Page 116 of Land of Monsters

“We’ve got to move.” Kicking open the car door, the hinges balked, blood and guts covering the car like icing, dead bodies lying under the wheels.

Nyx soared above, more soldiers rushing our way.

Warwick grunted, drawing his clawed wolf’s blade from his back. “Go,” he growled at us, his attention on the enemy, his frame widening in attack stance, moving towards the men.

“There’s too many!” Raven countered.

“No such thing,” he rumbled, swinging his weapon.

“Here.” Brexley threw her small backpack at me. “We’ll hold them off.”

“Brex…” I caught it. My chest ached at the idea of losing either one of them.

“Can’t let my man have all the fun.” She lifted her gun with a wink. “Plus, I have backup.”

The hair on the back of my neck rose, the sensation of ghosts swirling around Brexley as she called them to her. Her invisible warriors rose from the blood-stained fields of the past.

The pair charged the enemy. They had made their decision, and standing here would only waste what they were doing for me.

“Come on.” I swung the pack over my shoulder, nodding for Raven to follow me.

We both slipped into the tunnel of the castle where Frankenstein’s sleeping monsters waited.

Chapter 22

Raven

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Firebulbs flickered on in the tunnel, sensing our presence, the light giving way to what the darkness was hiding. My boots came to a halt, the air stuck in my lungs. Ice cold heat burned through me like blue fire, and bile rose up to my throat like a tidal wave as my eyes took in what my brain was slow to process.

A string of vertical tanks lined the wall. Light exposed floating figures inside, their bodies hooked up to tubes, while gurneys sat at the base of them. Each one filled with a fae, wires and cords attached to their brains and bodies, connecting them to the machines.

I could smell death, traces of magic limping in the air. Agony and sorrow hummed in the emptiness, like their souls had been shredded and ripped out, leaving nothing but particles of what was once there.

“Ash?” My voice barely made it out of my throat. He had explained to us what was down here, but my mind had no understanding of the truth. The reality of seeing it. The horrors.

When I was brought in here before, I had been so drugged that I only remembered bits and pieces of the lair below, a kaleidoscope of monsters made-up from nightmares. This was even scarier.

A flame stoked in my belly at the idea my brother might be used like this. Becoming a desiccated shell. His humor, his cheekiness, his laughter and kindness… hollowed out and destroyed to make Sonya another compliant soldier.

Some of my shock wore off, allowing me to make out individuals among the victims. “Oh gods…” My gaze landed on the faces inside, a cry coming from my lips. “Iacob.” My hand flew to my mouth, vomit stinging the back of my throat.

Codrin lay below Iacob, cords connecting them. Codrin’s eyes were wide open, his carcass drained of his magic, his life sucked from him. Life Iacob now held.

My eyes stung with tears. Vlad, the older woman I gardened with, the hot guy who asked to sleep with me… they were all dead. Used up and shucked away.

“Gods…” Tears blurred my vision, vomit moving up to my tongue.

“I know.” Ash cupped the side of my face, his green eyes locking on mine. “This is not going to be easy, but we can’t think about the ones we lost. We can only try to save those who still live.” The sounds of battle leaked through the foundation. “Focus on getting your brother.”

He was right, it was not the time to mourn them. We had to save who we could.

The possibility of anything like this happening to Rook drove down my spine like a rod. I nodded in agreement, my chin rising.

“Can you sense him?”

My brows furrowed. I had always been able to reach out for my twin, but now we were surrounded by too much magicto pinpoint just his, though something in my gut pulled me forward.

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