When I turned to look at the mountain, I expected to find the minotaur already making its way down the road, but I didn’t see it anywhere.
“Where is…?” My question trailed off as what I’d assumed was part of a house on the hill suddenly moved.
My throat went dry when I realized it wasn’t a house, but the beast. The thing was still a quarter mile away, but each of its steps vibrated the ground with increasing intensity.
“Is this where you always fight it?” Bale asked.
“We’ve tried setting traps, spreading out, attacking from different positions, attacking from the buildings, hiding, charging up the hill, ambushing it outside the cave, and none of it worked. Now, instead of tiring ourselves out by doing all those things, we wait for it to come to us. The death count is lower this way. If it has to hunt for its victim, it tends to kill whoever it comes across until then,” Tusks said.
“It must weigh two ton,” I said as it rounded a bend and vanished; the steady shaking of the ground told of its continued approach.
And then it was coming around the corner of another building and standing at the end of the street. I adjusted my grip on the spear as the moonlight spilling over it revealed all its repulsive details; my heart galloped like a runaway horse.
Standing on its legs, it was at least ten feet tall and the size of a small house. Its chest was the size of five men put together and broader than any tree, and its shoulders were more like battering rams. Though it had the body of a man; it was like no man I’d ever seen.
And then there was its head. I’d expected the head of a bull, but I hadn’t anticipated the glowing, sickly yellow eyes or the pulled back muzzle revealing razor-sharp teeth no bull possessed. Two black horns curved out two feet from either side of its head before twisting over, so the lethal ends aimed ahead of it. Turned toward us were its two pointed ears.
Three-inch-long claws tipped the foot-long fingers of its massive hands, and its black, cloven hooves also looked like they could eviscerate a person. Fine brown hair covered its entire body, but the etched muscles of its chest were visible beneath the hair.
A chill ran down my spine, and I gulped as I tried not to let the size of this monster intimidate me, but it was almost impossible not to edge away from it as it grinned at us. And then, it was running toward us.
The thunderous beats of its hooves rebounded off the buildings. Someone cried and threw themselves to the ground where they started to weep. Hawk stepped protectively closer to me and hefted the battle ax he’d selected from the weapons. I forced myself to keep breathing as the minotaur closed the distance between us.
When it was only ten feet away, it dropped to all fours and charged at us like a bull. Feeling like the pin in front of the bowling ball, I darted to the side seconds before it would have gored me.
My foot caught on a broken piece of asphalt, and my ankle twisted out from under me. Unable to get my hands out in time, I fell to the side. Taking the impact on my shoulder, I rolled before leaping to my feet.
I spotted Hawk across the road as the minotaur barreled over two women before stopping at the end of the street. One of the women was still alive and clutching her stomach. The other was sprawled across the road like a broken rag doll while blood seeped out beneath her.
“Look out!” someone shouted.
Randy grasped the injured woman’s arm and started dragging her off the road as the minotaur came back toward us. He didn’t get her out of the way fast enough as the minotaur speared her with a horn, tore her from Randy’s grasp, and tossed her in the air. I didn’t look to see where she landed as the beast veered and came straight at me.
Chapter Thirty
Aisling
My body reacted like a deer caught in the headlights, but my training overrode my instincts, and I braced myself to leap out of the way. My vision pinpointed until all I saw was the glow of its eyes as the gigantic beast barreled toward me. I wanted to run screaming from it, but I had to wait until it was closer or it would veer off course and kill me anyway.
I leapt to the side at the same time as Hawk grabbed my arm and yanked me out of the way. He pushed me behind him, and grasping his battle ax with both hands, he smashed it into the minotaur’s back. When I plunged my spear into its side, it tore from my hands. The ax also pulled away from Hawk.
The beast charged by us before rearing onto its back legs to grasp at the ax. As if it were no more than an annoying splinter, the minotaur stretched its arm over its back and plucked the ax free. As it studied the thing, a gurgled chortle issued from its throat before it threw the ax.
“Watch out!” Corson shouted.
Hawk and I flung ourselves to the ground as the ax flew so close that a breeze ruffled my hair when it soared over our heads. Someone screamed, and I looked up to see a demon staggering back with the ax embedded in her chest.
The minotaur plucked my spear free next, but before it could do anything with it, Lix raced forward with his sword raised while he released a savage battle cry. Corson, Bale, and Wren followed as Lix dodged the hand the minotaur swung at him and leapt onto the creature.
With the agility of a monkey, he dodged the minotaur’s grasping hands as he clambered up the front of the creature before swinging around to its back. Raising his sword, he clasped it with both hands before plunging it through the creature’s neck.
The minotaur’s muscles were so thick the blade embedded halfway through before catching on sinew and refusing to budge. The creature slapped at Lix like he was a flea, but the skellein dodged the blows as he yanked on his sword to free it.
Corson leapt off the ground and plunged his talons into the beast’s throat. Before he could pull his talons free, the minotaur’s nostrils flared, and it seized Corson. The beast’s hand swallowed half of Corson’s body.
“No!” Wren shouted as she ran behind it and sliced open its Achilles tendons.
The minotaur roared and tossed Corson aside as Bale plunged her sword into its chest and more demons ran forward to spear it. Hawk and I scrambled to our feet and ran to join the others as more humans and demons leapt into the battle.
