evil is horseshit!”

Emme covered her mouth and glanced over her shoulder. She probably worried Taran’s oh-so-accurate description would offend the wolves. They’d all returned indoors with the exception of Gemini’s furry half. He sat on the porch, his coal eyes bright as he watched over us. Shayna stood and dusted off. I placed my hand on Emme’s elbow and nudged her forward. “There are a few dead bodies inside. Try healing Taran’s emotions; it was a lot for her to take in.” Hell, it was a lot for me to take in. But bless my tigress’s heart, she had a way of helping me through pain, and in this case, revulsion. My urge to bolt and shriek lessened with each passing breath. Still, that didn’t mean I desired to hang with the wolves within the confines of the mill.

Emme cautiously stepped forward. She continued to watch me as she placed her palms on Taran’s back. “A few dead bodies?”

I nodded. Shayna veered toward the porch, fast enough to make her long black ponytail whip behind her. “Koda probably won’t let me see.” Her grimace trained on Taran. “Not that I really want to. How many were there, Ceel?”

“Four men drained of blood and a young woman . . . naked with her uterus torn open.”

Emme’s pale yellow light receded from her hands as she took in my words. Her power sputtered as she took a breath. She closed her lids tight. “D-d-did you say her uterus was torn open?”

Taran dropped her head lower. “She’d given birth, Emme. To twin demons. They freaking ate their way out of her belly.”

Shayna unzipped her blue jacket and alternated fanning each side out like a cape. Her fingers skimmed over the hilts of the eight daggers fastened around her leather belt. Shayna often counted her weapons to soothe her. Or in this case, to make sure she had enough to kill whatever could burst a stomach open like a rotten tomato. “Um. Uh. Did you kill—you know—the twins?”

I only told them because I wanted them to stay sharp. “No. We didn’t find them yet.”

Once more she counted her weapons. This time, she unsnapped the holsters keeping them in place for easy access. “So, what do you want to do about dinner?” she asked with an underlying tone of hysteria to her voice.

Taran homed in on her like a hawk on a band of bunnies with broken legs. “I’m seriously trying not to puke all over my new shoes. Do you really think I want to talk food right now, Shayna?”

I stepped in front of Shayna. If Taran had the ability to shoot laser beams from her eyes, poor Shayna’s body parts would have littered the forest floor in diced chunks. “Stop it, Taran. Shayna’s just trying to think about other things.” Taran didn’t have a beast or possess a power like Emme’s to soothe her. She hated being scared. So when terror showed its face, her protective instincts called anger and attitude to the surface, unleashing her emotions like a rising inferno. It’s how she rolled. But that didn’t make it okay to sick her hyenas on Shayna. She needed a distraction. I stroked her black waves and tried to sound encouraging. “It’s not such a crazy idea, you know? I think the wolves plan to hang out with us tonight, including Gemini. I couldn’t help noticing how he tried to comfort you in there. It’s like his shyness dissolved. All he cared about was seeing you through your trauma.”

Taran’s menace erased, softening the criticism lining her face and bringing out her beautiful exotic features. My sister didn’t fall for men. They fell for her. Hard. This time, though, she’d met her match. I turned my head to Gemini, knowing he’d heard me.

He stood with Aric and the other wolves. “We need to track the demon children,” Gemini said. “The scent of the woman’s death is too fresh for them to have gone far, and they’ll need to feast soon.”

“We’ll need more noses,” Aric said. “Call Paul and the other team.”

“I can change and help, too.” It’s not like I’d forget that festering smell soon.

Aric sighed, moving toward me. I tried to meet him halfway until an odd sense of cold shoved at my chest like a pair of enraged sports fans. Gemini the wolf leapt to his feet, snarling at the same time my tigress snapped to attention. An earth-shattering scream cut through the silence. The twins had found their next meal.

I charged toward an overgrown path leading deeper into the woods only to be yanked back by Aric. “Stay here,” he growled.

He released my arm and changed, joining the rest of his pack already jetting into the dense forest in beast form. Only the original Gemini wolf remained. His hulking body blocked mine when I ignored Aric’s request. “Damn it, Gem!”

“Celia?”

Emme’s shaky voice kept me from barreling through Gemini. I didn’t want to leave Aric to fight this thing alone. I glanced back at my sisters. Shayna already palmed two daggers. Taran’s blue and white flames danced along her fingertips. No, I didn’t want to leave Aric. But I also couldn’t abandon my family.

“Wh-what is it, Celia?” Emme stammered.

“I don’t know.” I paused. Something dropped onto the roof of the mill from one of the overhanging branches. One. Two. Like softballs . . . with feet. My ears perked. Whatever it or they were pushed between the splintering shingles and scrambled into the building. Gem crept toward the door. He’d heard it, too.

“Stay here,” I muttered.

“Like hell,” Taran shot back.

Gemini’s tail batted against my stomach as I followed him back into the dust-filled and moldy building. The nauseating stench returned, this time with greater potency. We passed into the first large room, the one with the broken office furniture. I froze. Something scurried across the second floor. Just above where we stood. It scratched the battered wood with sharp little nails as it scampered from one side to the other.

“A squirrel?” Emme asked hopefully.

I really wanted it to be a squirrel. But squirrels didn’t move as fast as this thing did. Nor did they hiss. Gemini tore pass me and up the stairs. Garbled screeches followed angry snarls. Dust and pieces of mold pelted us as Gemini’s powerful paws pounded the ceiling above. He’d found one of the demon children.

So then, what the hell was Aric hunting . . . and where was the other twin?

A dark blur the size of my shoe scuttled like a crab above our heads. Then to the right. And then quickly down the wall and behind the armchair in the corner. I couldn’t make out what it was. Just that it had wings. Bat wings.

“Oh, Jesus,” Taran whispered.

Emme clutched my arm as I inched toward it. “Celia, don’t.”

Gemini’s paws continued to beat down more dust and his roars shook the building. The thing was fast enough to keep him busy, and small enough to fit into cramped spaces. Like underneath the chair. “We need to kill it, Emme. No telling how big this thing will get. Shayna, Taran, knife or blast it as soon as I move the armchair.”

I didn’t dare avert my stare to see if they nodded, but their hard swallows affirmed they’d heard me.

I stalked my way to it, slowly. Considering that the bulky piece of crap rested just a few feet from me, it seemed to take a long time for me to reach it. Not that I was in a rush, mind you. Creepy crawlies from hell had that effect on a gal.

The swoosh from Taran’s fire signaled her readiness to burn the thing to cinders, if Shayna’s daggers didn’t find it first. Shayna slid the blades she held against each other—her way of challenging the thing, and urging her inner mistress of all things sharp and deadly forward.

They were ready. I was ready. And now I’d reached my destination. My shaky hands extended toward the armrests. Dust poofed out in brown little clouds as I gripped the thick and torn fabric. I took a breath to steady myself and lifted.

The other twin poked its head from the bottom.

And clenched its mouth around my instep.

My lids peeled back and I screamed. Boy, did I scream! But only on the inside. I watched in shocked horror as this sickly gray creature pierced its yellow fangs through my sneaker and into the bones of my foot with a hair- raising crunch.

It hurt like the stab of hot needles, but I could handle a great deal of pain. What I couldn’t handle was a demon child biting through my shoe and slurping my body fluid like a thirsty dog. My blood ran cold. I dropped the damned chair and jerked my foot in my own freaky version of the Elaine dance.

“Did you get it, Ceel?”

Вы читаете A Cursed Embrace
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