Page 37 of A Hunt Bound in Blood

“Stay close, mage,” he growled without looking at me. “Be ready to run east when I say, and by that demigod you curse at, run fast and do not look back.”

I swallowed hard and crept closer to the space behind him, aware of every flick of that ebony tail. Instinct pulled at me to summon my built-in defences, and I didn’t fight it. Consequences be damned, if the shifters had come for us, I wouldn’t run without standing my ground. Cammon was out here because of me—this wasn’t his fight to face alone. I had no idea what I was doing, never having trained for this sort of confrontation, but my vampiric nature screamed at me to engage, eager for blood.

I knew we were in for a real battle when two bears barrelled out from between the trees. One went straight for Cammon, and he braced for the attack.

“Go!” he yelled to me before he bared his teeth and threw himself at the shifter. His extended talons slashed through the bear’s chest as it reared up.

The other veered towards me, and I planted my feet, ready to take it down. Before I could move, Cammon lashed out with his tail and caught the bear around its middle. With more strength than I would have imagined from the extra appendage, Cammon threw the shifter to the ground.

My breath hitched, then came out in a whoosh as another creature flew from the woods behind me and slammed into my back. Leaves, dirt, and blood filled my mouth when my face smacked against the ground, and sharp teeth sank into my shoulder, piercing my flesh and snapping the strap of my camisole. I screamed and swung my elbow backwards into the shifter’s jaw. Its yelp echoed in my ear, but its weight remained heavy on top of me. Until a low, menacing growl sounded above us and a dark, winged shadow passed over my head. The animal yelped again, its body flying off me, and a few seconds later there came a sickening crack as it crashed into a tree.

I jumped to my feet and spared a quick glance at the dead wolf that had pinned me before turning my attention to the other animals charging my way. Three badgers darted out of the shadows. I readied myself to defend against them, but they moved with lightning speed, climbing my legs, their sharp front claws shredding my stockings. I writhed, attempting to fling them off, but with tooth and claw, they latched on.

All fear of the badgers disappeared when a drake scurried into the camp. The wingless dragon was the same height as the bear, but wider in the shoulders, its horns and brown scales adding inches to its width. Its golden eyes scanned the scene, its gaze bouncing off Cammon, who was at war with the second bear and the other wolf, and landing on me.

My magic threatened to slip from my hold and raze everything in the entire clearing, and in my efforts to tamp my power, my hold on my vampirism slipped. My vision sharpened, my teeth elongated, and my nails lengthened into talons. Years of habit pushed me to pull back and hide myself, but I knew if I did, I would be overrun. Even if I’d planned to obey Cammon and flee, I would never have been fast enough with this many enemies in pursuit. My choice was either to let my instincts take over and risk Cammon finding out or to die right here, today. There was no space to think the way I had when I’d dangled over that pit. I had to act.

The need to survive won. Strength filled my muscles, and I grabbed the scruff of one of the badgers and flung it into the trees. The other two were on my back, out of reach, stabbing and slashing until sparks flashed in my eyes, but my attention remained on the drake that was now tearing at the earth in its haste to reach me. I shoved off my toes and rushed it, unwilling to wait until it made the first move. It raised its front foot as I came within range, but I launched myself over its head. Claws grazed down my front, and its horns caught on my camisole, slicing through to my stomach, but I passed over the drake’s head and landed on its back. The knife-sharp scales cut through my thick stockings, shredding cloth and skin. I held on as the shifter bucked, doing its best to dislodge me, and I could only imagine how I looked: smeared in blood, fangs bared, covered in badgers, and riding a pissed-off drake. In my battle-fuelled haze, I cackled. At the sound, one of the badgers shuddered, its claws sinking deeper along my spine. Pain shot through my nerves, setting fire to my insides, and my laugh turned into a scream. I needed to get these fuckers off me so I could focus on the drake.

