Page 46 of Hell-Bound

With a start, Ren drew her dagger and realized that it was glowing with golden light. It cast a reflection in the dark, and she could see Jester crouched down menacingly, his fangs barred, tail swishing.

“Ren, do you see it?” he shouted, not shifting his eyes in her direction.

She swung around, brandishing The Holy Transgression, and there, in the shadow of its light, she saw a beast. Nine feet tall with a hunched back and one eye. Its mouth was open, dripping with saliva through its serrated teeth.

“Oh, hells.”

From the light of her dagger, the creature’s eye dilated. It stopped and roared so loud that Renata’s teeth chattered, and Jester covered his ears before vanishing.

With no other target, the massive creature lunged for her, using the momentum from its long spindly legs.

Ren’s instincts took over, and she dodged out of the way, her wound throbbing. She spun around, trying to gain her bearings, but if the monster wasn’t in the glow of her light, It was impossible to see.

This time, she caught the sound of shuffling before the shrill screech, and, in a split-second decision, she jolted to the right. She felt the ash from the ground kick up as the beast missed her by inches.

Having lept too far, the beast slammed into the tree. Long blackened twigs fell to the ground, and Ren had to throw her hands up to avoid the onslaught.

“Hey, beasty!” Jester shouted from a few feet away. “I thought Ren was the ugliest thing in the forest! Turns out I was wrong!”

She heard the beast shift and run towards the sound.

Jester, what the hell are you doing?

She scrambled around, trying to catch both creature and companion in the dim light. Finally, her light reflected off the beast’s giant eye as it lunged for her.

“Arrgh!” she bellowed as she vaulted and grabbed onto a hanging tree branch.

The beast snapped at her heels as she kicked out, flailing her legs to knock it back.

While the beast swatted his long claws at Ren, Jester threw himself towards the pair and clawed at its face.

With little effort, the beast shook Jester off, flinging him away. Jester’s thin body flew across the clearing with a momentum that would make any impact potentially deadly. But instantly, the Devil disappeared, only to reappear on his feet.

The creature turned around, eye focusing once again on Ren, believing she, dangling from a tree, was the easiest target.

He wasn’t wrong. Ren’s grip on the branch was precarious, especially considering that she was still holding the dagger. She tried to adjust, pull herself up, but the beast was slashing at her feet, scraping bloody gashes into her legs.

She swung her body forward, kicking the beast squarely in the eye. The creature hissed in pain. Ren used the instant to swing herself and latch her legs onto the branch and began to shimmy towards the tree’s massive trunk, the friction of whichmade every injury smart.

The beast began to toss its head from side to side, searching for its prey. Once spotted, it clawed at Ren, who was now upright and balanced on the thick branch. It lashed out but overreached, giving her the perfect opportunity to graze the side of its abdomen with the dagger.

It roared with pain, its flesh sizzling an angry red where her dagger struck. The scent of the melting flesh assaulted her nostrils.

Before Ren could stab the creature again, she saw a rock fly towards it.

“Come this way, you big brute,” she heard Jester’s voice from the thicket.

“No don’t—”

But Ren couldn’t finish her sentence. The creature turned its body and barreled towards Jester.

Ren lost sight as it launched itself away from her light.

Dammit. I need a better vantage.

Maybe if she brought the dagger higher, she thought, she could shed more light. She lifted the light over her head and found angled branches above. She reached up, trying to ignore the pain in her abdomen, and pulled herself to the next branch. She repeated the movement until she was several feet higher. She crouched on the branch, still able to hear the crawling and shrieking, but luckily, there were no painful yells from Jester.

Her tunic was soaked with blood, and she could feel it dribbling down to wet her trousers. Renata knew that she would lose consciousness soon if she didn’t get the wound closed.