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Darien was shouting through his watch, his voice barely audible over the din of the carnival. “It’s by the fucking Ferris wheel!”

People were screaming. Running away.

Max raced toward the place they were vacating, droves of fleeing bodies holding him back. He felt like a fish swimming upstream as he pushed through, craning his neck to see above the crowds.

His blood ran cold as he caught sight of the monster.

It was chasing something.

A glimpse between two spinning rides in the distance showed him four people, all of them girls, fleeing from the monster’s attacks. One of those people had blue hair.

Three were separated from the fourth. The fourth was the person the creature wouldn’t leave alone, as if it were drawn to her.

That person was Loren fucking Calla.

—

There was nowhere to go. Nowhere to hide.

The white-scaled demon with black pits for eyes was coming after her. Loren didn’t know how or why, but there was no time to think about that. Her conduit wouldn’t stop glowing, white and rainbow light bursting out of it in sparkling streams. The skin between her breasts burned from the scalding temperature of the solar amulet every time it struck her, bouncing with every step as she attempted to put distance between her and the creature.

Lace, Blue, and Sabrine were following, the latter still in her human form. They were screaming and shouting, trying like hell to create a diversion and give her time to get away. Lace fired shots from her pistol, every single one of them precise—but they all bounced off the creature, as if those bullets were made of rubber.

Loren knew it was only a matter of time before the creature would tire of the chase. The only thing keeping her alive was the maze of buildings, food trucks, tents, and rides, the structures providing enough of a deterrent to keep the demon at a distance.

Wood splintered and metal flew as the wicked thing tore every structure down with powerful swipes of massive claws, barbed tail lashing through the air like a whip. Poisonous sickles shot off that tail, thudding into wood and metal with horrific force, more of those spikes growing through the impenetrable flesh of its tail within seconds.

Stop running, came a slithering voice.

Loren’s breaths rasped as she ducked between two food trucks, being careful to keep her feet light.

Did that thing just speak to her?

She moved faster, a metallic taste clinging to the back of her throat from how long she had been running. Dead bodies threatened to trip her as she moved. Eyes frozen with death stared up at her, their faces white. The metallic reek of blood mingled with the aromas of salted pretzels and deep-fried chicken, the medley of contradicting smells making her gag.

Loren rounded a vast striped tent, the string lights draped across the awning blinking in tune with the fast tempo of a carnival melody.

I will make it quick, said the voice. The words made her head feel uncomfortably full. When she was hearing them, there was hardly any space left for her own thoughts. You are what he has been looking for.

Loren’s blood ran cold. But she kept moving, not slowing for one second. She’d lost sight of the monster, but she knew better than to think it had given up. If anything, it could likely see her precise location.

The thought gave her an idea.

She reached into the pocket of her jeans and pulled out her bottle of Venom. Not missing a step as she wove through the destruction of the carnival, she tipped her head back and dripped a drop into each eye, blinking rapidly as it stung on impact.

Her eyes turned white, and her temples pulsed as white webbing spread through them.

What who has been looking for? she asked, picking up her pace, shoving the Venom back into her pocket.

The thing didn’t answer.

Loren dared a glance over her shoulder—

The Venom did not distort her vision the same way the Sight distorted a hellseher’s. In fact, her surroundings hardly looked different, except she could see the giant monster now. Could see its aura, as if she were a hellseher.

It was creeping low to the ground behind several gaming booths filled with stuffed animals, its form a muddy, quivering glow.

Loren kept moving, using her knowledge of its whereabouts to her hidden advantage, hoping the thing wouldn’t see right through her.