Page 11 of Fallen from the Stars

“Back away!” Vasil roared, darting forward. Vegetation — living and dead — crunched and snapped in his path.

“What the—?” Theo turned, taking a single step toward Vasil as she raised her gun toward him, gripping it in both hands.

That step was the only thing that saved her. The snatcher lashed forward with startling speed, slicing through the space Theo had occupied a moment before. Its thorns bent inward, piercing the foliage on the jungle floor. The air displaced by its movement caused Theo’s pale golden hair to sway gently.

Vasil was staring down the barrel of Theo’s gun, and her finger was on the trigger, but she knew the snatcher had taken a swipe at her. Whether she’d heard it, felt it, or Kane had alerted her did not matter. She spun on her heel and stumbled backward. The plant righted itself, twisting toward her for another strike.

Vasil pushed himself harder, ignoring the bite of branches and rocks on his tentacles. He’d left too much distance between them. He’d beentoocautious in their interactions, and she was going to pay for it.

“Kane, what thefuckis—”

Vasil slammed into Theo, cutting off her words. She grunted as she hit the ground. He caught himself with hands and tentacles, preventing his body from crushing hers. For a moment, her scent — metal and flowers — washed over him, and her warmth eased into his skin.

Then she drove her elbow into his sternum.

He released a grunt of his own as some of the air burst from his lungs. The blow had been solid and well-aimed, but Vasil had faced worse from some of the creatures he’d hunted — and from other kraken. He wouldn’t allow himself to be fazed by the pain.

A fresh jolt of agony sought to test his resolve a heartbeat later; piercing pressure in two tentacles. The snatcher’s thorns had caught him.

Theo struggled beneath him. “Get off me!”

He caught her wrists in his hands before she could hit him again. Fortunately, she seemed to have lost hold of her gun. That gave Vasil a little more time to act, but not much — she undoubtedly knew now that she couldn’t physically overcome him, and she’d seek her weapon at the first opportunity.

The snatcher tugged on his wounded tentacles. He twisted slightly to look behind. The plant was exerting pressure to drag him closer.

Any further delay by Vasil and it would’ve been Theo impaled by the thorns.

The pain in his tentacles had dulled to a distant tingling that spread slowly upward, sapping his sense of feeling as it traveled. He wasn’t sure of how far it would spread, wasn’t sure how strong its final effects would be, wasn’t sure how long he had to act.

But he knew without a doubt it would’ve killed Theo.

Something within Vasil shattered. Fire sparked and blazed out of the break to roil through his veins and surge into his muscles. The snatcher would’ve taken her before Vasil had ever had a chance to have her, and he had only himself to blame. With the decision to act left solely upon his shoulders, his shortcomings had nearly cost Theo her life.

Conscious thought fled as a red haze descended over Vasil’s vision.

He released his hold on Theo, pushed himself up, and swung around to face the snatcher. He grasped its stalk with hands and tentacles, avoiding the thorns only because they remained closed, and tugged upwards. The resistance from the base of the plant was strong but brief. Amidst wildly shaking foliage and clods of moist jungle dirt, the snatcher’s base — a clump of massive, tapering leaves — emerged from the vegetation. Countless dirt-caked roots, resembling the legs of some bottom-feeding scavenger, writhed in the air — reaching for the ground, reaching forVasil.

Tightening his grip, Vasil pulled with all his strength, moving his arms and tentacles in opposite directions. The stalk cracked and snapped, tearing into several pieces. Thick, green-brown ichor oozed over Vasil’s skin. He shifted his hold to the intact portions of the stem and repeated the process. The thorns that had pierced his skin were ripped free. The snatcher’s roots thrashed wildly, more flexible tendrils — for feeding on prey — joining the leg-like protrusions.

Grasping the stalk at its base, Vasil slammed the heavy remains against the nearby tree trunk. Ichor splattered the bark. The plant fell to the jungle floor and wobbled; the roots clawed beneath it and pushed the clump of leaves up off the ground.

“Oh, hell no,” Theo growled.

Vasil swung his gaze toward her voice to find her on her feet, the pistol in her hands. He tensed; he didn’t want to harm her, but gunshot wounds were serious despite a kraken’s rapid healing. She was close enough that he had a chance to disarm her before she—

She squeezed the trigger, and the gun went off with a low, thrumming sound. Six more shots followed the first in rapid succession, but they weren’t the panicked, desperate reaction he’d expected. The snatcher released a high-pitched shriek. Each shot hit its mark in what Randall and his sister Larkin called atight grouping, blasting the snatcher’s base apart and splattering ichor, shredded leaves, and chunks of a wood-like substance across the forest floor.

The roots slowed as the base sagged onto the jungle floor, and the snatcher’s remains finally went still. Smoke curled from the remains, and in several places, glowing orange embers slowly faded from view.

Vasil’s hearts thundered, making his entire body throb. The fire in his blood burned him from the inside. Part of him — a part usually kept deeply buried — demanded he somehow make the snatcher suffer more. It hadn’t yet paid a high enough price for daring to threaten Theo’s life.

“The IDC doesnotpay me enough for this shit,” Theo said, glaring at the smoldering remains.

The flames within Vasil were suddenly extinguished. Icy cold spread through him in the heat’s absence. “What did you say?”

She lowered her weapon and looked up at him. “What?”

His eyes dipped briefly to the pistol; he couldn’t understand why she wasn’t aiming at him. “You said IDC. You…you are part of the IDC?”

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