Page 68 of Lovely Violent Things

I gain leverage and roll her body off, where I mount her chest and capture her wrist. Eyes flashing wild, Devyn cries out, refusing to relinquish the antler as I pry it from her grip.

Chest heaving beneath me, a faint smile touches her mouth. “It’s a delicate shift,” she says, her voice coming out in a rasp. “Like walking a tightrope over an abyss. The choice to either take a life or sacrifice your own…”

Weapon clenched in my fist, I stare down into her face, at the blood smeared across her mouth. My heart riots in fluttering bursts against the wall of my ribs. I see the sharp tip of the antler impaling her neck; I see it so clearly…just as I stabbed Landry in his jugular.

I could kill her.

It feels so easy…

With that awareness, another vision fights for dominance, plunging me far past the depths. The horrifying imagery was stirred from the abyss when Alister held me trapped, the bloody face of a man surfacing to seize my mind.

The weight of the tire iron held in my hand.

No.

I’m not a killer.

“That’s it,” Devyn says. “Let it in. There’s the answer, Halen. You see it.”

Freeing the aching breath trapped in my lungs, I cry out, lashing back against the images shredding my mind. I draw the antler up, my aim fixed on her neck, and release a scream.

I throw the weapon.

Devyn rebounds the moment I surrender. She thrusts me off her chest and commands her herd. “Take her.”

I flail as they grab my arms and legs, but my fight has been depleted. I’m lifted in the air and hauled back to the inner circle of the fire ring. The beat of the drum resumes, the disturbing cacophony of moans and wails filling the dark cavern.

I’m dropped to the earth, my back smashed to the dirt, my arms and legs stretched out. Chest rising as I try to grasp a breath not tainted with smoke, I struggle in vain against the banded hands around my limbs that pin me to the ground.

All will to fight lost, I close my eyes against the fire and surging bodies. I close myself off from the pain. I let the drug dull my senses.

Sharp pain slices into my shoulder. My eyes forced open, I see Devyn carving the point of the bone to draw blood. I bite into my lip, my arms braced against their brutal grip, a scream caught in the base of my throat. Then I feel the soft probe of her lips and tongue over the wound.

My head sways with the effect, my vision blurred.

She sinks her teeth into my shoulder. The piercing feels almost orgasmic, an answer to the constant, muted ache encasing me.

I’m about to be rend apart and devoured.

My system crashes into shock. I delve below the surface of my consciousness, searching for an escape, surrendering to the blackout…

And a shrill screech invades the dark.

A web of terror encases my body at the sound, the high-pitched chirp of the death’s-head hawkmoth. A distinct sound I’ve only heard while obsessively hunting a killer.

The Harbinger.

15

HARBINGER OF DOOM

HALEN

The horned higher men shriek in response to the ear-splitting noise. The drumming abruptly stops. A tense crack of silence follows before the pounding of my heart thunders in my ears. Then the screeching chirp sounds again, coming louder.

Devyn rises up, her hands mounted to my shoulders, as she follows the sound to the mouth of the cave. Through her drugged state, she sways, her movements lethargic as she seeks the source of the disturbance.

The hands fastened to my body slacken, the horrid moans and whines increasing until the men are forced to cover their mutilated ears. I take advantage of the interruption and roll onto my stomach. My fingers claw at the earth in an attempt to escape, and my gaze follows Devyn’s through the flames to the dark silhouette outlined by hazy sky and stars.

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