Page 64 of Corrupt Shadows

My shadows weakly alert me to the presence of Lorcan’s. Gomez must notice it too because he chirps and squeaks wildly. Distracted, the Order members swing their worried gazes to Gomez, while the brothers glare at each other. Lorcan speaks and simultaneously slides a shadow under the carpet. It slithers undetected beneath the woven fibers before coming out behind Ezra.

I hold my breath, not sure how this will play out.

With inhuman speed, Ezra reaches over his shoulder and grabs Lorcan’s shadow. “Really, Lorcan? Did you think—” His voice cuts off when a different shadow winds around Ezra’s throat. I stomp on his instep, using his surprise to my advantage.

Lorcan and I work together in a dance of violence. He uses his shadows to bend Ezra at the waist just as I drive my elbow into his groin.

“Mother fucker!” Ezra shouts, cupping his crotch and loosening his hold enough for me to free myself.

His outburst startles the woman holding Gomez. She literally jumps several inches off the ground and her hands fly dramatically to her chest. My little bat falls to the carpet with a soft thud but quickly stands on one leg, holding the injured one off the ground. He pauses for a moment, shaking his fluffy head before his eyes narrow in determination. Gomez stretches his wings wide to his sides before taking flight.

“Yes! Go, Gomez. Fly away!”

I lose track of my fluffy baby when a thought pops into my mind. A hysterical laugh bubbles from my throat. Ezra cannot use his shadows and risk exposing his demon nature to the Order.

“You’re so fucked,” I choke out between bouts of giggles.

Lorcan raises an eyebrow, the corner of his mouth twitching into a smirk.

Then Lorcan sprints toward his brother in a blur, using the momentum of his forward motion to send a right hook to Ezra’s mouth. Ezra knees Lorcan in the guts, then punches him repeatedly in the kidney. Lorcan grunts but wraps his brother into a bear hug around his waist and smashes him into my bookshelf. I’m watching with rapt attention, oblivious to my surroundings, when one of the cloaked Order members grabs my hair and backhands me across the face.

“What is with the fucking hair pulling?” I shout.

The other people in the room back against the walls, clutching their fucking upside-down crosses fearfully.

They might temper my magic, but adrenaline pushes me into fight mode. I spin out of my assailant’s hold, my hair twisting painfully against my scalp, and punch him in the throat. He drops my hair and stumbles away, clutching his neck, his mouth opening and closing like a beached fish. The scent of iron fills my nostrils from the blood spilled, half of it staining my shirt, arms, and face.

“Seriously, you brought the family?” Lorcan snarls.

“An angel needs his entourage. They’re almost here,” Ezra replied, grinning like a lunatic. How the Order ever thought he was holy is beyond me. He gives Lorcan his back, then stalks toward me.

Lorcan’s shadows wrap around his brother in a full-body bind, pinning his arms to his sides. His legs snap together next, and Ezra crumples to the ground. Another shadow gags him, muting the threats and obscenities passing his lips.

“My shadows cannot hold him for long. Come with me now!” Lorcan shouts into my mind while his arms band across my chest and he curls his body around mine protectively. He walks backward toward the mirror, pulling me with him.

Panic surges in my veins, and I squirm in his hold. His bearded jaw scrapes my cheek as he squeezes me so tight, it’s painful. I snag the desk chair with a hand but only maintain my grip for a moment before my bloody fingers slip off. He snarls at the slight obstruction.

“Lorcan don’t,” I beg.

He ignores me, his threatening growl constantly rumbling against my back.

A scream lodges in my throat, trapped by oncoming panic. Ezra barrels through the sea of cloaked bodies squeezed into my tiny office. The Order descends on Lorcan and me, like they just remembered their purpose for being here. More men pour into the room, each resembling Lorcan, and I realize they must be his family.

He places one foot through the veil and then the sensation of being ripped in half seers through my middle. The woman who came with the Order clutches my ankle in both of her hands.

“You will not survive to live another day, witch,” she hisses.

I kick her in the nose, the bones snapping grotesquely. Nausea churns in my belly as she screams, blood running down her face and onto my pants.

My breath saws in and out of my lungs as my death magic fights to be free. No, my baby!

Gomez lands on my assailant’s head and attacks her eyes. Blood gushes down her cheeks as he screeches and flaps. The muscles in his fluffy body strain, but the tenacious bitch won’t release her grip. He pushes his wings down in powerful strokes while digging his little clawed feet further into her eyes. The woman screams, spittle flying from her mouth. Finally, she lets go of my ankle, taking my shoe with her. The last thing I see is one of my assailant’s eyeballs rip free of its socket. A spurt of crimson splashes Ezra’s chest as he shoves my brave little bat, and the female he is still decimating, to the side.

“Gomez!” I scream.

Adrenaline courses through my system without an outlet. Lorcan yanks me through the veil, and his other brothers turn their heads to face the mirror. An ominous buzzing sensation hovers along my skin. I’ve felt nothing like it, and my brain is far too frazzled to make sense of the paltry sensations.

I clap my hands to the sides of my head and groan through gritted teeth. Eerie whooshing fills my ears, building an intense pressure inside my skull. It took less than a second to cross between realms, but it felt like multiple lifetimes.

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