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As I slowly rotated around, I took in my situation as the moonlight filtered through the trees. The ground below me looked clear, if not soggy, so if I cut myself down, I wasn’t going to damage myself further than a few bumps and bruises, hopefully, but there was no sign of what darted out from the bushes.
I pulled myself up and started to cut through the rope holding me up when I heard it—chittering. I froze and held my breath. No, I must be hearing things.
Letting out my breath slowly, I made sure to try not to make any noise and swiveled my head around to look below in the direction of the noise. I could barely make out a grayish figure approaching through the tree limbs, but when it turned its head sideways, I swallowed back the bile and weighed my options. I really didn’t have any, so I started cutting as fast as I could through the rope, not giving a damn about the noise. I needed to get free, or else I was dead!
I knew what this monster was, and there was no reasoning with it when it was in this form. My heart pounded so hard against my chest that I could feel it hitting my ribs, bruising me from the inside out. The chittering got louder as I sawed away at my bindings. What the fuck is this made out of? Kevlar? My palms were getting sweaty, so I quickly placed my knife between my thighs, holding it still as I wiped it against my pants. I couldn’t afford to have my knife slip out of my clutches.
Goosebumps pebbled my skin when I looked over and easily made out their gray, wrinkled skin with open sores. The Abuhuku. A six-foot half beast, half mosquito shifter. Wild gray and white fur covered its back and legs, helping it blend into its surroundings. But what scared me shitless was its nose. It was wide and came down to a point like a razor-sharp dagger, which they used to cut through their prey’s skulls and suck out their blood. They always left a dry husk of skin behind, typically hanging from a tree.
Shit. I never thought they would be here. They’re not supposed to leave Purgatory, there’s never been a report of them even being on Earth before, not even an unsanctioned one.
If that shifter got its hands on me, my life would be over. There were rumors that their skin was sticky and you couldn’t get away if they touched you. There weren’t any confirmed cases, and I didn’t want to be the first. As he moved closer, I took a chance, knowing I was setting myself up for death, and flipped my other dagger around in my hand. I aimed for the Abuhuku as he leaped toward me and sent my dagger flying. It stumbled but took another step toward me, and my eyes widened in fear. I switched my knife into my dominant hand when he stumbled again, dropping to its knees and reaching for his throat. Dark liquid started dribbling out through his fingers as the sounds of gurgling reached me.
I got him! How bad I got him, no clue, but I wasn’t waiting for him to recover. A cold, wet drop hit me square between the eyes. Fuck, it’s raining! I quickly returned to cutting through the rope the best I could with the rain and dropped to the ground, which put me a few feet away from the shifter. My knife nicked him, but it wasn’t a death kill. Though my thigh knives were coated with a type of powder that burned the skin, so I knew he was suffering. I found myself slightly torn—if he would just change back, I would be obligated to try and save, protect, and send him back to Purgatory. In this berserked state, my hands were tied.
Damnit, Rave… just do your job!
With my mind focused, I reached over and slit his throat, watching him bleed out within seconds.
‘Thorn, we have Abuhukus out here, so watch out,’ I warned, wiping my knives off on the surrounding moss and standing up.
The silence was deafening as I waited for a response. There was no way he could have been out of range yet. When we were younger, we once tried to see how far our connection could go when we visited my grandparent’s estate in England. It was merely a few feet when I needed to go to the restroom. The older we got, our range extended. The last time we visited, Thorn and I had been to each end of their estate, about a football field in length. At that range, we could hear every other word or so. It was as if we were picking up static.
‘Thorn! Answer me, you fur bag. I’m not playing around,’ I said desperately. I needed to know they were okay.
A chill ran down my spine as thoughts of my friends in danger whirled in my mind, spurring me into action. I fought through the foliage as my mind dredged up thoughts of what happened to them. Did an Abuhuku get them? Are they dead? Please tell me Thorn is just pulling a horrible prank.
I burst through the thick brush and back onto the small, overgrown path. Our lanterns were burning low with an eerie green glow where we had left them. Well, that’s not good.
Something had obviously been at play here and changed the bright white glow of the atmosphere we had with the lamps. I left them behind since they would only attract more Abuhuku and continued down the path, scanning the area for signs of either Thorn or Kaye.
No more than twenty feet up the path, I found evidence of a struggle with muddied bootprints and broken shrubbery. Knowing stealth was on my side, I quickly but quietly followed the path of destruction. It was the blood smeared on leaves and strands of red hair in a bush with thorns that had my heart skipping a beat.
I swear to God, if my best friend is dead, I’m drying out this whole fucking swamp and watching it burn like a desert.
I climbed over a tree trunk and landed on my face, mud and all. When I pushed myself up, I silently screamed as I came face to face with an Abuhuku staring at me with milky white eyes. Slowly, I let out a shaky breath as I noticed the bullet hole between its eyes.
Well, at least I know Kaye was here. Where here is, is definitely a different story.
I was lying in a pile of blood-stained bones. As I stood up and took in my surroundings, I noticed there were no dried husks in the limbs above, so this wasn’t where the Abuhuku was eating his victims. So what lured the Abuhuku and Kaye here?
Shit. What did I get us into?
CHAPTER 10
They be Zombies
Kaye
I’d known Ravena my whole life. We were sisters; blood didn’t play a part. We’d shared everything—cribs, nannies, clothes, secrets, and not once did we envy each other. Even when Ravena came home with Thorn, I didn’t feel left out. She was so excited to tell me about our new pet that we begged for a sleepover and stayed up all night getting to know him.
Since I’d known Thorn almost as long as Ravena, I would say that I had gotten to know him pretty well. Minus the whole telepathic thing they do. Too bad I didn’t have that connection because that would have come in handy and possibly would have kept us from our predicament.
Thorn cocked his head, baring his teeth while growling at me, and all I could do was roll my eyes at his frustration.
“Will you just fucking calm down,” I whispered through gritted teeth. “So, I missed your warning. Didn’t you see I was a little busy killing an Abuhuku?” I huffed out and went back to studying our surroundings. I knew we were up shit creek without a paddle. When we got ambushed by a couple of men, my gun, darts, and bag were taken. Thorn’s armor was left alone, at least. I was lucky enough to have kept my clothes and bracelet on; otherwise, I would have been in pain along with this frustration of being caught.
We were in a makeshift cage with wooden slabs and rope. A decent fire was burning across the lawn about forty yards away, which highlighted a small decrepit shack and the swamp. Small bones were strung up over the single window that I hoped were from animals instead of children, but I wouldn’t put it past the crazy witch.
