Mack’s flanks were heaving. He was tiring. They couldn’t keep this up.
“Let go, I’ll stop it from running.” He didn’t know how to do that except by throwing bolt after bolt. There had to be a way of using a circle to trap something. He could trap it in the clearing, but it would be trapped with them. “I’m going to put up a circle, trapping us all. If you think it’s a bad idea, growl or something.”
Mack was silent. Had he heard him? Or was he agreeing?
Damn it. It would be worse if the creature took off and recuperated for a second try or came back with its friend.
Jude glanced around the clearing, using the trees as reference points for the edge of the circle. Then he drew it up in a flicker of blue, praying that he wasn’t sealing their deaths.
The circle snapped closed.
Chapter Eleven
Mack put himself between the aufhocker and Jude, knocking the witch to the ground. The aufhocker threw itself at the wall of blue, but the magic held. From what Jude had told him it would hold until dawn, or until Jude became exhausted or died. Mack wasn’t sure which would come sooner.
“You’re hurt,” Jude said as though surprised.
He knew that. The aufhocker had almost gotten a good bite on him. Its teeth had punctured the skin in his shoulder, and its claws had scored his thigh. He’d be fine when he shifted back to human. Did he dare?
Why was Jude not zapping the thing and finishing it off? He understood why Jude hadn’t while Mack and it had been fighting, but now? The aufhocker was a clear target. He gave Jude a nudge and hoped he’d get the hint.
The aufhocker ignored them as it tried to find a way out, but that wouldn’t last for long, and Mack didn’t know how smart it was. He wasn’t bleeding that much and shifting to heal would take energy he didn’t have. Nor could he leave Jude vulnerable. His unprotected human skin would be too easily torn apart.
And if Jude died, he was screwed. Not for the first time Mack cursed the familiar bond. There was always a trade off with magic—in this case, it was with the binding of their lives.
The aufhocker paced the edge of the circle, its gaze on them. For the moment it was the size of a large dog, but that could change in a blink. It could shift as it moved. And it healed when it shifted, much the same as he did.
At the moment, the aufhocker showed no sign of injury. Its black fur bristled in annoyance, but there were places where there was no fur. Its skin was tough like hide or scales. He needed to go for the soft parts, or at least the furred parts. It was one ugly dog-thing.
Mack kept himself between Jude and the aufhocker. It would’ve been better if Jude could’ve trapped the beast in the circle so they could rest. Mack had thought the aufhockers hard to kill reputation was overstated. It wasn’t. But without his human mouth, Mack couldn’t convey those thoughts. He could only respond with a nod or a shake of his head.
The aufhocker stopped pacing and stared at them as though preparing to attack.
“I can’t throw lightning while in the circle,” Jude murmured.
Mack didn’t take his attention off the aufhocker, but he growled his displeasure. Why the hell not?
“If I do, everything in the circle will get electrocuted.” Jude kept his voice low as though trying not to provoke the aufhocker.
It had followed them and would keep following them until they were dead, because they’d found its lair and made a mess. Mack totally understood why people upped and left when an aufhocker showed up. It was easier not to tangle with them.
Too late for that now.
He cursed the Coven for sending Jude and threatening to strip his magic if he failed. Mack’s stomach grumbled as though he hadn’t eaten all day. The tent and the food were on the outside of the circle, so he’d have to tough it out. And so would the aufhocker.
They were both tiring; it was just a question of which one of them gave up first. Mack glanced at Jude. There was no point in giving the aufhocker more of a rest while he dripped blood on the dirt.
Before he could reconsider, he charged the beast.
The creature grew to match his size, but Mack barreled it into the blue wall of the circle. Static burned along Mack’s skin, and the creature snarled, kicking him away. The claws scratched Mack’s belly.
There was no reprieve this time. The aufhocker seemed to know it wasn’t getting free. Whenever Mack got a grip with his teeth or a dug his claws in, the creature changed size. It kept trying to reach Jude, knowing he was the weak point.
Mack’s body ached from the fight, and his skin burned from the many cuts. His breath came in hard pants, and all he wanted to do was eat and shift and rest. In that order. He needed energy to shift and heal.
Every so often a rock hit the aufhocker, perfectly aimed and timed to stop it from getting a bite on Mack. Jude was doing what he could. Right now, Mack would be willing to get electrocuted to stop the creature. He struggled to get a bite, and the thick hide that protected the creature’s shoulders and neck tasted rank.
When they drew apart, they were both breathing hard. The many scratches and punctures from its teeth burned, and blood matted Mack’s fur. The aufhocker had stopped shifting to heal. It paced, more wary now as it dripped blood that smelled of metal and sulfur, not like animal blood. But then it wasn’t a true animal. It was something else. Maybe it had come from Hell.
He didn’t know how
