Man, his day was heading right for the shitter.
He reached back for the blade he kept sheathed against his spine beneath his coat, the one as long as his forearm. The one that had belonged to his brother and bore the marking of their forefather on the handle. Then he whispered, “Run. Take the human and run.”
“That,” the male to the right growled, taking a step away from the others and puffing up his chest, “is an unwise move, daemon.”
Yeah, no shit, Sherlock. But Orpheus was out of options, as far as he could see. If his target died, he was screwed, and daemon hybrid himself or not, he didn’t want to see the stupid human female get eaten either. Maybe because she was hot and he didn’t like seeing hot chicks sliced and diced. Maybe because he still felt like he knew her from somewhere. Either way, it meant she was a burden he just didn’t need. And the sooner she got gone, the sooner she’d be someone else’s burden.
He gripped his blade with both hands. While he wasn’t thrilled with his odds against three blood-starved beasts, he was pretty sure he could take them. If he shifted. He just hoped it didn’t come to that.
“You boys have been warned,” Orpheus said.
The leader chuckled and pulled his sunglasses from his face. His eyes were already glowing a blinding green that lit up the small clearing.
A whir echoed near Orpheus’s ear before he could move. The leader gasped, his feet stilling midstep. His eyes flew wide. He looked down at the arrow protruding from the middle of his chest. With shaking hands he grasped it, pulled it free with a grunt. Blood gushed from the wound as he slumped to the forest floor.
Stunned, Orpheus glanced over his shoulder and saw the blond standing with her boots shoulder-width apart, a bow she’d pulled from somewhere in that obscenely tight getup poised at her shoulder, her hand already gripping and aiming the next arrow. “He told you to leave. I suggest you listen.”
Growls echoed in unison. Clothing ripped, bones cracked. The other two hybrids morphed and shifted, growing in size until they were at least seven and a half feet tall. Claws sprouted from their hands as their faces twisted and transformed. The human features disappeared until what stared back at Orpheus in the dark was a grotesque mix of cat and goat and dog, with protruding fangs.
Shit. Go time.
Blade in hand, Orpheus dropped back four steps and grasped the dark-haired female by the arm, shoving her in the direction of the amphitheater they’d just come from. “Run!”
He reached for the blond, tried to push her back too, but she stepped away from him, lined up another shot, and released a second arrow. It sailed through the air with a deafening whir, struck the beast on the left with a thwack. The daemon growled in response, stumbled, but then roared and found his footing.
“Sonofabitch,” Orpheus muttered, lifting his weapon as the daemon charged. “Get back!”
Another whir sounded. This arrow embedded itself in the chest of the charging daemon. The blond released two more arrows in rapid succession as if she’d done it a thousand times. The daemon stumbled. The blond moved her weapon to the left and hit the third daemon near the shoulder.
Her expert marksmanship meant Orpheus might get through this without shifting after all. Instead of questioning who she was and why she was there, he jerked the knife from his belt and hurled it end over end toward the daemon with three arrows sticking out of his chest still trying to get to the blond. Then he arced out with the blade in his hand and struck the other advancing daemon, catching it across the chest. Blood spurted, the daemon howled. Again Orpheus yelled, “Run!”
The first hybrid, the one still in human form, lay writhing on the ground. Two daemons Orpheus could handle—they weren’t trained warriors; they were scrappy fighters—so long as the females fled. He chanced one look over his shoulder as he fought against the monsters, couldn’t see his target. She’d obviously taken off, but the blond was still there, lining up her arrows and pulling a throwing star from her waistband, then hurling it like a pro.
Throwing stars? Who the bloody hell was this chick?