Page 56 of Bound By Love
At least fifty of them struck at once.
Caro barely got her sword up to fend off the monsters, who released a murderous hiss. They were the most awful things she’d ever seen, and they descended like a pack of wild wolves seeking to destroy.
Saber pulled her closer as some demons scampered across the ceiling like crazed spiders. Others ran up the walls until the monstrosities surrounded them while continuing to make that awful noise.
Their claws clicked against the rocks, and the strangest, guttural noises issued from them. She’d never heard them make those noises before, but then, like they were a unit operating with one brain, they fell from the walls and ceiling while the ones still running toward them pounced.
CHAPTERFORTY-SIX
Brie bitback a scream when one of the demons landed on Asher. She couldn’t lose him, not here, not like this. She lashed out with her sword, but the demon was already leaping off Asher and coming at her. It was so fast, so inhuman, and something that shouldn’t be a part of this world.
She had no idea how they’d opened this doorway onto their world, but she’d see it closed before this was over. The demon knocked her blade aside as it seized her throat and pounced, shoving her back.
Beneath her hands, its bones protruded from its slender body. Despite its lean build, it hit her with the force of a wrecking ball. Her fingers tangled in its cloak; she tried to pull it free, but the creature caught her wrist, slammed it into the ground, and sank its fangs into her throat.
A scream reverberated in her head but didn’t break free. It couldn’t, as her throat closed up the second the demon’s fangs pierced her neck.
She struggled to lift her hand, but it had gone numb from his bite. When Asher leapt onto the creature’s back, his face emerged over the demon’s shoulder as he enclosed his arm around the monster’s neck and yanked it back.
Its fangs tore across her throat, but blessed relief followed the release of its bite. Gasping in air, Brie labored to get her wits as her body relaxed, and she took in the fullness of what Asher was doing.
NO!Asher couldn’t put himself in further danger by trying to protect anyone from this thing. Unless she did something to stop it, he would die in this place, and jumping onto the back of a demon wasnotdoing something to stop it.
When Asher jerked the demon’s head back, he exposed its throat. Brie used her free hand to punch the creature in its windpipe. The awful sound it emitted choked off as it swung a clawed hand at her face.
Its claws sliced through her skin and cleaved through half her face. Cool air flowed across her tongue and teeth from a direction it never should, but she refused to let the pain slow her down as the demon reached over its head and seized Asher’s skull.
She inwardly screamed as the monster ripped Asher over its shoulder.
* * *
The scentof Brie’s blood filled the air as Asher hit the ground with a thud. Saber’s heart lurched, and a fresh wave of adrenaline flooded his system. By now, he would have understood if his body had stopped producing the stuff, but it hadn’t.
He’d failed his sister once before; he wouldn’tdo it again. But three demons had descended on him and Caro, cutting him off from his sibling.
Caro held off one of the demons with her sword while the other two dodged his blade and came in low. Saber couldn’t get his sword into either of them, but he spun his knife around and plunged the blade into the creature’s stomach.
The pitch of the demon’s cry increased until the others matched it. As their screams grew louder, Saber was certain his eardrums would explode.
Caro started to cover her ears against the awful noise before catching herself. She steadied her nerves and used her sword to deflect the demon’s grasping hand.
When the blade sliced across its pale skin, three of its fingers fell to the ground before turning to ash. The creature squealed as it yanked its hand back and, clasping its wrist, held its mutilated hand up before her as its flesh and bones became ash.
Caro tried not to scream as their squeals grew louder. The sound was so awful, but she couldn’t do anything to block it out.
The demon she’d cut staggered backward as fire erupted from its eyes. She had no idea what these stones were or how exactly they worked, but shelovedthem.
With a burst of flame, the demon evaporated into nothing more than ash. All around them, the others worked to slaughter those who’d sprung this trap, but though they had the stones, the demons outnumbered them.
“Asher,” Saber growled as he cut another demon with his knife.
Caro turned at Saber’s voice and nearly screamed when she saw the demon feasting on Asher as another tore Brie’s sword from her hand. The demon spun the sword around and plunged the bladeshe’dcrafted into Asher’s chest.
Brie’s scream nearly drowned out the cries of the feasting demons. Caro leapt toward them and, swinging out her sword, slashed it across the demon’s back.
Asher clawed at the sword still in his chest while Brie wiggled to get free. Caro kept waiting for Asher to erupt into flames, but he wasn’t burning up like the others.
That stone and sword don’t belong to the demon. Brie would have to die for that to happen.
