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With a sharp twist of his hands, Darien snapped the thing’s neck.
And then Darien turned his head, eyes locking on hers as he shoved the monster’s corpse off with an upward push of his legs. “Loren, Loren—look out!”
Loren barely saw the blur of the humanoid demon as it charged at her from the stairs.
It smacked into her, jarring every bone in her body.
She crashed into the pool, the creature’s weight pushing her down deep.
“Shit,” Shay muttered as the tattoo on her wrist stopped glowing.
That was it. Her magic was up. Until the tattoo lit up again, she wouldn’t be able to use her magic.
Thanks to the illusion she’d generated, she and the others had made it to the second floor—barely. They were at the top of the staircase now, their surroundings thick with darkness.
“Which room is Darien’s?” Shay gritted out, sweat prickling on her brow.
Ivy pointed. “That one.”
Monsters swarmed every hallway, every room.
They were surrounded.
Shay felt Roman come up the stairs behind her, felt his magic stirring inside him like a thundercloud.
“As soon as they’re out of the way…,” Roman began, his deep voice fraught. Shay knew this was hard for him—to be utterly blinded in this house, with nothing to guide them but their Sight—the Sight that was pretty much useless, since these things didn’t seem to have auras. “Get that fucking sword,” he concluded.
And then both of his hands lashed out, fingers curling like claws.
The shadows in the room came alive under Roman’s command. Blackness lashed out like whips and nets. The monsters yelped and howled as those shadowy whips latched onto their legs and necks—
And literally pulled them apart.
The sounds—the grotesque tearing of sinew, the wet squelch of bones being ripped out of joints—made Shay want to throw up.
But no matter how impressive his magic, no matter how brutally his shadows could maim, Roman couldn’t handle all of them, so Kylar and Jack used their guns and blades on the others. Paxton and Eugene kept close to Tanner, Shay, and Ivy, the kids’ fear thick enough to cut.
“Aim for the ankles and wrists!” Jack barked to Kylar as he ducked, dodging an attack, his meat cleaver slicing through the thin skin at the back of an ankle—one of the weakest areas, the rest thick like armor.
Endless blood sprayed, soaking everything. Endless bodies fell.
As soon as they’d cleared a path down the hallway, Ivy ran for Darien’s room, dark hair streaming behind her.
Shay bolted after her, breaths rasping in the dark.
They had almost made it when a massive creature with antlers like a deer charged out of the room next to Darien’s.
Ivy grabbed onto the doorframe and swung herself into Darien’s room—
But it was too late for Shay. The demon was upon her, swiping a massive, branchlike claw her way—
She ducked, sliding on the floor past the monster that stood on two legs, and sprang back to her feet.
The thing lunged for her, its claw snagging in her hair.
Shay bolted—
And collided with a wall of hard, pale flesh, a pair of eyes glowing white in the dark.
