The Agrista (Between the Lines Book 1)

by Shannon Lamb

  Being around such fearless, seasoned warriors had a way of making Marie feel insignificant. There wasn’t much she could contribute other than serving as a distraction, and that carried the potential of only making matters worse.

  Fear coursed through her veins as her heart pounded wildly against her ribcage like a stampede of wild horses, transforming into adrenaline fueled bravado with each accelerated tick.

  She might die here today. She refused to accept that as her fate, but she was well aware of the possibility. Come what may, she would not allow herself to be swallowed up by Alex’s shadow. She would stand next to him, tall and proud, and face her destiny with dignity.

  Marie had every intention of holding her chin up high and looking the creature straight in the eye as it barreled toward them like a freight train, but it didn’t exactly pan out that way. She closed her eyes and took several slow, jagged side-steps out from behind Alex, weaving back and forth in sync with drawn out, shaky breaths.

  “What are you doing?” Alex hissed. Befuddlement marred his handsome features as he pursed his lips into a thin line and his eyes hardened to stone.

  Marie popped her eyes open with a surge of bravery. They were automatically drawn to the ravenous beast reaching for its detached hand. The same hand that only a few moments ago was tenderizing her for consumption, only to become the main course itself. She convulsed at the thought.

  Her stomach churned and exploded as she watched the beast bite into its own severed hand. Acid licked the back of her throat in slow, taunting strokes, leaving it sensitive and raw as she watched flesh being pulled through the creature’s sharp teeth.

  The beast ate most of the flesh in mere seconds and sucked the remainder of it from the bones, making revolting tearing and slurping sounds that made the others shudder.

  Marie noticed a vein protruding from between its endless canines as blood and drool dribbled down its chin. The scent of decay slammed into her, causing her to lose control and she lurched forward, violently tossing up the entire contents of her stomach.

  An inhuman hunger etched an expression of endless need upon the creature’s face as it turned to Marie and Alex, its nose slightly twitching. A quick succession of warbled gasps caught in her throat, accompanying painful palpitations as she watched the monster with mirrored confusion. It stood perfectly still as it strained its ears, listening for a sound that would give their position away.

  The monster began to noticeably salivate as it flattened them with its cold gaze. Marie couldn’t figure out why it wasn’t attacking them, but what she found even more confusing was that Fallon and Cayden weren’t using this opportunity to strike. Everyone went painfully stiff, watching one another with bated breath.

  The next few seconds felt like an eternity. Marie remained as still as she could, hoping that someone would eventually give her a sign as to what their strategy was. Ignorance bred helplessness, giving rise to her fear, which was eager to manifest.

  A strong gust of wind suddenly ripped through the hills, whipping loose sand into a frenzy as it danced all around them, separating Marie from her enemy and her companions. If she hadn’t been holding onto Alex, she would’ve gotten lost in the crystalline abyss.

  The wind came to a dead halt and the sand began to settle in disjointed mounds. Marie shivered as she shook the cold hand of silence. She tightened her grip on Alex as she frantically rubbed the grime from her eyes.

  She crinkled her nose as the pungent odor of blood and sweat infiltrated her senses with a rush of urgency. It gripped her stomach and squeezed, leaving her keeled over as waves of dizziness crashed over her like an angry tide.

  Marie took an uncertain step forward to investigate. When she opened her eyes, she was face to face with the terrifying monster. Its spotted gums oozed with abuse and neglect. The length of its sharp teeth rivaled Marie’s height, and the spaces between them were chocked full with chunks of festering, rotting flesh, coated with maggots and slime.

  Alex coiled his arm around her waist from behind, ripping the air from her lungs so only the whisper of a scream escaped her lips. The creature chomped down right as Alex jerked her away, missing her by mere centimeters. Its jaw clamped together with the force of gravity as anger embossed the hard lines on its face.

  The monster savored the scent of tender flesh just a breath from his face as it tickled the back of his tongue, fueling his perpetual need to pacify his insatiable craving. Each time he fed his terrible need, it only took him further away from the very desire that made him do it: to be human again.

