Page 89 of Queen of the Crimson Throne

The creature crawled closer, its feet scraping on the ground. Red eyes glowed from the darkness.

“Run,” Luka gasped. “It’s one of them.” He grabbed my arm, attempting to pull me away, but I couldn’t tear my eyes from the creature. It was massive, walking on two legs, but looking far from normal. A low growl fell from its mouth, revealing its foot-long canines, dripping with blood.

“Lennox.” Luka was pulling me along now. “What are you doing? RUN!”

The creature lept, its massive, razor-sharp claws swiping for the air I had occupied a moment ago. That I would have still occupied if Luka hadn’t pulled me out of the way.

We ran down the street as the creature chased us, I looked over my shoulder to find two more creatures emerging from the alley and taking chase.

“Fuck! There’s more.” Luka looked back. “If we keep running they’re going to find someone else in the city to terrorize.”

“You’re right.” I agreed. The rest of our group was already far ahead of us.

Good.

Hopefully, they were safe. Luka and I could handle these creatures alone.

“You ready for a fight, Sweetheart?”

I tore my sword from its sheath, its whine echoing through the street as I stopped and turned toward the approaching monsters.

“Always.”

34

LENNOX

The first beast met my sword, its warm blood spraying. The impact of our clash reverberated through my body. I clenched my teeth as I removed my sword, kicking the creature with a boot to the abdomen. It stumbled back on the sidewalk until it collapsed on the ground dead.

Well, at least it was easy to kill.

Luka fought alongside me, slicing his blade across the neck of the monster, spurting black blood over his body.

The monster fell to a heap at our feet as three more monsters leaped toward us.

“What are these things?” I questioned as my blade swiped across a monster’s arm. An arm that looked an awful lot like a Fae arm.

“I have no idea!” Luka yelled from beside me.

The monster in front of me continued its pursuit, its red eyes glowed in the dark night, but there was something different about them. About the monster’s entire face. I blocked it with my sword, holding it in both my hands as the creature’s claws continued to try and swipe at me as I moved us toward the bulb of light on the building.

I studied the monster’s face again. Black veins spread over itsface, some of them were split into festering gouges. Its red eyes were sunken as were its cheeks, but its nose, the shape of its brows, and the curve of its lips, those were Fae features.

Like it was a fae-turned-monster.

It couldn’t be though. Could it?

The monster used my distraction to finally push my sword away, it fell to the ground with a clamor.

I screamed as I blocked its advance with my arms, its claws ripping through my leathers. I ducked, kicking out with my feet to attempt to knock it over, but it only stumbled.

I scrambled back looking for my sword as the creature lunged for me.

An ax arched through the air, slicing straight through the monster, its black blood raining on me before it fell to the ground in two halves.

“You came back.” I looked up at Nico. His silver hair was speckled with the black blood of the monster.

Nico smiled. “We weren’t going to let you and Luka have all the fun.” He gave me his hand and I took it, letting him pull me up.

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