Page 16 of Echo (A Monster’s Prey #2)

I went into the Demon Dungeon, as I coined it, armed with a flashlight. I’d tear that room apart until I had the answers. If my family had kept this thing under wraps for hundreds of years, then obviously there was a way to get out.

My eyes fell to the iron dome on the altar. I swallowed, resting my hand on the knob at the top.

“You can do this, Madison.” I took deep breaths and lifted the surprisingly heavy cover. I put it to the side and found a giant skull under it.

The skull was twice the size of a normal human’s with an elongated jaw that reminded me of a moose.

Except this was lined with two sets of skin ripping incisors and bone crushing canines.

Huge antlers shot out of each side of the top of the head that reminded me of a deer, but thicker and pointy enough to be used like a lance.

The bone itself was browning with age, and I didn’t dare to touch it in fear that the slightest breeze would make it crumble to rubble.

My lungs froze. Was this the same monster that was outside?

Something slinked over the surface of the bone, and I narrowed my eyes trying to get a lock over the bug or whatever was crawling on it. But then skin that was dark like shadows, formed along the skull.

Energy crackled in the air that absolutely reminded me of the one outside.

“Nope!” I picked up the iron dome and put it back over the skull, fizzling the aura out as soon as it was back in place.

I opened the closet door I missed before and found a row of journals of all sizes and a nearly endless supply of herbal candles. On the row of books, one was propped up front with a sticky note with my name scribbled on it.

I opened the journal to the first page.

Dear Madison,

I hope you’re already dead, and it’s Mary Ellen’s Tasha that is finding this.

Whoever the unlucky soul is, here is what you have to know.

The Rinah family has a history of being called witches since 1587 when we first landed in Roanoke.

It took hundreds of years, but slowly our family landed here in 1642, but when we claimed this land, something already lived here.

At first, we thought it was natives, but we soon found something else resided among us.

The natives didn’t have a name for it, but our ancestors called these things mimics. They were similar to the skinwalkers our ancestors met in the far west, but they are a whole other beast.

Our ancestors were lucky the first one they found was a runt. Our men thought nothing of it when they stabbed the tiny thing with iron spears and mounted it on the land as a warning to the others.

But as fate would have it, there was a bigger, meaner one who was stronger, faster, smarter, and older. He laid waste to our men. A coven of our sisters worked to trap him on the land, as one distracted him asking what it was he desired.

It was no surprise he wanted a woman. A mate.

We have offered him, woman after woman, and yet he has refused every offering. If the woman who is offered to him survives, she becomes the guardian of the land, maintaining the borders and keeping him here. But the promise of another offering keeps him from trying to escape.

That duty has been passed on to you now.

Assuming he has not claimed you as his own.

That skull was described as a runt.

What the actual fuck?

It was the summer of 1979 when our mother died. We always knew what lived in the shadows. We always knew one of us would be offered to the beast. But it was Ruby who was to inherit the role, once she turned eighteen.

The coward convinced the neighbor’s son to run away together, and on her eighteenth birthday she took to the trees to meet up with the foolish idiot. The beast caught her fleeing and decided she was to be his mate.

He murdered the young man before the beast realized that the harlot was pregnant. She was tainted and was refused even as a guardian. He would claw her out of spite and rip chunks of her hair out. Then she ran for good, leaving me to clean up her mess. Like always.

It’s not fair. But Madison, you are going to be the one to pay for her sins. He should have killed her, and you never would have been born.

You are everything we believe he hates in a woman. He’s killed every woman with traits like yours, so understand this is a cold calculated revenge to make Ruby pay for dumping this piece of shit life on me.

You were never meant to exist, and because you do, our people will continue to live in terror.

The journal explained a lot. Pearl’s disdain for Grandma Ruby and me were just the icing on top.

That iron appeared to be its only true weakness.

No fire or bullet could damage it. However, many men and women alike had tried to kill this one and failed.

