Hot Blooded (Jessica McClain)

chapter 17

Once we were all on the ledge, I gazed down to the stream. It seemed innocuous, the water calm, nothing disrupting the smooth surface. I knelt next to Ray and ripped the front of his shirt open, putting my head to his chest. I could hear the faint beat without physical contact, but I wanted to be sure.

Tyler stood next to us, his legs covered in dried blood where the Naiads had bitten and clawed him. Since neither of us had reacted to their evil bites, they must not be too detrimental. Tyler was just short of shifting, fur sprouting along his wounds, he was so angry. “Why would you risk your life—scratch that, all our lives—for this human?” Tyler’s jaw clenched, tension radiated outward. It rang through our new blood connection, making me edgy. “It doesn’t make any sense why you would do such a thing. If you keep taking chances like that, there’s no way any of us will make it out of here alive.”

I glanced up at him. “Nobody asked you to join me. And this human has as much right to live as you or I, and while we’re on the topic, who made you lord and superior over the entire world? Human or supernatural? You don’t get to choose. A life is a life.”

Tyler sputtered, “We’ve always been above humans. We’re stronger, faster, and smarter”—he searched for more—“and we can’t die like they can!”

“So what?” I snipped. “That’s like saying humans should kill all inferior species on the planet because they can’t keep up with them physically or mentally.” I eased Ray onto his side. I had to drain the water out of his lungs. “Tyler, I suggest you go take your anger out somewhere else while I try and save this inferior human’s life. I’m not in the mood to go around and around with you on who’s a better species.” Tyler spun away as I started rapping on Ray’s back, careful not to break any ribs. As I pounded, water jutted from Ray’s mouth like a hydrant. When Ray finally coughed and quit spitting water, I rolled him back over.

Danny crouched next to us. “I have no idea what you’re doing or what your motivations are in the long run,” he said. “But you can count me in. Ray is a bloody pain in the ass, but he seems to have one hell of a strong soul. By all rights he should’ve been dead many times over.” Danny reached over and took Ray by the shoulders. I let go.

“I know.” I shook my head. “I don’t get it.” Ray was now sputtering and groaning, as well as hacking up a lung. I put my ear down to his chest again. “His heart is beating stronger, but I’m not sure how clear his lungs are.”

“He seems to be taking care of that himself, isn’t he,” Danny said.

Ray groaned. “What the, Hannon?” he rasped. “Did that slimy thing eat me? Am I in hell?” He cracked his eyes open. “Or have I been here all along?”

“That’s not very optimistic of you, Ray,” I said, a ghost of a smile on my lips. “I’d think a guy like you would have his eyes on the Pearly Gates, thinking he’d done his time for the good guys.”

“I think it’s hell because of the giant-ass spider creeping toward us.” He coughed hard, losing his breath for a moment as he ejected more water. “Spiders that big can only have been created by Satan.”

Danny and I sprang up at the same time. It was stupid to think we would be free and clear on this side of the river. If anything, the worst was yet to come.

“That’s not a bloody spider!” Danny shouted. “It’s a freak of nature. Do you see all those eyes?”

I bent down and snatched Ray under his armpits, pulling him backward as quickly as I could. “Yep, and look, he has friends.” Dozens began to flood out of cracks around us, almost simultaneously, like they’d been summoned, which was likely the case. Danny was right. They weren’t spiders; they were some kind of scorpion spider mix. They were totally black, had eight legs, huge glossy spider eyes, thick, coarse hair, and a killer spiny tail that curled above their backs loaded with barbs as thick as my fingers.

They were as big as lobsters.

“They look venomous as hell,” I said, glancing down the ledge, but Tyler and Naomi were nowhere to be seen. “We have to get out of here. If Ray gets stung, it’s all over, and I didn’t just fight a baby Naiad for him to die from a spider bite now. Where are Naomi and Tyler?” I whipped my head around. “She has to get Ray out of here and we have to jump.”

Instead of Naomi, there was a whoosh and Eamon landed in front of us, right as Tyler came bounding around the far corner into view. It seemed the ledge curved around the mountain. Tyler was within inches of one of the killer arachnids. It rattled and scurried back and forth. “Tyler, hold still!” I yelled. He froze instantly. I took a breath in, wondering why we couldn’t scent the bugs. I smelled only rocks. “Eamon,” I said, “where’s your sister?” He glanced at the bugs impassively and didn’t answer. “Eamon! If you’re here, you might as well help us. You can get Ray out of here.” I started guiding Ray toward him.

He turned. “I will not handle the human. I care not if he survives.”

“Then why are you here?” I stopped midstride. “Just so you can be unhelpful?” He stood between us and the Scorpers. I had no idea what they were called, so I was giving them the name they deserved. I was willing to give Eamon a smidgen of time to answer the question since he was in between us and the bugs. I glanced over my shoulder at Danny. “Is there someplace to go behind you?” I started shuffling backward, holding on to Ray, who was still coughing intermittently.

