Page 113 of The Monsters We Are

Xavier swiftly used his magick to reanimate the two corpses, just as he’d done to most of their victims—hence their current army of the undead, which sure came in handy. The zombies quickly joined it.

“I really should not like that you use your magick this way, but I damn well do,” she said to Xavier, needing to talk loud so that he’d hear her above the horrendous din.

The guy grinned. “Awesome, aren’t I?”

A troop rushed Wynter, his sword raised. With a soft curse, she quickly whipped up her blade and blocked the blow, their weapons clashing with a distinctive clang. She moved fast and fluid as they fought. He was good. Clever. Fast enough to catch her off-guard. Heat sliced her chest as the tip of his sword scored her, tearing cloth, drawing blood.

Gritting her teeth, Wynter all but flew at him, expertly slicing and dodging. He staggered backwards under the pressure, and an opening finally came. Wynter wasted no time in taking him out with a hard thrust of her sword through his gut.

Her monster snarled, sulking at only being allowed to watch as opposed to fight—well, to eat and maim. Kali repeatedly cautioned it not to surface. Thankfully.

The buzzing of insects joined the many other sounds of battle.Cain.A smile built inside her at the confirmation that he was alive, and some of the tension left her muscles. She hadn’t let herself wonder if he was okay. She couldn’t afford to lose focus. She couldn’t—

Wynter frowned. “Mary, no, we don’t drink blood!”

Pouting, the blonde dropped the severed head she’d been about to drink from while holding it upside down . . . like it was a fucking mug of soup.

Unbelievable.

Wynter and her coven kept moving forward, hacking through troop after troop with the help of their undead friends. Before becoming immortal, she’d have been tiring and slowing and sporting far more injuries at this point. But now, her blows were still strong, her reflexes were still sharp, and her breathing wasn’t yet labored.

Tag-teaming an unfortunately powerful telekinetic vampire, Wynter and Delilah managed to reduce him to ashes with their combined arsenal of teeth, claws, magick, and sword. Which was right about when Wynter realized that Xavier was knocking back one of Anabel’s healing potions . . . and sporting one fuck of an injury to his chest.

Her heart leaped. “You okay?”

He nodded, rolling back his shoulders. “Punctured lung. I’ll be all right now.”

Anabel/Mary pressed a kiss to his cheek even as she thrust her arm out to the side, stabbing a troop right in the face.Well, ow.

Wynter’s peripheral vision yelled a warning. She ducked, evading the energy ball that then sailed over her head. She turned toward her attacker, noticing he was chanting under his breath. Before she could strike, a heavy blast of magick punched her right in the damn solar plexus. The breath left her lungs in a rush, and she felt her hand spasm around the hilt of her sword.

Oh, she was gonna destroy this fucker.

She didn’t get the chance. A glass vial shattered as Anabel/Mary threw a potion at his feet. Smoke puffed upward and surged down his throat. He stumbled backwards with a choking sound, scratching at his neck, his face reddening to the extreme. Eventually he hit the ground hard, dead.

Wynter gave Anabel/Mary a nod of thanks, who went back to singing, only adding to the awful level of noise. Clangs, screams, roars, and explosions fairlyvibratedin the air.

The Ancients were still hurling blasts of power everywhere. The buildings in the town were all but demolished. The number of troops had gone down—partly because so many were dead, and partly because many others had given up on fighting and were seeking cover. Wynter had stumbled upon a fair few of them. And she might have let them be if they hadn’t tried to nab her. Idiots.

Hearing a hissing whistle, Wynter turned just in time to lift her sword and deflect the fireball that came her way. She spun to face her attacker, who charged at her in ablur.She backpedaled fast, bringing up her blade to slam it against his own.

They fought hard. Fast. Skillfully. But it only took one nick to his skin for the guy to rear back. He slapped and scratched at his flesh, seemingly unable to fully ignore the scuttle of phantom insects courtesy of the sword’s enchantment. Taking advantage, she slit his throat in one clean, devastating swipe.

Hearing a squawk of pain, Wynter felt her breath catch.Hattie.She twisted quickly to—

A heavy weight slammed into the back of her head, dazing the fuck out of her. Pain wracked her skull as her vision blurred and dimmed. Then everything went black.

Chapter Twenty-Four

It was blistering hot pain that woke her.Seriouslyhot pain. Like her blood was actually boiling. The agony pulsed through her veins, as rhythmic as a heartbeat.

It took everything Wynter had not to whimper. Especially when, moreover, the back of her head ached like a mother.Blow to the skull, she remembered. She suspected she had a real nice goose-egg back there.

Taken. She’d been taken.

Keeping her eyes closed, she used her other senses to process her situation. She was lying on a cold, hard, rough floor. Stone, if she had to guess. A heavy metal weight was clamped around her neck—a collar of some sort.Bastards.

The smells of dust, iron, and rust laced the cool air, making her nose wrinkle. She could hear the flickering of flames that made her think of the wall torches in Cain’s temple. There were also muffled voices nearby, and she was sure that one of them belonged to Adam.

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