Read Online Wild Things: A Chicagolands Vampire Novel (Chicagoland Vampires) by Chloe Neill - Free Book Online Page A
Authors: Chloe Neill
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distress, reared back, and swung at me, but I leaped backward, flipping to avoid the shot. Her wing hung limply on one side, and I was struck with pity. I’d winged my enemy but hadn’t brought her down.
And she was pissed.
Faster than she’d moved before, she bent her knees and jumped forward. She was on me before I could move, heavy and awkward, her mouth wide and pointed teeth aimed for my face, apparently intent on taking a bite.
“Ethan will not like that,” I muttered, humor my last weapon against fear and exhaustion. I watched for the right moment and, when her head darted up to strike, pushed the dagger through her neck.
She arched back, screaming, hands at her throat, and pulled out the dagger, which hit the ground some feet away. I watched it roll, afraid she’d come back for a second round and I’d have no recourse, no protection. But blood and worse gushed from her wound, and she staggered and fell, shaking the earth beneath.
I wiped fresh traces of blood from my face, thinking, just as I’d promised Ethan, that I’d heal. The harpy, unfortunately, would have no such luck.
• • •
When I’d gotten to my feet again, grabbed up my dagger, and scrubbed off blood and dirt, I took a look at the rest of the battle. Harpies still circled the sky—a dozen maybe—but the attack was clearly on the wane. And it would leave death and destruction in its wake.
Some shifters fought; others lay on the ground, unmoving, the scents of untimely deaths moving across the field, thrown into the air by the flap of wings. Shifters could heal themselves, but only if they shifted, and they had to be awake and conscious to do that. For some of them, it was clearly too late.
So much death,
I thought, staring blankly at the carnage, trying to process it. I’d fought battles before, and seen death. But rarely this much, and never all at once.
“Merit.”
I looked over, found Ethan a few feet away. He was dirty and blood smeared, but all limbs were intact. I nearly sagged with relief.
“Tanya and Connor?” he asked, moving quickly nearer and looking me over.
“The woods,” I said. “I got them to the woods, then dealt with her.” I gestured to the harpy, who looked scrawny and pitiful there on the ground, her wings folded in death.
“This is a miserable thing,” he said, no little pity in his voice. “Let’s get back in there.”
We walked back into the clearing as Gabriel finished off a harpy with a vicious bite to the neck, and we ran to his position at the edge of the battle.
Light exploded, and Gabriel burst back into human form, naked as the day he was born. There were a few scratches on his body, a result of the weird magic of shape-shifting. Although changing from human to shifter would heal injuries received as a human, it didn’t work in reverse.
“Everyone is tiring,” Ethan said.
Gabriel nodded. Jeff ran up, hastily clothed, pointing at Catcher and Mallory.
“They think this is a magical attack,” he said, “and they think they know how to finish it with the magic they have left. But it will be big magic.”
Catcher and Mallory knelt together on the ground in the center of the meadow, near the fallen totem. They held their left hands together, palms flat, and their right hands flat against the earth, as if testing it for weakness, or pulling strength from it.
“Mallory won’t do it without your go-ahead.”
Gabriel looked at her for a moment. “Will it hurt the Pack?”
Jeff shook his head. “It will be targeted at the magic itself. It shouldn’t touch anyone else.”
Gabriel wet his lips, nodded. “If they think they can end it, they should. Just tell us what to do.”
“Get down,” he said, then cupped his hands around his mouth. “Go!” he yelled across the clearing.
As Catcher nodded at Mallory, Ethan grabbed my hand and pulled me down into a crouch.
I couldn’t see the magic around Catcher and Mallory, not with my eyes, but I could feel it ramping
And she was pissed.
Faster than she’d moved before, she bent her knees and jumped forward. She was on me before I could move, heavy and awkward, her mouth wide and pointed teeth aimed for my face, apparently intent on taking a bite.
“Ethan will not like that,” I muttered, humor my last weapon against fear and exhaustion. I watched for the right moment and, when her head darted up to strike, pushed the dagger through her neck.
She arched back, screaming, hands at her throat, and pulled out the dagger, which hit the ground some feet away. I watched it roll, afraid she’d come back for a second round and I’d have no recourse, no protection. But blood and worse gushed from her wound, and she staggered and fell, shaking the earth beneath.
I wiped fresh traces of blood from my face, thinking, just as I’d promised Ethan, that I’d heal. The harpy, unfortunately, would have no such luck.
• • •
When I’d gotten to my feet again, grabbed up my dagger, and scrubbed off blood and dirt, I took a look at the rest of the battle. Harpies still circled the sky—a dozen maybe—but the attack was clearly on the wane. And it would leave death and destruction in its wake.
Some shifters fought; others lay on the ground, unmoving, the scents of untimely deaths moving across the field, thrown into the air by the flap of wings. Shifters could heal themselves, but only if they shifted, and they had to be awake and conscious to do that. For some of them, it was clearly too late.
So much death,
I thought, staring blankly at the carnage, trying to process it. I’d fought battles before, and seen death. But rarely this much, and never all at once.
“Merit.”
I looked over, found Ethan a few feet away. He was dirty and blood smeared, but all limbs were intact. I nearly sagged with relief.
“Tanya and Connor?” he asked, moving quickly nearer and looking me over.
“The woods,” I said. “I got them to the woods, then dealt with her.” I gestured to the harpy, who looked scrawny and pitiful there on the ground, her wings folded in death.
“This is a miserable thing,” he said, no little pity in his voice. “Let’s get back in there.”
We walked back into the clearing as Gabriel finished off a harpy with a vicious bite to the neck, and we ran to his position at the edge of the battle.
Light exploded, and Gabriel burst back into human form, naked as the day he was born. There were a few scratches on his body, a result of the weird magic of shape-shifting. Although changing from human to shifter would heal injuries received as a human, it didn’t work in reverse.
“Everyone is tiring,” Ethan said.
Gabriel nodded. Jeff ran up, hastily clothed, pointing at Catcher and Mallory.
“They think this is a magical attack,” he said, “and they think they know how to finish it with the magic they have left. But it will be big magic.”
Catcher and Mallory knelt together on the ground in the center of the meadow, near the fallen totem. They held their left hands together, palms flat, and their right hands flat against the earth, as if testing it for weakness, or pulling strength from it.
“Mallory won’t do it without your go-ahead.”
Gabriel looked at her for a moment. “Will it hurt the Pack?”
Jeff shook his head. “It will be targeted at the magic itself. It shouldn’t touch anyone else.”
Gabriel wet his lips, nodded. “If they think they can end it, they should. Just tell us what to do.”
“Get down,” he said, then cupped his hands around his mouth. “Go!” he yelled across the clearing.
As Catcher nodded at Mallory, Ethan grabbed my hand and pulled me down into a crouch.
I couldn’t see the magic around Catcher and Mallory, not with my eyes, but I could feel it ramping
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