Page 12 of Monstrous

A half second later the shadows swirl around us in the afternoon light, the sky turning dark. My heart’s beating ninety miles an hour as the kidnapper’s breath sounds in time with mine.

He says nothing now, only drawing me closer against his chest, tensing. Preparing…for what?

And then the shadows become more than that. They thicken, condensing. Opaque fingers wrap around the dude’s arm and yank him away from me in another second. He doesn’t release me and I lose my balance with him.

I blink, watching two more shadows detach themselves from the building, growing larger and larger until they stand in a half circle around me.

Going somewhere?

The voice sounds in my head, but I know inherently it’s not directed at me. Just as I know the voice doesn’t belong to me. It’s one of the same tones I heard last night in my dreams. It’s a hiss of sound and barely distinguishable over the roar of my pulse but I swear, I couldn’t make this up if I tried.

I catch a glimpse of one of the figures, his body formed of smoke and shadows. I can see enough of him to note the fangs. The two points peeking out from ghostly lips, along with glowing red eyes like two coals. Then the image vanishes as the three of them dive in and attack.

Not me.

No, they shift around me with a caress of darkness and head straight for the bad guy, ready to take him down.

The dude doesn’t scream. He doesn’t make a sound, but he releases his hold on me completely before darting to the left to make his escape. His face is covered in a dark ski mask, but I catch of glimpse of his blue eyes and his clothes before he disappears, which is enough to make a connection.

Mark Smith? It looks like him.

Holy shit.

Gasping, I step back until I bump into the wall. Then, I focus on the unnaturally made shadows in front of me. A trick of the eye? Impossible. A play of light? No way. My heart’s in my throat. I’ve never seen anything like this before. The shadows constantly move, changing shape. Vague figures that can’t possibly exist and are hard for me to see.

You’re going to pay for this.If you’ve hurt her, you will pay in a thousand ways.

The voice once again speaks to the bad guy, not to me, the threat clear.

The three of them dart around Mark to circle him, trying to make sure he doesn’t get away. I can’t move. Of course. I can barely breathe as I view them, grasping the bricks for dear life until the tips of my fingers are rubbed raw. Those three shadows with claws and fangs and glowing red eyes—

Monsters.

Fuck!

The same ones I vaguely remember from the night of Walker’s death. The nebulous shapes…three of them.

Three.

I slap a hand over my mouth to keep from screaming.

They reach for Mark at once, melding into a single unit for a brief second before splitting again to rear up behind him. The man pivots on his heel and ducks down just in time to avoid one of the shadow arms slashing toward his face. He comes up on the other side of the figure, shifting his body again to jump out of the way of another attack. For some reason they aren’t making a hit and I wonder why. Are they purposely going easy on the guy? Or is it something else?

I want to tell these impossible creatures who are probably just a figment of my imagination to really let the guy have it. He tried to kidnap me! He might have gotten away with it if they hadn’t shown up, so he deserves to bleed a little bit.

Then again, I might also be dead and this is some kind of weird purgatory. Some last image from the firing neurons in my dying brain.

I’m not willing to rule anything out yet.

Actually, death makes more sense than shadow monsters. And a bad guy straight out ofThe Matrixwho manages to duck and dive and generally evade every hit and punch they throw his way.

My breath catches to the point of pain as the dude manages to dart around their constantly changing forms and bolt down the street out of reach.

Pussy, one of the voices calls out.

I listen to the fading echo of his footsteps as he runs off. Leaving me alone.

Correction, leaving me alone with three monsters.

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