The scent of waterlogged decaying meat.
Eyes snapping to the darkness, I dropped into a crouch, slowly backing towards the firelight, each step quiet and soft as I concentrated on the new unwelcome scent.
"Wake, little umbra,"I jolted her with the sharp internalcommand.
Emerald eyes flew open instantly, the shadows snapping over our daughter and out in front of me as she sprang from the bed roll. Searching the cave, she went back towards the pack, slinging it over her shoulder, while at the same time drawing a blade from its depths.
"Friend or foe?"she whispered to me.
My claws lengthened, inhaling deeply, I shook my head,"What is the difference in these lands?"I whispered back to her, tilting my head as the scent grew closer.
"Time?"Her calmness a balm to the rising predator thrashing inside of me wanting to protect.
"None. It's already here. It watches and it waits."I scanned the darkness tracking its almost silent movement, and then I turned with it.
It was circling us.
Remnant crouched and I could see her waking Riella, pressing her hand softly over our daughter's mouth as she woke with a small squeak. Blinking up at her mother, confusion lined her perfect petite brow.
Suddenly the scent of putrid meat and salty water was everywhere—behind us, in front of us, above us.
"Run!" I bellowed to my soulmate and daughter as I lunged into the path of a gigantic fin framed head, mouth open wide and dripping with snake-like fangs. Its strike was aimed to devour my mate and child in one swallow. I grunted when my shoulder met its massive skull, pounding it straight into the unforgiving cave wall. Pinning it there, I roared over my shoulder to Remnant, "follow the caves into the deep!"
Jumping away from the fall of crumbling slate the massive creature shrieked, its cries bellowing loudly within the cave causing a cataclysmic rain of more rock and the snuffing out the fire's glow, draping us all in darkness.
Snarling, I shifted with ease and my panther eyes adjusting perfectly to the sudden depth of black and highlighting the color of smells, movements, and sounds. In the distance, I could hear the lightest footfalls of my soulmate and the whisper of shadow that could only be my daughter blurring alongside her.
I grinned inwardly. Jar had been right, her power was manifesting itself just when she needed it the most and it was growing stronger with each passing day, as was her scent.
Prowling back and forth, I assessed the beast thrashing its great finned head back and forth—a head attached to a long scaly snake-like body. Stunned, the massive creature shook off the momentary blow and turned back towards me. Mouth opened wide, it sent me a violent hiss, full of fangs that spat poisonous venom in my direction.
Sidestepping the spray, I watched the deathly liquid burn deep holes into our bedding and through the rock underneath it while serpentine white eyes glared with deadly retribution.
Dipping my head low, I bared my teeth in challenge, hissing ferally back, my tail flicking back and forth with each slow prowl. I just needed the damned thing to keep its attention on me—only on me.
Pleased that my daughter and soulmate’s hearts were becoming fainter with the growing distance, I snarled again, watching the creature’s serpentine body curl at the threat while my mind searched to categorize this new beast of Hell.
Sharp teeth, fanged venom, wide flaring fins upon its snake-like head, vertical white eyes, iridescent scales shifting in color, a long coiling body with a powerful finned tail meant to propel within something much different than dry land.
My eyes widened. An oilliphéist.
It had been a long time since I had come across the great worms of the water, natural enemy of the water dragons and much more primitive in their insatiable appetites, they once overtook the seas like parasites, breeding much quicker and faster than the dragons, and robbing the sea of its resources. When the time came for intervention the courts hunted them to the brink of extinction—the great solstice hunt of the lakes and seas.
My father once came home with the head of one. He dragged its bloody carcass inside and was nearly murdered himself by my mother for it.
I eyed the massive scaled body of the worm serpent in front of me. It had to be three times bigger than the one my father had proudly mounted on a wall in our home.
"I smell my youngs’ blood on your hands, shifter fae,"a feminine hiss caressed the inside of my skull.
I tilted my head with sudden understanding…this wasn't justanyoilliphéist, it wasthemother of them all."caoránach,"I growledback.
A forked tongue flickered in the air."Smart little shifter king but not smart enough not to enter my lair. I will savor the taste of your young in payment of the ones I smell staining your claws,"the demon mother of worms hissed.
Fuck Zazion, he wasn’t lying when he said his protection would be lifted once we entered the cave but he certainly played his omission card well.
Feeling darkness brush against my fur, I glanced down to see the shadows shifting around me. I chuckled, slinking into them."We will pass on your midnight snack, mother of worms."Fully camouflaged and hidden both in scent and sight, I watched its panicked forked tongue flicker frantically for my presence.
I grinned. The caoránach was blinded without her senses to rely on.It shrieked, lunging and snapping its jaws mindlessly into the darkness. Slowly, I backed away towards the deep recesses of the cave where I could feel the pulsing bond of my soulmate. My trust in the demon prince of greed was becoming less and less as I quickly picked across bones of recent and long dead demon remains.
