Page 78 of Craving Demons

I dug my claws deep into both sides of its neck and ripped away gore and flesh, hoping to decapitate the thing. But even with all the damage I’d done to it, it didn’t seem affected.

With a smoky snort, it slammed its horns into my head and threw me back, sending me crashing through a wall.

My mind swam, disoriented, and black spots threatened to take my vision as my wolf growled with pleasure, knowing it would soon be released.

Fuck. No.

I strained to regain the control that was quickly slipping away from me. I was barely aware, barely able to move, but I rose and charged back to where I thought the goat was — my vision was so blurred I couldn’t see anything — and felt its fire even as I connected with it.

I turned my head to one side as heat consumed me while I slammed my claws through the beast’s neck at the base of the skull. I ripped and tore and… the fires ended abruptly. I couldn’t see a thing. One of my eyes was burned and blind, the other still watery and blurry, but I heard the crash of the head hitting the floor.

I staggered back, charred and broken, falling against a wall as I tried to keep control of my wolf for a moment longer.

Somehow my vision cleared in my good eye and… my heart fell.

I’d hoped removing the goat’s head would kill it, but the creature’s body was still going, flailing around wildly with its hooves.

The last of my strength was ebbing out of me. I couldn’t get up. I couldn’t fight. It was everything I could do to contain my wolf, which thrashed and raged within me, desperate to be released.

If the others didn’t finish this fight quickly, I would. Permanently.

GREY

My aspectsof conquest and acquisition gave me some significant ability to fight. I was used to hunting, where I could trap or snare prey, where I had time to plan and strategize, that was my true strength, but sometimes you just had to wrestle your prey to the ground and that’s what I was doing now.

The lion had come for me, a beast easily twice the size of any normal lion and blessed with supernatural savagery and strength. I’d done well enough avoiding its yellowed fangs and tearing claws so far, but I knew it was only a matter of time before it hit me. Its strength far exceeded mine and I was only just a match for it in speed, but I was starting to tire and slow down.

It leaped again and I punched the side of its head, redirecting it to crash into a wall. Pain blossomed across my hand. Something had broken. My knuckles were already bleeding from hitting that beast’s rock-hard hide, but I knew I couldn’t wait for it to recover, so I dove at it, picking up a broken table leg, hoping the jagged wood would be enough of a weapon.

I slammed the makeshift spear into the lion’s side and felt it sink in… but only a little and the rest of the sort-of weapon shattered to splinters.

Fuck.

The lion was still trying to rise, and I leaned heavily on it, reaching out to dig my fingers into one large eye. I felt the ichor and mucus burn my fingers as I crushed the soft eyeball and the lion roared and bucked, throwing me off it.

Staggering back, I hit a chair and fell into it, but quickly rolled back off it as the lion came at me again, its massive jaws tearing the chair nearly in half, spitting out the wood and fabric.

I surged my conquest to try to find some way of dominating this beast and felt my muscles strengthen and harden. Then, when it came for me next, I captured its jaw in both hands, keeping it from closing over me as the lion knocked me back to the floor and loomed over me.

With a roar, I poured every ounce of strength I had into my arms to keep the beast’s mouth from closing on me. Rancid, hot breath blew on me as its tongue lashed out, striking my arms and almost knocking them away. Its claws pawed at the floor, tearing up the wood, and then one found my leg, rending my flesh and scoring to the bone as it tore at my calf and foot.

I used the pain to augment my strength as I pushed hard, opening the beast’s jaws wider and winning the struggle for a moment. Its jaw broke, as the bottom went slack and fell away.

The lion went mad, crazed, backing off from me, its jaw hanging uselessly as it danced in a rage around the room. I’d hoped that would finish it, but I’d only turned it into a frenzied beast. And I’d spent nearly all my power in that one act of strength.

Slowly, I rose, the pain of my torn-up leg screaming through my body, forcing me to fall back, gasping. On my second attempt to stand, using a chair to help myself, I managed to get up on my good leg.

But then, one of the lion’s wild and flailing legs caught me solidly in the chest, the claws raking through muscle. The impact threw me across the room and slammed me through a wall, shattering drywall and wooden studs, and tossing me into the hall beyond where the slightly too-flirty hostess was cowering. Seeing me, she screamed and ran and I was sure she wasn’t going to get help.

I lay there for just a moment with one arm dislocated, searing pain in my shoulder, and the other torn up and scraped. My suit was shredded, my body broken and bloody. Determination, a raw and unbridled thing, clawed its way up from my belly and gave me the strength to stand. I couldn’t let that thing run wild and I sure as Hades wasn’t going to lose to it.

Hissing against the pain, I staggered to the broken wall, found a still-standing stud, and slammed my dislocated shoulder into it. The pain of putting the joint back in nearly made me black out, but then it subsided to a dull roar and I limped forward into the room.

I had to finish the lion. Fen was down, struggling. I could see his body shift and contort, his wolf trying to escape and I prayed he could contain it. The goat he’d been fighting was beheaded, but the body flailed about as much as the lion did. Ramsey was fighting both Nemain and the giant snake and somehow managing to fend off both, but not seeming able to attack either. I had to help him.

But that meant finishing my beast first.

My foot nudged something and I looked down to see a long knife. One of Nemain’s. I picked it up with a savage grin, then let out a roar. The lion stopped its flailing, its semi-knowing, one-eyed gaze landing on me.