Page 5 of Sinful Curses
Finally regaining her feet, she staggered back a few steps before nearly collapsing into the sand again. To stop herself from going down and becoming vulnerable to those things again, she locked her knees and planted her spear handle in the sand as the beast shrieked.
“Are you okay?” Elsa demanded.
“Yes,” she whispered as blood dripped down her leg, but the flow wasn’t lethal. “Thank you.”
Closer to the creature, Orin and Zeth used their blades to carve through the remaining tongues. Some had retreated, but others still sought the meal they’d been denied.
Most of what remained outside the monster sprayed blood as they waved through the air. The creature, realizing it was taking more of a beating than it was unleashing, started sinking beneath the earth, dragging its appendages with it.
“No,” Sahira breathed.
They couldn’t let this thing get away to attack again. Lifting her spear from the ground, she raced forward as the monster continued its retreat.
With a yell, she leapt up as Orin hacked a tongue out of her way. Twisting it around, she gripped the spear and plunged the weapon into the creature’s head.
The spear sank through the monster’s spongy flesh before breaking out the other side and pinning the creature to the ground. With a violent shake, its entire body jerked upright; it tore from the earth to reveal the thirty-foot-long beast.
She pulled her spear free and jumped down as the creature lurched, and some of those appendages rolled out of its mouth again. Most of those awful things remained trapped inside as her spear kept the creature’s orifice closed, but these flopped across the ground as they sought more food.
Orin chopped off the remaining tongues before walking closer to sink his sword into the creature’s brain… if it had one. The thing lurched once more before going completely still.
The headless tongues, still searching for food, flopped to the ground. Silence descended as Orin stepped back and lowered his sword.
With the back of her arm, Sahira wiped away the black blood dripping from her forehead. It did little good as she looked down and realized it also coated her hands and arms.
She longed for a shower, bath, or anything she could use to clean herself, but they hadn’t encountered something like that in this forsaken land. She was just happy not to have been devoured by this thing.
Orin’s gaze flickered over her before settling on the wound on her thigh. “Are you okay?”
She bent to examine the bite that had already stopped bleeding. She poked at it for a second, wincing as she irritated the sore flesh, but it would heal soon.
“I’m fine,” she assured him.
His head tilted to the side in that endearing yet maddening way he had of examining her. Despite her bloody, battered condition and extreme dislike of him, her body reacted to those fathomless black eyes.
Clenching her jaw, she tried to control her impulses and kept her face impassive as he briskly nodded. When he turned away, her shoulders sagged a little as she was released from whatever strange hold he had over her.
She shifted her attention to the others to discover they were as bloody and tired looking as she felt. They’d only been out here for three days but were battered, exhausted, and filthy.
And this is just the beginning.
“We should keep moving,” Orin said.
Everything inside her rebelled against moving. She’d prefer to sit and cry or sleep, but those damned to Hell didn’t have time for sleep.
CHAPTERSIX
Sahira glanced nervouslyaround as Orin bent to peer inside the rocky formation that towered high into the sky. The thick black slabs of the structure created a cave at least fifty feet tall, but the opening was barely big enough to fit him.
He glanced back at them. “Candle.”
Sahira set her spear down before removing the pack she’d created and stuffed full of supplies. They’d planned and saved so much, but she was beginning to realize they wouldn’t have enough to get them through this place.
She sorted through her bag before locating a candle and some flint; she handed them to Orin. When his fingers brushed hers, a familiar thrill went through her as electricity crackled between them.
Gripped with the compulsion to clasp his hand, her fingers twitched as she resisted. If he’d felt the sizzle between them, he didn’t show it, as his face remained impassive while he took the flint.
She’d never let him know he had any effect on her. He’d moved on, and so had she… or at least that’s what he believed.
