Page 108 of Vasmora

I snapped my attention back to Drefan, who stood with his palm outstretched, aimed at me, as he backed himself toward the vial, the glyph glowing across his palm.

He crouched, swiping up the chain at the split second the adult wolf lunged toward him, nearly chomping off his outstretched arm.

I stole the opportunity to sprint forward and gathered the pup into my arms.

When I backed away, a gasp slipped through my teeth on seeing Drefan’s sword swing toward the brown wolf. She ducked out of the way, just missing a strike to her throat. The blade bit the rock on the other side of the boulder, where the bloodbinder hid, sending sparks raining over his head.

With the pup in hand, I slinked along the wall and returned him to his siblings, relieved that he didn’t seem to be injured when he hopped and darted around without a limp.

Spinning back around showed Drefan wildly thrashing his sword, the fast wolf dodging each swing. On the other side of the boulder, the bloodbinder nabbed a nearby rock and drew back, his target unmistakable when he stared back at me.

I gave a quiet nod, sending up a silent prayer that it’d strike Drefan and not the wolf.

He hurled the rock at me and the object whizzed past my head, curving unnaturally, before it shot back around, slamming into Drefan’s skull with a sickening crack. He stumbled backward, blood dripping down his temple, the blade and vial slipping from his grasp.

The brown wolf lunged again, teeth first. A loud crunch. A scream.

Drefan raised a handless arm.

In the melee, the bloodbinder crawled toward the vial, lifting it up from the ground. Teeth sank into his raised arm, and he let out a cry of pain, the vial once more lost in the scuffle.

I raced toward him, careful to avoid Drefan, who lay only a few meters away, slashing his sword through the air, desperate to keep the wolf at a distance. Hooking my hands beneath his arms, I dragged the bloodbinder back around the boulder, out of harm’s way.

The wolf let out a yelp, and I peered around the rock to see Drefan yank a sword from her flank.

“Get the vial!” the bloodbinder cried out, pointing a shaky finger to where it lay.

As if sensing my intent, Drefan glanced down at the vial and back to me. Sword in hand, he hauled himself toward it, scooting his body forward with his one good arm.

“Damn it!” I jolted forward, skidding onto my knees and swiping it up before Drefan could snag it, then quickly spidered backward to the bloodbinder’s side.

Sword in hand, Drefan clambered toward us, but his feet flew out from under him as the unmated wolf, returned to her naked, human form, kicked out at his legs.

As soon as I’d handed the vial off to him, the bloodbinder popped the cork and tipped back the contents, consuming all of it in one gulp.

The copper shackles at his wrists sizzled and dissolved into the air in a cloud of orange dust. A tingle at my fingertips crawled down into my hands and wrists, and I lifted them to see the bands fading. When I turned my palms over, the glyphs etched into my palm glowed a pale blue and an overwhelming feeling of warmth snaked beneath my skin.

The woman let out a cry of pain, and I glanced up to see Drefan standing over her, his blade sank deep into her back. She crawled toward the cubs, and as he raised his blade for another strike, I held out my palm.

“I wouldn’t if I were you.” Bones clanked as they unfurled from my hand. The spine whip felt thick and heavy. Familiar.

A cold wind blew through the cave, and he lifted his gaze to me.

Lips stretched to a smile, he limped closer a step. “Look at you. A mortal with a whip made of bones. I wonder how it’ll fare against lightning.”

The moment he raised his palm, I struck fast and true, the bone whip snapping against his chest. It launched his body backward, and he slammed into the cave wall behind him, bits of stone crumbling around him as he slumped to a heap on the floor. Gasping and wheezing, he kicked his legs, his lungs likely crushed and deflated behind his smashed ribs.

I slowly drifted closer, watching him struggle on the ground, until I was standing over him. “My Corvugon. Is he alive?” I grated, teeth locked.

Breaths crackled out of him like the crumpling of fine paper. His mouth gaped, but no words came forth.

The sight of him stirred nothing in me. Neither empathy, nor mercy. Only a hollow void that couldn’t be moved, not even by the shine of tears streaming down his temples.

“I told you I’d watch you die,” I said, my voice toneless. “I meant it.” I drew back, watching his eyes widen as the whip lashed through the air, and I slammed it against his skull. An explosion of meat, bone and blood spattered across my face, falling around me in wet chunks.

The cave fell silent, a staccato of breath slipping through my chattering teeth.

A thunderous crack jarred my senses, and I spun around to see Zevander’s scorpion burst through the stony wall, flanked by masked men and wolves.