exact moment that Anola sank deep into his side.
Cacus bellowed, its massive body rolling on its side. Its tail whipped, knocking Diana against a wall as another billow of fire blew from its mouth and it turned its head. Selvans streaked to the side, ducking out of the way, but his heart stalled as he heard his uxorem’s frightened shriek and felt her fear snap through their bond.
Squinting against the smoke filling the crypt, Selvans could just barely make her out as she struggled to her feet. The breath he had been holding left his body in relief as he noted that she was unwounded. Her tail coiling around her, she leaped gracefully out of the way to avoid the Tainted One’s thrashing.
Surging to his feet, Cacus leaped forward, his hooves clopping heavily against the floor for just a moment before his haunches bunched and he flung himself through the gap in the broken wall, Anola’s hilt sticking out from where it was buried in his side. More stones broke away and fell from the entrance with a loud crash.
“Shit, shit, shit!” Diana cursed as she stumbled to his side. Her eyes were wild as she looked up at him. “What the fuck happened there?”
Selvans shook his head as he hurried out of the crypt, he sheathed his sword with one fluid movement as the fingers of his opposite hand curled around Diana’s wrist, pulling her after him. “He reacted to the movement of the sword when Nocis moved in front of his face, and it woke up.”
“Fuck. We’re going to have to chase him down before someone else runs into him first.”
Selvans nodded and summoned his wings as he gathered Diana close to his chest. With several strong beats, he was air-born, following the path of destruction carved out by the creature. They were gaining on him; Selvans could see the creature in the distance, barreling down Canal Street.
The street was filled with abandoned vehicles, so Cacus raced along a strip of road that Selvans could see the clear line of a track running down. A boxy red vehicle was knocked from its track as Cacus bellowed in rage. From the air, Selvans could see the sparks jumping up from the skidding where the metal siding of the box slid against the metal track.
All the obstacles were useful for one thing: allowing Selvans to catch up to the Tainted One. Soon they were soaring directly over the rampaging male as he kicked offending objects in his path and blew out fire in bouts of rage at a few of the buildings. It wasn’t until Cacus set upon a large building that Selvans felt a chill fill him as human screams erupted into the night.
Everywhere people ran in a panic as they flooded out of the building. With a roar, Cacus set upon them, leering as he scooped up a human in each hand. A cruel laugh echoed up from the male’s chest as the humans struggled in his grip.
Diana pinched his forearm to get his attention and she shouted in his ear. “Drop me on his back. I need to get Anola!”
He wasn’t going to just toss his mate onto the back of a Tainted One! Diana pinched his arm again, harder, and glared at him.
“Are we in this together or not? I need my sword, and we need to distract him before he eats them. Drop me… now.”
Gritting his teeth against the commanding tone in her voice—obviously, they would have to settle the issue of dominance between them later—he reluctantly did as she bid. Swooping low, he released Diana. With a beat of his wings, he circled again as he watched Diana land on Cacus’s huge back.
The male jerked and kicked out his hind legs in surprise. To Selvan’s relief, Diana managed to hold on. The creature’s hands loosened in surprise, and the humans dropped the short distance to the ground. Assuring himself that Diana was fine as she scrambled for her sword, Selvans dipped his wings, preparing to haul them to safety until the blurring speed of the first wave of vampires arriving darted beneath him. Two split off from the group to carry the scampering humans to safety while the others converged on Cacus. Jacques stopped, peeling away from the group, and grinned up at him.
“Impressive wingspan there,” the male shouted just before he dodged a vehicle similar to the one abandoned in his forest as it was lobbed through the air. It crashed against a