Page 76 of Infernal Bonds

Cyn cursed.

“Guys,” I called out nervously in warning when the rustling moved closer through the trees. It wasn’t the wind that made the trees block the light. When they didn’t respond, talking to each other too quietly for me to hear from above, I shouted, “Guys!”

They both looked up at me. Seconds later, a loud screech shattered the silence as something out of my nightmares slithered into the clearing.

A twisted mass of roots and blackened flesh formed the creature’s base, extending behind it like a snake’s tail. Tangled roots curled along its length, covered in pulsing growths that oozed an orange substance. It hissed and bubbled whenever it dripped onto the ground.

At the head of the mass, an emaciated body with gray skin pivoted from side to side as if searching for something. Its gangly arms dangled below its waist, ending in hooked claws.

An enormous, orange bloom unfurled from its back, spreading wide like a peacock’s vibrant tail, reminding me of Earth’s deceptive flora that lure prey in with their beauty before consuming their victims. Crimson veins branching from the creature’s back glowed eerily through the thick, fleshy petals, pulsing with every beat of its heart.

Zeke looked up at me in the tree as Cyn transformed. “Can you climb higher?”

I looked up. “No. The root is too unstable here.”

Glowing crimson eyes settled on Cyn and Zeke.

“Get up there with her,” Cyn ordered. “I’ll try to distract it.”

“But—”

“Protect her. She can’t fight.”

Zeke didn’t argue, making quick work of scaling the tree to join me. The petrified trunk swayed under our combined weight. I didn’t know how long it’d support both of us.

The creature lunged forward, gliding toward Cyn. When it screeched after he dodged its attack, a damp, sickly sweet odor rose from below us, like someone had sprayed perfume to mask the scent of a dead body.

The creature whipped itself around, its tail cracking against the tree’s base. The impact jolted through its trunk, making Zeke slip in his dress shoes. Its enormous bloom folded inwards, engulfing its body, then exploded outwards, sending an orange mist toward Cyn.

He attempted to roll away, but the creature was faster, seizing his ankle with its elongated arms. He twisted onto his back and kicked upward, striking the creature’s shoulder as it loomed over him.

Zeke tightened his grip on the root. “Cyn!”

The creature hissed, its sharp claws slashing through the air in an attempt to disable Cyn, but he scrambled to his feet just in time.

I wondered why he wanted Zeke in the tree with me. If they both worked together, wouldn’t they have better odds? I’d never seen Zeke in his alternate form before, but I knew he could transform. Maybe Cyn wanted Zeke to look after me, but it put him at a disadvantage to do so.

I gasped in horror when the creature’s claws ripped into Cyn’s side. His roar of pain filled the air as he drove his horns into its torso.

“Don’t move,” Zeke said, dropping from the tree with all the grace of a cat and rushing toward where the creature and Cyn were locked together.

One moment he was himself, and the next, he transformed into his alternate form, radiating an overwhelming energy that I felt from the tree.

He vaulted onto the creature’s back, shredding the enormous petals and flinging a spray of black, syrupy liquid and blood into the air.

The creature screeched in agony as it bowed back, ripping its claws from Cyn’s side. It writhed and swiped at Zeke to try and dislodge him from its back, to no avail. When the creature twisted, I got my first clear view of Zeke’s alternate form as he stabbed razor-sharp claws into it and ripped out its throat.

Blood splattered across his face, drawing my attention to his eyes. One was a black abyss, much like Cyn’s, while the other, equally black, held a pure white iris at its core. It reminded me of when his eyes had turned milky white during a vision in my kitchen.

He leaped off the creature’s back and landed as its lifeless body crumpled to the ground, then rushed to Cyn’s side.

A dark pool of blood gathered beneath Cyn’s still form, soaking into the dark moss and decayed foliage. His torn shirt revealed savage wounds on his side.

I descended the tree and hurried towards Zeke, who hunched over Cyn. I stopped dead when a low growl rumbled through the air. I called Zeke’s name, letting him know I wasn’t a threat, and the growling stopped.

He glanced over his shoulder at me. “He’s hurt,” he said, his voice broken.

I closed the distance and crouched down next to Cyn, who lay still with eyes closed, brow tight in a grimace. “Cyn?”