Page 188 of Flirting with Darkness

“Please. Run!”

She only sang.

That fell glow in its eyes fixed on the warm blood forming four thin rivulets to my elbow, my armpit, soaking into the wispy silk of my dress, transfixed, like it enjoyed the sight.

It was playing with me. It could rip me apart in an instant, if it really wanted to.

It was down to me. I had to save Ma… maybe myself, too. But Ma first.

The beast towered above me and it hadn’t even finished unfurling its shifting frame yet. It wasn’t just bigger than me, but bigger than Faolán even.

I couldn’t pull myself free, it was too strong.

My strikes to its hand and forearm had had no effect. And I couldn’t even reach its head to punch it in the nose or claw out one of those glowing eyes.

But another vulnerable spot was coming closer as it took another step from the pool, its hoofed foot finally clacking on the rocks of dry land.

Who knew if this fae beast was male or female or whether such things even had concepts like sex, but it was my best option… my only option.

Just out of reach from where I stood, but if I swung…

Rather than punching it again, I fastened my fingers around its wrist. Its mouth opened, the few bits of sinew and muscle on its face twitching as though it smiled. Maybe it was laughing at me for thinking I could pull its grip away.

But that wasn’t my plan.

All my weight on that left hand, trying to protect my right arm from ripping any further on its claws, I swung both legs back.

It cocked its head, and its face twitched again. A long, black tongue snaked from its mouth, writhing in the air as it hissed a horrifying laugh.

But I’d committed, and I was past being afraid of its laughter—it had its damn claws in me, what was a laugh compared to that?

My feet reached the apex of their backswing, and I pulled tight the muscles of my belly and the fronts of my thighs, bringing my legs forward.

I flashed the beast a fierce grin before turning my focus to my target: the weed-shrouded area between its legs.

The soles of my feet connected with something as solid as rock, jarring my bones, jolting my joints.

But the beast screeched.

It pierced my ears, shrieked over my skull like nails over stone.

For a moment, all I knew was that sound. No sight, no feeling, no taste or smell. Just that splitting sound.

Then the grip on my arm loosened, and the world was here again, with my feet back on the floor and the monster bent over around the spot where I’d kicked it. I gasped at the withdrawal of those slender claws.

I was free.

I didn’t need to know anything else. I turned and ran. One arm cradled, I scrambled over rocks. The rolled and clattered under my feet, but I would not fall.

I would not.

“Come on, Ma,” I called, but she didn’t even look up from her work. “Get up!” I reached out, a few feet away. We just needed to get out of the conservatory—surely the monster couldn’t follow us through that little door.

Then darkness and bone blocked my way.

My heart and stomach lurched. My body went cold.

How had it moved so quickly?

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