Howls echoed through the forest nearby, but not near enough.
I heaved myself up and looked down, and I was suddenly face to face with the creature. It scrambled upward impossibly fast, and I screamed with all my soul.
The demon’s eyes rounded, revealing tinges of red. Blood. Horror streaked through me, and my heart felt like it was going to explode.
A spindly hand reached up for me, inches from my shoulder.
Then a snarl boomed from the base of the tree, and the creature shot downward, towed by something.
I craned my neck to make out the forest floor below. Jaxson had ripped the monstrosity out of the tree and was slashing at its throat with claws on his hands.
I pulled myself onto the branch, and straddling it like a gymnast, I inched my way to the trunk. The terrifying noises from below suddenly quieted, and I dared a peek.
The creature lay motionless—a tattered pile of blood and sinew that began melting into a smoking pool of blood—and Jaxson was gone.
A screech rang out from nearby. A hundred feet, maybe more. I pivoted to look, but my boot slipped, and I had to cling to the trunk to stop myself from falling.
I should have bought boots for climbing if I was going to spend my days cowering in the treetops. The monsters could climb faster than me, so I was just a sitting duck up here. I needed to get down and find my gun before I broke my neck.
I slung myself downward through the branches as quickly as I could. Noises nearby indicated that whatever was comi
ng was getting closer and heading my way.
Go, go, go.
I reached the lowest branch and dropped to the ground, landing in a crouch.
Where was my damn gun?
Where was Jaxson?
I waited, searching the trees, and listened. Silence, and the thudding of my heart.
Leaves rustled to my left. I panicked and broke into a run, leaving the Glock lost somewhere among the brush. My boots accelerated my body forward at lightning speed. Dodging a tree, I lost control, tripping and tumbling down an embankment. I hit the bottom and came to a stop, gasping from the pain. Thankfully, I’d landed on dirt and decaying leaves, and I sat up with nothing broken.
I’d fallen into a ravine a hundred feet wide. To my left, the space narrowed between a pile of boulders, but to my right, it was clear, and a small stream trickled slightly downhill. Was that the way to the lake?
Panting and pushing down the pain in my back, I climbed to my feet. Then I froze as something moved on the embankment above me. Snarls and shrieks rang out in the distance. The wolves must have been engaged with more of those monsters. Or other wolves.
Stay calm, Savy. Get out of the ravine.
The sides of the embankment were steep. I might be able to crawl out, but if one of those demons attacked again, I’d be a sitting duck.
Okay, change of plan. I’d follow the ravine to the lake. There, I could go along the beach and get my bearings.
A sickly feeling overwhelmed my senses. Time to go.
When I turned to follow the ravine down to the shore, the bitch from Belmont stood twenty feet ahead, blocking my path, with her claws extended. Fear iced my skin.
I was trapped.
“I was hoping we’d meet again.” A sinister grin cut her face as she rushed toward me.
I darted left, the boots accelerating me forward. Hope sprung in my chest as I wheeled around her, but then her claws sank into my arm. Blinding agony shot through me, and my body jerked to a sudden stop. I careened onto my back, towing the she-wolf along with me, then kicked her in the face and scrambled backward. She growled and crawled toward me, grasping at my legs with her claws.
My back hit a boulder. I panicked and flailed about for any kind of weapon—a loose stone, a branch, anything. The she-wolf gripped my ankle, and I screamed as her claws dug into my skin.
She pulled me toward her in one swift motion. A rock ripped into my back, and the world spun as she loomed over me, fangs out.