Page 37 of Hellish Witch

More snarls ricocheted through the forest, every patch of darkness heavy with the monsters hiding within.

Between two thick redwoods, an unnatural group of shadows parted like a curtain. A furred beast stepped out on all fours. An external skull protected the outside of its face like a mask. Long fangs greeted us as bloodless lips peeled back in a silent snarl. A whole mouth full of blades dripped a violet liquid that glowed eerily, brighter for being the only colour to paint the beast.

“There’re too many,” Killian growled low, eyes tracing the heavy shadows creeping towards us. “On my signal, we run past the beast for the river. I can fly us from there. Stay close.”

Barely a day from home, and I was already in over my head.

“You can’t just flap us to safety now?” I muttered under my breath, edging closer to Killian and gripping my blades tighter.

He shot a bemused look over a wing arch. “They’re very good at jumping.”

Right. Shit. Given the dense canopy and wide trees, they’d be tearing us out of the air before we got more than a few spans up.

“Okay,” I breathed, trusting Killian’s judgement like the wingless peasant I was.

Killian eased his sword aside, ready. “On three.”

Stand your ground and show them the meaning of fear. Carve your name into their dumb skulls.

I furiously ignored the voice in my head. The adrenaline must be making me jittery.

“One… Two… Now!” Killian hissed.

He surged towards the single visible beast, and I was right on his heels.

It roared at our approach, and chaos erupted.

All at once, the beasts dropped their shadowed cloaks.

A sea of bright-white monsters surrounded us, skulls gleaming in the moonlight. Reinforced ribs curved along their sides like armour between dense fur. They looked like the biologically challenged love-children of a snow bear and an anaemic hellhound.

They descended on us in the next breath, and my world narrowed to the pale creatures charging after me on all fours.

I was a hybrid in Hell. I’d had to learn to defend myself by any means, but I was not a trained warrior.

Not like Killian.

He swept forward to meet the danger in our path, slicing his broadsword right through a bone-kin’s throat in an arc of dark blood, ending his swing through the eye of another as he streamed past.

He eyed me over his shoulder, and his tail wrapped around my wrist, urging me in front of him.

My poisoned dagger nicked a bone-kin between its ribs as I dashed past, leaping to stay ahead of snapping jaws. I heard the creature thud to the ground behind us a second after.

Killian and I darted between the bleeding trees, bone-kin howling too close for comfort. My thighs burned as I pushed myself to match Killian’s speed, to not be the reason he got mauled to death.

Pale moonlight appeared between the thick trunks ahead. The rushing of a river was barely audible over my pounding heart and the scrape of my boots against the leaf litter.

“Almost there!” Killian yelled, upping his pace and pulling me onwards.

One of the pale beasts snarled, gaining on us with a thunderous gait.

It drew level.

Darkness writhed in my chest, an angry pit of snakes hissing and snapping at me.

I stumbled, fighting to hold back the vile hunger.

“Eve!” Killian roared, righting me with his tail and swinging me out of the way.

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