Page 57 of Gluttony
“The rope? It’s moving. Is this some kind of trick?”
“It’s not rope, it’s—” The man was sucked back into the bush, leaving Tony with his hands splayed in front of him, grasping air.
“What the fuck was that?” he burst out.
Heaving breaths made him turn around. Bailey’s big eyes were like orbs, her face had a greenish hue. She gripped her gun with pale knuckles. She still stared at the spot the Faithful had vacated.
“It wasn’t rope,” she said, voice trembling. “It was a vine. A living, moving vine. I’m sure of it.”
“No. That’s not possible.” But as the words slipped out, he knew he was wrong. With the presence of the Faithful, the Syndicate weren’t far behind. Only a few short months ago Tony had come across some wild, deformed and rabid beasts in the wilderness—results of an experiment to hunt down sinners. A moving plant? He wouldn’t put it past them.
“Shit.” He pulled out his cell. Who would he call? Parker with his judgement? Griffin or Evan... Wyatt. It would have to be someone powered. Sloan... but who would be best to handle a plant?
All of them?
Damn it. He should have worn the communicator watch Sloan had created a few months ago. It was for moments like this when under civilian cover, he could just hit the alarm and send it back to base. Tony hadn’t even worn his Deadly suit recently. He was way out of the game. He just never thought this mess would come to his doorstep.Shit.
Somewhere behind the bushes, a gurgled scream punctuated the surge of grimy gluttony rolling in his gut. With a jolt, he realized the sin came from the same direction as the screams. Whatever it was, it was feeding, and from the screams, it was the Faithful who was the meal.
He’d tried to avoid the fact that he was made for this, but there was no escaping it now. He looked at the blue liquid glitter running in his veins, ready to release on his bidding. This was his purpose.
“Call for backup. Parker is on speed dial.” He lobbed his cell to Bailey, and then ducked through the bush, aiming for the direction the sick feeling in his gut churned the most. When he burst out of the shrubbery and into another clearing, he couldn’t believe his eyes. The member of the Faithful was wrapped up like a Christmas ham, vines tangled around him, slowly choking to death. But the worst thing, the most mind-boggling thing that almost made him believe he’d stepped onto a movie set, was the humanoid plant behind it all.
Standing well over seven feet tall, the two-legged monster was a mass of writhing tentacle vines. Each vine striated along the body like muscle fiber, a botanical cadaver with the skin pulled back. There were slits for eyes and a gaping maw filled with sharp thorns for teeth. Twigs and leaves sprung from the head, as though it were trying to grow hair. Roots from its legs buried into the ground for grip. It had one viney arm splayed to the right, holding another Faithful at bay, and one to the left, wrapped around the throat of a woman dressed in black yoga pants, her long silver hair escaping the raised hood. He wasn’t used to seeing her out of her white leather, but the woman being strangled was unmistakably his sister.
“Daisy?”
The hooded figure looked his way, revealing wide violet eyes and a pale face turned red from exertion. Her fingers scrabbled at the vine wrapping her throat. She was choking.
Power rippled up his spine and surged at his fingertips. Blue light illuminated the clearing. He launched at the plant-man with only one thought. He mustn’t let Daisy die.
His fingers wrapped around a low tendril, and blue fire shot out of his hands, smoking and sizzling the creature’s green flesh. A searing sound ripped through the air. The monster screeched but didn’t let go of Daisy. It kicked Tony away and sent accusatory eyes—slits— at Daisy, as if this was all her fault. But it didn’t let go. It choked and shook Daisy until her hood fell back. Her long pale hair trailed about as her head moved like a rag doll.
Weapon, Tony needed a weapon.
“Sword,” Daisy hissed. It was all she could say. She couldn’t point because her fingers were the only thing keeping her neck free enough to breathe. She glanced down to her right.
A long thin metal object, only a few feet away.
Sword.
Tony reached for it, lunged, but something caught at his feet and he fell. It was another vine, or root curling around his ankle.Godammit. Stupid move! Quickly recovering, his hand hit the hilt of the sword, and he twisted, arcing the blade overhead. It sliced through the viney arm, severing Daisy from the main body. The monster screeched inhumanly. The length around Daisy’s neck hit the floor. Some parts shriveled and stilled, others writhed and slivered back until it rejoined the larger beast.
“What the flying fuck was that?” he gasped, sword rotating in his wrist until it was at the ready. How the hell was he supposed to stop that thing? It regrew body parts.
The two Faithful it ate were already dead. Their masks had long since fallen. A dried mummified husk was all that remained of them. The root around his ankle tightened, cutting off his circulation. He placed his palm over the ropy cord and called on his power. Blue fire spit out, catching the plant and his jeans on fire. The vine shriveled away from the heat. Tony patted his jeans to stop the flames spreading.
Again. That was stupid.
“Tony?” Bailey’s voice cut through his heart.
She stood inches from the plant thing, firearm aimed and locked, eyes wide as a tendril crept toward her face in a way that almost seemed inquisitive.
“Don’t shoot!” Tony said, holding his palm out. “People will come.”
But Bailey was beyond comprehension. She pointed the gun between the plant thing’s eyes and fired. A loud crack echoed through the trees, and birds took to the twilight sky. But the creature didn’t stop. Its vine kept coming for Bailey. Itwantedher.
“Don’t let it touch her,” Daisy rasped. “Neurotoxin.”
