Hunting Fiends for the Ill-Equipped (The Guild Codex Demonized #3) - Annette Marie Page 0,90
protruded from its lipless snout at a forty-five-degree angle.
As it pushed up through the portal, the spell shuddered. Fuchsia sparks exploded from the glowing lines—and the monstrous creature lurched, jaws gaping.
It screeched.
The sound was a screaming jet engine and nails on a chalkboard amplified a thousand times. My knees hit the ground as a scream tore from my throat, my hands clamped over my ears.
Zylas fell to his knees beside me, hunching forward as he covered his ears. Light fizzled and flashed—and a loud crack shook the platform.
Another crack. Chips of concrete spat into the air. Crack crack crack. More flying debris, and I realized it was pieces of the helipad. The array was breaking apart, shattering under the magical forces flowing through it.
The creature shrieked again and tried to retreat into the portal, but the edges were wavering, the pink glow bubbling in places while other parts of the array went dark. The monster writhed—then lunged upward.
Huge clawed feet slammed down on the platform and ripped into the concrete. Its massive body slid through the portal. As it passed, black liquid sprayed out—rips in its slimy hide. The portal was tearing it apart as it came through.
With its loudest shriek yet, the creature heaved its bulk out of the otherworldly gateway. Its hind legs tore the edges of the portal away, and as its long tail lifted out, the array rippled and went dark. The gateway disappeared, replaced by concrete—with the tip of the creature’s tail still in it.
Jaws gaping, it leaped away. Its tail ended in a stump that poured black blood.
The creature landed on the back half of the platform and the whole pad dipped under its weight like a boat in rough seas. I fell forward, catching myself on my hands.
Zylas grabbed my arm and hauled me backward. Blood ran from his ears, and I touched my own. My fingers came away slick and wet.
The creature raised its head. Bulbous yellow eyes, liquid and pupilless like egg yolks implanted in its hideous skull, stared in opposite directions, and dark pits behind each eye added to the freakishness of its face. It panted, huge mouth gaping and a thick white tongue spilling out. Its lungs pumped, chest expanding. Powerful legs supported its lizard-like body—low slung, legs positioned on the sides of its abdomen, long toes and curved claws as long as my arm.
With a final snorting breath, it closed its jaws, teeth coming together like the cilia on a Venus flytrap so that, instead of lips, its mouth was a bristling nightmare of crisscrossing fangs.
Then that bristling face turned toward us.
Zylas’s fingers bit into my arm as he forgot to be gentle. “Vayanin, we must run away.”
“What is it?” I whispered, my voice almost soundless.
“īnkav, it is called.”
The word sounded familiar. It was almost like … like īnkavis, the demonic word for a murderer who enjoyed dealing death.
“It is a demon killer.” He stepped back again. “It will eat me.”
Black blood wept from the creature’s skin where the portal had torn it. Jaws parting, it inhaled, the air whistling across the ridged roof of its mouth.
“It smells my blood.” Zylas dragged me backward. “It is mostly blind. It could not see the portal. It was following my scent.”
“Zylas—”
“We must run!”
As he threw me over his shoulder, the īnkav launched off its hind legs. The entire platform rocked violently.
“Wait!” I screamed, grabbing at his arm.
Claws tearing into the concrete, the monster propelled itself toward us with insane speed for something so huge. Zylas sprinted for the platform’s edge and sprang over the dark water. I thought we would plunge into the icy ocean, but he caught a braided steel cord that ran from the helipad to the metal support anchoring it to the shore.
The īnkav slid to a stop, one foot going off the edge and splashing into the water.
“Zylas!” I yelled. “Amalia is still on the platform!”
His eyes widened as he realized his oversight.
The īnkav hesitated, thick head turning as it peered at the water.
“Will it follow you?” I whispered, clutching him. “If it can’t see—”
“It has second vision like demons.” Zylas clung to the cord with one hand, holding me with his other arm. “It sees shapes in hot and cold.”
Sucking in air—and the scent of Zylas’s blood—the īnkav shifted back from the edge. It didn’t want to go into the cold water. Its head turned. Those terrifying, hideous jaws parted.
Body curling sideways, it turned its bulk away from us—focusing on a new target.