Page 71 of Death Raiser

“Almost there,” Leviathan said.

The Lord of the Veil had offered words of encouragement. I might very well be hallucinating. Or dying.

The howling grew closer, others joined in.

Barghests.

If my limbs weren’t already cold from shock, blood loss and the frigid ocean, I’d shiver at the thought.

I didn’t know much about the demon dogs—only that they killed necromancers on sight and ate souls for breakfast.

The rare instances I found images of barghests online or in books, they looked like freakish werewolves, only bigger and surrounded by souls. But if no one survived an encounter with one, how could anyone draw a true depiction of the beasts?

Most likely, the artists weren’t necromancers or witches. Instead, they created images from their imagination. And right now, my imagination ran wild, even though each step toward the gate sent jolting pain through my body. “Could you maybe heal me now?”

Leviathan peered down at me, the shadows of the veil playing with the hard angles of his face. “Unless you want to meet a pack of barghests, we need to cross the threshold to my castle first.” He didn’t seem overly concerned—about two hundred feet separated us from the gate.

Maybe he wished to avoid the barghests because I posed as a liability, and he didn’t want to exert the energy required to defend me. Or maybe the barghests posed as much of a danger to him as they did to me.

Interesting.

I packed the information away in my pain addled brain and kept my mouth shut. Following Leviathan, I lurched toward the gates.

A growl snarled behind us, and I stumbled. Looking over my shoulder, I gasped.

There, perched on the top of a rock formation jutting out from the mists, stood a terrifying monster. Shaped like a wolf, only much larger, with thick black fur covering its body, the barghest had horn-like tufts poking out from its fur along the base of its skull to make it look like it had a spiky, smoky gray mane—or maybe a demonic halo. The barghest glared down at us with its glowing whitish-blue gaze.

My blood ran cold.

Green and blue death energy swirled around the barghest’s massive body and when it opened its snout to snarl, revealing long, razor-sharp teeth, more death energy lit up its entire face.

The barghests in the area answered the call. They were closer now.

“Come on,” Leviathan’s strong voice urged me forward.

The barghest behind us roared. The deep vibration rattled the air and shook the ground beneath my feet. My still damp clothes stuck to my skin as I tried to move. My muscles screamed in protest and my lungs ached. I tripped and fell.

“We don’t have time for this,” Leviathan said. He ran back to me, scooped me up like a bag of dog food and flung me over his shoulder. He sprinted toward the gates.

The barghests rushed forward, sinewy muscles rippling under their sleek coats.

My heart raced. My head pounded. My arm pulsed with pain and Leviathan’s shoulder punched into my stomach with each step and made me want to vomit.

The barghests were gaining on us and snapping at the dust turned up in our wake.

I held my breath as Leviathan picked up the pace, my body flailing around, my wet clothes slapping against his leather jacket. We had to make it. Had to. I refused to make it this far only to become a barghest snack.

Leviathan raced through the gates and over the threshold. As soon as his feet hit the stonework, death magic leapt from the ground and spread over the courtyard.

The howling stopped.

I released a long pent-up breath. Leviathan gently set me on my feet, his hands lingering on my bare waist. I turned to face the gates and Leviathan dropped his hands and took a step back. The barghests stood on the other side, their eerie white-blue gazes trained on me. They didn’t bark, snarl, or roar. They didn’t even pant or claw the dirt with their long, dark claws. They stood perfectly still in their silence as the ethereal fog rolled along to shroud them once again in shadows.

“Well.” I took a deep breath. “That was awful.” I looked over at Leviathan. He was breathing a little heavy and the exposed part of his white shirt was damp and dirty, thanks to my clothes, but otherwise looked like he’d just come in from a leisurely stroll on the promenade.

I stepped toward him and careened to the side. My vision wavered. I’d lost so much blood.

Leviathan caught me, his dark eyes flashing as he towered over me. “I’m going to heal you now. But I feel compelled to warn you. Healing with death magic will be uncomfortable.”

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