Page 51 of Her Dark Priests
“We shift our physical form to something that can jump bigger distances,” West answered, taking my hand.
I looked at Jack, completely confused, and he took my other hand.
“You know what we mean,” Jack murmured. “I’ve felt it rise inside you, that fury, that wildness deep down inside.”
“I can’t,” I argued, stepping back. They held onto my hands and wouldn’t let go. “I don’t know how.”
“You have to try,” West said. “Otherwise we’re all going to die here, and this time, we won’t be coming back.” I looked up at him to see if he was being melodramatic, but his expression was deadly serious.
“I—”
“West!” Zayn’s shout made the three of us turn just as shots rang out. He was holding back three of them. But two possessed long arms tipped with hard pincers that were holding his khopesh. They were driving him back. Wesley was firing a pistol at them, but nothing was getting through their hard outer shells. West dropped my hand and headed toward them, grabbing the pistol from Wesley. Jack joined him as West pulled out a knife and threw it towards him. A fourth hatay got past Zayn as he fought hard with the first two and went for Jack.
I screamed his name, and he turned to see the thing bearing down on him. On all fours, the dark lizard thing snapped its jaws at him, revealing teeth much like a tiger’s. Jack backed up and slipped, coming down hard on his back. I went to run forward, but Wesley, moving away from the conflict, caught hold of me.
“Wes, let go!” I yelled, fighting him to get to Jack, but he refused to let go.
The lizard thing lumbered forward, and I watched as Jack, instead of trying to get up, wriggled along the ground, quickly sliding underneath the lizard’s belly. The thing looked confused and stomped its feet. One came down hard on Jack’s leg, and I saw him wince as it pinned him to the ground.
I pulled away from Wesley, but instead of approaching, I simply yelled, “Hey! Over here!”
The thing looked up at me and began its odd lumbering walk toward me, freeing up Jack to move. He slid between the creature’s back legs, and then was back on his feet and leaping forward onto the thing’s back. He sank the knife deep between its shoulder blades, and the thing screeched loudly and shook itself, trying to get Jack off its back. Jack gripped the sides with his knees, like riding a wild horse, and hung onto the handle of his knife, which was still embedded in the creature’s back. The thing wheeled around and came for Wes and me. Wes pushed me behind him, raising his fists to defend us in a way that would have been adorably funny if I wasn’t convinced I was about to watch him get eaten.
Gripping the knife hilt, Jack pulled himself up along the hatay’s back then into a sitting position. Squeezing with his knees again, he wrenched the knife out of its back and then brought it down hard against the back of the creature’s skull, angling so the blade went up into its brain. The thing screamed and rolled over, taking Jack with it. Crack, crack. Two shots rang out, and black blood bloomed below the soft underbelly of the creature. It made a horrible keening noise, and then a third shot hit it slightly lower, and the thing collapsed and went limp.
Jack wriggled out from it as West pushed the creature from the side, rolling it off the outcrop to splash into the water. I gasped as I saw other hatay moving towards us through the water. The body crashed down on top of a few of them, but more kept coming. As I watched in horror, the hatay turned on their dead, ripping and tearing into their bodies. The once clear lake turned black as its blood spread through the water, and movement caught my eye on the other side of the lake. The huge forms of the Nile crocodiles barely made a ripple as they entered the water, gliding through it smoothly. They disappeared underneath, and then chaos erupted as hatay began to be pulled down from the surface. I realised what West had been planning when he’d tipped that first one into the water.
With the crocs covering us from below, I turned back to the fight before me. I could tell Wesley felt as helpless as I did as we watched West, Zayn, and Jack. Zayn was as impressive as before, his khopesh whirling wildly before him as bodies fell in piles around him. I had seen West cast his pistol aside a few minutes before as he ran out of rounds, and now he and Jack worked together, pinning down hatay so Jack could stab them with the one knife they had between them. A hatay that looked like a huge, rabid wolf snapped at Jack, and West pulled him away. The thing’s teeth scraped across West’s arm and blood flowed from the wound.
Past them, more and more hatay were moving along the outcrop, and my heart sank. They would never be able to hold them all off. West was right. We were all going to die here. I looked back at Wesley, whose face looked grim. He saw me watching and took my hand, holding it tightly.
West looked back at us, and I had a sudden flashback to how he had looked at the ball—immaculate in his suit with his hair combed back and his face clean-shaven. I’d wanted to mess him up a little to find the true West, and as I looked at him now, I knew I’d found him. He was crouched as he stared at me. His hair was in disarray, and there was distinct stubble along his jawline. His white shirt was torn and stained with blood, both red and black, and there was a wild look in his eyes I had never seen before. It was primal and dark, a look that made me want to run like hell, but also made me long to be in his arms again.
“Victoria!” he growled at me. “Are you just going to stand there?” The question shocked me, and I gaped at him, my mouth dropping open. He stood up and stalked towards me, leaving Jack to fight the latest creature that had got past Zayn. “Are you just going to stand there and watch us die?”
“I—”
“What are you waiting for, princess? For your daddy to show up and save you? For him to send more men in to watch over you, because poor little Lady Victoria can’t keep to some simple rules?”
“What? What are you talking about? Why aren’t you—”
“Fighting?” He walked straight up to me and grabbed me by the throat. Wesley reached up to try and stop him, and with one shove, West sent him flying. “Don’t worry, my lady,” he sneered at me. “I’ll get us out of this mess, and then we’ll be on our way home. You can go running to your mummy and daddy like the good little girl you are, and they’ll make everything alright.”
“West!” I grabbed his wrist, pulling at it, but he never flinched, staring down at me with fury in his eyes.
“You can go home and settle down, marry that prick that can’t even get it up long enough to give you a good fucking. But it’s okay, he’ll manage, I’m sure, once you’re tucked up in his bed. He’ll have a quick fumble, just enough to get you pregnant with his heir, and then he’ll roll over and snore while you lie there wishing it was me slamming my cock inside you.”
Confusion faded and anger ignited. I raised my hand and slapped him across the face, but he didn’t move.
“Hitting a nerve there, am I, princess? All this rebellious crap, but you just wanted a bit of attention before you fade into obscurity as the incubator for his line. Just make sure you dress right, walk right, dance right, and don’t ever talk out of turn.”
“You fucking bastard!” I yelled. I began to struggle again, hitting and kicking him. I raked my nails down his arm, leaving raised red welts.
“That’s all you are, isn’t it? A good little girl who does as she’s told, sitting in her pretty prison and remembering back to that time when she led four men to their deaths all because she thought she was more than the pathetic little wallflower she is. How does it feel, princess, knowing that you are as useless and worthless as you feared?”
I screamed at him, fury rising inside of me and searing through my veins. My skin tingled like it was electrically charged, and I raised my hand, striking him across the face again. This time, though, his head snapped to the side under my strength, and my nails, no longer perfectly manicured but long black claws, raked down the side of his face, narrowly missing his eye. He threw me backwards, and I landed hard on the floor. He laughed down at me, and I scrambled to my hands and knees.
“Come on then, little princess,” he taunted. “Come and get me.” A rage I didn’t know I could possess filled my body and mind, and my powerful legs bunched behind me as I launched myself at him. Huge paws hit his shoulders, taking him down against the rock floor, and I lowered my massive jaw to his throat, meaning to tear it from him. As my teeth pierced his skin, his blood flowed into my mouth. The taste charged my senses and brought me back to myself. He tasted wonderful, he tasted of home. I took a breath, the fury in me still demanding I tear his throat out, but that spark of consciousness held me back as I stood there, bent over him, with his throat in my jaws.