Page 67 of Hex You

TWENTY-EIGHT

They call it abloodcurdling scream. But when a scream like that explodes in the air, cracking glass and setting off alarms, blood doesn’t halt. It doesn’t still, congeal, or curdle. It drains away completely. It leaves behind frost, tiny slivers of ice that find their way to the heart and encase it in snow.

Kylie’s scream left Hunter bloodless. Her arms and legs were numb, frozen fleshy logs that wouldn’t react to the command flashing through her mind.

Run. Run. Run!

And then she was off. Ice thawing into sweat as she raced through the cornstalks toward the scream. Leaves smacked her arms, scraped her cheeks, barbed by her speed and the shrieks that electrified the air.

Behind her, footsteps pounded the earth. Thethwackof cornstalks striking bodies a dull applause beneath the bloodless screams. Hunter wasn’t alone. She, Khenti, and Mercy would kill this beast together.

The cornstalks finally gave way to open air and the clear bank of the cornfield that sloped into Sugar Creek.

The Nure-Onna rose out of the water. Its long, black hair slick and wet, dripped rivulets down her bare breasts. Droplets ran along her soft middle, laced with claw marks, that swelled into the thick body of a snake, and a forked tongue slipped past its parted lips as its catlike pupils fixed on Kylie.

“Run!” Hunter shouted, but her scream was swallowed by Kylie’s shrieks and the splash of water as the snakelike creature slithered onto shore.

Jax leaned out from the row of corn that bordered the bank, his neck corded with shouts of his own. Emily’s body was tucked behind his, only the milky white toes of her shoes visible.

“Get back!” Hunter hollered, motioning for him and Emily to hide.

Xena ran past, her back arched as she hurled herself at the non-magical pair. She pushed her furry body against Jax’s legs, forcing him and Emily deeper into the field.

Hunter heard Mercy and Khenti behind her, erupting from the corn and adding to the chaos, their fear and anger a living thing pushing at her back.

The Nure-Onna’s thick body rose off the ground, curving, coiling, preparing to strike.

Kylie stood unmoving, her feet glued to the earth like a doll in a diorama.

Hunter charged forward. Her tennis shoes slid in the ichor, and she crashed into Kylie. She wrapped her arms around her ex-friend’s waist and pushed her to the ground. The air fled Hunter’s lungs as she fell down next to her.

Kylie screamed again, her arms and legs striking the earth in panicked bursts that moved her backward like a crab.

A shadow fell over Hunter as she scrambled to her feet. Slime spread around her, slippery and warm. With each step forward, her feet slid out from under her, bringing her to her hands, a macabre treadmill that kept her legs moving but got her nowhere.

Her pulse roared between her ears, a freight train willing her forward, drowning out Khenti’s shouts and the slice of his khopesh through the air.

Hunter’s legs burned as they flew out from under her for the hundredth time. Her cheek smacked against the mucous-coated earth, but she wouldn’t give up. She flipped onto her back, strings of goo whipping the air as she whirled around.

The Nure-Onna’s jaw unhinged, her expression stretching, distorting until Hunter could see only fangs like scythes and the deep, unending dark of the creature’s throat.

“Hunter!” Mercy’s cry was far away, tinny, a muffled shout down a long hall. And then her sister was there. Mercy stood over Hunter, corn silk hanging from her shoulders like tinsel and the vintage lace panels of her jeans stained with dirt and shiny with ooze.

“Get the bloody fucking hell away from my sister!” Mercy commanded, her dark hair wild around her shoulders.

She was a Valkyrie guarding Hunter, protecting her. Or was she there as an escort to the great life beyond?

The Nure-Onna’s tail coiled, tightening against its thick body.

“Mag!” Hunter reached out, her arm slick and glistening with mucous. She grabbed Mercy’s jeans and yanked. Hunter wheezed as Mercy’s body slammed against her own.

Khenti’s howl was beating drums, the strike of a thousand boots against the earth as he leapt at the Nure-Onna. He flew through the air with the ferocity of a lion and brought his khopesh down in one fluid strike.

The Nure-Onna’s head slid off, and its body struck out, throwing slimy, silver liquid before it slapped against the ground, withered, and melted into the same slime that coated the earth.

Warm liquid washed down Hunter’s arm.Blood.Her whole body ached, and she wasn’t quite sure where it was coming from.

“Mercy, get up. I’m bleeding.”