Bare Your Teeth, Wicked Ones

8. Monsters and Mayhem

Charmaine

Charmaine woke to the shuffling of feet. Arden had taken to the bed, though now leapt to the wooden floor. She stumbled up, too, glancing nervously about the hut. William stood at attention; eyes trained on the door with Nicholas a couple steps to his right.

"There's something outside," William said with a brief glance over his shoulder at her. "I know I heard—"

The roof collapsed in an explosion of dust, snow, and growls. Charmaine cursed when one of the beams caught her in the stomach. The hit drained the breath from her chest. Gasping, she lay there sputtering for air and nails tearing at the beam.

Through the dust, a sinewy torso of a serpent-like abomination slithered inside. Yellow eyes flashed, fixated on a dark figure in the mist, Arden, based on the abrupt movement and flash of a blade slicing at the creature. Then William cursed and another crash reverberated through the hut.

Charmaine struggled against the weight pinning her to the floor. With the dust settling, she caught sight of what remained of the front door. A portion of the wall had caved in. Another of the snake-like beasts lurched within, a long scaled body standing on six muscled and clawed feet. They weren't the beasts that grabbed them. These were yet another new monster intent on ripping them to shreds.

The one Arden battled against caught his arm in its teeth. The abomination slipped from the roof with the fae kicking in its grasp. Nicholas surged after them, rose light encasing his figure and leaving William to fend for himself.

"Fuck!" Charmaine pressed her feet to the floor, trying to use her waist to lift the beam. It groaned, barely shifted, then slammed her onto the floor. A vein throbbed in her temple. William battled, sliding left and right to avoid a dangerous snout riddled with too many teeth. Unlike the last, these beasts were scaled black as night and their spine lined by spikes. Its long body shattered the east wall. Charmaine raised her hands to shield herself from the falling debris.

The snake lunged at William. He pivoted, but not fast enough. The weight of the snake sent him hurtling into the remaining wall. His head hit the bricks hard. He plummeted, then cursed when the monster trapped his leg between its teeth. William grabbed the beast's snout. His spell made the monster's jaw go lax to release his leg, but the beast slammed its forehead into his chest. The wall behind him cracked and he groaned. Charmaine's fingers came to flame. She sent a wave of fire at the beast. Yowling, it released William and slithered back. The fire had done little more than encourage its anger.

Snapping wide jaws, the snake gave Charmaine a look, one that chilled the blood in her veins. Its yellow gaze shifted to William, as if it had enough intelligence to understand Charmaine was trapped and it could come back for her later. If that were the case, they were in even bigger trouble. The grumps were the only beasts that thought without a Shadowed Disciple's control. If a monster as large as this could think of its own free will, Charmaine couldn't fathom the destruction it would bring.

The monster's muscular hind legs prepared to jump. Panic and fear should have surged within her, but instead she felt rage. Something unbridled, hotter than the fire at her fingertips, turbulent as deadly storms far at sea. She wouldn't let that monster kill William. She wouldn't die out there, either. They went through too much. They deserved a life after this, a better one, and she'd tear apart any bastard in their way.

Setting her hands against the beam, she shoved the wood off with a scream. The beam rolled across the floor, startling the snake. Charmaine summoned the fire within her, the boiling rage continuing to eat at her skin and mind, and shot all of it in a violent blast. The raging heat caught flame to the beast. It reared on its four back legs, shrieking in agony.