Page 77 of Sinful Curses
His blood spilling free caused them to rear back on their hind legs. Their front ones waved in the air while they made excited, hissing noises before falling simultaneously.
Their claws clattered off the stone as their eager titters filled the air. He kept his hand over the gash as blood welled against his palm and slipped between his fingers.
The spiders moved faster as they tracked his blood.
CHAPTERSIXTY-SEVEN
“We have to do something,”Sahira gasped as Orin’s bright red drops of blood on the black stone became a homing beacon to the spiders hunting him.
She glanced at the web again and the sword jutting out of it. Most of the spiders were focused on their wounded prey, but some remained centered on them. Those spiders were more intent on watching their brethren hunt Orin.
“We need fire,” Zeth said.
“These things don’t like fire?” Sahira inquired.
“I don’t know for sure, but I’m guessing not. They live in these mountains, and I doubt they’ve seen it before. It might also burn through the webbing.”
Sahira’s hand went to her sack before she recalled Orin had her candle. She turned to Elsa. “Give me your candle.”
“Candles aren’t going to do much against these things,” Zeth said. “We need something bigger than that to burn, and you have to let me out of here too.”
“What about your family?”
“They matter most to me, but I could never look at them again if I left here a coward. Besides, once they kill the fae, they’ll come for us, and it’s only a matter of time before they get in here. If I can help hold them off, it will give all of you a chance to live longer and possibly escape.”
Sahira’s jaw clenched, but she wouldn’t argue with him. They had to do something and couldn’t leave Orin alone.
“Let him out and give me your candle,” she said to Elsa.
“A candle isn’t going to help,” Elsa said.
“I’ll figure out a way to fan the flames higher, and if we’re lucky, this thing will burn.”
No one said they hadn’t been lucky so far; none of them would be here if they had.
“Let him out, and get me the candle,” Sahira said.
Fath, Loth, and Pip gathered between her and Elsa as they eyed the demon with sorrow and their tails drooped. Elsa looked helplessly at Sahira before closing her eyes and nodding.
Elsa hadn’t been this upset about letting Orin out of the shield, but Sahira understood. She and Pip were the only ones Orin had ever shown any kindness toward; he’d also threatened to kill Elsa, so why should she care if he died?
And Orin was the reason why she wouldn’t, but it bothered Sahira more than it should that her heart raced and hands trembled while the others remained completely calm. At any second, the spiders could take Orin down, ending whatever this was between them.
A part of her would break and die if that happened. But while she’d be heartbroken, only she and Pip would mourn his loss in this realm.
“Good luck,” Elsa whispered to Zeth.
“Same to you. Get that fire going.”
Sahira dropped her sack and knelt on the ground beside it. She removed a shirt and wrapped it around her dagger as Elsa pulled the shield back enough for Zeth to enter the battle.
With his spear in hand, Zeth charged one of the spiders still focused on hunting Orin. His blood trail had stopped, but the spiders had all moved toward where they’d entered this trap. She suspected they had him cornered over there.
Ignoring the staccato rhythm of her heart and the tremble in her hands, she turned as Elsa removed the flint and candle from her sack. She lit the candle and brought it toward the makeshift torch Sahira held.
She’d burn everything in her sack to destroy as many of these things as possible before plunging her dagger through her heart. She’d never let these things take her alive.
She suspected most of their victims were very aware of what was happening to them when they were bound into webbing before being feasted on. She wouldn’t be one of them. If she had her way, she’d lose so much blood these things wouldn’t be able to turn her into a meal.
