Page 103 of Blood Bound (Blood Mafia 3)

Another scream rips through the air. This time it’s Demi’s.

The specter—or poltergeist—flickers. “Nix is in trouble.”

I nod. “Yes, let me go help her, Howard.”

His form trembles. “She’s in trouble. I can’t feel her.”

Something isn’t right.

Maria and X crash into the dining room, barely missing the refrigerator which barrels into the wall, breaking through some of it.

That’s it.

If we can get Sammy to send something huge toward the window, we can get out.

“Maria, X, run around and back toward the bay.”

X’s eyebrows wrinkle but Maria gets the code word. She snatches the young hunter’s hand and they take a loop.

I pat the refrigerator. “Nice try, Sammy. I guess this is just too big for you to use.”

When she was alive—or undead as a vampire—Sammy hated being told she was too small.

“I’m not small,” she whispers, holding her hand out and sliding the fridge back.

I flash toward the kitchen. She sends the giant piece of equipment after me. I’m intentionally slow, letting her think she’s close to getting me. Maria and X round the corner, their frantic gazes colliding with mine.

I jog toward the window. “See Sammy, you’re too small.”

The poltergeist howls and sends the refrigerator straight for me. At the last millisecond I flash to the side, letting the thing careen through the window. Glass shatters and the wooden frame splinters.

“Run!”

Maria picks up X and together we flash from the house. Sammy screams so loud the rest of the windows in the house break.

“You can’tleave.”The floorboards vibrate under my feet and I leap from the unstable ground, landing in a crouch.

The frame of the house shakes from Sammy’s rage. Loud groans accompanying the swaying. Wood snaps, the beams unable to bear the pressure, and the left side caves in.

“Shit.” X wheezes, leaning against Maria for support. “What the fuck are those?”

I whirl around and stare at the giant creatures. “Hell scorpions.”

* * *

Demi

I’m in the middle of dashing away from a scorpion tail when Maria, Mateo, and X burst out of Nix’s house seconds before it collapses. Sprinting to the left and dodging the gleaming, wickedly-sharp point, I shout to Colt who’s busy with a blood demon.

Kerberos has his jaw wrapped around a blood demon’s leg and drags it toward the scorpions. The large beast skitters around from side to side. Their feet leave little craters in the ground and everyone’s flashing about, trying to avoid getting hit or stomped on.

Nicole whips out a dagger from her back holster and slices through two legs of a scorpion. Her supe speed gives her ample time to get out of the way when it tilts over. Zander works with her to take out the rest of the legs, dodging the tail.

Kerberos drops the blood demon in front of a scorpion who lashes out, stabbing the demon with its pointed tail, and skitters back into the forest.

They’re hungry. We need to feed them.

I about-face and rush toward Colt, jamming my knife into the blood demon’s mouth while he’s distracted. Colt clamps his arms around the blood demon before he dissipates, halting the jumping, and together we drag him toward a scorpion.

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