Wicked Bite (Night Rebel #2)(75)

Ian gave a worried look in my direction. The other Anzu seized on the distraction and flew at him faster than he could avoid. Claws ripped through everything except Ian’s bullet-proof vest. Ian’s blood spattered the walls of his circle. I felt new inner slashes from even that slight contact. Then, Ian threw the creature aside. It slammed into the circle’s barrier, setting off another chainsaw-rampage sensation inside of me.

All I saw was blood for a few agonizing moments. It spurted from my eyes, mouth, and nose, forced out from the internal damage I could neither defend against nor protect myself from. When it stopped, I was on the floor, dangerously close to the edge of my own circle. Ian screamed my name. I looked up to see him stab his demon bone trident through one of the Anzu’s eyes with absolutely no effect.

“Destroy the head,” I croaked, hoping the old myths were true.

Ian flew up to avoid the second Anzu’s attack, leaving his trident in the first one. The Anzu ripped it free, then broke the trident under a massive back paw.

Ian torpedoed back down, landing on the Anzu’s back hard enough to snap the spine of any other creature. The Anzu didn’t even lose its balance. It began flying around the circle, bucking wildly, striking the walls and the other Anzu in its rage to get Ian off its back. Between bursts of agony from the repeated contact with the circle’s walls, I saw Ian hold on . . . and slam his longest, widest knife through the Anzu’s skull.

The breath I held exploded out of me when the Anzu ripped that knife out of its skull with one of those humanlike hands, then bent down and rammed Ian against the circle’s barrier hard enough for me to hear his bones shatter. I didn’t hear anything except my own screams after that. The circle’s defensive ricochet from that tremendous impact ripped me apart on the inside.

When I could focus again, Dagon’s laugh was the first thing I heard. Then the blood left my vision and I saw Ian, far bloodier than before, flying out of the Anzus’ reach while trying to avoid the sides of the circle. He must have figured out touching them was the source of my debilitating damage.

“Did I forget to mention my favorite part about Anzus?” Dagon’s voice rose with vicious satisfaction. “No weapon forged can harm them.”





Chapter 41


I could stand to watch Dagon gloat, and I could stand to die. But I could not stand to see Ian die again.

“Use your magic to get out of there, Ian!”

My hoarse shout made Ereshki smile. I didn’t care. If Ian managed to survive the Anzus, he had enough magic in him to free himself from the circle. Then all he had to do was stay alive until the first rays of dawn shone through the blue diamond, and he could teleport out of the lodge. Dagon couldn’t attack Ian directly because the spell my father cast on him meant he couldn’t get close enough, and I didn’t think Ereshki had the energy. Not from the way she looked. Setting the groundwork for Dagon’s trap appeared to have taken everything she had left.

“No,” Ian snapped, getting a bloody swipe to his side from one of the Anzus for his reply. That’s how fast they were. One moment’s distraction was all they needed.

Dagon smirked. “See how long his loyalty lasts when the Anzus are feasting on his flesh.”

Ereshki’s smile widened. Despair and rage shook me.

She laughed at what she did to you, Ian had said earlier. Every second she lives after that is too long.

My jaw tightened until cartilage snapped. Ereshki had lived too long. So had Dagon. I should have killed her the moment I recognized her at Yonah’s, and I should have killed Dagon as soon as I saw him at that theme park in Paris. I hadn’t. Now, Dagon would continue his murdering, soul-damning ways, and Ereshki would continue helping him. Countless more people would suffer and die, starting with me. But Ian didn’t have to be next.

“If I die, I’ll find a way to come back to you,” I swore in a desperate attempt to sway him. “My father said the power to resurrect resided in me. Use your magic and free yourself from that circle! If I die, I will return to you!”

A lie I wished with all my heart were true. Maybe, if I wished hard enough, it would be true. I had no way to know. There was no margin of error for whether or not I could self-resurrect. If it didn’t work, that was it.

“Yes, free yourself by killing her!” Dagon urged, grinning so widely, his lips should have split. “I want the last thing she sees to be you sacrificing her to save yourself.”

Blood painted Ian’s face red, making the flash of white from his teeth a sharp contrast as he smiled. “No weapon forged can harm these creatures? Thanks for the tip.”

Then he tore off his outer tactical gear as he flew out of the Anzus’ reach. A thick belt filled with weapons bounced off one of the Anzus before it hit the floor, then the two automatic rifles strapped to Ian’s back, then the extra silver knives he’d strapped to his forearms. Dagon watched, cocking his head in curiosity.

“Giving up so soon? How boring.”

Ian tore his shirt off in response. The gleaming expanse of pale, muscled flesh actually made Dagon stare for a moment before he caught sight of the dark bands encircling Ian’s upper arm. Then the demon’s gaze narrowed.

“What is that?”

Ian gave him a brief, savage grin. “You’ll soon find out.”

Hope flared, bright yet fragile. Caught in the grip of every horrible way Dagon had thwarted us, I’d forgotten about the horn, which had been created by the gods. Not forged by man. Could the ancient relic be enough to take down the Anzus?