Page 48 of Wind with a Chance of Wolfsbane

I spit blood to the side and glared up at him. “Compared to you, I think everyone is smart.”

He lifted his arm to hit me again, and I used that moment to kick him in the groin. He doubled over, and I scrambled to my feet.

Mina and Helen were going at it, but Mina was fighting with one arm, clutching her other to her chest as blood dripped freely down her. At some point, she’d gotten control of the dagger and currently held it, breathing heavily as she stared at Helen.

An arrow came zipping by me from outside the cave. I glanced back to find the Weird Sisters were fighting hunters, and Naked-Guy was back in wolf form. His mouth was clamped around the neck of a hunter as he shook the man violently.

“Give me the dagger,” spat Helen.

Mina eased toward me. “Willa?”

Lester rolled onto his side, clutching his groin. He threw up.

I reached for Mina. “You’re bleeding. A lot.”

Helen grinned. “I stabbed her in the chest. Shouldn’t be long now before she bleeds out. The wound is fatal.”

I gasped.

Mina swayed slightly, and I caught her.

Helen came at us fast, and I found myself plucking the dagger from my sister’s hand and tossing it out of the cave, hoping Helen wanted it more than she wanted us. It landed near Blondie, who was polishing off her meal.

Helen shouted and went toward the mouth of the cave, stopping short of going out. “No!”

Blondie eyed the dagger and giggled.

Raven-Hair reappeared near her sister and looked from the dagger to me. “We cannot touch it. The tainted slayer requires it to make the sacrifice. The blood of your ancestor helped cage the demon within the cave. Only the blood of the line can break the mystical seal. Blood that is spilled by this dagger.”

Anger bubbled up in me, and I found myself launching myself at Helen. The act caught her off guard. We tumbled, and I fell onto her. I grabbed for anything I could get my hands on and came up with a jagged rock that had come free from the floor of the cave. I hit at her with it, going for her head, face, anything I could get. I sliced open her cheek and went to strike her again, only to have Lester rip me free from her.

He thrust me headfirst at the cave wall. I struck it and saw stars as everything around me spun. Giving in to the darkness inside me would have been the easy solution. But doing so would mean Mina and I would die. That wasn’t an option.

I dug deep, searching my soul for the Murray family line’s traits. Ones that had to be in there somewhere. With a roar, I pushed away from the wall and elbowed Lester as he was coming at me. My elbow connected with his face. It hurt like hell, and there was nothing funny about striking my funny bone on Lester’s hard head, but it was worth it just to see the shock on his face.

Blood burst free from his nose. It didn’t slow him down any though. He was coming at me full-force a second later.

Pale, grayish-white, boney hands came out of the darkness behind him. They were attached to long, sickly-looking arms. I watched in stunned horror as everything around me seemed to slow. The creature that emerged from the darkness looked to be part bat, part man, and part corpse. I had never seen anything like it, nor had I seen any mention of it in the Murray family library.

Whatever it was, it was downright terrifying.

Dragos.

It had to be him.

He ripped Lester backward into the darkness, vanishing with him.

Helen, who was fighting with Mina again, spun around, staring wildly into the darkness. “No! You swore we’d be unharmed!”

The same menacing laugh from before echoed throughout the cave. “And you swore to free me. Yet here I am, still a prisoner in this hell.”

Helen shook her head, her hands out to her sides. “I’m not done yet. One of them is dying. Her blood will break the binding spell. It will break the seal.”

I rushed toward Mina as she fell forward on one knee. I put my hand over her chest wound. “No getting dead. It’s our rule, remember?”

She touched my cheek and looked toward the opening of the cave. “Go.”

“I won’t leave you,” I returned.

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