei knelt at her side, his magic working. Emma couldn’t worry about them now. The pain already began to ebb, the skin and muscle threading back together. At least one rib was broken but soon it wouldn’t be.
Attack! the voice in her mind demanded.
Emma staggered close to the beast, and it moved back, expecting her to fall. Her lips pulled back in a vicious grin. Then she spun, a strange, animalistic sound rumbling from her chest and leaving her mouth before her body pasted itself against the beast’s cold, stony back.
The pain had eased enough, her shattered bone fused back together the moment the power hit her veins. The creature’s roar vibrated the entire length of Emma’s body, drawing a giggle forth from her. Its chest gave way first, bone and sinew turning to ash in her hands. Another giggle. When the rest of its body crumbled the giggles turned to a full belly laughter. It made her recently healed rib ache, but she couldn’t stop.
Tears streamed down her face while she languished in the evidence of the Gargolosck’s death. Dimly, she registered a male voice, but all she could make sense of was her laughter. The uncontrollable hysteria that poured out of her. She sat up, hugging her knees to her chest and burying her face between her knees as more hot tears tracked down her cheeks.
A hand brushed against her shoulder. She snapped around to face the offending touch, baring her teeth, the laughter dying instantly in her chest.
The haggard and bruised man that stared down at her with wide, violet eyes gave her pause.“Remember who you are, Emma.”
“I know who I am!” It was the hungry voice inside her mind that spoke.“I am the bringer of death. Power incarnate!”
Sadness pushed away the purple hue in his irises, leaving a dark blue that was familiar.
Sergei.
Emma blinked.
A boom shook the house, followed by a roar. She turned to the mangled doorway, casting what she hoped was an apologetic look to Sergei before she got to her feet and took off.
Shoes crunching on debris, Emma flew into the hall with jerking limbs just as another beast pounced like a tiger, narrowly missing her. It smashed into the wall, crushing it like a tin can.
The second it was down her eyes flared wide, the ravenous hunger taking her again. Her arms wrapped around its neck and squeezed. And squeezed.
It bucked and thrashed, fighting her wildly while she drank its energy deeply. Warm relief spread through her veins, chasing the cold down.
Down.
Down.
Though she was stronger, it fought hard. It kicked its hind leg out, catching her calf. White-hot pain exploded in her leg. She hissed but didn’t let go until it crumpled—nothing more than dust.
Again she felt the shredded skin and material leak her own life-force. It filled her sock then her shoe, and she groaned.
Getting to her feet, she limped deeper into the house. Fire blazed in the kitchen, licking searing-hot tongues through the open door, blackening the ceiling. But it didn’t bother her. Fire was hers to command. With a thought, she pushed the flames back, commanding them to hiss out of existence.
Voices shouted to each other; blades shrieked in the air. She entered the living room area. Magic flew through the air, but it did little more than knock the beasts back a few paces. At least twelve Gargoloscks lunged, snapped, and swiped at the two Giborim and two Spellcasters.
She smiled wide and her blood hummed possessively.“Leave them! It’s me you want.”
Every head spun in her direction. Twelve sets of bottomless black eyes fixed on Emma. A collection of snorts and sounds that seemed suspiciously like laughs passed from b
east to beast. Then they prowled forward.
23
Blaze
The Gargoloscks couldn’t have seen the power in her eyes. Couldn’t have seen the fury and hunger lighting her up like some righteous goddess. If they had, they’d
have run. Even Blaze felt his muscles urging him to launch into action. Against her, his Emma. The one he vowed to protect. He imagined the beasts saw a small, fragile girl entirely outnumbered. There was nothing farther from the truth in that moment.
Black smoke trickled into the room behind Emma. Neither Sergei nor Gertie had followed her, and it made his gut twist with worry. He extended his hearing and heard the crackling of flames combined with Sergei’s and Gertie’s voices—they were safe.
Constance and Gwyndoline stared at Emma from the other side of the room. He didn’t need to look at them to know their fear and shock. He’d seen Emma’s power in action before—the hunger for more, the way her eyes glowed green, the predatory way she locked in on her prey—and they hadn’t.
