"As Azriel said, the hounds are demons, not true flesh and blood. Their outer skin might burn, but they will probably just form more."
"Comforting thought," he muttered.
The scent was becoming thick and cloying, filling my nose and catching low in my throat, making it difficult to breathe.
They were close. So close.
Then the howling stopped. The hairs on the back of my neck stood on end.
Tao doused the flames on one hand, then repeated my earlier actions, tearing off a shirtsleeve and wrapping it around his bloodied hand before he grabbed a silver shard from the floor. "You know, I'm not feeling too comforted by this little bit of—"
He cut the words off as something hit the door. The wood shuddered and splintered. There was a brief pause, then the door shuddered again. The wood fractured further, and the lock pulled away from the frame, hanging on by little more than two rusting screws. Through the gap I could see two dark, sinewy shapes.
With the third blow, it gave way, and the door crashed back against the wall. Tao released his flames, filling the doorway with fire. The creatures stepped through it, their heads low, their red eyes glowing brightly against the inferno surrounding them. Thick yellow teeth gleamed eerily as the pair of them snarled.
Then they leapt, their bodies aflame. I dove to one side and slashed upward with the shard. The silver sliced through the creature's burning flesh, melting it like butter. Thick, black blood splattered across my body, stinging like acid where it touched bare flesh. The amulet at my neck burned even brighter.
The creature hit the wall, twisted, and leapt again. I rolled away from it, but its teeth slashed, scoring my thigh. Pain rolled through me, thick and hot. Or maybe that was the blood pulsing down my leg. I didn't know. I didn't have the time to find out. I pushed to my feet, saw the thing leap again, and lashed out wildly with the shards. Again they met burning flesh. More black blood sprayed, but the silver wasn't stopping it. These shards—and the two of us—were never going to be enough to stop the creature.
We had to get out of here if we wanted to survive.
And I could see only one way of achieving that—by doing what Azriel had done when he'd rescued me from the tunnel.
The thought terrified me. God, I hadn't even known it was possible to extend the Aedh shift to another person until Azriel had done it. How the hell could I ever hope to pull off the same trick and not shred Tao like a cheap bra?
I'd kill him. I'd kill me.
But what other choice did we have? Staying here was a death sentence. At least if I attempted the shift, we had a chance—albeit a very small one.