by Sara Snow
I didn’t have time to focus on them at the moment. Jacob had already worked his way to the top of the wreckage, lunging at Bebal with his sword.
“I’ll fucking kill you!” I heard him shout, though above the clanging of the fight, his words were a bit hard to make out.
The look on Bebal’s face said everything as he drew his sword from his robe—the same sword that had killed Kingston in the cemetery. I couldn’t hear what Bebal said to Jacob, but I did hear the gutted cry that ripped out of him as he charged in for another attack, which the demon king fended off, finally properly engaging him in battle.
It took a bit for me to clear a path, but as I downed the last demon in my way, I stumbled toward the warehouse’s remains, my eyes widening in fear. I could see Bebal and Jacob exchanging slashes, a few seeming to land here and there as I ran in to back him up, though I was torn between climbing the rubble and helping the others, who were quickly being overtaken. I had to think fast, noticing a large, flat metal plate that had probably made up part of the warehouse roof laying in the grass beside the rubble. I acted fast, raising it with all the strength my psychokinetic brain could muster, and ran it through the crowd of demons surrounding them as fast as I could.
I tried not to study the carnage too closely. It was no stake to the heart, but the considerable number of demons I’d taken out seemed like they’d have difficulty returning to battle on account of their newfound separation from their lower halves. The others quickly jumped on the opportunity to finish off any demons that stood a chance of causing a problem, and I finally turned to continue on my way to help Jacob.
Before I’d even taken a step in their direction, though, I heard a loud, pained cry from Jacob, who froze in place. That was when I noticed the sword skewering his stomach. My mouth fell open, and I couldn’t move, too deep in disbelief to make my legs cooperate.
Bebal, in his endless cruelty, took Jacob by the throat as I could only watch in horror, slowly pulling his blade from Jacob, twisting it as he did, who let out a gnarled howl. Bebal raised him off the ground by his neck and I could see blood dripping from his shoes as his feet dangled, desperately seeking solid ground.
“You bastard!” I shrieked, my whole body trembling.
Bebal spotted me below, laughing as villainous a laugh as I’d ever heard. “If you like him so much, you can have him back,” he growled.
He threw Jacob like he was nothing, his body flying nearly a hundred yards through the air like a ragdoll toward me. My mind was whirling, and I couldn’t form a concrete thought, once again acting purely on instinct as I reached out to him, slowing his body down with my mind until I could take him in my arms, lowering him slowly to the ground as I knelt down and laid his head on my lap.
“Carter! Over here!” I cried. “It’s Jacob!”
All of a sudden, I was having flashbacks to El Paso, my heart beating like mad at the thought of losing another friend to this bastard. Full-blown panic was setting in and I struggled to keep my head straight, my hands shaking as I forced an oncoming couple of demons backward with as careful a burst of fire as I could conjure. I quickly began to smell the telltale scent of rotten eggs, quickly realizing that Carter was right about leaking gas, knowing that was the last time I’d safely be able to use my fire in this fight.
I saw Carter out of the corner of my eye running as fast as he could toward us, dropping to his knees next to us to survey the wound. It was bad. There was more blood than I’d ever seen in my life. I’d watched Kingston die and it hadn’t even been so brutal on account of the way Bebal had twisted the blade. Tears stung at my eyes.
“Is he breathing?” Carter asked, a question that was quickly answered when Jacob let out a low groan, his eyebrows knit together.
“Jacob! Jacob, it’s alright, you’re ok!” I told him, completely unsure how I’d even begin to make that true. “Just breathe, it’s ok!”
He made a noise, like he wanted to say something, but he didn’t seem to be able to get the words out.
“Georgia,” Carter prompted, grabbing my hand and guiding it to the wound, coating my palm in blood. “I’ll cover you, but you have to heal him.”
Heal him! Oh!
In my panic, I’d completely forgotten about the recent development in my healing ability. Carter leapt up from my side, fighting off an attack from a pair of demons while I focused all the energy I could onto Jacob. I didn’t exactly know how to do it on command, but operating on the same principles as my other powers, I willed all my healing energy into the wound.
After a minute, I heard a small noise from below me. “G-Georgia?” Jacob rasped.
“Jacob! Hang tight, it’s ok!” I whispered, trying not to lose my focus. I ran my free hand softly through his hair. “It’s a deep wound, it’s going to take a bit, but you’re gonna be fine, I promise!”
“Hey Georgia, we’re about to have company,” Carter called. “I think you need to hurry!”
My eyes snapped up to see Bebal descending the rubble, stepping off in our direction. His eyes were glued to me, his sword still clutched in his hand with Jacob’s blood slicked across the blade.
“Shit!” I breathed. I tried to focus harder, but I didn’t know how to gauge my ability’s progress just yet.
“I’m sorry, Georgia…” Jacob whispered. “I thought I would get here in time…”
“It’s not your fault, don’t apologize! Just… Just be quiet and let me do this, you’re gonna be fine!”
“I know,” he said. “Just wanted to make sure… that I said it…”
“Be quiet, Jacob!”
“Georgia, hurry!” Carter shouted. He turned his attention to the others. “Make a break for the car, you guys! Go! Get out of here!”
They all hesitated for a moment, but Bebal was getting closer, and we could all figure out what would happen when he reached us. Sticking around wasn’t going to work anymore.
“Jacob, can you walk?” Carter asked, fighting off a demon who had tried to slip past him to get to us while he was distracted.