  Eons ago, this beast was just a simple man, but at the hands of the Nocté Bellatores, he had devolved into an abominable creature who knew only one thing. To feed. The Nocté Bellatores had taken a harmless civilization whose only goal was survival, and with a ruthless invasion and empty promises, plunged them into the darkness.

  Years of endless torture in the thralls of dark magic mutated the Anthro Pophagos into the Nocté Bellatores’ own personal garbage disposal. They’d stripped away every last thread of their humanity and sent them out into the world as wild animals, solely to beef up their security.

  In the end, their experiment had turned against them, transforming the helpless slaves they’d stolen away into a formidable foe that thrived on the power of their natural enemy, light. The Anthro Pophagos fiercely protected their land, and Anthros became eternally divided by North and South.

  The sound of the beast’s teeth scraping together caused Marie to vocally shudder. It was surprisingly fast for such a large creature, relentlessly striking at them like a snake. They had no time to recover between the attacks, and just barely escaped by the skin of their teeth every time. Their only hope was to run.

  The sand swallowed their footsteps, making it impossible to build up speed or gain an advantage. Marie fought the urge to throw a look over her shoulder, knowing it would only slow them down or paralyze her completely. Each stride sent jolts of pain racing up her legs. Each inhalation felt like swallowing razor blades. Her body was quickly reaching the limit of exhaustion.

  She knew she couldn’t run for much longer, and if Alex was forced to carry her, they wouldn’t stand a chance. She had to come up with something fast. Even if Marie knew how to fight, the creature had a vast advantage over her because of its enormity. Her only hope was to use her necklace.

  She mindlessly ran her fingers over the weapon delicately draped over the hollow of her throat. Alex was right. She was glad she had it. Still, she was hesitant to use it. Alex was just as capable of reaching over and yanking one of the beads off himself, but he hadn’t. There had to be a reason.

  I’m thinking too much, she huffed. I have no other choice! She stopped dead in her tracks and swung her body around to face the monster.

  The creature stopped chasing them the second they stopped running, its confusion mirroring Alex’s. It watched Marie with a sinister expression as it grasped for the meaning behind her actions. He loved it when his prey went limp, for it meant he could take his time.

  Marie’s trembling fingers struggled to pull a bead from her necklace, but it wouldn’t budge. She clumsily scrolled her fingers over each finding, meeting with failure every time. Alex had told her the beads didn’t come off easily, but he failed to mention that it was damn near impossible.

  The monster eventually grew bored and didn’t hesitate to attack again. She narrowly dodged his halfhearted strike, staggering backward until she slammed into Alex’s sweaty chest.

  “This thing is useless!” Marie yelped as Alex pulled her away.

  Alex reached around Marie from behind and easily ripped a handful of beads from her necklace, throwing them in the creature’s general direction. If he’d had more time, he would’ve aimed for the creature’s mouth, but he couldn’t afford to lose a second.

  He grabbed Marie’s wrist and dragged her behind him, running as fast as his legs would take him. Such force might dislocate her shoulder, but at least she’d still be alive. If they didn’
t take the creature out soon, the commotion would draw even more unwanted attention. Alex was surprised it hadn’t already.

  “This is your plan? Running?” Marie was shocked by her own words. She’d always been a big fan of running away.

  “Of course not! I’m trying to keep us alive until I can think of a better one!”

  Marie looked back to see the monster quickly gaining on them. The explosives had only served as a mild inconvenience, which came as no surprise. Losing an appendage had barely fazed it, other than giving it a nice afternoon snack.

  Her first plan had failed miserably, but she was determined not to die today. Explosives seemed futile, but her necklace had one other feature. Defense. Surely, the flash would at least buy them a little time. What they truly needed was a plan, but a little time was all they could hope for at this point, and the only thing she could think of.

  Marie squeezed the sides of a silver hoop together, emitting a shrill pitch as the air stirred. The grating warble became tangible as iridescence rippled out in a show of light, fading when the note abruptly snapped off. The next thing she knew, she was soaring through the air in Alex’s arms as he leapt away.

