“I wasn’t asking. Unless you want your ass kicked but good, you need to leave.”
Too bad his attitude sucked.
“Says who?” Anger flashed inside Kira, the kind that burned as it went down.
He looked surprised at her retort and his lips tightened in anger.
She glanced back toward the two robed figures. They floated several inches off the ground and their robes billowed out even farther, the silky ends widening until they touched either side of the alley’s muted orange brick walls. Dark, smoky mist continued to slither from beneath their robes, and newly discernible shapes moved among the murky fog.
There was no rational explanation for what she was seeing, and yet, she accepted it.
“I’m not going anywhere.” She stood with her legs spread, balancing on the balls of her feet as she squared her shoulders. For the first time in forever, she felt like she was standing at the helm of the ship that was
her life. She could steer it. She was strong enough.
“You can’t fight them on your own.” She gestured toward the robed figures. “You need me.”
He laughed—which pissed her off. “Do I look like I need your help?”
Really? He was going to pick a fight now?
“You look like an arrogant son of a bitch, if you want the truth.” She arched a brow. “Who the hell are you, anyway? Should I just call you ‘caveman’? You have a Neanderthal complex or what?”
She almost cracked a smile at the thunderous look that crossed his face.
“I don’t have time for this,” he hissed, and leaned closer. “Leave now or else.”
She crossed her arms and lifted her chin. The man was hard-edged, arrogant, and very, very pissed off.
But so was Kira. She was sick and tired of living in the shadows. Of cowering in fear and hiding from the unknown.
“Or else what?” She was strangely exhilarated.
For a moment they stared at each other—David against Goliath—and then a screech erupted, one that shattered the moment like a hammer smashing against stone.
Kira tore her eyes from his and glanced toward the entrance to the alley. The shapes beneath the specters’ robes rose up, long plumes of smoke that twisted faster and faster still, until they solidified into creatures that she’d never seen before. Not even in her nightmares.
There were six in total—tall, thin, hulking things with arms that bounced in front of them as if tethered from above by a puppeteer. They were as faceless as the creatures that had born them, but fire flashed from where eyes should be and large gaping holes appeared as they screeched once more.
Maggots surged from their mouths, twisting, turning, and falling to the ground as the smoke monsters moved forward en masse. The squirming maggots began to multiply when they hit the ground, and soon there was a teeming mass of hundreds, if not thousands of the slimy things.
Her belly roiled at the sight.
Caveman stepped in front of her, a snarl falling from his lips as he shoved her aside. “For fuck’s sake, why won’t you listen to me? This isn’t a game.”
Kira had to make him understand. “I’m not afraid.” She inched forward until she was so close that she could reach out and touch him. “Not anymore.”
He glanced over his shoulder and she froze at the look on his face. His eyes burned blood red once more and for a second she could have sworn she glimpsed something savage in their depths.
He both scared the crap out of her and tugged at something deep inside. At emotions long buried. Need. Want. In that moment Kira would have done anything to stay by his side. To fight with him. To touch him.
To kiss him.
Her hand rose of its own accord and she paused, wondering if the swell of emotion inside was because she was close to death.
She felt that too—death—like a cold, lingering memory that wouldn’t go away. It didn’t matter. None of it did anymore. There was only the here and now. This man and their common enemy.
“I won’t leave you.” She grabbed his arm and the roaring in her ears dialed down. His skin was taut beneath her fingers, his flesh burning hot, so very hot.