Monsters Like Us (Book 1 in The Huntress Series)

Chapter Seventeen

"Esperanza!"

Esperanza was jolted back to reality. She gasped. Luz. Bridger saw the look on Esperanza's face and smiled. "Oh, do we have company?"

"Luz, please. Don't come over here! Stay away!" she cried desperately. But true to Luz fashion, she didn't listen.

She burst through the trees and onto the shore, determination written across her face. Esperanza barely recognized her sister. She had an undeniable confidence, a sure grip of her blade, a fire in her eyes. She looked a little like a wild woman.

Luz pointed the blade at Bridger. "Get back," she warned. "Unless you want to lose your head." Esperanza couldn't have been prouder. She sat up, still coughing, and inched toward her sister.

Bridger laughed. "How old are you? Ten? You really think I'm going to fight a pathetic little girl?"

A short dagger flung through the trees and nailed Bridger directly in the heart. A tall girl with honey colored skin and a high blonde ponytail strode onto the beach like she owned the place. Esperanza realized where her sister's confidence had come from. "Trust us, lover boy. You don't want to mess with us." She knew this must be Marisol. "Hand over your runaway bride, and we'll be on our way."

Bridger sputtered, blood dripping from his mouth as he dislodged the blade. He stared down at it, his nose twisted in disgust. "Huntress," he spat like an insult. Then he laughed. "You have no idea what you're up against."

Marisol set her hands on her hips. "Then why don't you show us, tough guy?" she taunted. "A lot of talk, but no action. I have the sudden urge to yawn."

Bridger glowered at them. The moon on the water rippled behind him. Esperanza continued to inch closer to her sister, who embraced her. "What happened to you?" Luz whispered, stroking her sister's muddy hair. "What did he do to you?"

"She can't speak. Not anymore. She's weak. I've tapped into her brain, forced control over her. Just as I'm going to do to you. How about it, my beautiful bride? Shall we watch together as your friends walk to their watery grave?" Esperanza was seething. "But first, payback."

Bridger brought Marisol and Luz under his spell, forcing Marisol to take her blade and ram it into her gut. Esperanza wanted to stop her, but Bridger held her in place, forcing her down with his mind. "Guess what? I'm stronger when I'm angry, and you've made me very angry." He grinned at Marisol, who was bleeding all over her abdomen, and Luz, who stared forward as if in a trance. "Drown yourselves. Walk into the water. Submerge yourselves and breathe it in until your lungs burst."

Esperanza lurched at Bridger, but he caught her in his arms, and forced her to watch. Marisol and Luz walked together into the water with straight faces as if they no longer occupied their bodies. Bridger planted a kiss on Esperanza's cheek, and she tried to squirm away. "Isn't this romantic? You and me. The lake. The moon. Murder."

Tears fell from Esperanza's eyes. She urged every ounce of strength she had left forward. She already watched Papá die, and she did nothing. She was not about to watch her sister die, too.

Push.

Push.

Push.

Esperanza screamed, the hold breaking like a bone splintered by a sledgehammer. Bridger stumbled backward, surprised. "Must you always be so difficult?" he shouted, charging at her.

And Esperanza faced him, baring her teeth. She pushed again. But this time, she pushed back. Bridger froze in place and cried out, gripping his head. He lurched around the beach. "Impossible. How are you doing that? Release me. Release me!" Marisol and Luz raced back to the shore, the trance broken. "No one is stronger than me! No one! Stop!"

Esperanza screamed again, head throbbing, forcing everything she had back into Bridger's head. All her pain, all her suffering, all her rage. Bridger screamed too, crashing down into the water. Blood poured out of Esperanza's mouth, nose and ears.

She was hemorrhaging. Her vision became blurry, but she didn't care. She was driven by her rage, whatever was left of it, until everything inside of her extinguished, and they both fell limp, panting, across from each other.

They would keep going until they killed each other. Could she die? She wasn't sure, but she knew that she felt close to death. She moved to press three fingers against Bridger's head, as he had done to her before, when suddenly ripples exploded over the water's surface, which resembled a clear mirror reflecting the night sky.

Thick stalks emerged from the lake, tearing out of the water like a viper going after its prey, wrapping around Bridger's arms and legs and forcing him to the ground. Bridger stared down at the binds that seemed to have a mind of their own. "What is this?" he cried, fighting to free himself.

Esperanza watched him, her head still pulsing and leaking pink dribbles of blood. Bridger jerked around in his restraints, hair wild across his brow. "What is this?" he shouted again, furious. "Release me! Release me right now! How are you doing this?"

"I'm not," Esperanza told him, feeling woozy. She placed a palm to her cheek, closed her eyes for a second. When she opened them, another stalk had wound its way around Bridger's neck, and something new was rising from the lake.

Dark heads bobbed in the water, young women treading toward the shore. They looked like sinister selkies, menacing mermaids breaking the surface for the sole purpose of revenge—with Kate in the lead.

Bridger spotted them the same time Esperanza did, his eyes wide with horror. "Espie!" he shouted, looking helpless. "Espie, please, help me!"

Esperanza said nothing...did nothing...only watched. She watched as he begged the girls to leave him alone, writhing as they wrapped their algae covered arms around him. "No! Please! No!" he shouted one last time, before slimy, green roots pushed into his mouth and white lilies bloomed, the corollas expanding until they looked like radiating suns, pacifying him for good.

The girls dragged him back into the water, forcing him below the surface and trapping him at the bottom as their prisoner. The water writhed and bubbled for a few frantic seconds before falling still. Esperanza turned around to face Marisol and Luz, who were staring at her with shocked expressions on their faces. Then she blacked out and collapsed into the sand.