“No,” Bale said. “The calamuts would have reacted like this when we entered the forest with the hounds if they didn’t want them here. Besides, the hounds know better than to mess with the calamuts. This is something else entirely.”
As if they heard her words, through the shadows of the doorway, a nuckal glided into the room.
Chapter Eleven
Bale
“Shit,”I breathed when the hideous creatures entered.
Once imprisoned behind the one hundredth and fifteen seal, I’d never seen a nuckal in Hell or on Earth. I wished it could have remained that way as I could barely stand to look at it, yet I couldn’t tear my eyes away from the monstrosity.
Thick, red muscle covered the skinless centaur’s body, so it looked like blood coated the creature. Lacking a nose and a mouth, the rider sat in the middle of what could only loosely be called a horse’s body. Thick muscle bound the rider’s thighs to the horse, which had four legs and cloven hooves.
The rider’s round head looked as if somebody had plopped a pumpkin on top of its shoulders, and two red eyes shone out at us. Its extremely long arms caused the rider’s claw-tipped hands to touch the ground. Those six-inch claws scraped the floor as the first nuckal, followed by more, moved further into the room.
The mutated head of the horse possessed only a single eye and nostril in the center of its face. I couldn’t see its mouth, but it was there somewhere. The nuckal fed on wraiths and its victims by using its claws to tear the flesh from its prey and shove it into the horse’s mouth.
The humans who glimpsed the nuckal through the veils named it the nuckelavee, but they never could have imagined this monstrosityactuallywalking the earth. It should have stayed in Hell where it belonged.
“What is that?” Aisling exclaimed.
“Thatis the nuckal,” Corson said.
“It’s going to haunt my nightmares until I die,” Hawk said.
I agreed and glanced at Wrath as fire consumed his hands and danced around his wrists. When his eyes met mine, red and orange flames had replaced the black of them. I could almost forget he was the enemy. In this battle, we stood on the same side. No one wanted the nuckal to leave here alive.
“I’ve never seen anything so ugly,” Wren said. “And Ineverthought I could say that after everything I’ve seen over the years.”
A puff of air erupted from the nuckal’s nostril in a cloud of smoke before the first one charged across the room. Its cloven hooves vibrated the floor as the sound of them rebounded off the walls.
Demons and humans scrambled to get away as the beast’s head swung back and forth in a way that revealed its mouth full of razor-sharp teeth. One demon wasn’t fast enough to get away, and the beast’s mouth clamped down on his arm. In one abrupt, rending motion, the nuckal tore off the demon’s arm.
Blood spurted around the room as screams erupted, and the rest of the nuckal burst into motion. The tree nymphs screamed, and despite the protection of the calamuts, they ducked behind the bar. When one of the nuckals was almost to us, a crash shook the room, wood exploded from above, and a calamut limb pierced straight through the nuckal.
The creature howled as the calamut lifted it off the ground and tore it through the ceiling. More wood broke free of the roof, and demons scrambled to get out of the way of the falling projectiles clattering and bouncing on the floor.
Before anyone could fully recover from what happened, more and more calamut limbs crashed through the ceiling and pierced through unsuspecting and innocent victims. Demons and humans screamed as the trees tore into them.
Cold sweat trickled down my spine as I realized the calamuts didn’t care who they killed. They were done playing nice and would destroy everyone in here if it meant keeping the nymphs safe.
We were all the enemy now.
Blood sprayed the room; screams of pain and terror ended as often as they started. Tables fell or were thrown at the nuckal and calamuts. Behind the safety of their prison, the nymphs watched with wide, frightened eyes.
Our haven had become a slaughterhouse. The room reeked of blood and fear as the occupants raced to escape, but there was nowhere to go. The nuckal blocked the exit.
I tried to follow the movements of our attackers, but it was impossible to keep track of the nuckals and all the branches. From years of battles, I kept a sense of calm. However, my heart still raced, and my throat was dry as chaos reigned around us.
“Shit!” Hawk hissed as he grasped Aisling’s arm and pushed her toward the booth.
The wooden floor splintered and thrust upward as the calamuts continued to tear into it and anyone unlucky enough to be in their way. Demons, humans, and nuckal fell beneath the calamuts ruthless slaughter.
“We have to get out of here!” Corson shouted over the chaos.
Caim took flight, and as he soared higher, he shifted into his raven form and dodged a limb that would have pierced him straight through the chest. Raphael unleashed a ball of life into the nuckal closing in on him.
The ball severed the rider’s head from its body, but the monstrous horse continued forward. Before Raphael could release another ball of energy, a calamut branch sliced through the air toward him. The golden angel barely dodged the lethal projection, but it cut across his bicep and ripped open his flesh.
