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He made a small sound, a whimpering gurgle as he collapsed against me. God, he was heavier than I expected, I could barely hold him up. I could only ease him slowly down, and drag his body under some bushes as quickly as I dared.
“Hey, you hear that?” the other guy shouted. I remained crouched, behind the tree again, the man bleeding out at my feet. “Hey, Anthony! Anthony?”
The footsteps came rapidly closer. His light swung dangerously close to my shoe, and I crept around one side of the tree as he came around the other.
“Oh shit...shit!” His light fell on the dead man and he began to rapidly back away. “Hey, J —”
He backed right into me.
I tried to stab him in the same spot, but my aim was slightly off. The knife ricocheted off the side of his helmet and he flailed, using the gun to try to strike me. But I gripped tight to his back, arms around his neck, and my weight was enough to throw him off balance. We collapsed backward, him on top, and his body knocked the air from my lungs. I gasped desperately, still clinging to him, refusing to let go. I began to stab frantically, wildly, but the knife couldn’t penetrate his jacket, and he started yelling.
“Jeremiah! She’s here, she’s fucking — agh —”
“Just fuckingdie,” I hissed as I sunk the knife deep into his neck, finally finding the soft spot. His blood spurted over my hand, the warm spatter flecking my face. I shoved him off and kept low, trying to see what the hell Jeremiah was doing now.
I couldn’t see him.
I looked around nervously, scanning the trees. The Watcher had come close now. I never saw the damn thing move, it was just there, right behind me, standing over the body of the dying man. Its wide eyes moved slowly between me and him, as if assessing the better prey.
Crouched on the ground, I held out my bloody knife toward it. “Don’t you try anything, you fucker,” I whispered. “There will be plenty of fear for you to feed on tonight, but it won’t be mine.”
The creature’s eerie eyes locked on mine. Just from looking at it, fuzziness was creeping up the edges of my vision. Panic was swelling in my chest like a balloon. But I kept backing away. The Watcher ducked down, its long red fingers curled around the dying man’s skull as he stared up at it in horror. Slowly, it leaned closer, and there was a bizarre popping sound as its jaw began to open wide...thenwider…
It took hiswhole headin its mouth.
I sprinted for the edge of the trees. Hopefully that would keep the monster occupied for a while. I began to crawl as I came up to the edge of the lawn, searching the yard for Jeremiah. It wasn’t hard to spot him: he was crouched over Zane, his hand locked tight around my demon’s throat.
I saw red. I stood, tucked away the knife, and pulled out the shotgun. It was fully loaded, and I had more ammo in my bag. If I had to put every last bullet straight into Jeremiah’s skull to kill him, then that’s what I’d do.
But he stood and faced me, right as I was about to shoot. He grinned and lifted his hand — dripping blood onto the grass.
Zane’s blood. My demon’s eyes were wide, their golden light dulled, his lips parted as he gasped for breath. There was a roaring in my ears like ocean waves, a sea of dread rushing to drown me.
Jeremiah was muttering something I couldn’t hear. I aimed right for his head.
“What the fuck did you do to him?” I yelled. “What did you do?”
“Careful, Juniper.” He smeared the blood over his face, casually sucking a fingertip clean. “I’ve made your demon useful.”
I looked down. For the first time, I noticed the strange ring around Zane, the grass burned down. More burn marks formed lines through the ring, creating a bizarre shape encircling his body.
The grass was still smoldering. In fact, the smoke was beginning to increase, but it didn’t seem to be from any flames. The smoke was rising from the ground itself.
“What the fuck…” Plumes of black smoke rose from the ground, ashy and harsh as I inhaled it. Jeremiah stepped back, still grinning wildly as the smoke obscured him. I was coughing, my throat burning. I was about to start firing blindly into the smoke, but Zane turned his head to look at me and tried to lift his hand.
“Go, Juniper.” His voice was rough, tight with pain. “It’s a Reaper...he’s summoning a Reaper...go…”
The smoke obscured him too. Then in the dark billowing smoke, something moved.
Somethingmassive.
50
The pain only got worse.
My entire body throbbed with pain, every muscle clenching, my limbs like heavy stones. That sharp, burning agony where the amulet had sunk into me was like a fiery-hot knife jabbed into my back — and not in a fun way. There was nothing even remotely enjoyable about this pain, despite my best attempts to make myself feel a little better.
I couldn’t heal. Every ounce of my strength was sapped away, and my blood was seeping away with it. Jeremiah had sent his men after Juniper — they were walking straight into their deaths if she was still back there in the trees. He crouched over me, and in my blurred vision, all I could see was his smiling face, teeth stained with black rot.
