Marcus Pelegrimas - The Breaking

The Half Breeds weren’t content to stay within the trees. As Liam thrashed and fought with the gargoyles, the wretches surged out from hiding to attack the creatures that filled the air directly above the shoreline. Some leapt at the fliers, only to get their heads, shoulders, and upper bodies wrapped up. Others were brought down by several that enveloped them and didn’t let go until the solidifying paste was smeared over their bodies. Liam might have attracted more of the things, but was slashing too wildly to destroy very many of them.

In stark contrast to Liam, Minh kept her chest low to the ground and moved in slow, slinking steps. The gargoyles wound up either skidding along her back like stones across a pond or ignoring her completely. That stretch of good fortune ended when Cole rushed up to her and drove his spearhead into her side as if he’d finally chosen the perfect spot to plant his flag. Minh stood up and roared loudly, lifting him off his feet.

Paige stood up in the water, wiped off as much of the stuff from her back as she could and sloshed toward the shore. She was stopped by a gentle hand placed upon her back. Twisting around, she saw Tristan reaching out to her while crouching on the surface of the water as if the rippling reservoir had frozen beneath her feet.

“Let him go,” the Dryad said. “He knows what he’s doing.”

“Cole never fully knows what he’s doing,” Paige snapped. “And are you walking on water?”

“Yes,” Tristan said in a calm that seemed as out of place in the midst of battle as a woman did perched upon the surface of a lake, “and yes.”

Minh’s bellowing roar filled the air as the green glow in the water faded and died off completely. Tristan rose to her full height, displaying a perfect figure wrapped in veils of dark green and bright purple. With the water sprayed onto her flawless skin and the wind blowing around her, she became the spitting image of a siren lovingly depicted by the sailors who’d almost drifted to their deaths in pursuit of them.

It hadn’t taken long for Cole to regain his bearings. Still holding onto his spear with both hands, he curled his legs up to press both feet against Minh’s body. The spear came loose and he hit the ground on his side, leaving the wet stain of gargoyle innards smeared upon her fur. Almost immediately several of the gargoyles diverted their path to encircle her. Even though Minh slashed and roared at the flying creatures, she turned her gaze to Cole and bared her fangs.

“That’s it,” Tristan whispered as she closed her eyes.

Cole struggled to get to his feet and stood with his spear held in front of him. Paige could only watch for a second before she once again sloshed toward the shore.

“No!” Tristan told her. “Stay where you are! I need to feel his fear.”

Paige had every intention of ignoring the command until the air popped and hissed in front of her. Beneath the shrieking, howling, screaming, and gunfire, the pure tone of Tristan’s singing voice ran like the current flowing along the deepest ocean trench. As Cole faced the possibility of being torn apart by Minh, the Dryad’s voice rose in pitch and the disturbance in the air ripped apart to become another glowing green portal like the one that had brought him into Oklahoma.

Since the portal was between her and Cole, Paige walked around it in knee-deep water toward the Amriany. Once half a dozen gargoyles latched onto Minh’s fur, Cole backed toward the shimmering gateway. He waved his spear in the air to attract the next wave of fliers and was just quick enough to lay flat so they could streak over his head and disappear through the Dryad bridge.

Liam stared in utter disbelief. Minh swatted at the gargoyles around her but was losing her battle as more and more of them clamped on. She looked at him and roared for help, which Liam sent in the form of more Half Breeds. The wretches ran at her as well as the humans seeking shelter in the water, but were covered in so much of the gargoyle juices that the other flying creatures were drawn to them like magnets.

Paige stepped into the little area cleared by the Amriany and cupped her hand to her mouth. “On the ground at your feet, Cole! The silver thing! Pick it up!”

Cole turned and started walking toward her.

“No!” Paige shouted. “On the ground! Look on the ground!”

He looked down, spotted the discarded Amriany projectile, and stooped to pick it up as a gargoyle sliced through the air where his head had just been.

“Throw it over here, Cole!” she said.

She couldn’t be certain he’d heard everything she’d said, but there was no way Cole could miss the angry growl that rolled out of Liam’s throat like the engine of a rumbling semi. Cole’s fist tightened around the gleaming little cylinder before he tossed it to Paige. The object was passed to Nadya, who stuffed it into the engraved tube, pulled back the handle and shot it at Liam.

“It’s Full Blood bait!” Paige shouted.

Nadya threw the tube into the portal. Although Liam moved toward the glowing opening, he resisted with every powerful muscle and shred of willpower at his disposal. He ignored the gargoyles diving at him, shook off the ones that had sunk their talons into his fur, and dropped to all fours to run at Cole like a man that had suddenly become wild. His steps were clunky and off-kilter. Every time he stretched out his hands to claw at the earth, more of the rocky crust that had been poured onto his back cracked away. Rather than run at the portal, however, he charged Cole. By the time the splash of his steps reached Paige’s ears, the Full Blood, Cole, and several of the gargoyles disappeared through the green portal, which then flickered from existence.

“Where are they?” Paige demanded as she turned to face Tristan. “Where did you send them?”

She blinked, drew a breath, and quickly collected herself. “Hush.”

“Did you just tell me to—”

Paige was cut off by the crackle of one bridge closing and another being shredded into the air. This time the pale green light emerged in the vicinity of Minh and a group of Half Breeds. “We brought those gargoyles to deal with the Full Bloods, and I’m here to send them away. If that doesn’t happen now, it won’t happen at all.”

Minh was making her way to the trees, her movements slow as she kept a low profile, in contrast to the Half Breeds that barked and climbed over each other to wildly attack the gargoyles flapping around her. Paige could see that Tristan was right. And after all that had happened to get things this far along, she wasn’t about to let Cole’s plan go to waste.

“Can you herd those things?” Paige asked while making her way to the spot being held by the Amriany.

Nadya swapped the empty magazine in the FAMAS for a full one. “I may be able to steer them a little, but that’s all.”

“Then steer them toward me.” Without another word of explanation, Paige ran to Bill’s body and removed her sickle from his head. Tightening her grip on the weapon, she drew the stake from the holster in her boot and rushed toward Minh.

Now that Nadya’s bait had disappeared, Minh didn’t have to struggle to maintain her focus amid the swirling storm of predators. She turned her back on the reservoir and crouched in preparation for a leap that would carry her into the trees when a stabbing pain lanced all the way through her lower right side. She howled and tried to take a step, which only aggravated the wound created by the sickle blade now wedged into her thigh.

“You wanna run?” Paige asked as she raced to Minh’s side so she could grab the weapon she’d thrown and turn it like a crank within the meaty portion of the Full Blood’s leg. “Too late!”

Minh’s growl rose into a wailing howl as the metal-encrusted blade rotated within her. After pulling the weapon out, Paige dropped her other fist like a hammer to drive the pointed end of her wooden stake into the bloody gash she’d created. Minh’s flesh pinched together around the weapon, healing from what should have been a crippling injury. As the Full Blood straightened its back and looked down at her with fierce, crystalline eyes, Paige willed the stake to stretch deep within Minh’s thigh, where it branched into a sharp network of thorns.