Page 128 of Sin

“I… I don’t know.”

“Jinx?” London asked, and the goliath moved to his side. London wasn’t looking at the men anymore. No, his gaze was now on the walls where dozens of…

Every single fucking animal head was turned toward us, their fake eyeballs glinting in the soft moonlight slipping through the windows. I hadn’t seen them move.

“Jinx,” London started again, “I think we’re going to need a distraction.”

Jinx swallowed, sulking and looking like he was truly regretting his life choices. “I don’t want to.”

“Jinx.”

With a groan, Jinx relented, creating five clones. They all spread out, just before the end of the rug.

“Now, everyone,” London said, as the men stood, like they sensed our plans. “When I say run, you run. You all know where to go.”

“And what about me?” Jinx whined.

Blade clapped him on his shoulder. “Try incinerating them.”

“And if that doesn’t work?”

She shrugged. “Run?”

“Do it, Jinx,” London ordered.

And with one last whimper, he and his clones stepped beyond the rug.

The men lunged for them, swiping out with claws and trying to bite him. The supposed Mr. Radley pounced on the clones and sank his gums into the clone’s neck.

I said gums considering he was missing his teeth.

“Run!” London said, linking my hand with his, and we all surged forward.

With the men distracted, the predetermined groups split. Jinx and the clones were still grappling with Adam and Mr. Radley. The corpses were rather fast for having no brain or flowing blood.

When Adam grabbed one of Jinx’s clones from behind and twisted the clone’s head with a sick crunch, the clone collapsed to the ground before disappearing completely.

The real Jinx tackled Adam, and they crashed to the ground.

“Jinx! Come on!” Mare yelled as she and Lucas rushed up the stairs, taking them two at a time.

“Holy shit,” Blade said as from all directions, the taxidermied animals climbed off the walls or crawled from the floor, all heading for us. Several birds swooped and circled us from above, their marbled eyes unseeing yet somehow still trained on us.

A cougar jumped off his ledge on the wall, landing on the stairs. Slowly, it began to stalk toward Mare and Lucas.

“Fuck,” Mare hissed as swiped its claws toward her. She fumbled for her belt and pressed one of the buttons. Her arms lit with flames, making Lucas take a wary step to the side. When the cougar made another pass at them, she grabbed it.

Honestly, I don’t know what I expected to happen. Maybe for the cougar to jump back to avoid the fire? But this wasn’t any ordinary cougar. This one wasn’t actually alive, hadn’t been for a long time, and it didn’t show any reaction as its fur caught fire.

“I think I messed up,” Mare muttered as a now ablaze cougar lunged at her.

Lucas caught her by the waist, and he spun her out of the way from being knocked down the stairs. The flaming cougar scrambled to turn around and immediately started back up the stairs toward her.

With their attention on the cougar, they didn’t spot the creature who jumped onto the chandelier, swinging from the antlers. The monkey pounced on Lucas’s back, and he scratched at its hold on his neck, attempting to pry it off of him.

We missed the syringe the monkey had clamped in its maw, and before we could do anything to stop it, the monkey jabbed it into Lucas’s neck.

Lucas slapped the injection site, stumbling back against the wall. The monkey leaped from his back and landed on the steps above him.

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