Axel was still breathing heavily at least twenty feet away from him. The smoke and the brutal effort of attempting to kill the creatures had winded him. Blaze glanced over at him, and his brother gave a sharp nod to let Blaze know he was fine. Finally Gertie and Sergei spilled into the room, stopping abruptly at the scene unfolding. Gertie looked the worst of the two, with blood running from her temple and left thigh.
The Gargoloscks circled Emma. Flames undulated around her hands, licking at her flesh, almost affectionately. They moved in tighter, closing off any gaps between their ranks, intimidating their prey into going down easily.
There were too many—at least ten. She’d be ripped to pieces. He needed to distract them, draw some of them away.
This time when Blaze looked around to his brother and the now-four Spellcasters, they held his gaze. With a jerk of his head toward the beasts, he mouthed the word distract. They all nodded in understanding.
Slowly, they stepped toward the Gargoloscks closing in around Emma. If they could make the numbers more manageable for her, she’d be able to kill them all.
And what will she be like when there are no more? He pushed the thought aside. No matter what, he’d be there to help Emma find herself again. They had a war to fight, therefore she needed to be able to overcome a pack of Gargoloscks if she planned to survive.
Flames erupted from the hallway with a whoosh. It was like someone stood on the other side with a blowtorch. Thick, black smoke penetrated the air above them. The house would soon collapse—if they didn’t all die of smoke inhalation first.
“Your daddy isn’t happy with you, little girl,” one of the Gargoloscks jeered.
This made Emma’s spine straighten. Blaze, too, froze in place. He’d never heard them speak before. Not that he’d faced Gargoloscks before tonight, but he’d done plenty of research on them to know the softest places that his blades could penetrate.
But more concerning were the words it had spoken.Daddy. Who was her father? Blaze’s brows dipped. He’d known Emma’s father was a Shediem, but only two ranks could engage in proper physical intimacy with women: generals and princes. A man possessed could as well, but as far as he knew, that wouldn’t result in a Shediem-blooded child.
Was it Levaroth? Is that why he was obsessed with her? “How did you do it?” another Gargolosck asked.
Emma didn’t respond, though he noticed how her gaze flicked up to meet his for a brief moment. He didn’t stop his slow advance, and neither had the others.
“We were told not to kill you. Just hurt you. But your friends have to die.”
“You are of no use to our master as you are.”
“How sweet your blood will taste. Giborim blood always does. Like honey.”
Blaze felt a growl echo in his chest, tearing away the attention of the beast closest to him. He shot forward and brought his sword down into the soft space where its strong jaw and neck met.When he pulled his sword free, the wound hissed, and thick, black, oily blood fell to the floor. The creature groaned in pain when Blaze stabbed through its soulless black eye. The change of its tough hide was instant, turning to solid stone that hit the floor with a thunk, then cracked.
Chaos erupted once more.
Flashes of brilliant colors shot toward the beasts. Axel was a blur of singing blades while Blaze moved in a rhythm, slashing at every beast that moved closer to Emma, until he was standing beside her.
She dove at the creature closest, knocked it to the ground, and yanked its heavily muscled front legs at an impossible angle with a crack that turned his stomach. He barely had time to glance at the dried blood staining one of her calves before another beast lunged.
His sword sunk into the thick skin and when he withdrew it, it brought the Gargolosck crashing to the floor at his feet. It shrieked an awful high-pitched noise that made his eardrums ache.
In his periphery he saw the Gargolosck she held claw and buck. Then it went rigid. Blaze spun, carving his sword through another’s soft belly as it sprung at him. Claws sliced easily through his forearm. He gritted his teeth, slashing a second blow to its neck. The blade hit rock before cutting through the softer skin, drawing an ear-splitting scream from its unholy maw.
Emma didn’t seem to hear it. Or Blaze, when he shouted a warning at her. A Gargolosck prowled toward her back, foamy, crimson saliva coating its teeth. Piles of ash dusted the floor and clung to her clothing. She got to her feet after draining yet another creature, her attention fixed on the floor where its body had been. Blaze yelled her name, and this time she looked up a breath before the creature swiped a giant clawed paw at her head.
