Page 133 of The Princesses of Ruin
“There’s no reason to be scared, my love,” he says, his voice reaching the deep, hollow part of my stomach. He pulls me in and ourlips meet with intense heat. He groans as he feasts on my lips and I surrender everything to him. Just as suddenly, he pulls away.
“Try not to hit me with those new bullets.”
He leaps straight up with more speed than a mountain lion and perches on the wall. Kazimir flies overhead and he jumps again, catching his harness. Zane launches himself over after them. I pull myself to the window to watch them go.
Adrik drops from Kazimir’s grip, unleashing a long, glowing staff as he falls. He smashes into the oncoming demons, and blue fire erupts from the end of his weapon. He holds it under his arm and aims with ease as the end of it spits flames.
The beasts shriek and writhe, the black covering their bodies fleeing back into the pit. When they’re bare and Adrik’s flames have died, Kazimir swoops in with his scythes, beheading two of them while Zane executes the others.
A creature vaults from the crater, sailing toward Adrik. I aim instinctively and fire. My bullet hits the monster with a wet smack that sends some of the black goo spiraling away, and slows the creature just enough that Adrik can respond. He sweeps his weapon in a heavy upward arc, blasting the beast with heat until it’s pinned down. Alastair lands on it like a meteor, shredding the thing with two swipes of his claws.
I breathe, remembering my weapon. I reload with standard bullets. The battle’s not so desperate yet that I need to risk blowing myself up. The fun is just starting, after all.
Reina burns into view, coating the mid-line of monsters with her flames. The black of the pit snaps out, reaching for her, and she veers away carelessly. She tumbles behind Adrik, and he bashes the reaching arm of Ashai once, twice, three times before it finally retreats.
The monsters just keep coming, scrambling out of the crater with hunger that borders on insanity. They want our blood. Our very lives. These banished creatures who once walked our realm are mindless, seeking only the warmth of the bodies.
A soldier screams and I twist, honing in on the sound in an instant. The hellbeast pins the man to the ground, stabbing into his stomach over and over as if it could crawl inside him. I fire, praying my aim is true at this distance.
The shot sings against the black armor around the monster’s skull, a ricochet pin casting pink ripples through my vision. The monster opens its massive mouth, unhinging at the jaw, and roars at me.
Fuck.
I open the vial of Adrik’s special bullets and load a round, my gaze darting up every half second to watch the thing thunder toward me. The monster drops to all fours, eating up the distance.
I shoulder my weapon and step back from the window. The beast vaults the wall in a single, fluid movement, and I take aim at its apex. My barrel belches fire, kicking into my shoulder with a painful bite. The bullet smashes into the monster and detonates in a flash of bright blue.
When my vision clears, the creature is gone. Pieces of it litter the wall and hang over the others taking shelter here with their ranged weapons. Its insides are just as black as its outsides.
I laugh as I take in the carnage. Adrik is a genius.
Another monster flies over the wall, following in the wake of the other. I gasp and reach for my pistol—but I know I’m too slow.
Blackened spindles undulating with blue spear the beast through, pinning it to the wall. A flash of red hair and more magic blurs by, and Scarlett leaves the enemy beheaded at my feet. She moves onfaster than I can thank her, shooting into combat with an inhuman leap.
I kneel and load the next round before another creature can get the drop on me. The portal is vomiting monsters at a terrifying rate. I don’t have enough bullets for all of them, so I’ll need to pick my targets strategically.
My hands shake as I raise my weapon and look for Adrik. He and Kazimir fight back to back, their weapons a whirlwind of zipping blue and sprays of black. The hiss of his potion belt hits my ears, and I watch as he grows in size, his muscles pushed to the absolute limit.
Lily roars into view, tackling a beast off its victim. Another two converge, and the black pool of liquid rises behind her. I take aim at the mass of darkness stretching toward my friend, and fire.
The barrel expands and burns red hot as the bullet explodes out the end. The shot hits Ashai’s power and explodes, misting the black ooze. It drips over Lily like rain, coating her skin. Her screams punch me in the stomach with fear. She falls to her knees as she scrubs at the spots of darkness peppering her body. Alastair is beside her in an instant, carrying her off the field.
Grenades detonate in my periphery. I pull back from the window, horror-stricken to see the monsters have crossed the wall. I load another round with shaking hands and take aim. The beast is felled in a single shot, but the next one takes two.
Another gunshot pulls my attention, and I see Jasper, dual wielding pistols, punching his way through the enemies that have flooded the wall. We’re being overwhelmed, and the pool in the crater is near overflowing. It shimmers like the night sky, reflecting a different version of what’s beyond the portal. While the beasts throw themselves into the placid pool, the echo of the doorway on its surface holds only a woman.
She’s smiling.
This is exactly what she wants from us.
I reach out mentally for Alyse, calling her, but there’s no reply. I pull out the last canister of Adrik’s special bullets and load the first round. My gun is heavy in my arms as I shoulder it. The sounds of combat bombard me from every angle, filling my vision with color.
The barrel aligns with my target, the silent witness in the corrupted lake. Breath fills my lungs and I half pull the trigger. Shooting into the portal hasn’t worked, but this…maybe this will work. It’s all I have. It’s all I can do.
The hammer slams down and the gun kicks me in the chest. My bullet sails between monsters and skims the liquid before destroying itself in a ball of blue glory. I wince against the light, watching as half the combatants on the battlefield stop.
The woman, no more than a girl of twenty, appears in the gaping mouth of the portal. There’s a bloodied wound on her stomach the size of my bullet. She slides her fingers through the crimson and stares at it in shock, then tumbles forward. Her blond hair feathers her shoulders as she falls face-first into the pool.
