His eyes are bloodshot, a white ring encircling his irises. There’s no life in them, but he’s definitely alive. He swats his tail, cracking the floor beneath him.
Just as he is taking a single step, I see a black shadow slicing something downward toward its neck. I don’t hesitate, and charge at him. He’s tall, much more so than Kai, so when I swing my leg up, I jump enough to be able to make contact with his massive head.
One of Kai’s shadows had picked up my blood blade and attempted to cut through the thick skin of our attacker. It shatters, and even as I kick hard enough that it should have separated his head, he merely stumbles.
Before I can gather myself, he’s grabbing my ankle and—as though I’m a toy—tosses me across the large open room. Instead of smashing against the elevators, which is exactly what I should have done, I’m caught.
Caughtis a loose term, I’m given asofterobject to collide into.
Kai grunts and pushes me up to my feet as he pulls himself from the bent metal of the elevator doors.
“My guess, he’s a Necroth.” He groans and grabs my chin to turn me to him, inspecting my face. “I hate these things.”
As he releases me, I sigh, looking back at our attacker stalking toward us. “I got the drop on Jay, but something tells me I won’t with this one.” Shifters, in their own right, can be strong depending on their breed. Now with the added strength being a Necroth comes with, I imagine if this one gets that tail around Kai’s neck, or even mine, we are losing our heads.
His hand comes to my shoulder and I gaze back at him. “Trust me?”
Without a beat of hesitation, I nod.
“Good, lets run.” He turns away from me, charging straight for a set of double doors. My mouth falls open, and I freeze for a second, stunned. The ground trembles as the Necroth sprints toward me.
I take off after Kai, and as he steps through the doors, I see it’s a massive stairway. Before following him, I glance up.Fucking shit.This building is massive; I suppose we weren’t going to be able to take theelevator anyway. Still, I hate that we will be taking this to the top floor.
Without saying a word, I pump my arms and charge up the stairs behind Kai. He’s not going at his usual pace, much slower actually, and I’m almost tripping over myself trying to keep up.
It’s as if he’s purposely holding back, wanting that Necroth to catch up.
Then it hits me, and I let out a soft chuckle through my heavy breaths. He glances over his shoulder, grinning at me, before pausing at what must be the twentieth flight.
I place my hands on my knees, sucking in a deep breath. Being part Mundane fucking sucks.
The loudthump, thump, thumpcontinues as the Necroth approaches. He isn’t slow, but he sure as shit shouldn’t ever be able to catch Kai and I. This was purposeful, and I look at him in the hopes he will explain what is going to happen.
He doesn’t, of course. He just crosses his arms over his chest and wiggles his eyebrows. I swear tofuck, he is too hot. Especially covered in blood, it pisses me off.
The moment I open my mouth to tell him to piss off with this casual bullshit, he juts his chin, and I sidestep the swing that sends my ponytail flying across my face.
We’re on the landing, caught between the set of stairs going up and the ones we just came from. It’s not big enough for a full-blown fight, but as the Necroth swings at Kai, he uses the limited space to dodge, shoving it against the railing.
It recovers quickly, swinging its tail, crashing into the metal bars that keep us from plummeting to the first floor. As Kai dodges, it comes toward me, and I leap. The tail obliterates the barrier, and as I crouch to strike, there’s no need.
Kairhyse’s body slams into it, and they both go tumbling over the ledge.
“What are you doing?!” I scream and lean over, watching them fall. “You idiot!”
“Throw me a spear!”
“A what?!”
“SPEAR, WOMAN! A FUCKING SPEAR!”
Slicing open my wrist, blood spills out in waves. In a blur of speed, I shape it into an elongated pole with a razor-sharp tip. Gripping it, and with all my strength, I hurl it straight down.
As if this world couldn’t fuck with me more, the lights around us flicker, and then completely shut off. Darkness envelopes the space, andbefore the red emergency lights bask me in its illumination and my eyes can adjust, I hear a guttural crunch of flesh.
I drop to my knees, staring down, willing my eyes to adjust faster. It’s happening too slowly, and all I can hear is the distant groan of pain echoing through the air.
My lips part to scream, but before I can, a hand grabs my shoulder, and I shriek. Instinctively, I roll onto my back to kick, but that same hand grips my foot before it can make contact.
