Page 207 of Immortal Bastard

The bishop collapsed and struggled to rise. It was a massacre. Delilah could only look on in horror as blood and mud coated their skin and clothing. If these were in fact holy creatures then the pouring rain could only be God’s bereft tears.

Maddox threw Christian’s body to the ground and rose. Seething, he held the scythe in his hand, an uncontainable wrath flooding from him as he marched back to the bishop. Eleazar tried to stand, but his injuries were too great.

“No!” Christian roared as Maddox lifted the scythe high over the bishop’s head, the moonlight flashing on the blood-soaked blade as it came down with accurate promise.

A furious growl ripped through the air and Maddox was knocked to the ground. Delilah jumped back, as a male—more beast than man—slammed Maddox into the dirt. The bishop fell back as the scythe landed in the mud at his side, his head still intact.

The flames in the forest blazed as the house crumbled. The males of The Order looked on in shock and awe. Chaos exploded as the beast choked Maddox into the earth.

“Isaiah!” one male shouted, the shock clear in his voice.

“Get the females out of here!”

“How was he freed?” Weapons lifted as they prepared to charge.

“Stay back,” the bishop ordered the elders, lifting a shaking hand. The beast turned his eyes on Eleazar.

“Grab him!” someone yelled, followed by more voices encouraging the same.

Maddox lay unconscious on the soaked ground. The beast stood, hunched like a cornered primate, as the others surrounded him. A low growl rumbled from his heaving chest.

“Wait.” Christian stepped forward, eyeing the beast with curious perplexity.

“Christian, do not!” the bishop ordered as Christian took a slow step closer.

Delilah held her breath as her mate looked into the beast’s bloodred eyes. “Isaiah, do you understand me?”

The beast growled, the low rumble a gentle warning that he would not be trapped.

Lightning flashed, illuminating the drenched fields and something small in the distance. Delilah squinted. The witch was gone, but another figure lay unmoving in the pouring rain. Her eyes strained to identify the small female, noting the way her threadbare shift slicked to her body as she lay…lifeless.

Her breath caught as she recognized the girl. That was Dane’s sister, the one The Order kept locked in a cell. What happened to her? Why wasn’t she moving?

Her attention snapped back to the beast. This was Isaiah, the thing that lived in the cell beside Cybil. How were they set free?

Isaiah panted and seethed, his bare chest rising and falling under a long, matted knot of hair as his bloodred stare bore into Christian’s. The winds lifted the flames shooting a spray of sparks into the sky overhead. The immortals took a step forward and the beast hissed, ordering them back. They were afraid of him.

Suddenly, Isaiah arched and bellowed as Maddox bolted for him, scraping his claws down the beast’s exposed flesh. Pain sliced down Delilah’s back as her gift absorbed the injury.

The incensed creature turned and hissed, thrusting Maddox back onto the ground. Rather than kill the immortal, Isaiah turned and roared at the elders, then loped off, bleeding and howling as he raced through the rain toward Cybil. The further away he traveled the more Delilah’s pain eased.

“He has a female!” an elder shouted as Isaiah scooped Cybil’s limp body into his arms. He clutched her slack form to his chest and raced into the burning woods.

“We have to stop him!” Cain yelled. “He has Cybil!” A bolt of lightning forked the sky, knifing into the fields. He rushed toward the flames, but Christian caught his arm.

“No. The woods are burning. It’s too dangerous.”

Cain shoved off Christian’s hold. “Isaiah is dangerous!”

“The girl is lost, Cain.”

He grabbed Christian, jerking him forward by his shirt. “The girl is your sister.”

Christian met his cold stare with placid detachment. “She’s a casualty.”

Cain released him with a hard shove. “You should all be ashamed of yourselves.” He scanned the fallen bodies and hobbled mob. “Where is Dane?”

Delilah looked behind Cain, more concerned with Maddox’s whereabouts. He was gone. Black puddles covered the ground as rain pelted the earth, kicking up mud. “Christian…” She called, still searching the shadows for his father’s form.

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