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For several long moments, I remained frozen as this thing did something to my little friend, the girl I’d decided to protect because she was young and innocent.
Not like me. I’d already been ruined while Jayla still had a shot.
Reality crashed down, hitting me like a freight train. Night cast thick shadows within the building, but the light from the few lanterns spilled over Mike and Josh sprawled on the ground near the bean bag chair. Van and Shelly slumped on the floor by the plastic crate we used as a table. The monster had killed all four of them and was trying to rip Jayla out of this world too.
What would be the point to any of this if I lost her? At least she gave me a reason to do more than simply survive. Without her, my will to remain in this hellhole would disintegrate.
A scream burst out of me, shattering the silence, and I dashed toward the monster with no thought or plan other than to pry him away from Jayla before it was too late.
I crashed into him, his body like unforgiving granite and steel. We tumbled to the ground and rolled several feet across chunks of cement and rusted metal.
When we stopped, he crawled on top of me, releasing a ferocious snarl. His irises, like black voids, pierced mine, grabbing hold of my very soul. Pale skin stretched over hollow cheeks so sunken in he could have had just a skull with raven hair atop his neck.
What the fuck was he!
Not human. Not human. Not human.
The words repeated through my brain on a loop as he slammed his hands against my chest to pin me.
“I’m still hungry.” His voice rolled out in a primal rumble that rattled my bones. “So very hungry.” His mouth opened, and something in my center shot forward, scraping beneath my flesh. The warm, tingly sensation crept over me, and before I could stop it, breath fled my lungs.
My lids fluttered as a strand of white mist slithered out of my mouth toward his. His eyes rolled in the back of his head, and a whimper slipped out. Panic wrapped me in an airless bubble, compressing my lungs into tiny balls.
That was my soul. He was trying to take it from me.My soul.
Is that what this monster had done to the others and tried to do to Jayla?
Was she still alive?
She had to be. I stopped him. But she wouldn’t stand a chance if I didn’t kill this supernatural freak.
I gathered every ounce of strength I had and bucked him off. He landed at my feet, and my lungs expanded as I gulped air. My boot connected with his face, the crunch of bone snapping through the warehouse over my gasps. Black blood oozed out of his nose.
Holy shit. Why did he haveblackblood?
Focus, Tate. Get Jayla and get out of here.
I scrambled up, staggering toward Jayla who was so still she could have been sleeping.
But she wasn’t sleeping. Her eyes stared at nothing, vacant and lifeless as a pretty doll on a shelf.
I was too late.
Blood thundered in my ears, and my body swayed. I dropped to my knees, my lips quivering as I rested my hand on her cheek. Her warmth had already begun to fade.
My chest caved in, and I couldn’t breathe.
Oh fuck, I can’t breathe.
The one person the universe gave me to protect had died at the hands of a monster. She must have been terrified. She died scared and alone, and I didn’t stop it. I couldn’t protect her.
I failed. And she was gone.
A low growl rippled behind me, raising the hair on my nape. A cloud of crimson, like a bloody waterfall, cascaded over my vision as the monster crept closer. My hands curled into tight fists as my muscles tensed, anticipating a brutal battle on the horizon.
I had nothing left to lose except my life, and that wasn’t worth shit. It became forfeit a long time ago. Jayla had just kept me hanging on a little longer.
She was gone. And now, I would take this bastard to hell with me.
