Page 16 of Nearly Dead

I start to call for Costin, wanting his protection, but stop myself.I can’t bitch about his control and then call for it the second I feel scared.I don’t have the excuse of being mortal.

“What do you want?”I ask the creature in the shadows.I hate how weak my voice sounds.

A clawed hand swipes out of the darkness.

I leap backward, clearing half the hallway faster than should’ve been possible.My new reflexes are a surprise, but the shadow creature is faster.I only see a small streak as it comes at me.Razor-sharp teeth come into focus encased in sickly skin the color of old bruises.Claws anchor into my arms.Its wide smile and gnarled body remind me of the creature Costin, and I saw in the graveyard outside the mausoleum entrance to the underground supernatural city.

Goblin.

Fear trickles through me and, though I know I have strength, I remain frozen.It’s hard to breathe.With each struggle to draw air, the goblin’s black veins rise and pulse beneath its flesh as if it’s gaining energy from my struggle.Its beady eyes are wide, and the damned thing is smiling.

I feel the wolf inside me bristle, even as the vampire blood surges.Rage and hunger fill me, bringing with it a mindlessness I can’t control.

“Tasty hybrid,” the goblin taunts.Its voice crackles like stepping on fall leaves.“Not so powerful, not so pretty, not so special.”

I rasp in response trying to tell it to fuck all the way off.

More shadows emerge from the darkness, surrounding me with fangs and claws.They swarm my body.The first goblin attacker lunges for my neck.Claws bite into my arms and legs.The sharp stings propel me into action.I move on pure instinct.Bam, bam, bam,I strike one goblin after another, sending them flying.They land in the distances with sickening thuds.

My hand wraps an arm, stopping it mid-strike, and I feel a bone crack against my palm.There’s a loud shriek of pain.The sound gives me a perverse pleasure and I try to do it again.

A drumming sounds in my ears.At first I think my heart is the cause of the chaotic rhythm, but then I realize it’s coming from the goblins.I hear their heartbeats calling to me.Their blood smells of rotting tree roots in a decaying forest.I see it sludging through their veins just beneath the skin.

I keep fighting, hitting one after another.Rage and hunger.It’s all I know.It’s all I care about.

A goblin cackles, as it perches high on the wall sconce like a gargoyle.Its black tongue lolls out of its mouth as it chatters commands in a language that mimics nails on a chalkboard.The others respond instantly, their attacks becoming more coordinated and vicious.

My senses focus on the leader.A wild darkness takes completely over, drowning out every human thought.Everything fades but that cackling face.I see every detail of its twisted expression.I smell the rot in its blood like a fine wine.The savage rhythm of its heart pounds like a drum.

The monster inside me wants to tear it apart.

Correction.The monster inside meneedsto tear them apart.

I shake off the attacks and launch myself at the wall.My claws dig into the stone as I scale my way toward the ceiling.Fur ripples along my arms, and my bones crack as my body reshapes.The vampire and wolf war for control, but for once, they want the same thing.

Blood.

“Show them what a real monster looks like,”Conrad’s voice urges.

I have never moved so quickly or with so little thought.The other goblins try to pull me down, but I kick them away without looking.All I see is my target.

The leader’s smile falters.Its taunting laughter turns nervous.

Good.

I swipe at the sconce, knocking it off the wall, but the goblin is quick.It leaps to another fixture.I growl in frustration and my rage intensifies.Copper flavors my mouth.My fangs stab into my lip, but I don’t care.

I chase the creature along the wall, stone crumbling beneath my grasp.I leap to catch it mid-jump, and we fall, crashing down into the swarm of goblins.They scatter away from us to form a circle.The chatter intensifies as I clutch their squirming leader in my hands.

I growl, my voice a guttural sound I barely recognize.The goblin’s eyes widen as I bare my fangs.

Time becomes a frenzy of moments.I feel pressure in my mouth as my teeth tear into the goblin’s throat.Black blood sprays across my face.The blood tastes like it smells, of earth and decay, and I don’t drink.Instead, I rip and claw.Tissue separates under my hands.Bones snap.

Screams turn to gurgling, then silence.

I don’t stop.

I can’t stop.

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