Kate Evangelista - Til Death

“Don’t tell her what to do.” Bowen cracked his knuckles. “Or you’ll end up just like Hilliard over there.”

The mention of Kyle’s last name snapped me back. I focused on Bowen’s face. “Why are you naked?”

He smirked. “Like what you see?”

I stifled the urge to shake my head. Built like a Greek god, nothing about Bowen’s body was ugly. I’d seen him in the pool enough times to know. But I was beyond staring at him. I put the pieces together. I trembled to my core when I realized what Bowen being naked meant to Kyle’s injuries.

I had to force the words out of my mouth. “Did you do this to Kyle?”

His coffee-colored eyes barely glanced at Kyle. A cruelty I’d never seen before crept into his face. “You’re coming with me.”

Dillan tensed at my side, a tiger ready to leap.

Cold sweat trickled down my back. Forcing myself to keep calm, I said, “I can’t right now. I have to help Kyle.”

“I don’t care about Kyle. You’re coming with me.”

“No, she’s not,” Dillan said.

“Dillan. Don’t.” I touched his rigid forearm.

“Enough.” Bowen grimaced. “If you don’t want to give her to me, I’ll just take her from you, Illumenari .”

A gust of wind forced me to look away, but I glanced back after a series of pop , pop , pop .

Bowen’s body contorted. He doubled over on his hands and knees. His arms and legs morphed into the front and hind legs of a large cat. Golden fur grew out of his skin. His sun-kissed hair formed a full mane around his head. A long tail lashed out from behind him, thudding on the ground. I couldn’t blink even if I wanted to. My eyeballs were dry, but I continued to stare anyway. His head remained human except for his mouth where three rows of jagged teeth dripped saliva. The boy I’d known for years transformed into something that shouldn’t even be real.

“Manticore.” Kyle shuddered.

I tore my eyes away from Bowen to look at my best friend. “Hey, you,” I whispered. “Stay with me, okay. Everything’s gonna be fine.” My smile broke before it could fully form.

He raised a trembling hand and I took it in both of mine. “I’m sorry,” he whispered back.

“For what?”

“Not telling you.” He coughed then fainted.

“Kyle?” I patted his cheek. “Kyle? Open your eyes. Please, please open your eyes. Don’t you dare die.”

“She’s coming with me,” Bowen said in a trumpet-like voice. I looked up from Kyle’s increasingly pale face. His scorpion tail aimed threateningly at Dillan. Long needles stuck out from its tip, dripping with a sticky, purplish substance.

In my worry over Kyle, I hadn’t noticed Dillan move. Now he was standing between Bowen and me. Sword in his right hand. Stance wide. Shoulders squared.

“Bowen.” My voice shook more than I thought it would. “Why are you doing this?”

“The Maestro wants you.” He licked drool off his lips.

“What about the dogs?” Dillan hissed out.

Bowen’s face crumpled into a bizarre reproduction of a frown. “A diversion. To keep everyone in town occupied.”

Dillan charged Bowen. The creature roared and jumped aside to avoid the incoming blow from his sword. Dillan took the momentum of his charge and used it to dodge the spiked tail coming at him. Then he sidestepped a swipe from massive paws with razor-sharp claws. They moved so fast, all I could do was watch. All this time Bowen worked for the Maestro. I couldn’t believe it.

“You gonna wipe the grin off my face now?” Dillan taunted.

Three rows of jagged teeth snapped at his head. I gasped. He ducked and lunged forward, landing a blow on Bowen’s left shoulder. Black blood oozed out of the wound, but Bowen stood as if he felt no pain.

“The last thing you’ll feel is my teeth squeezing your head like a zit.” He snapped his mouth. He brought his tail around and shot poison needles aimed at Dillan’s chest.

Dillan tucked and rolled, only evading half of the volley. Six needles embedded themselves along his arm. He grimaced, and a small scream escaped my throat before I clamped my mouth shut. In the movies, bad things always happened to the guy when the girl couldn’t keep her mouth shut or stay put. I reminded myself that as he struggled to his feet. With preternatural quickness, he circled Bowen and lopped off the tip of his tail. It bounced a few feet away. Bowen screeched and bounded over to Dillan. He stood on his hind legs while his front paws struck out like a lion ready to collide with another head on. Dillan took the opening Bowen provided and lunged forward. He plunged his blade deep into the creature’s chest.

Bowen sank his teeth into Dillan’s shoulder and ripped at both sides of his ribs with unforgiving claws. He cried out and twisted his sword. I gagged at the sickening squelch of something exploding. Bowen’s body went limp and fell to the ground taking Dillan with him. He pried open the creature’s jaw and pushed himself to his feet. His shoulder was torn badly enough that I saw bone. He pulled the weapon out of Bowen’s chest with a grunt and flicked the blood off the blade with a twist of his wrist while watching the creature morph. In seconds, Bowen’s naked body lay motionless on the grass.

Blood spread from his shoulder and sides. He staggered toward me, his face a pale expressionless mask. Sweat gleamed on his forehead, intermingling with the blood spatter on his face. I let go of Kyle’s clammy hand and ran to him. I caught him just as he fell, his sword returning to its original form. I sank to my knees and cradled his limp body on my lap.

“Of all the stupid, moronic, idiotic—”

He coughed. Blood trickled from the corner of his lips to his chin. “Selena.”

“What?”

“Remember…” He swallowed. “Remember the not freaking out part?”

“What? Now?” My voice rose a couple octaves at the absurdity of his request.

“I’m going…” He coughed again, a horrible hacking of air and blood. I clutched at a ragged piece of his shirt. He bled in too many places for me to put pressure on anything, but he managed to continue. “I need you to whistle as loud as you can.”

“Whistle?”

He tried to nod and ended up wincing. “Like right now.”

I couldn’t react fast enough. Fear gripped me so hard. Even as my hands dripped with his blood, I lifted two fingers to the corners of my mouth, like Gramps taught me, and whistled, which resulted in a pathetic, breezy whimper. The metallic salty taste flooded my mouth. I spit to suppress the gag reflex.

“Selena.” He touched my cheek with an even bloodier hand. “You have to calm down,” he said as if he didn’t just kill a mythical creature. Then his eyes rolled into his head.

“Dillan?” I slapped at his cheek repeatedly. “Dillan? Oh, God. God. Please. Don’t do this to me.” Wiping my fingers on my jeans, I lifted them to my mouth again. Still no go. Wracking sobs left my body. I bit down hard, the pain centering me, and tried for a third time.

“Come on!” I screamed out. I spat again, took another deep breath, and puckered my lips.

This time, a high note came. Literally music to my ears.

The silence seemed to eat up the sound. Nothing happened. As I prepared myself to whistle again, a black shape appeared in the distance. It bounded toward us, sleek and swift, cutting through the prairie like an arrow flying to a target.

Panic churned in me.

A dog.

A German Shepherd. Bigger than a cow.

And it came straight for us.

It stopped about a couple yards away, studying me with its ruby-red eyes.

I hugged Dillan’s limp body closer and hissed. “Don’t come near us.”

You called me. I will not hurt you.