A smile that made the hairs on the back of his neck stand on end spread across her face. She rolled just in time, then roundhouse-kicked its face. It staggered just enough for her to shove her fists into its eye sockets. Blaze’s stomach clenched violently. Something like a laugh erupted from her throat.
The Spellcasters and Axel had four beasts detained between the five of them. They were using visible glimmering shields to hold them back, though each time a Gargolosck lunged and clawed at it, a bit of its light diminished. They couldn’t hold them back for long. The place was filling with too much smoke, making it difficult to see. Difficult to breathe. The heat was draining Blaze of energy, while it only seemed to fuel Emma.
There were four more Gargoloscks that watched her, preparing to pounce. Blaze started forward, spinning both swords around at once.Two of the ugly beasts looked away from Emma. His first sword drove into its neck, then the other followed suit with the second creature. Emma took the distraction as her chance. Her power crackled in the air and his vision blurred. His lungs were tight. He coughed, stumbling forward.
Emma drained the two closest to her in the space of a breath. Her eyes flared bright. Their remains, mixed with blood that could only be hers, coated her forearms. Her eerie green glow highlighted the tumbling, whirling smoke that was choking them all.
The house groaned, before a deafening crash sounded. The top floor collapsed and the ceiling above them rained chunks of sheetrock and dust. Above the roar of the flames that consumed the entire house, surrounding them, beams groaned and cracked.
“We need to leave! This place is going to collapse any second,” Blaze called to Emma. Behind him, he bellowed to the others, “Get out, the house is coming down!”
Emma got to her feet, leaving the other two Gargoloscks as heaped piles of ash on the floor, then walked with slow, even strides past him. Her eyes were fixed on the creatures behind the Spellcasters’ shields.
“So go.” Her voice was soft. Melodic. She walked through the shimmering shield, and it flickered out of existence. All three of the caged beasts leapt for her at once. Her movements were almost too fast for him to track. She dropped into a crouch, the creatures flying above her, and she spun, catching one by its muscular hind leg. She yanked, pulling it bodily to the tiled floor. It went rigid instantly. The next second, it was dust.
Through the thic
k smoke, three more barreled into the main room, looking every bit the hellish creatures they were. They charged him and he swung his blades with thunderous cracks, but not a single one went down.
It was still five Gargoloscks against one Emma. Everyone else had fled. The roaring flames blocked out the sounds outside, making it impossible to know what they were facing.
Blaze ran to Emma’s side and grabbed her arm. Like in the training room, flames erupted on her skin and scorched his hand. He bit back a yelp, morphing it into an angry grunt. His gaze took in the blistered and charred flesh of his hand.
She looked at him, then at his hand, but there was no sign of emotion on her face, her eyes too blinding to read.
“Leave and let me finish this.” Her voice seemed to originate from her chest instead of her lips. Something wasn’t right.
“Emma, the whole place is burning down. We need to leave. Even you won’t survive smoke inhalation.”
“I am made of fire. We are one.” The melodic quality of her voice was eerie. The beasts snickered.
“Dammit, Emma, I’m not going to let you die in here.” “He won’t let me die. He’ll never let me go.”
This time, Blaze heard the slightest quiver of fear.
The walls shook, and he wondered if she had done that, or if the building was even closer to collapsing than he knew.
“Blaze, let’s go!” Axel shouted behind him.
As if in answer, a chunk of sheetrock the size of a car crashed to the floor behind the beasts. The structure groaned again—a warning and a promise.
“Emma, please, let’s get out of here!” Blaze roared.
She didn’t reply. Only watched as the enormous creatures stalked closer, ready to end it before they were crushed in the crumbling building.
“Don’t make me watch you leave me again, wondering if you’re dead or alive!”
Her head snapped back, and the light left her eyes in a flash. A slow dawning of reality crept over her features. Wordlessly he grabbed her hand and they sprinted for the doors. The Gargolosck charged after them, howling and baying behind them. Overhead, the ceiling rained down while they leapt and dodged the pieces. With only fifteen feet until the exit, they ran as fast as they could, feeling the creatures nipping at their heels.
The Throne of Broken Bones (Weapon of Fire and Ash Book 3) Page 18