Savannah
I slowly raised my Glock and tried to steady my breathing. Don’t freak Savy, I tried to reassure myself. It’s just like shooting beer bottles.
The demon—which was distinctly not a bottle—shifted again, moving from shadow to shadow. Its cavernous eyes peered out at me from between two trunks.
I exhaled slowly and squeezed the trigger, and the Glock cracked and recoiled hard. The bullet ripped into the monster’s skull, right between the eyes, slamming its head back. But though the creature staggered, it remained upright.
My blood curdled as the demon slowly turned its head and glared at me with those dark eyes. Ooze dripped from the bullet hole. Then the monster’s mouth unhinged and spread in a silent, ghastly wail that vibrated my body and raised goosebumps on my skin.
I reeled, suddenly nauseated, and bile rose in my throat. What was it doing?
Jaxson shook his head and started firing as the creature lumbered forward. Despite the bullets digging into its chest, the monster didn’t slow.
My breathing turned ragged as my heart raced.
“Go back to hell!” I shouted, pulling the trigger three times. The demon’s head snapped right as a bullet sank into the side of its skull and another in its chest, squarely where its heart would have been, had it had one. At that, the monster stumbled. Jaxson kept shooting, and finally, under our combined weight of fire, the demon jerked and collapsed onto the forest floor. Black smoke poured out of a dozen or so bullet wounds, and its body slowly dissolved into a pool of dark blood.
Jaxson pivoted, gun raised, scanning the forest. “You weren’t kidding when you said you could shoot.”
“Those things don’t go down easy,” I muttered, trying to calculate my ammunition in reserve. The clips he’d given me held fifteen rounds each.
A burst of gunfire echoed from the north, but for a moment, the forest around us was still.
And then, deep among the trees, shadows moved. With keening shrieks that made my intestines churn, two more demons burst out of the underbrush and charged.
I raised my pistol and started firing wildly at the one coming from my left. Three bullets found their mark, but more lodged in the trees as it wove between them. The thing kept running, moving on two legs, then on all fours.
I tried to steady my breath and pick my shots. My clip had to be nearly empty.
Bursts of gunfire erupted from Jaxson on my right and then a crash sounded through the trees. I glanced over quickly as the demon before him stumbled to its knees, then leapt up again.
“Run! I’ll cover,” Jaxson ordered, putting two more bullets in the demon on the right.
I hesitated.
“Go!” he growled. His eyes turned a vivid gold, and his fangs descended.
I clicked on the safety and slipped my gun into my jeans. Then I ran.
The demon on the left was on me in an instant, but it flipped sideways as Jaxson ripped into its shoulder with claws that had sprung from his hands—just like the shifter who’d attacked me at the Taphouse.
I didn’t have time to wrestle with that image. I poured every ounce of energy I had into running. Concentrate. Just like we practiced this morning.
My feet pounded against the forest floor as I sprinted through the trees and sprang over downed logs. Within a few heartbeats, I was at a gully. A fallen tree made a bridge across, and I ran up the trunk, trying to get far enough to jump to the other side. My boot slipped, but I pushed off with my other foot and launched into the air.
I’d aimed for the far side, but the boots turbo-charged my leap, and I flew into the lower boughs of a tree. Branches lacerated my arms and face, but I clung on for dear life.
The sound of crashing brush from below told me the demon was nearly on me, and out of instinct and sheer panic, I climbed. Fortunately, there were several low branches that I could use to hoist myself up. Growls, snarls, and other inhuman sounds came from below, but I just kept climbing. No fricking way was I going to look down.
But then I did.
Black, cavernous eyes stared up at me from the foot of the tree. I lost my footing and slipped. Reaching out, I managed to partially land on the branch below, expelling the air from my lungs. I gasped and struggled to keep my grip as I watched my gun cartwheel down.
With the sound of tearing bark, the tree shook as the monster started climbing.
This isn’t happening.
Desperation set in, and I swung my body back and forth, gaining enough momentum to latch one of my legs over the branch. Maybe the demon would be too heavy to climb very high.