Thinking only of getting free, I hurled myself towards the ground and landed on my back. One of the badgers leapt off me in time, but the other crunched beneath my weight. I rushed to roll to the side and out of the drake’s range, but it moved faster than it should have been able to given its size. Its jaws closed around my ribs, its teeth piercing, gnawing, stabbing into skin and sinew. I screamed and flailed, trying to escape, but its hold was too tight. Terror cut through my bloodlust, and I appreciated how out of my depth I was. My pulse rushed in my ears, and my stomach churned with nausea. I wasn’t a fighter; I was a librarian.

But I was also desperate to survive. And clever. Shoving my fear away, refusing to be crushed by these creatures, I grabbed hold of the drake’s jaws and applied all my strength to pry them off me. It struggled to shake free, but I dug my fingers deeper into its scaled lips, barely feeling when the flesh of my palms ripped open.

A gasp burst from me as its fangs unhooked from my hips and it jerked away, but I didn’t let go. Its eyes widened, and it did its best to retreat, but I tightened my grip and let it haul me to my feet.

“You could have let us be,” I rasped. Blood spilled down my chin, and I dragged my thoughts away from how cold I was getting. “We’re right on the fucking edge of your territory. None of this had to happen.”

The drake hissed, acidic saliva splashing from its maw onto my face, and I hissed right back, baring my fangs. Uncertainty flashed in its eyes as it realized its foe was not what it expected. Rage swept over me—exhaustion, frustration—and I wrenched my hands apart. The hinge of its jaw snapped, and the drake slumped to the ground.

I followed, my knees striking the hard earth first, then my shoulder, then my head. I struggled to catch my breath. Dark spots danced in my vision, and all I tasted was blood.

I needed my pack. I needed blood to replace what I’d lost. To help me heal. But I couldn’t move. Moment by moment, my limbs grew heavier, and I lay staring up at the stars, accepting they might be the last thing I saw.

Cammon

XVIII

Corpses lay strewn around what had been our comfortable camp. The two bears lay in heaps on opposite sides of the space, and the two wolves were piled one on top of the other.

I stomped on the final badger as it attempted an escape to the woods, and its two friends lay near the broken remains of a massive drake.

Next to them lay Glory, also unmoving and so covered in blood that the streaks of pale skin shining through looked even more ghostly. The ground dropped out from under me at the sight of her. The rest of the camp disappeared. I cursed and broke into a run, sliding through the blood and dirt to land on my knees at her side.

“Shit, shit, shit. Buttons, you still with me?” I didn’t know where to put my hands. The woman was a mess of wounds. Burn marks on her face, blood pooling underneath her from giant punctures through her gut. The rest of her camisole was in tatters, and her stockings hadn’t fared much better. With the gentlest touch I could manage, I swept her sticky hair off her brow, my fingers lingering on her cold cheek. “Fuck, mage, what happened to running when I said, huh? I can’t—I don’t—”

I had some basic healing know-how, but nothing that would patch up this level of injury. She was in critical condition, and we were too far for me to fly her anywhere safe.

If she died, the mission went with her. Even with all her books in my possession, I accepted there was no way I could find or solve these signposts without her. With every drop of blood that spilled from her veins, I was watching my future and hers fade.

Before we’d left on this trip, I’d told Syrus I didn’t care if Glory lived or died. I’d figured I could find the amulet on my own, get the reward, and move on without giving a second thought to what happened to the uptight scholar. All I’d had to do was spend five days with the fucking woman for that not to be true. Every step of the way she’d surprised me—me, a demon who believed no human could ever surprise me. She was a rare creature, and the world needed more like her.

My heart lurched as her eyes flickered open. Her gaze landed on me, glazed and unfocused, and her arm twitched, slid across the ground, seemed to be reaching for something.

“Red—” she rasped, and blood bubbled between her lips before spilling over her cheek.

“Red?”

Her lips moved, but I couldn’t hear her, so I lowered my ear to catch her faint whisper. “Flask. Red flask.”