Page 94 of Land of Monsters

“Raven?” I muttered, but she continued, ignoring me, her obscurer locked on its target. “Raven,” I said louder, but once again, she did not recede.

The man’s mouth opened and closed like a guppy fish, while she spat out more guttural words. The obscurer took claim of its prey, while the dweller snapped at the fence like a feral, starving dog.

My head started to spin, energy being pulled from me and pouring into her, but it wasn’t enough. She still grew weaker. “Raven…”

I heard a pop and a snap before his body crumbled to the ground. Gore gushed from his ears, eyes, and nose, his brain melting out of his skull and into the murky snow.

Fuck.

Lethargy washed over me, but I dug my boots deeper into the earth, asking nature for more. Raven’s legs bowed, but she didn’t fall, her hand gripping my arm for support until she pulled her shoulders back.“Thank you.”She didn’t say it out loud, but I felt it even stronger than if she had. Similar to how roots talk to the rest of the tree, we no longer needed words to communicate.

“Remind me not to piss you off,” I whispered. Both of us stepped over the dead body, and I kept my firearm ready while Raven peered inside the open doors of the school. I wanted to give her the only gun we had, but she was her own weapon. I just needed to be her bodyguard, protect her until she could unleash her rage like she just had.

“He’s here.” She sniffed the air, mumbling more to herself. Anxiety fizzed in my gut, the energy around us feeling off.

Voices lured us past rooms with naked mannequins, frames empty of artwork, and empty book shelves. Anything that could be sold or used had already been taken.

“We are risking everything.” Eve’s voice came from the back room.

“We made a deal forher, not him.”

Ice grew up my throat, the man’s timbre tapping at the back of my mind.

“Things didn’t quite go as planned.”

“Clearly,” he clipped. “She is not going to be very happy.”

“Neither isVozhd.”Supreme leader. Eve snipped back.

“How do I know this is not a trick? You give me him, while you take her to Dimitri Kozlov.”

“It’s not a trick,” Eve replied. “And I assure you, he is just as powerful.”

What the fuck was going on? The mafia worked for Kozlov. Why did it sound like they were plotting behind his back?

“Can he mate with thePrimul? Carry their offspring? She wanted a breeder. A Druid breeder.”

Shewas Sonya.

“We’re not having a problem here, are we?” Nikolay’s tone threatened, the sound of guns clicking, other figures moving around the room. “You promised us a lot of money to get you a royal offspring. We did. Now pay up.”

“Such a simple task and you can’t even do that right.” The unknown man’s accent hit my ear, pumping my pulse higher.

“Pay or you won’t be walking out of here,” Nikolay spat.

A cold laugh barely hit the air before it was gone. “You think you scare me? You are nothing, Nikolay. I was trained to hunt and kill before you were sperm. There isn’t a time I am not a dozen steps ahead of everyone.”

“Really?” Nikolay sounded like a thug compared to the coolness of the other man’s voice. “Looks like you are surrounded with five guns pointed at your head. You’re the one who is behind.”

“You think so?” The man’s voice went low.

Hair rose on the back of my neck, an unnatural smell invading my nose, but one I recognized. Terror soaked into my muscles, feeling a presence come upon us, whipping me around.

A fist slammed into my gut before I could even react, the sheer force taking me off guard and dropping me to the floor.

Raven’s muffled cry filled my ears when someone else came behind her, knowing enough to cover her mouth with a cloth while cuffing her. I sensed the moment her energy was cut off, our connection muffled through the poison.

“Get up.” The man who hit me clutched my jacket, hiking me up to my feet with one arm, jabbing his face into mine. It took me a moment to get my bearings, my mind rattled by the impact. When my sight cleared, my stomach sank.

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