More than one splash echoed behind us.
Can you get a sense of how many are coming? Soon the splashes became too numerous to count. Dammit. My wolf was so focused on the path ahead of us, all she had time to do was to snap her jaws. We have to try and outrun them, give us more juice. A rush of adrenaline hit me and I started to sprint faster. A few strides later a loud keening sound rent the air to my left. I wrenched my head just in time to see something jump on my back. It was much smaller than I’d anticipated, about the size of a large house cat, but its claws were sharp. They cut deeply into my back. I’m going to smash it against the wall, but we can’t stop moving. It’s not very big—
Its teeth sank into the base of my shoulder.
“Motherfuc—” I collided with the side of the tunnel as hard as I could at a dead run. The tunnel walls were only hollowed-out earth, but I’d hit it with enough strength to knock it off me. I think I squashed it. There was no time to look back. Yuri had said their bites weren’t poisonous. I didn’t feel anything suspicious. I was just pissed off it had bitten me before I could shake it off. I guess their only real tactic is to tear you to pieces one bite at a time. This was exactly what I’d been cautioning Danny and Tyler about on our last journey. An army of anything could bring even the most powerful supernatural to their knees. If there are too many, it’s going to be a huge problem. They’re going to swarm us if they get the chance.
We just couldn’t give them the opportunity.
I kept running, increasing my pace as much as I could, using every available body part to aid me.
My legs went higher with each stride, which allowed me to move through the water quicker. I was in my Lycan form, but I needed more power. Hit us with more adrenaline. As my wolf fortified us, a flicker came from my peripheral vision. Another Trow leapt at me from the shallow embankment. As it flew through the air, I got a good glimpse of its face. It was mean-looking with deep-set eyes, scaly skin, rows of uneven pointy teeth, and an accentuated piglike snout.
I swung my fist around in a blur and knocked it cleanly out of the air.
It bounced out of my field of vision and I heard it plunk in the water. We’re moving too fast for most of them to mob us, but when we reach the gate, we’ll have to work fast. I don’t know how we’re going to keep them from attacking us. My wolf barked and showed us glowing, our power pushed out like a shield. Do you think we can do that? Like Stasis? She yipped. I’d gone into a cocoonlike state the last time I’d been bitten by a poisonous insect. All my power had been channeled outward like a protective bubble to keep me alive. We can try, but if we go into full Stasis, we’ll be trapped down here for a long time. We have to try for half-Stasis. Is that even possible?
I had no idea, and judging by my wolf’s reaction, neither did she. But we needed to do something or we weren’t going to make it out alive. These little beasts were going to eat me alive until there was nothing left but a skeleton.
Twenty more paces and I spotted a large glowing area. I see something. My wolf funneled more power to my muscles. Together we were siphoning everything we had. Another Trow ran into my line of vision, but I dodged it easily as it lunged haphazardly. It sounds like there’s a horde of them behind us. Let’s start transferring our energy outward. Gold strands of power manifested in my mind. We need to weave it together. I concentrated on the golden light pushing it together to form an opaque mass. The glowing up ahead became clearer. That doesn’t look like any gate I’ve ever seen. What is it?
It was a monstrous brick wall.
The only thing adorning it, or making it appear remotely like any kind of passageway, was a gigantic curved knocker with the head of a vampire bolted to the middle.