pain ripping through Easton flowed into me. They toppled to the ground, grappling for control before the second demon joined the effort to overpower him.
“No!” I screamed, heart pounding so violently I wasn’t sure I’d survive it. I clutched the blade in my hand and started forward—
Scout grabbed me by the arm and shoved me against the brick wall. “Don’t move. I mean it.”
Before I could argue, he was gone, blade drawn as he jumped into the fray. Don’t move? Easton was being overpowered by the kinds of creatures that fueled humans’ nightmares. Tyler was on the other side of the wall, suffering, dying over and over again. And Scout expected me to sit still like a good little girl and watch everything fall down around me? No. That was what my father would want. That’s what the old Gwen would have done. I wasn’t that Gwen anymore.
Down the alley, claws scraped against stone and feral growls rumbled up through the dark. There were more coming. The sounds of the fight must have been drawing them in. Fear rushed through me, cold, vital, overwhelming. Back against the wall, I slid closer to the door. If I stayed out here, we’d never get Tyler and we’d all be trapped. I looked on in horror as one of the demons sank its fangs into Scout’s arm. Easton got control of his blade and sliced through flesh. He was putting up a good fight, but at this rate, with more coming, they’d never make it through the door. Not here. This place was designed for us to fail. To die. To rot.
That wasn’t going to happen. Not to Easton. Not after all he’d already been through for me.
Heart in my throat, I reached the door and prepared to run. “Hey! Did you forget about me?”
Creatures began to melt out of the shadows, and both of the guard demons looked my way, instantly salivating for the light inside me. Scout emerged from the darkness and crumpled to the ground, coughing. Easton stumbled as he stood on shaky legs. He didn’t waste any time, taking advantage of the demons’ distraction and cutting them down with two clumsy swings of his blade. He cast a glance over his shoulder at the menagerie of freakish animals closing in, then returned his attention back to me, eyes wide, pleading with me to run and hide, to save myself. I held my arms out and bit my bottom lip to stop it from quivering.
I had to fix this. Moving into the dark, I ducked through the doorway.
“Gwen, wait!” Easton’s voice was a mere echo trailing behind me. An obstacle to finding Tyler. The now-familiar pain hit me hard and fast, just like it had outside. I reached out, searching for anything to help me regain my balance. My fingers brushed something firm and frozen swinging from the ceiling.
I grabbed hold of the object, and a gurgling groan drifted down. The frozen thing in my hands twitched. Two vacant eyes stared back at me through the occasional flicker of a distant trash can flame, pleading. It was a person, a soul, impaled on an enormous hook. I cried out and stumbled back. He looked as if he wanted to speak, but his lips were blue and frozen. Instead, a moan vibrated his throat as he swayed on the squeaky hook. All around me, hooks began to creak and muffled moans filled the room. Oh God…they were everywhere.
“What’s that I hear?” A sandpaper-rough voice drifted through the dark. “I think someone’s hungry for more.”
A heinous laugh slithered through the shadows, and heavy footsteps echoed across the cold concrete floor. The soul above me made a distressed sound, and his eyes went wide with terror. I glanced back at the stack of metal barrels behind me. I needed to hide. I needed to help him. I reached up to touch him and someone grabbed me around the waist, jerking me back. I opened my mouth to scream, but exhaled in relief when Easton’s lips touched my ear.
“Do me a huge favor, Red,” he whispered. “Shut. Up.”
He dragged me behind the stack of barrels and sank down, allowing me to use his lap as a seat once we were hidden. I looked over my shoulder where Scout sat on his heels. He grinned and held up a finger to his lips. I nodded as the footsteps grew closer. Easton exhaled a shaky breath and rested his forehead on the back of my head.
The