Page 47 of Demonic Affliction

I open my mouth to answer, but nothing useful comes out. My hands are still shaking, and I can’t seem to form the right words to describe it.

Dagny gazes toward the pit, and her eyes go wide. “Oh no. What’s wrong with him?”

I follow her line of sight, my heart jumping to my throat when I notice Cin has started convulsing again, and now, he appears to be foaming at the mouth.

Something's horribly wrong.

Before anyone can stop me, I break away from the ground and rush toward Cin, moving as fast as my legs will take me.

“Willow, no!”

But I’m not listening. I grab Cin by the shoulders and shake him hard, trying to bring him back from the edge. “Cin! Cin, look at me! Come back to me, please. Please…”

Cin blinks slowly, and some of the sanity returns to his gaze. “Willow…?” My name comes out broken, like some part of him doesn’t believe I’m really here. I tighten my grip on his shoulders, my voice cracking as I whisper, "I'm here. I'm right here, Cin. I’m with you. You’re not alone."

His face contorts in pain as he fights to get out his next words. A thin line of blood runs from the corner of his mouth, and his whole body shudders as he struggles to hold on to whatever's left of his consciousness.

“Willow…” His eyes hold mine, shining with something raw and desperate. “Run.”

I open my mouth to ask what he means, but his eyes have already gone unfocused, and I know he can’t hear me anymore.

My mates crowd around us, their voices overlapping with barely restrained panic.

“What happened?”

“Is he breathing?”

“Willow?”

“He just… he told me to run.” I hold back a wave of tears.

“To run? From him?” Dravik asks.

“I don’t know…” I shake my head. “He passed out before I could ask.”

Before anyone can say anything else, a scream tears up from the bottom of the pit. Then another. Then a thousand more, stacking on top of each other until they reverberate throughout the room in a chorus of horrible, nerve-wracking howls.

Unholy. Wrong.

“Watch out, Willow!” Rhune’s hand closes around my wrist, yanking me back from the edge.

Then they start climbing out.

Horrible, mutated creatures made of flesh, bone, and nightmare. Too many limbs with joints bending in directions they shouldn't, skin stretched thin over ribs that don't quite fit their slender torsos. Their heads are malformed, with jaws that hang wide and are packed with rows of blackened, decaying teeth.

I’ve never seen anything like them. But by the looks on my mates’ faces, I know for a fact they do not belong to this world or any other.

One of them lifts its head toward us and screams, the sound shuddering through the air and underneath my skin, causing raw panic to pulse through my veins.

Nyx glances at me out of the corner of his eye. “I think we should run.”

15

Willow

Help me, I plead with the entity in my head. Please, if you can hear me… please help us. I know you can use your power if I let you and I’m letting you! Just please, don’t let us die like this.

I wait, but no answer comes. We’re all alone. The only ones who can save us are us. And our odds don’t look very good.