Moonshadow (Moonshadow #1)(36)

While she watched, the spell began to eat away at the monster’s shoulder. With a final yank that pulled down half the wall in a cloud of plaster dust, the monster broke free and tried to swipe at its shoulder.

At the same time, the monkey leaped on her back and shrieked in her ear again. She snapped, “Not helpful!”

The monster fixed on her. Even as the corrosive spell consumed flesh and bone, it began to stalk her from across the room.

Her mind raced. Option: run until the corrosive spell ate it up. That sounded like a great one, but for the next several moments, it could run too, and she had already seen for herself that these monsters were much faster than she was.

As she backed up, it advanced.

She had one telekinesis spell and one corrosive spell left. Both necessitated her getting within biting distance of those wicked teeth. This was going to suck so bad.

Calmly she told the monkey, “Go on, Robin.”

The monkey pinched her ear painfully. Ow! Not helpful!

Keeping her eyes on the advancing monster, she edged toward the door. With one hand, she plucked the monkey off her shoulder and threw it through the doorway. The monster’s reddened eyes tracked the movement. For a moment she thought it was going to go after Robin. Then its attention came back to fix on her. It gathered itself, and she tensed.

It was going to leap, and when it did, it wouldn’t be expecting her to dive forward, because that would be Stupid and Crazy?. But if she could get underneath it, she could punch it as hard as she could with her last telekinesis spell.

After that, she didn’t know what she was going to do. One step at a time.

The monster leaped, and she dove forward. The maneuver didn’t turn out as well as she had hoped. She landed hard on the floor and didn’t flip over fast enough to get a punch in as it sailed overhead, so when it spun around to face her again, she was lying on her back looking up at it.

Good news: she still had the telekinesis spell. Bad news: she was going to have to use it while she faced all those killer teeth head-on.

Before she could roll away, it limped forward and landed on top of her, driving the breath out of her lungs. Gods, it was so heavy she couldn’t move. The corrosive spell had eaten away one shoulder and part of its torso, and she didn’t know how it was still moving, but it was.

Why didn’t it go down?

It bared massive teeth and snaked its head down to her. She fought to grab hold of its neck and keep that giant muzzle at bay, at least long enough for the stupid creature to realize it was dying.

Behind it, an avenging angel appeared, lean, dark, and fast, and wearing the same chilling, ferocious expression she remembered from the first time she had seen him.

Who’da thunk it? She was actually glad to see that terrifying asshole.

He had his sword drawn, and it was dripping with blood again. His eyes blazed with dark fire as he whirled to strike. She felt the blow shudder through the monster’s body as Nikolas decapitated it.

The head flew through the air, and she lost track of where it went as a fountain of blood gushed over her. She managed to get one arm over her eyes before the warm wetness drenched her, while the monster’s body collapsed heavily over hers.

Shouts sounded outside, and sirens, but in the room, silence fell.

Sophie peered out from underneath her arm. Nikolas stood over her, breathing heavily, and his hard, beautiful face wore an expression she didn’t know how to identify. Anger? Relief? Incredulity?

He pointed the dripping tip of his sword at her and said between his teeth, “Are you insane? You ran into the building.”

She wiped monster blood off her lips. “Apparently, so did you.”

He glared at her, while behind him, the weight of something heavy creaked on the stairs. Before she had a chance to call out a warning, Nikolas had already whirled. He was ready when another one of the monsters rushed down into the room and attacked.

Sophie struggled to get out from under the dead weight lying on top of her. The monster lunged, and Nikolas danced to one side, the blade of his sword flashing silver and crimson. As she wriggled free and rolled to her feet, Nikolas hit a pool of blood and skidded, going down on one knee. Flawlessly he shifted position with his sword to cover his fall, as the monster bunched its muscles to leap at him.

Both Nikolas and the monster were wholly focused on each other. Taking advantage of that preoccupation, she jumped forward and slapped the monster on the haunch with the telekinesis spell. The blow spun it around and knocked it sidelong into the damaged wall, which brought a fresh rain of plaster down.

When it whirled toward her with a snarl, Nikolas had gained his feet and was standing between them. In a powerful, full-body swing, he decapitated the monster. Wincing, she watched the head spin into the air and bounce into one corner.

Silence fell again. Outside, sirens approached, and she could hear people shouting. None of it touched the room, where she and Nikolas stood staring at each other. Plaster dust floated in the air like white powdery snow, coating the sprays and pools of deep, liquid red.

Nikolas threw his sword down, strode over and grabbed her shoulders. “Are you hurt? Did you get bitten?”

“What?” She didn’t understand his blazing expression, and her attention wandered back over the scene. The monster that had landed on her was gone, and in its place lay a dead, decapitated man.

What. The. Fuck.

He shook her urgently. “Sophie, did one of them bite you?”