  She looked back just in time to catch sight of Fallon standing on Cayden’s shoulders, bloodlust evident in her wild gaze. Marie cringed in anticipation as she watched Fallon raise her sword for the fatal blow. She knew she should look away, but her eyes were inadvertently drawn to the action.

  Fallon’s angular sword – Silver, as she lovingly called it – separated into five blades as it sliced through the air, each facet protruding at a thirty degree angle. The blades melted into the creature’s flesh, burning through dense cords of muscle and bone, slicing clean through in a circular motion until each blade returned to the hilt and coalesced into one thick sword.

  The creature’s head rolled down its chest and plummeted into the sand. With no life to hold it upright, its body buckled at the knees and fell forward. A bloody maelstrom of granular heat sent debris shooting out in all directions, marinating the four of them in bloody sand, a pungent baste that was sure to bait the creature’s brethren.

  “You idiot!” Cayden yanked Fallon back by her ponytail before she could lunge at Marie. “What in Lucidus’ name were you thinking?” She wrung her hands.

  “What did I do?” Marie slunk behind Alex.

  “You set off the damn flash!”

  “If I hadn’t, we would’ve gotten caught!”

  “The Anthro Pophagos are blind, you idiot! All you did was blind us,” Fallon snarled.

  “I didn’t know that!”

  “It’s my fault. I didn’t properly educate her on our enemy.” Alex interjected.

  “Great. You’re both idiots!”

  “It doesn’t matter whose fault it is!” yelled Cayden. “Any minute now, this spot will be swarming with hundreds of beasts just like that one, drawn to the scent of blood! We don’t have time to discuss this!” Cayden shoved Fallon forward. “We can’t do anything if we’re dead, so for the time being, our mission has changed to getting out of here.” Everyone dutifully trailed behind as Cayden sprinted forward. “We’ll soon approach the border to the North. DO NOT, under any circumstances, cross it. It’s imperative that the second we stop, we activate our locator bracelets. We must remain tethered to one spot for a minimum of ten seconds for Raeph to transport us back to the ship. We get one shot at this.” No one looked back as the ground began to shudder with seismic tremors. They knew exactly what was causing it.

  Everyone lined up alongside Cayden when he came to an abrupt stop. The land before them was bathed in shadow, defining the border to the North in strong contrast. A susurrus of dark whispers swirled around Marie, baiting her to the other side and tempting her to give in to the dark feeling writhing through her body. The hollow words slithered over her skin, leaving a trail of goose bumps as she stiffened.

  No one was immune to the pull of the Nocté Bellatores. That knowledge wasn’t in the books passed down through generations, because no one that had been to the North had lived to tell it. The darkness forced its way into their hearts, carving through blood as it illuminated secrets buried deep. It called to them, assuaging their fears with promises of a better tomorrow.

  Marie’s eyes fluttered open as a fetid stench slammed into her, snapping her out of it. She turned her back on one danger only to face another. Hundreds of Anthro Pophagos erupted from the landscape like a sea of mines, their carnal hunger evident in the tortured cacophony of desperate screams.

  She turned to her companions for comfort, but they’d vanished one by one right before her. Their sudden absence seized her breaths until she found herself on her knees, gasping for air. The Bellatores pull grew stronger with her vulnerable positioning, and even more alluring at the sight of titans rushing in like an angry tidal wave, corralling her into the darkness.

  “Oh god! The bracelet!” Her heart pumped so hard she could feel the surge of blood rushing over her eyes, leaving her dizzy and unfocused. “Please! Help me!” she rasped as she clawed the opal gem.

  There was nothing to do now but wait.

  “Ten, nine, eight,” Marie began to countdown out loud, “seven, six, five…” She slowed her speech, forcing a sense of calm into her voice. She didn’t want to arrive at zero and panic when nothing happened. “Four, three, two…” She struggled to keep her stance as the land croaked and shuddered beneath her. “One, zer-” Her words were cut short when something wrapped around her from behind, ripping the air from her lungs.

