Darkness Unbound (Dark Angels 1)

With that, he disappeared.

I briefly closed my eyes and swallowed back the bitter taste of bile.

A taste that got worse when the howling began.

I ran for the door and slammed it shut. The hounds might be demons, but they held flesh when on earth, and as flesh beings, a locked door would delay them—if only for a moment. But every moment we delayed them was a moment for Azriel to track down the dark bitch.

The howling grew closer. I stripped off my shirt, tearing it in half, then wrapping the remnants around my hands. Once my skin was protected, I pulled two of the bigger pieces of silver from the walls. The largest shard was barely two inches long, but it was curved and jagged, and was a better weapon than just hands.

I backed away and joined Tao near the rear wall. The flames still burned across his hands, filling the room with an eerie, yellow-white radiance.

“Do you think fire is actually going to hurt them?” he said, his gaze on the door.

The howling was getting closer, and the smell of death, decay, and ash was beginning to ride the air. Riley had never mentioned the smell, but maybe she’d never come across this type. There was more than just the one kind of hound.

“As Azriel said, the hounds are demons, not true flesh and blood. Their outer skin might burn, but they will probably just form more.”

“Comforting thought,” he muttered.

The scent was becoming thick and cloying, filling my nose and catching low in my throat, making it difficult to breathe.

They were close. So close.

Then the howling stopped. The hairs on the back of my neck stood on end.

Tao doused the flames on one hand, then repeated my earlier actions, tearing off a shirtsleeve and wrapping it around his bloodied hand before he grabbed a silver shard from the floor. “You know, I’m not feeling too comforted by this little bit of—”

He cut the words off as something hit the door. The wood shuddered and splintered. There was a brief pause, then the door shuddered again. The wood fractured further, and the lock pulled away from the frame, hanging on by little more than two rusting screws. Through the gap I could see two dark, sinewy shapes.

With the third blow, it gave way, and the door crashed back against the wall. Tao released his flames, filling the doorway with fire. The creatures stepped through it, their heads low, their red eyes glowing brightly against the inferno surrounding them. Thick yellow teeth gleamed eerily as the pair of them snarled.

Then they leapt, their bodies aflame. I dove to one side and slashed upward with the shard. The silver sliced through the creature’s burning flesh, melting it like butter. Thick, black blood splattered across my body, stinging like acid where it touched bare flesh. The amulet at my neck burned even brighter.

The creature hit the wall, twisted, and leapt again. I rolled away from it, but its teeth slashed, scoring my thigh. Pain rolled through me, thick and hot. Or maybe that was the blood pulsing down my leg. I didn’t know. I didn’t have the time to find out. I pushed to my feet, saw the thing leap again, and lashed out wildly with the shards. Again they met burning flesh. More black blood sprayed, but the silver wasn’t stopping it. These shards—and the two of us—were never going to be enough to stop the creature.

We had to get out of here if we wanted to survive.

And I could see only one way of achieving that—by doing what Azriel had done when he’d rescued me from the tunnel.

The thought terrified me. God, I hadn’t even known it was possible to extend the Aedh shift to another person until Azriel had done it. How the hell could I ever hope to pull off the same trick and not shred Tao like a cheap bra?

I’d kill him. I’d kill me.

But what other choice did we have? Staying here was a death sentence. At least if I attempted the shift, we had a chance—albeit a very small one.

I ducked another leap, then twisted and ran for Tao, calling to the Aedh within me as I leapt straight at him. I could feel the hound behind me, feel the wash of its fetid breath against my neck. I knew it was going to be close. I hit Tao hard, heard his grunt in surprise as I wrapped myself around him. Saw the gleam of yellowed teeth as the creatures leapt at us …

Power surged through me, around me, a fear-fueled storm that shattered both our forms, tearing us apart swiftly and brutally, until there was nothing left but two streams of tremulous smoke, separated and yet together.

In that state, I fled the cell.

It was hard—harder than I’d ever imagined it could be. Every particle ached, as if carrying Tao was a physical weight even in this ethereal form.

I wouldn’t—couldn’t—go far. But the minute we reformed, those hounds would come after us. They had our scent. Had the taste for our flesh.

We needed to find somewhere safe. Somewhere as far away from Ilianna and Stane as we could get.

I could think of only one place.