Page 77 of His Darkest Desire
A large, dark shape stirred in the fog ahead. The creature slowly grew clearer as it prowled between the gnarled trunks. An elongated head, a long, lean body and limbs, hunched shoulders.
Not a deer or a rabbit, but a dog. A very big, very disconcerting dog.
“Echo, inform the magus at once,” said Shade hurriedly. “You must away to the cottage, Kinsley.”
But she couldn’t look away from the approaching beast. It turned its head toward her, and a pair of silvery, reflective eyes locked with hers.
The chill inside Kinsley deepened and spread, freezing her limbs and wrapping around her heart. The tiny hairs on her body rose in unease.
Tufts of fog swirled around the creature as it walked, its pace unhurried, unconcerned, confident.
That was no normal dog. It was off, wrong, impossible, and her brain only registered it as a dog because she could not comprehend what it really was.
The wisps were rapidly speaking to her, their voices overlapping into an indecipherable mess.
But those ravenous eyes held Kinsley captive. The creature rose onto its hind legs.
No, rose was not the right word. It unfolded, like a wolf shedding the sheepskin with which it had disguised itself. The creature stood taller than Vex, with spindly limbs, long claws, and a jarringly humanoid form.
Though it had drawn alarmingly closer, she could make out no notable features but for those eerie eyes and jaws lined with frightening, pointed teeth. The beast was darkness manifested in physical form, but it wasn’t the comfortable, soothing darkness Vex represented. This was the darkness of the void, of emptiness and eternal hunger.
And it moved closer still.
Only then did Kinsley find the willpower to retreat a single step.
A gravelly, inhuman voice clawed into her mind. “Your fear smells delicious, human.”
Flare darted in front of her face, ghostfire surging blindingly bright. “Kinsley, flee!”
Whatever horrifying, supernatural hold the monster had taken on Kinsley shattered. The thunderous beating of her own heart rushed in, nearly drowning out the malicious chuckle that sounded in her head.
Again, the beast spoke in her mind. “The meat of rabbits and birds will not compare to the sweetness of your flesh.”
No. Not here, not like this.
Kinsley stumbled backward a few steps before turning around, avoiding a fall only by bracing a hand on a tree. Shade fell into place to her left, Flare to her right, their glows offering her the only shreds of stability and normalcy she could possibly have found in that moment.
She felt the beast’s eyes upon her back, sensed its advance.
Without a backward glance, Kinsley ran.
The monster’s laughter kept perfect pace with her, echoing in her skull.
CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
The forest was a blur around Kinsley. Only the way forward remained in focus, a corridor through knotted trees and tangled undergrowth leading back to the cottage, back to safety.
Back to Vex.
Though her lungs burned, and her muscles ached, though her feet throbbed from the prodding of countless roots and stones through her delicate footwear, she kept her legs moving.
She had to be close. She hadn’t gone that far, had she?
Fiery tingles crackled across her back. She sensed the monster behind her on a primal, instinctual level. She didn’t know how far back it was, but she knew it was there, and she knew it was drawing closer with each beat of her heart.
Don’t look back. Keep running.
Flare flew just ahead, ghostfire trailing as they led the way. Shade remained beside Kinsley, flickering in her peripheral vision.