“I think… Probably,” he answered, his voice and breathing still labored as he began to try and sit.
“Whatever you’ve already done is gonna have to be good enough, Georgia, let’s get him up!” Carter shoved the demon off of him, rushing over to help me get Jacob to his feet. As we got our arms around him and began to help him toward the car as quickly as we could, I pushed the demons in front of us out of the way as much as possible, but my powers were close to exhausted. I was completely drained and scared, and it was starting to affect my strength, making it difficult to keep the demons away from us.
My heart sank when I heard Bebal’s laughter behind us again. “Not so fast, little humans,” he taunted.
I suddenly felt an earth-shattering jolt as the ground sprang to life beneath us, much more severely than last time. Everything seemed to happen in an instant. In front of us, an enormous fault broke in the ground, rumbling apart to open a deep, dark pit that spread far across the land in front of us. We were rapidly approaching it with little time to stop.
There was no time to plan, the three of us staggering apart as the shaking grew vicious, making it nearly impossible to stay on our feet. We went for it anyway, building up as much momentum as we could in our state, only one weak-footed jump away from life or death.
When I felt my feet touch down on the other side, my momentum carrying me a distance away from the fissure, relief washed over me. I turned to see that Carter had made it as well, but when I quickly realized that I didn’t see Jacob between us, the relief melted back into terror. I turned, completely unprepared to see Jacob holding onto the edge of the chasm for dear life, and as I darted back, reaching out for his hand, the edge of the fissure crumbled, and Jacob disappeared before my very eyes.
The cry that left me was inhuman. I had never heard myself make that noise before and I had no idea where it had come from, but as Carter pulled me back from the clearly unstable edge of the chasm, I couldn�
��t control any of the sounds that left me.
He gripped me tightly in his arms. “We have to go, Georgia. It’s too dangerous, we have to go.” He kept whispering it to me, but I couldn’t move. All I could do was stare at Bebal’s smiling, gnarled grin that spread across his face as he watched me wail and fight against Carter, desperate to get back to the shaking edge to save a Jacob who was no longer there.
The only sound I could register in that moment was Bebal’s horrific, mocking laughter as he closed the fissure just as easily as he’d opened it, sealing off any farfetched hope of saving my friend.
I couldn’t stop shaking, every part of my body fighting against itself as Carter tried to pull me away.
Jacob was really gone.
And it was all my fault.
The Venandi Chronicles Continue…
Demon Huntress (Book 3 The Venandi Chronicles) (A Paranormal New Adult Romance Series)
Demon Huntress (Book 3)
https://ssbks.com/VC4
Just when Carter and I finally had a plan to bring down the Tenebris, Jacob managed to put me right back into my demon father’s clutches.
Worse yet, now Carter will think I left him to be with Jacob.
I have no intention of cooperating with Paimon’s evil plan to cement demon rule over the human world, so I’d better break out of here fast…
Before I lose my boyfriend...and my life.
https://ssbks.com/VC4
Also By Sara Snow
The Venandi Chronicles
Demon Marked (Book 1)
https://ssbks.com/VC1
Demon Kiss (Book 2)
https://ssbks.com/VC2
Demon Huntress (Book 3)
https://ssbks.com/VC3
Demon Desire (Book 4)
https://ssbks.com/VC4
Demon Eternal (Book 5)
https://ssbks.com/VC5
The Luna Rising Universe
Luna Rising Series (A Paranormal Shifter Series)
Luna Rising Prequel (Free Download)
https://ssbks.com/LunaPrequel
Luna Rising (Book 1)
https://ssbks.com/LR1
Luna Captured (Book 2)
https://ssbks.com/LR2
Luna Conflicted (Book 3)
https://ssbks.com/LR3
Luna Darkness (Book 4)
https://ssbks.com/LR4
Luna Chosen (Book 5)
https://ssbks.com/LR5
The Bloodmoon Wars (A Paranormal Shifter Series Prequel to Luna Rising)
The Awakening (Book 1)
https://ssbks.com/BW1
The Enlightenment (Book 2)
https://ssbks.com/BW2
The Revolution(Book 3)
https://ssbks.com/BW3
The Renaissance (Book 4)
https://ssbks.com/BW4
The Dawn (Book 5)
https://ssbks.com/BW5
The Destine Universe
Destine Academy Series (A Magical Academy Series)
Destine Academy Books 1-10 Boxed Set
https://ssbks.com/DA1-10
Have you read the Luna Rising Prequel?
Click below to get your FREE copy of the Luna Rising Prequel.
https://ssbks.com/LunaPrequel
Axel
I’m next in line to be ALPHA
…and I’m ready for the challenge.
Focused and determined to make my father proud, I won’t let anything get in my way.
Until the day I met HER…
She’s a drop-dead gorgeous blonde with eyes like an aquamarine gem...and she’s a witch.
But I’m a werewolf.
And some unions are FORBIDDEN…
That little witch has turned my world upside down.
All love comes at a cost.
But this love may cost me everything…
https://ssbks.com/LunaPrequel
Enjoy This Book? I would love to hear from you…
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Much Love,
~Sara
About the Author
Sara Snow was born and raised in Texas, then transplanted to Washington, D.C. after high school. She was inspired to write a paranormal shifter series when she got her new puppy, a fierce yet lovable Yorkshire Terrier named Loki. When not eagerly working on her next book, Sara loves to geek out at Marvel movies, play games with her family and friends, and travel around the world. No matter where she is or what she is doing, she can rarely be found without a book in her hand.
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