The wave hit like a tsunami, pushing down those on the front lines with a strength that shouldn’t have been possible. Black-coated teeth gnashed, some even biting into people’s flesh and tearing out chunks, swallowing them whole. They were distracted by those they reached first,eatingthem. Even I was stunned, and I was raised in blood and violence.
The reaction was quick. The Fae charge, weapons already slashing at limbs and slicing through disfigured necks thatstrained with more of those black veins. Joined in, dodging teeth and claws, and hacked at the steady stream of people that had very obviously gone insane.
With those two groups dealing with the threat on the ground, I focused my attention on the threat in the sky. The dark cloud was closer than ever, and… was that afaceI saw? No. It couldn’t be. Right?
It all happened so fast after that. The mud-haired Human male shouted while his female companion tugged at his arms, begging him to run. The trees tore their roots from the ground and raced away, leaving us all behind, except a teal-trunked one hesitated. It reached out a yellow leaf-clad branch and wrapped it around my mate, yanking her from the ground to carry her as it ran away.
‘Juniper!’ the Daemon that was always annoyingly glued to her side screamed, chasing them without a second thought for the rest of us. Both his Daemon and Human friends quickly joined him, and I found myself suddenly alone and vulnerable in the open.
I made a decision. I didn’t know if it was the right one, but it was the only one I could conceivably make.
‘Follow the trees!’I ordered my people.
They didn’t argue. Their obedience was immediate, and likely a relief, since I was leading them away from the insanity we were witnessing. Those who had been fed upon were writhing in agony, mouth gaping open on silent screams as more teeth tore from their flesh. But those black veins began spreading across their bodies, and they soon joined in, reaching for the next body to feast upon.
And the black cloud? There was definitely a face, and it was smirking at the carnage below.
A thin tendril of smoke broke free from the mass and drifted to one of the Angels. The poor male didn’t stand a chance. Itentered through his face: eyes, nose, mouth, ears. Any available orifice, it poured itself into.
The transformation was faster than that of those who had been bitten, almost instantaneous. His body twisted in on itself like it was being sucked in by some sort of collapsing portal. Limbs flailed, bones broke. His entire body reformed in an instant. His eyes bled black, shadowy tears dripping down black-veined cheeks, and he snarled viciously at the nearest body before immediately sinking his teeth into his neck and ripping out tendons and arteries.
Red blood sprayed everywhere, but it didn’t stay red for long. Another person had been infected.
‘RETREAT!’The Fae leader screamed, his blade slicing through an infected’s neck and severing its head in one swipe.‘TAKE COVER!’
An Angel flew up straight into the cloud before crashing back down to the ground in a pile of twisted, blackened limbs. The others chose to stick to using their feet rather than their wings after that as they raced my way.
I didn’t stick around after that.
If we didn’t outrun this evil, if we even could, then we were all going to die.
Chapter 25
Oswald
My heart dropped as my sister was pulled away from us by the trees. It was like déjà vu, and I couldn’t shake the feeling that something worse was about to happen. Whatever trials we had faced so far, they would be nothing compared to the grand finale.
‘June!’ Thorne shouted for her as he raced past me, easily catching up to Phenex, who was quickly closing the distance between us and that damn tree.
Enid ran next to me with Qarinah on the other, while Abaddon practically flew ahead, also catching up to Phenex and Thorne. If I didn’t feel so afraid, I might have felt warm and fuzzy for how they didn’t hesitate to back us up. They didn’t know Junie was my sister, but they knew she was Phenex’s mate.
‘Ozzie!’she shouted in my head, and I couldn’t hide my flinch if I tried. Not because it was loud, but because of the genuine terror in her voice. Somehow, I could feel that her fear wasn’t for herself. She wasn’t even looking at us. Even from a distance, I could see the whites of her eyes as she stared, horrified at whatever was happening behind us.
Thorne and Enid had filled me in on what had happened with that smoke thing before, how it had infected all those people and turned them into something… cruel. Vicious.Monstrous.
Even the trees were running from it.
‘Junie! Hold on. We’re right behind you.’
‘Run faster! That cloud… Oh, gods. It’s coming!’
‘Shit!’ I screamed, loud enough for everyone to hear over the roar of the chaos. ‘It’s closing in! Move your asses!’
Enid huffed and puffed beside me, so I grabbed her hand, both as a comfort and to drag her if I needed to. Qarinah’s long, slim fingers slid into mine on my other hand, and her powerful legs pulled us all forward.
The tree dragged Junie further away, picking up speed to catch up with the rest of the forest, and we soon lost sight of her. I took solace in the fact that we could follow them easily enough. It would be hard to lose sight of the towering rainbow leaves. We would catch up eventually. And Junie could take care of herself. Earth was her thing, even if she had an Affinity for each of the elements. Plants loved her.
‘Don’t worry about me.’Her voice came through small and spotty thanks to the distance between us, like a bad connection, but I heard her nonetheless. ‘I think it just wants to help. It’s a nice tree. Focus on getting the fuck away from that cloud and its mindless drones. Iwon’tlose you, Ozzie.’
