I shrink back into the shadows, my heart hammering so hard, I’m afraid the monster can hear me. The erchras stops at the ladder, tips its head back, and sniffs deeply.
Goddamn that sweet-smelling body lotion I put on after my shower. I might as well have a neon arrow flashing above me.
The creature’s lips pull back, exposing those sharp teeth, and it lets out what I can only describe as a howl of victory. At this very moment, I know I’m dead.
It moves to the ladder, uses its good hand to reach out to a rung, and lifts a leg to begin its upward climb. I glance around, looking for a weapon, but that freaking bat was the only thing of use.
I look back at the erchras to see it has climbed halfway up. I start praying.
Before it can take another step, though, something hurtles from the left, ripping the creature from the ladder, followed by a loud crash to the ground. I don’t think as I belly crawl to the edge to peer over.
It’s the man, and he and the monster are both on their feet, tearing at each other with fists and kicks. The erchras is strong, backhanding the man, launching him fifteen feet down the aisle. He rolls to his feet quickly, pulling a sword I hadn’t seen from a sheath at his hip, and runs toward the thing.
Teeth bared, the man swirls the long blade around his head once in mid sprint, moving so fast that the erchras can’t react. The sword hits it at the bottom of its neck and cleaves its head right from its shoulders.
The head thumps against the wall as the body pitches forward toward the man. He launches a power kick to its chest and it flies backward, crashing into one of the support beams holding up the platform.
There’s a split second when all is quiet. Then I hear the beam crack before snapping loudly. One end of the platform tilts downward, and I hear bolts ripping out of the walls. With one lurch, the entire floor angles steeply, and I slide toward the edge. Scrabbling to grab on to something to stop my fall, I come up with nothing but a handful of dust as I’m propelled over, a few of my hoarded treasures sliding after me.
The fall is not overly long, but it seems to take forever before I’ll inevitably crash into the concrete floor and break every bone in my body.
Except… I don’t hit the aisle but rather land in the muscled arms of the man. I have no clue how he moved so fast, but he has me cradled, staring at me. Those eyes are now distinct, an incredibly light shade of blue.
And then, he’s dropping me.
Not to fall on my ass. He makes sure I’m on my feet before he turns his back and walks to the erchras.
I think the danger is averted, but I don’t know for sure, and my mom raised no fool. I run for the barn door, which catches the man’s attention.
“Don’t,” he barks. “There are more.”
But he misunderstands. I’m not running to flee him but rather to get my shotgun.
I skid to a stop, bend, and grab it. With the barrel pointed straight at him, my finger hovers above the trigger. He might have saved me from whatever the hell that thing was, but he is still a stranger.
A very strong, deadly stranger, and I don’t trust him at all.
“No offense,” I say as I keep the barrel pointed in his direction, “but I don’t know you.”
“Of course you do,” another man’s voice says from behind me, deep and rumbling but with a tone of amusement.
Before I can fathom another person being in the barn or fully pivot to face what could be new danger, the gun is jerked out of my hands, and I snarl in frustration.
Whirling, I find a man just as tall as the other, this one with crystal-blue eyes and wavy brown hair that looks perfectly messy.
He has an easy smile that oddly puts me a little at ease before moving his gaze to the other man standing near the dead creature on my barn floor. “There were two more outside, but I took care of them.”
The other, much more dour man, by all accounts, nods curtly.
I don’t like being ignored or having my gun taken away, so I whip my leg back and launch it forward, kicking the man in the shin. Not sure it hurt him much, but it startles him enough that I’m able to grab my gun. I back up several feet, now standing between the two men but keeping the barrel pointed on the second since he was the one who disarmed me.
“Now, who the hell are you two, and what the hell is going on?” I demand, looking back and forth between them.