  Did I really get caught at the last second? How cruel. A sharp pain cut into her side, causing her to jerk forward and cradle her abdomen. Each exhalation felt like a breath of fire as panic trampled her nerves, pouring over her like acid rain.

  A painful pressure built up behind her eyes, trapped and screaming to get out as it prickled her eyelids. I’m going to die. Black invaded the corners of her vision as she wept softly to herself. Her biggest regret was that she hadn’t gone out with more dignity.

  BAGGAGE

  The soft echo of familiar voices tickled Marie’s ears as she teetered on the brink of consciousness. Did I die and go to heaven? No. She wouldn’t have picked this as her destination. The voices clamored over her and descended upon her like a hammer, growing indistinct amidst the blaring chaos.

  Imprisoned in a state of shock, she was mildly aware of what was going on around her, but felt reluctant to immerse herself in reality just yet. Someone was stripping away her armor, leaving her vulnerable and exposed. She chose to remain stagnant, lost in the gloaming as she watched from a distance.

  “Marie?” Alex shook her gently, but she wasn’t responding. “Marie!”

  “Relax, brother. She’s simply unconscious,” Cayden reassured him with a gentle hand on his shoulder.

  “She should’ve stayed on the damn ship,” Raeph tried to mask his concern for Marie with grumpiness.

  “She could’ve died,” Alex mumbled incoherently. “I could’ve died! I should’ve activated her bracelet before mine. So foolish!”

  “Calm down! She’s alive, Alex,” Cayden reminded him, forcing his gaze.

  “We have bigger problems than his neuroticism.” Raeph was one to talk. He might hide it better, but he was just as protective of the feisty little wench.

  “Mm?” Cayden casually strode to the front of the ship.

  “When someone’s transported back onto the ship, it records the data and shows a log,” Raeph spoke in hushed tones. “Marie’s information doesn’t add up. According to the data, that little scrap of a woman weighs over two-hundred pounds, and her body temperature is rapidly fluctuating. At first, I thought it was an error, but my Isabel doesn’t make mistakes,” Raeph fondly patted the ship.

  Cayden gave Raeph a curious look as he casually settled into the chair beside him. He softly rested his hand on the hilt of his sword, signaling Fallon to be on high alert. She pressed her back to the wall, mindlessly tracing the contours of her dagger through the s
upple leather of her belt.

  “I had the ship run a scan for all possible life forms, but it only reported back the five of us. Obviously, the intruder is using…”

  “Magic,” Cayden whispered.

  “I can put up a Mahömasén shield, but that requires an enormous amount of energy. Unless we want to be stranded here, I can only keep it going for about a minute,” Raeph shot Cayden an apologetic look.

  “I understand.” Cayden slowly stood.

  “Say the word, Boss.” Raeph spun in his chair and shot Fallon a playful look. It was far too easy to push her buttons, and he couldn’t resist.

  “Hey, I’m your boss!” Fallon growled.

  Raeph had known Fallon just shy of two decades. She was a handful of years older than him, but vastly less mature when they’d met. They didn’t exactly hit it off at first. They were both extremely strong-willed and set in their ways, creating constant sparks of conflict. They fought like dogs until they survived their first battle together, bonding them for life.

  The silent understanding between them served as a constant solace when they lost their brothers to the hell of war, drawing them closer. They’d been shaped into soldiers together, and both were aware that life didn’t really start until the bittersweet moment when a person takes their first life. The rush that follows is as frightening and invigorating as a babe’s first breath.

  They’d shared many wild nights and suffered the consequences together, even taking to one another’s bed on rare occasion. Fallon greatly outranked Raeph solely due to her pedigree, and while he always heeded her commands, he struggled to think of her as his superior. He’d seen her at her most vulnerable, and it compromised her authority every time he looked at her.

  “That’s true, but he’s your boss,” Raeph jerked his head toward Cayden, who turned away to hide his smile.