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Small pricks of light filled the ridges of the valley. Gunshots continued to pierce into its chest. Bullets hit the ground in front of our feet, spraying maroon dirt and gravel into the gorge.
I lurched back into the ridge wall, pressing into the smooth stone, fearing being struck by a piece of metal as much as the creature in front of me. My eyes darted back and forth, all around the rim of the cliffs. I watched in disbelief as the clean air turned into a dusty haze, making it difficult to see.
I coughed and squinted into the dark valley. Shadows on the ridge bobbed up and down in time with the rapid gunfire.
And then silence.
I stilled my breaths, craning my head, listening to the stillness.
Logan’s strong arm held me away from him, against the rock. His body stood facing the creature, with his long steel knife in his right hand. It was small in comparison to the creature’s blade. Logan’s had a wooden hilt and a long, jagged edge that gleamed like polished silver.
Logan’s eyes didn’t veer from the haze directly in front of us. I followed his stare across the smoky dirt.
The creature burst from the haze, charging at us.
No.
Charging directly at me. Staring at me with pure, unadulterated wrath. It screamed in fury. It pointed the dagger at my chest and sprang off its feet.
That’s right. Come to me.
The creature descended—baring its teeth, like the sword—straight for me. Before I could blink, the hand gripping my shoulder threw me to the ground.
The ground met my face, and I rolled to avoid a jagged stone to the temple. I searched the grimy night air.
What the hell is happening!
In a blur of bodies and dust, curses and shrieks bellowed from the ridge wall behind me. I heard Logan’s voice before I saw his body on the ground.
A wheeze left my throat.
“Charlie, run, damn it,” he yelled between rough breaths.
I pressed off the ground and stood. Then I pivoted and did what Logan asked.
I ran.
Straight toward the creature.
Logan didn’t know what he was facing. I did.
The light inside me begged to come to the surface. It rippled underneath my skin, like burning waves of need. I couldn’t hold it back anymore.
Throwing myself onto the mass of growls coming from the ground, I twisted and struck the creature from behind. I pummeled my shoulder into it, knocking it off Logan.
“Get out of here, Logan!” I screamed and the last bits of my restraint wore away.
I landed on the ground with such violence, the air burst from my chest. I crawled over the gravel and turned toward the erupting screams.
The creature didn’t pause its attack. It clawed off the ground and jumped onto my torso, restraining me against the earth. Its body was made of heavy muscle and decomposing flesh. The bullets hadn’t eaten into its skin. It wasn’t human. It wasn’t mortal. The endless darkness of our connection ate into my mind. I learned what lay hidden in the depths of its mind—I could kill it.
I flailed my legs, kicking against the weight. It tore into the delicate skin of my chest. Its teeth sank into my forearm as I attempted to hold its throat from mine.
The pain of my flayed skin turned my mind into white-hot lightning.
I stopped feeling the claws at my arms and chest or the edge of the dagger at my throat. The paralyzing fear in my body eased away. Even the burning of dust in my lungs vanished. The only thing that remained was the blaze in my mind.
The lightning burned and streaked relentlessly. I moved my hands toward the creature, freeing the light from within me. I loved the edge of pain and excitement as the light inside me streaked down my arms, lacing them in glowing tattoos. Lines and symbols of searing agony curled around my skin and down to my palms. I drew forth every tendril of it from the depths of my soul.
