Page 47 of To Quench Her Thirst

Strangely, the worst thing about Sheelash wasn’t her sheer size—it wasn’t even the long, curving fangs that dripped poison on the flagstone floor or the wickedly sharp stinger protruding from her fat, hairy abdomen. No, the worst thing about her was her human head and face.

The head had long, lank hair that was greasy platinum blonde, just like the stripes in all the High Born Vargans' hair. Surprisingly, the features were normal and human-looking. The nose was petite—almost delicate—and the mouth curved into a perfect cupid's bow, spoiled only by the two long, sharp fangs protruding from under the top lip.

It was the creature’s eyes that startled and horrified Addie. There were only two of them—unusual for a spider—and they were placed on either side of the nose where a human’s eyes would be. But when Addie looked into them, she saw that theywere completely blank. There was no comprehension in those black, staring orbs with their burning red pupils. There was no compassion or understanding or humor or wit.

There was only hunger.

Addie suddenly thought about what Drago had told her about his Drake.

“It’s Primal Drake—it has the mental understanding of an animal. Which means I can’t reason with it,”he'd said.

Butthiswas the true meaning of Primal, Addie thought. The mindless hunger she saw in the giant spider’s eyes told her that there was no reasoning with it—no having a rational conversation. It might have a human mouth but it couldn’t talk or think or do anything but suck its prey dry.

All these years the Vargans have been worshiping it,Addie thought, feeling both disgusted and fascinated at the same time.Worshiping a monster and making it out to be a goddess when really it’s just a hungry, mindless thing. They’ve been sacrificing themselves for generations to keep it alive, to extend its life year by year when it doesn’t give a damn about them—it just wants to eat!

Somehow she had locked eyes with the giant Spider and now they stared at each other, neither of them moving. Addie felt frozen to the spot—she was sure if she tried to get away, Sheelash would be on her in a second. But she couldn’t just stand here all day, could she? She had todosomething—what, though?

Addie licked her lips, which still had a metallic, salty tang, and opened her mouth. She wasn’t sure what was going to come out but when she spoke, her voice wobbled alarmingly.

“Shoo!” she said, waving an arm at the giant spider goddess. “Get back—go away!”

The perfect cupid's bow mouth opened, revealing even more of the fangs. They put the ones that Addie had so recently had to shame. Despite her certainty that the spider couldn't talk, Addiestill had the impression it was about to speak. Instead, there was nothing but a high, menacing hiss—like the tea kettle shrieking of the silky spider in her room, but magnified exponentially.

Addie clapped her hands over her ears.

“No!”she shouted. But her words had no effect—Sheelash skittered closer, her fanged mouth gnashing the air.

But she wasn’t headed for Addie—she was looking at Drago with those hungry, blank eyes.

“Hey, no!” Addie waved her hands in wider arcs “Leave him alone! Don’t you dare come near him!”

Of course, her words had no effect. Clearly the big spider was interested in easy prey and since Drago was still strapped down, it had decided to take him first. Doubtless Addie would be next—she had no illusions that Ls Prissa or Lx Sambla would come to rescue them. Probably they would allow both of them to be killed and then they would send some kind of phony excuse to the Mother Ship and claim there had been a terrible “accident.”

We’re going to die here,Addie thought, feeling despair wash over her as she moved to put herself between Sheelash and the iron chair where Drago was still imprisoned.We’re going to die and it’s all my fault! I’m the one who insisted on coming because I believed that bastard Sambla actually liked me! And now Drago is going to pay for my stupidity too!

Well, not if she could help it. Or at least she wouldn’t let Sheelash kill her and Drago without a fight. Though she had no weapons, she planted her feet firmly and waved her arms again.

Sheelash advanced once more, now she was less than seven feet away. Her huge, bulbous body loomed above Addie and her hungry mouth worked, making that inhuman hissing sound again.

“Get back!” Addie shouted at the enormous arachnid, trying to be heard over the shrieking hiss. “Get away from him—go! You can’t have him—he’smine!”

“Fuck!” she heard Drago mutter behind her as the hissing finally stopped. He sounded more alert now, at least. “Addison, get away from here!” he snapped and she could hear the protective fear in his voice as he took in the situation they were in. “Get the Seven Hells away from that fucking thing!”

“No!” Addie stood her ground, even though she felt like she was about to faint with fear. “No, you’re tied down and helpless—Iwon’tlet her have you!”

“Get away!” Drago insisted. His voice sounded more desperate now. “Addison, youhaveto go. My Drake senses the threat—he sees that fucking thing menacing you and he’s coming out!”

That got her full attention. Breaking the staring contest she’d been having with Sheelash, Addie turned her head to look over her shoulder. Drago was sitting bolt upright in the iron chair now and his eyes…

His eyes have changed again!she thought.They’re full of flames!

“Addison,” he said and his already deep voice had dropped another octave to become an inhuman growl. “I can’t hold him. He’s…coming out…noooooowwwww!”

The last word turned into an unearthly roar that nearly deafened her. Addison didn’t argue anymore—she ran as fast as she could to the other side of the room. She turned just in time to see Drago’s transformation—a sight she knew she would never forget for the rest of her life.

From where she was standing, it looked like the enormous Drake simplyburstout of him. His human form shredded away to nothing instantly and then, less than a second later, there was a dragon standing in his place.

Addie’s eyes went wide.

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