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Before I can respond, a crash comes from inside the safe house, along with the splintering of wood. My heart leaps into my throat, and Ga’Vine pushes back his jacket to reach for the baton at his belt.
Anguished screams pierce the air as Bailey bolts out the front door, panic etched on his face. As he looks back over his shoulder, his feet break the salt line, scattering the protective barrier across the ground.
Fire bursts to life in my hands. “Bailey, get out of the way!”
His wild eyes lock on me and Ga’Vine, and he stumbles to the grass before falling to his knees.
“Where’s Lynch?” Ga’Vine demands as we rush toward the cabin.
“What’s happening?” Merri and Marceau demand, their voices loud enough to make me wince.
Bailey clutches his side as he falls over. “I don’t know! That monster?—”
His voice cuts off on a choke, the whites of his eyes showing as he stares in horror.
A monstrous black dog barrels out of the open door, remnants of Lynch’s suit tangled around its torso, and I freeze as realization strikes. Familiar, tired eyes meet mine before they fade to hellish red, and the creature races off into the woods in the direction of the Conservatory.
My hand lifts to my ear bug. “Merri, there’s a black dog heading your way!”
“Fuck!” Marceau curses. “Did it get Lynch?”
“I think…” Ga’Vine glances at me. “I think it was Lynch.”
“What?” Confusion fills Merri’s voice. “How?”
“I’m going to go check it out.” Ga’Vine casts a concerned glance toward Bailey as he heads into the shattered remains of the cabin, leaving me to guard his old captain.
Adrenaline pumps through my body as I cautiously approach Bailey, my gaze fixed on the woods where the black dog had vanished in case it circles back.
“Oh, god,” Ga’Vine says, and a retching noise comes through the speaker.
He reappears a second later, his face ashen and a hand over his mouth. “Don’t go in there.”
“What happened to Lynch?” Merri demands.
Ga’Vine stumbles off to the side, away from Bailey and bends over, vomiting into the brush.
About to go to him, a scream from Bailey pulls me back around.
Alarm tightens Marceau’s voice. “What the hell is going on over there?”
The sight of Bailey writhing in pain holds my attention as he claws at his clothes with frantic desperation, trying to escape their confines. I shiver as he screams again, and his back arches high into the air, followed by a sickening pop.
Horrified, I back away as he tears off chunks of his own flesh, thick ribbons splatting to the ground, and black blood sprays the grass beneath him. Fur sprouts from his body, his bones breaking and reforming into the shape of a hound.
If this is what happened to Lynch, I understand why seeing the aftermath of his friend’s death so affected Ga’Vine.
“Bailey’s changing into a black dog, just like Lynch did,” I whisper.
“Kill him, Darius,” Merri says urgently. “Burn him before the transformation finishes!”
“Right.” I shake myself as I struggle to maintain my composure.
Bailey’s shape grows more grotesque by the second as his human shell falls away to give birth to the beast that had been growing within.
I thought of killing this man so many times, but no one deserves to die like this, twisted by a fae curse into a monster.
Fury courses through my veins, erupting as fire from my hands. Lifting my arms, I shove the flames outward, the heat searing the air around us.
