Page 49 of Land of Monsters

My attention went from Crocodile to Raven, assessing the layout and situation. Whatever expression was on my face screamed my intentions.

“Ash, no.” Dzsinn shook his head.

“I don’t give a fuck what you do.” I yanked a blade from my belt. “I am going down there and get her.”

“That one is like a dozen well-trained fae fighters. And it only takes one shout from him to warn the rest we are here.”

“Then we make sure his mouth never has a chance to open.” Flipping the full-tang knife in my hand, I slipped past him. Staying low behind the stone wall, I kept my gaze on the crocodile, inching toward the steps down.

The reptile peered over his shoulder at the door, like he was making sure Z was really gone before moving through the cots. Acid bubbled up in my throat. The power Raven exuded was a magnet; they couldn’t stop themselves.

Reaching Raven’s bed, he reached out and touched her, a vibrating noise coming up his throat. The sound of a mating call.

Fuck. No.

A growl shot from my mind down into my bones.

Mine.

“Ash…” Dzsinn tried to call my name, but I was already gone. I snuck down the steps, my serrated knife in hand. The gun would call too much attention, and it would take a lot of bullets to penetrate his thick scales.

My boots soundlessly hit the rocky floor, wrath burning through my muscles at seeing him unzip his pants and crawl onto her bed. With no one here, he thought he could get away with rutting her first, sinking his seed in before Z could. Unaware that the real monster in this room was me.

“I’m gonna make you bleed, little girl.” He climbed over her, his white, translucent penis pushing out through his scaly skin, already erect.

Burning rage exploded in front of my eyes, the color of blood painting everything I saw, a deep primal voice rumbling out of me like I was possessed.

“No, I’m gonna make you bleed, you piece of shit.” I slipped behind him, grabbing his head, my blade slashing across his throat. For anyone else, the blade would have cut so deep into the bone that their head would’ve been hanging on by only tendons, but his thick scales prevented it from penetrating deep enough.

Croc thrashed into me, stumbling me backward, barely staying on my feet when he lurched for me, his teeth gnashing. Pain blasted through my shoulder as he knocked me fully over. His heavy form landed on mine, my bones cracking under his weight.

His mouth opened, snapping for me again, blood trailing from the wound I inflicted. Rolling to the side, I tipped him off me, his hand reaching for his gun as I sprang to my feet, kicking the weapon from his grip.

“You are dead,” he hissed, springing for me, moving quicker than I expected, his mouth snapping down on my thigh.

A scream caught in my throat. My legs folded under me, and I dropped to the ground. A cruel smirk twisted his bloody lips as he scrambled forward, reaching the gun I kicked away and pointing it at me. “Such a soft, pathetic species.”

His finger tugged on the trigger when a snapping, squelching sound jolted him in place, a blade pushing through his throat. Croc froze as the blade twisted, digging a deeper hole through his esophagus. The popping of his spine resounded in my ears.

A gurgled cry escaped his throat as I forced myself to stand, getting in his face.

“Who’s pathetic and soft now?” Using all my force, I stabbed my blade into the softer part of his belly, flaying him open.

His body dropped, revealing Dzsinn behind him, his face dotted with blood. “You ever make a stupid move like that again. I’ll snapyourvertebra.”

I snarled, stepping over the monster still gasping and bleeding on the floor but trying to rise back up, and I rushed to Raven.

Left only in a thin tank top and underwear, she looked so small and vulnerable. Up close, I could see how beaten and drained she was. Her eyes and cheek were bruised, her lip split, her skin ashen, with marks down her legs and arms. A frenzy of rage thickened my throat. They took something so strong, brutal, and deadly and bled it out of her until she was a shell. A victim.

“Raven?” I cupped her head, my thumbs sliding over her cheeks. Her skin was sticky and swollen, increasing my fury. I wanted to murder every single person who caused these marks. Yet a sense of serenity came over me the moment I touched her, a rightness I hadn’t ever experienced before. “Hey, wake up.” I tried to jostle her, but she didn’t stir.“Dziubus.”I whispered her pet name, and I swear her lashes fluttered, but she stayed asleep. The goblin metal was draining her dark dweller, and thedrugs kept the obscurer weak. Until they were off, she couldn’t fight.

“Hurry up,” Dzsinn commanded, yanking the long blade from the back of Croc’s neck. The man still gagged and sputtered, getting to his feet, showing how hard they were to kill. Dzsinn drove the blade through him again, the bone and cartilage snapping like cracking ice, slicing through it until his head rolled away from his body. “That should do it.” He used the man’s clothes to wipe off his blade. “We have to go.”

“Opie.” I tapped on the pack on my back. “Now.”

He must have sensed the urgency, the thin thread my emotions were riding on. He quickly slipped out of the pack, Bitzy on his back, crawling down onto the bed to the cuffs on her wrists.

“Oh yes, I recognize her juicy smell. Very notable.” He sniffed at her. “Strong, rich, sweet notes with a smoky edge.”

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