Pearl was convinced that the only reason Grandma Ruby was able to leave was he didn’t want her here anymore.

The celtic shield knots were from our days in Ireland and kept him from touching anything brandished with it. It was imperative to make sure all babies and children wore the sigil of protection. Which explained the blanket grandma made me.

Everything else I already knew for herbs and salt, Grandma Ruby already taught me. She was trained by her mother in preparation and was taught our family’s ways, and even if I didn’t realize it, she passed it on to me.

I could do this.

Remember everything you’ve been taught. Deep breaths. Keep your heart steady. Don’t run. Stay calm.

Grandma escaped. So could I.

I put a huge bag of salt in my purse and ducked my head under the strap. I smiled at Ranger, ready to play the part I needed to.

I grabbed the big wooden carrier full of honey, that I’d found already prepped in storage, out to my car, hitting the trunk button so it unlatched.

I placed it inside the trunk and tossed my purse into the driver’s side.

Keeping my pace calm and intentional, I continued loading the crates I’d found in the cellar.

Surely, it was normal for Pearl to sell these jars at the community market the cop mentioned.

I felt eyes raking over me in a way that made my blood thrum.

That stupid part of me once again wondered what he’d do when he caught me.

Kill you, idiot.

The first time I ran from Mark, I’d been too jumpy and nervous. It gave me away. The second time, I didn’t even give him the chance to figure it out. It had bought me time. That’s all I needed now.

I locked up the house tight and ignored the shadows moving around the corner of the house. “Let’s go sell some honey, Ranger.”

He barked as if to agree. I was worried he’d start growling and barking, forcing me to acknowledge the eyes glued to me, but somehow he understood what I was doing. Or something.

I’d take my wins where I could.

“I’m thinking pizza tonight.” I snapped my fingers, and he jumped through the open door to sit in the passenger seat.

I turned the engine on and waited for it to warm up, picked a radio station, and adjusted the air conditioning for the hot air. The whole nine yards. I drove a respectful speed down the driveway and casually checked my mirrors. The broken salt line came up, and I parked on the other side.

This time, I grabbed my purse and ran to that line, busted the salt bag and started pouring. The heavy thud of feet running barrelled through the woods. I rushed to get a solid line as huge hooves appeared on the other side. I didn’t dare look up, until the line was connected again.

Then I slowly let my eyes travel up from the thick hooves to the black covered legs.

At first I thought it was fur, but the more I stared at the strange way it moved in the wind, the more I realized that wasn’t right.

It was shadows. Shadows covered up the legs to powerful thighs, that could burst a watermelon and probably more.

The fur/shadow danced low with a deep etched V and mouth watering cock that I would have loved to experience again if I didn’t think it would end in me being eviscerated.

I wasn’t even sure how that huge, veiny monstrosity fit inside me.

But eventually my eyes kept going up over the cut abs and chest. To tense arms that had killed a man so easily, yet held me so carefully. Until I was staring into the glowing pits that were supposed to be his eyes.

His face was the horror I expected it to be after seeing that skull, but much bigger. He was at least two feet taller than me and built with thick muscle one would expect from a mountain man.

A growl rumbled in his chest, and he grinned. Showing his razor sharp teeth in the process, making the gesture feel like a threat. “What do you think you are doing?”

“What now, bitch?” I yelled. “You’re trapped in there. By the time you get out, I’ll be on another continent.” I flipped him off. “Good luck, Fucker.”

He chuckled again. “Are you sure this was the only break?”

My heart froze in my chest. I assumed that was the case, because people had driven over it.

But I’d never check the rest of the line for myself.

It was arrogant to think that somewhere no animal had disturbed the rest of the circle.

There was a reason Grandma renewed her salt lines once a day, twice if it rained.

He tsked and shook his head in playful disappointment.

For the first time in a long time, panic completely took over, and I did the stupidest thing possible.

I ran.