Page 78 of Sinful Curses
Before the flame caught, she looked at Elsa. “Stay here and keep the shield up for you and the brownies.”
“I’m not going to hide in here while you guys do all the fighting. There’s strength in numbers.”
“True.” Sahira shifted her attention to the brownies. “You can ride with us. We can’t guarantee your safety, but we’ll try.”
Almost instantly, the three of them grouped together, and Loth and Pip climbed onto Fath’s shoulders. “We’re going down fighting,” Pip said after she rose to the top.
The brownies had little chance against these things, but she understood their desire to die the way they chose.
When Sahira’s torch finally caught, she rolled up her sleeve so it wouldn’t catch fire too and lifted her torch into the air. Elsa knelt and pulled a shirt from her pack; she removed her dagger from the holster on her hip and wrapped the clothing on the blade.
She held the shirt to Sahira’s flame, and it ignited. They stared at each other for a second before their fingers met, and the shield fell.
They were on their own now with these things, and the spiders would soon realize it.
CHAPTERSIXTY-EIGHT
Orin had shruggedout of his shirt and, with his teeth and hand, cinched it around his bicep to cover the wound. He’d stopped bleeding, but the scent of it was enough to keep these things tracking him, even while enshrouded in shadows.
A roar drew his attention as the demon grabbed one of the spiders by its back legs. Spinning it around, he used it to batter away three of the others.
The force of his hit sent them all flying. Their broken pieces, bouncing across the ground, sent the other ones skittering backward.
Orin wasn’t happy the demon had left the bubble but understood it. To some, doing nothing wasn’t an option, and the demon was one of those immortals who wouldn’t let others fight his battles.
But that meant the witches, or at least Sahira, would soon leave the protection spell behind too. He had to do something about these spiders before that happened.
Though it couldn’t know for sure where he was, one of the spiders suddenly charged. Its claws thumped against the earth as it barreled toward him.
Orin leapt back and realized his mistake too late as another came from a different direction. They were working together to try to pin him in.
The first spider hit the wall so hard that the rocks cracked from the impact. This thing was lethal, and if it had another brain somewhere in its hideous body, that organ was now lonely as the spider staggered to its feet, shook its head, and collapsed.
The second spider was a little smarter as it avoided the wall and twisted toward him. Orin threw himself on top of the first, rolled across it, and came up on the other side of the demon.
He couldn’t pay attention to Zeth as more spiders scampered across the ground and descended the steep walls. The sound of their skittering feet and clicking claws set his nerves on edge.
He suspected they’d kept the clicking to a minimum while tracking them, but now they were making their presence known and trying to distract them. He refused to let it work.
Orin tuned out the noise as he leapt to his feet and sprinted along the wall toward where he last saw Sahira. The spiders swarming between them blocked his view and made it impossible for him to see her clearly.
When he was free of the spiders trying to entrap him, he sprinted away from the wall and ran down the center of the beasts toward the web. He had to know she was safe, but as he ran, the scent of smoke drifted to him, and his stomach sank.
I have to get to her.If something happens to her….
He couldn’t finish the thought as it caused panic to claw at his chest and his ears to ring. He’d fucked up with her; that had never been more abundantly clear than now, but he needed a chance to fix it.
For that to happen, they all had to survive.
He had no idea what was happening to cause the smoke, but it couldn’t be good as he suspected it meant Sahira was now exposed to these things too. Trying to avoid the spiders encircling fifty feet ahead, Zeth stumbled into Orin’s path.
The demon lifted another spider and smashed it off the ground so hard the legs exploded off it. Another spider crashed into Zeth’s leg and nearly knocked him over; with some fancy moves, he avoided going down, but more scampered toward him.
Orin was almost to the demon when a spider launched onto Zeth’s back. The demon staggered back as the creature’s claws sliced into his shoulders.
The demon bellowed as he crashed into a wall. He leaned forward again and bashed the spider against the mountain. Stones broke free and tumbled around the demon.
Black blood burst from the sides of this thing as Zeth squished it against the rocks. The other spiders screeched as they swarmed toward the demon.
