Page 61 of Wolf of Ashes
I suck in a breath through my teeth. “See, you say that and yet, I get the feeling you’d rather be enemies.”
Vanguard gives me a slow nod. “Your feeling is correct.”
I exhale a sigh and flash a final, resigned glance at Diavolo, who doesn’t look terribly sad about Vanguard’s response. I’m not sure exactly why, but I get the sense the keeper’s spoiling for a fight with these guys.
I guess infiltrating the empire isn’t going to work, after all.
My claws snap down.
The panthers bare their doggy canines, and Diavolo’s hands glimmer with energy that feels so sharp, it could take my skin off.
“Okay, then,” I say to Vanguard, my lips drawing back from my sharpening teeth. “Enough talk. Let’s get on with it.”
Vanguard’s expression hardens a second before energy sizzles around his body.
My eyes widen and my heart stops when every snake tattooed on his body suddenly springs to life.
CHAPTERTWENTY-ONE
Idon’t have the chance to blink before the snakes rise off Vanguard’s chest and arms in a swarm of gleaming light.
Three of them shoot through the air straight at each of the panthers, while five streak toward me, and eight fly toward Diavolo.
If I had even a heartbeat to think, I’d probably be offended that Vanguard thought he had to send a greater force into battle with the keeper, but hell, I can barely take a breath before the snakes are on me.
Their bodies are pure energy and transparent, other than their glowing outlines. They dart toward me as fast as if the air were solid ground, their fangs bared.
The first one reaches me, and I brace for it to either take solid form and bite me or to simply sail through me without damage, given its translucent form.
My hands fly up, my claws out, ready to defend myself.
The moment the snake makes contact with my chest, I prepare to slash through it.
I freeze in shock when its luminous body disappears into my chest, but at the same time, its fangs tear through my torso as sharply as if they’re made of bone, not energy.
Before I can scream, two more snakes hit my chest and the final two wrap around my arms, each of them ripping through me without drawing a drop of blood.
Now, a scream of pain rises to my lips, my legs buckle, and I feel like my insides have been torn to shreds.
How the fuck do I defend myself against translucent creatures like these?
But the ripping agony doesn’t drive me to the floor.
No, it makes me angry.
Around me, the room is filled with fury and chaos. Diavolo’s sapphire magic explodes around his body but doesn’t seem to make a dint on the snakes.
The panthers aren’t faring much better. Two of the males already appear immobilized, lying on the floor, whimpering as they attempt to snap their jaws at the snakes, but the reptiles are relentless. The female panther and the male with the blaze on his paw leap into the air, trying to catch the snakes, which shoot out of their reach before circling back toward the other panther’s hind legs, tearing through them back and forth while the panthers try to turn and defend themselves.
The fucking reptiles are doing the same to me, sending my body into shock as they rage through me.
Across the way, Vanguard’s face is creased with concentration, his focus darting back and forth, his hands moving across the air, seeming to direct the snakes as they attack us.
That’s all I see before a cobra soars right at my face.
If its energy tears through my mind…
Oh, no, you fucking don’t.
