Page 61 of The First Trial
‘Eh. He’s all right.’
Growls resounded from the Shifters, and even the Fae took up defensive stances, pulling us back into our unfortunate reality. Talks of our love lives could wait, because it seemed we were about to go to war with the birds.
Chapter 24
Rakshasa
Those feathered bastards were going to die.
Every last one of them.
My mate had been accepted by my people after proving her worth by stopping the earthquake. She had saved lives, including ours, without discrimination, and had used an incredible show of force in the process, proving herself worthy of ruling by my side. She was one of us now, whether she knew it or not, and I was going to destroy anyone who dared threaten her.
Starting with those winged fucks.
My body went still as soon as I saw them drop to the ground and draw their weapons. I wanted to scoff at the fact that they needed weapons in the first place. Weapons were for the weak. We Shifters were biologically equipped with the necessary tools to kill or defend ourselves, the Humans had magic at their disposal to make up for their blunt teeth and nails, and the Daemons had claws and fangs sharp enough to tear through flesh.
The Angels and those pointy-eared snobs were pathetic, carrying around their metal weapons like they could actually cause us harm.
I slithered next to my mate, ready to defend her and prove my worth, but when my tongue dipped out to taste the violence in the air, I caught the scent of something else in the wind. Something rotten and revolting. Malevolent.Evil.
‘Arcturus,’I called out through my clade’s mental connection.
‘Chief?’
‘I don’t think those blades are being aimed at us.’
‘Then who…?’
He didn’t get the chance to finish, because the first screech burst through the air. It sent shivers over my body like lightning had struck nearby and I was caught in the residual charge. It was a sharp, burning chill that had me on even higher alert than before.
Oddly enough, it was the Fae who reacted first. They spun on their heels and immediately closed ranks, blades pointed towards whatever this new threat was, like they had already fought it before.
Interesting…
All thoughts of their suspicious behaviour fled when I turned around and caught sight of what was fast approaching. A giant black cloud swelled as it soared high above, and I understood why the Angels came down to join the rest of us. But that wasn’t all. Beneath the cloud, running at a speed that shouldn’t be possible, and moving disjointedly like they were no longer in full control of their bodies, was a horde of people. Even from here, I could see all five races.
Humans, Fae, and Daemons ran like they were hardly able to keep upright, their limbs twisting at odd angles with each disjointed stride. Shifters were in both humanoid and animal form, and were stumbling toward us with snarls that revealed sharp teeth dripping with black saliva. Even the Angels were earth-bound, their huge, heavy wings dragging behind them, streaked with more of that strange black substance.
When they were close enough, I could see the black veins spider-webbing over every inch of visible skin, empty eyes like bottomless pits, and injuries that should have proven deadly.
‘What the fuck?’ one of the Daemons asked, stunned. The bright red one that looked like she would eat most of my people alive, given the chance.
‘Shit,’ one of her other friends swore. The male with mud-coloured hair. ‘Those are the things that chased us before. We have to run!’
‘No running,’ the Fae woman that my mate had befriended said gravely. ‘It’s too late. Our only chance is to fight our way out.’
So theyhadencountered this evil before. That meant they knew how to defeat this threat.
‘Watch the Fae,’I instructed our people.‘They are familiar with this threat. Observe. Learn. Fight together. Understood?’I received a chorus of confirmations.‘Nowshift!’
The sound of bones cracking and reforming was a macabre backdrop to the thundering of footsteps and unnatural screeching, but it was over quickly. I had never been disturbed by my people’s ability before, but it was almost as if our own bones mirrored those of the approaching horror.
I inched closer to my mate, needing her close. My tongue slipped out to taste their air again, and the wrongness of it had intensified. The horde was almost upon us, and my instincts were screaming at me that this was not a fight we were prepared to win.
My gaze caught on that ominous black cloud once again, and I tasted something from it. Sentience, perhaps. It wanted death. Craved it.
It wanted todevour.
