Page 48 of Land of Monsters

My body reacted, everything in me screamingmine. The thought of them touching her whipped fury in me like a tempest. Her name stuck in the back of my throat, sweat dripping down my back as I lurched forward.

“No,” Dzsinn hissed, ramming his arm into my chest and shoving me back into the wall.

“Get the fuck off me.” I pushed him off, my need to get to her taking over every thought.

“Ash.” He shoved me back again, stepping in front of me, his tone severe. The noise in the cavern disguised our voices, but he shot a look over his shoulder, making sure we had not been discovered. “You can’t go down there. Not yet.”

“Fuck off.” My nostrils flared. I was ready to toss him over the railing, desperate to get to her.

“Youcan’t.” He kept me in place. “You will be killed in seconds. And then she really has no hope.” His grave expression momentarily paused me. “I know what they are. Where they came from.”

My brows rumpled. “What do you mean where they came from?”

He swallowed, his gaze going down to the monsters leaning over Raven.

“I’m assuming you’ve heard of Dr. Rapava?”

A knot formed in my throat, my head bobbing. He was the scientist Istvan tried to replicate, taking his formula for changing humans into fae. Istvan had advanced it, but Rapava was the man who started it all.

“These are Rapava’s first ‘successes’ at creating a stronger species.” He nodded down to them. “Put parts together from animals, fae, and humans. He wanted to build a resilient, more lethal species. They were thought to be all dead by now, or maybe hoped, since they haven’t popped up anywhere in a long time. But they should have known these things are almost impossible to kill. As far as I know, you have to cut off their heads to even have a hope.”

“How do you know all this?”

Dzsinn swallowed. “Someone I know has been hunting them for over fifteen years. Had me on the lookout if any talk or sightings came up. He was there when they were created. They’re not merely the strongest of fae. They also come from a seer.”

“Szar.”I gritted my teeth. Seers were mainly humans who could see through fae glamour and couldn’t be controlled or tricked. Back when the fae were in hiding, they were the only ones who could perceive the creature under the magic and identify the fae hiding amongst humans. Many times the government hired them to become hunters of fae.

Z ran a scabby hand over Raven’s face, sliding it down to her hips, as if he was seeing if they were good for birthing. His hand went to his pants, loosening the waist tie. My body jerked in response, wanting to tear every limb from his body and strangle him with his own intestines.

“Stop.” Dzsinn pushed his weight into me. “That thing will rip you apart in seconds.”

“I’m not going to stand here and let him touch her or…” I couldn’t go on with the thought, knowing the way his greedy eyes moved over her, what he would do with her. What they were doing with all the women. It was very clear why these women were drugged and chained to the beds. It made themeasy to assault. Most of these women were not even conscious when they did it.

The rhino-man had moved onto another half-conscious woman, rutting into her with grotesque animal grunts, spilling his seed with a heavy grunt.

“They are using these women to create more of them.”

“That’s what it looks like,” Dzsinn muttered.

At least half of the young women were human. Probably daughters and wives from the villages around. Their husbands, brothers, and fathers were in the tanks we saw at the beginning.

The human women might be able to conceive and carry, but most likely would bleed out and die after giving birth. The rest seemed to be fae and half-fae women, the ones strong enough to carry their abominations for more than one pregnancy.

Being a Druid made Raven a prized possession. Physically, mentally, and magically capable of bearing many fae children. In our dark past, many fae took advantage of Druid women, using them to carry on their line.

The idea of this brute thrusting himself into Raven made my vision blur. No one was going to fucking touch her, not if I still had air in my lungs.

“Z?” Another monster walked in, part man and part what appeared to be a rhino-beetle. He had a round face with dark eyes and hair, normal legs and arms, but had a black shell that protected his chest and back and had a horn for a nose like a beetle. “Queen Sonya wants us to sweep the forest.”

A hiss rattled Z’s chest, his neck swinging to the beetle. “That bitch is not a queen.” He stomped over to the man, retying his pants, stepping up into the beetle’s face. “I am your leader. Did you forget that?”

“No, Commander.” Beetle dipped his head slightly.

“You take orders fromme,” he threatened. The beetle tipped his head more in response. Z watched him for a while, then spatout, “Fine. We’ll go sweep the forest and get something to eat at the same time so I’ll have extra energy for this one.” Z nodded to Raven, stepping back from the beetle. “T?” He called over to the rhino, who was in the last throes of reaching his orgasm, huffing loudly, the bed squeaking under his quick, short rhythm. “You hit your limit for the day.”

T bayed out his release, then quickly climbed off the girl.

“You stay,” Z ordered the one with crocodile skin, then nodded to the rest of his men, all of them following him out. The rhino, T, yanked up his trousers, running after them, leaving just one to guard over the drugged women.

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