The Rose Witch - Chandelle LaVaun Page 0,29

Anything to distract my mind from replaying the day’s events. And outside was beautiful, with the snow-covered forest that reflected the light of the moon. The snow sparkled like crumbled crystals or shards of glass. Germany’s Black Forest was known to be breathtaking, I just wished I was seeing it under better — a shadow shot through the trees right toward me.

It was big and black and moved like smoke.

No, no, no, no, no. This isn’t happening. He can’t find me here.

I looked up ahead and gasped.

There he was. Standing in the snow with his black smoky wings at his back. Gold eyes glowed like little suns in the dark. Beside him, at half his height, was the hellhound. Its red and gold eyes scanned the train as it moved closer to it.

SHIT.

I slid down into my seat, dropping onto the floor so he wouldn’t see me. My heart pounded in my chest as I counted to thirty. My ears burned as blood rushed to my face. My fingers trembled. He didn’t see me, he didn’t see me, he didn’t see me.

Twenty-eight.

Twenty-nine.

Thirty.

With my heart lodged in my throat, I pushed myself back up just enough to peek out the bottom edge of the window. I glanced left and right, right to left…but he wasn’t there. It was just trees and snow. I cursed and rested my head against the window. Was he even there at all, Chloe? Or are you just paranoid?

I climbed back up into my seat and looked up — and screamed.

The other passengers jumped and spun toward me. The controller cursed and hurried over, but I wasn’t paying them any attention.

All I saw was the incubus standing just inside the train car, blocking the door I’d come in from.

I jumped up and lunged for the door behind me, but just like before he appeared right out of thin air in front of me. I slid to a stop, grabbing the seats to steady myself.

He held his hands up and his gold eyes sparkled. “Wait—”

Sharp pain seared into my chest like someone stabbed me. I choked on a gasp and stumbled back. Every ounce of oxygen in my lungs vanished like a popped balloon. My hands trembled as I swatted at my chest. The pain spread, shooting down my spine and my sternum. My vision blurred. My legs gave out and my knees slammed into the floor. I couldn’t breathe.

The incubus scowled, his gold eyes latched onto my chest.

The train controller lifted me off my knees and sat me on the seat beside me. A woman whose face I couldn’t see because my vision was too blurred knelt in front of me, spraying water in my face. I blinked and it was Tegan. But then I blinked again and it was some other woman. My mind was shutting down from the lack of oxygen. The woman splashed me again and the pressure lifted off of my chest. I gasped, sucking in big gulps of air.

I looked up at the incubus and found his face pale, like he was going to be sick. He was trying to get to me but the other passengers had crowded around me.

A loud shrieking sound ripped through the chaos of the train and then all of the windows exploded. Shards and slivers of glass rained down on us. Everyone screamed and dove to the floor, covering their heads with their arms just as a large object shot over our heads. I looked back up and my jaw dropped. That hellhound had a giant bat-like creature pinned to the ground. Black wings flapped and thrashed. Black blood burst from under the hellhound’s teeth. The smell of maple syrup hit me like a brick wall. I gasped and choked on the smell and the pain tripled.

WAIT.

Maple syrup.

DEMONS.

Something loud slammed into the roof of the train, denting the metal above me. The train wobbled and swayed side to side and then six more of those giant black bat-demons leapt through the broken windows and into the train car. All I heard was the shrieking of the other passengers and the heavy thumping of my pulse.

The train’s wheels screamed.

And then we were airborne. I tried to grab ahold of something but the pain had my body on lockdown. Gravity took over and threw me straight up into the air as the train car flipped upside down. The world spun. My stomach turned. Lights flashed like strobe lights at a rave. I couldn’t distinguish one thing from the