“They’re not interested in me,” Tyler called from across the ledge. “They’re focused on you. I’m going to climb higher and see if I can make a rock slide to knock them off.”

“To answer your question, I came back,” Eamon snapped, “because I still owe you a debt for saving my sister’s life, and after helping you get rid of these”—he gestured to the Scorpers—“I will consider my duties repaid in full.”

“Fine. Fulfill your debt by getting these things off of here and we’re good.” My back was pressed up against the side of the mountain. Danny stood behind me. The ledge had narrowed down to no place left to go. “Where is your sister?”

“I am here,” Naomi said as she landed gracefully in front of us, just behind her brother. “We are very close to Selene’s lair. This seems to be her last big defense. There was nothing else I could see, but my sensing skills are not as strong as yours.” She looked accusingly at her brother’s back. He hadn’t moved an inch.

“Naomi, I need you to take Ray out of here. Preferably not close to any water. We can’t take him any farther. Maybe put him up a tree so he can live for more than a few minutes while we tackle the angry Goddess.”

“I’m not a monkey, Hannon,” Ray half sputtered, half coughed. “I don’t want to be left in a goddamn tree!”

“I will take him and deposit him safely,” Naomi agreed. She reached for him and he stumbled back against me. She scolded Ray with a finger wag and glanced at me. “I will take him and then come back for you.” Her eyes narrowed, begging me to argue.

I wasn’t going to argue. Now that she had pledged herself to me, I had to trust her or our bond was worthless.

“I’m not going with you.” Ray shrank back even more. “I can take care of myself just fine. Leave me be.”

“Ray, you have no choice.” I pushed him outward. “If one of these suckers stings you, there’s no waking up again. That can’t be your choice. Not after all this.”

Before Ray could answer, Naomi locked on to him. His scream rent the air as she bolted upward. I chuckled, thinking about how pissed he was going to be when we picked him up. Then I turned my focus on Eamon, who had become a blur of movement as he swept the Scorpers closest to us off the ledge in big arcs toward the riverbed, kicking them with his legs. I heard one of them plunk into the water. Scorpers and Naiads? You couldn’t pay me to go swimming again. There was no guarantee Eamon wouldn’t get stung, which was why we weren’t joining him, but his persnickety demeanor was likely helping him—either that, or he was familiar with these, another of Selene’s pets, and he wasn’t letting on how much he knew.

That would be a better guess.

“They keep oozing out of the cracks,” Danny muttered next to me. “It doesn’t matter how fast he can sweep them away. We’ll have to cover the openings.”

There was a loud grating noise and several rocks rained down above us. “It appears Tyler’s already on it,” I commented.

Tyler shouted from above, “Get out of the way! I’m going to plug the holes.”

We glanced up in time to see him shove a large boulder over the side. It crashed down the hill, jumping and bouncing along the wall, shifting rocks loose as it went. I pressed my back as far as I could against the mountain as rocks poured down on our heads. The boulder had triggered a small avalanche and then it slammed onto the ledge where we stood. The entire platform sheared off, tossing us forward. I spun in midair, trying in vain to dig my nails into the cliff face, my claws ripping out of my fingertips to help me latch on.

It was too late.

My wolf howled in my mind as my body fell forward, tumbling into the rock slide.

“Jessica,” Danny yelled. “Hold on!”

To what? I crashed down hard, joining the melee of rocks and boulders, tumbling head over ass. There was nothing to hold on to. The sharp stones bashed into me at every turn. I just prayed my body didn’t get jammed under the big boulder. If it crushed my neck, it would be all over. My wolf snarled and barked in my mind. Nothing we can do; just hold on. My muscles hardened together as adrenaline rushed through me, my body needing the natural protection of my Lycan form. I took it greedily, fortifying myself as best I could as I continued to tumble down the embankment. Once I leveled out, I threw my arms to the sides and clawed the earth to slow my final decent. The tumble felt like it lasted an eternity. I hadn’t realized we had climbed that high.

I slid to a stop among a heap of rocks and debris, only a few feet from the river. F*ck. I spit dust and pebbles out of my mouth. My face was bloody and my hair was matted around my shoulders and I was covered with gravel. “Jesus,” I muttered. “Great idea, Tyler. Let’s bring the mountain down on top of us. It’s the perfect way to get rid of the Scorpers.”

As soon as the words left my mouth, I heard a rattling noise.

It was close.

I lifted my head slowly. Was it too much to ask that they’d all be crushed to death? I spotted four of them creeping over the mess of boulders, only ten feet from my face. They appeared to be completely unharmed. My wolf snapped her jaws at me to get up and get moving. No argument there. I jumped to my feet and took a tentative step backward. My body was bruised and dried blood caked my arms. I was regenerating, but it would take a minute.

The water splashed behind me.

I whipped my head around and there were so many Naiads disturbing the surface it looked like a breeding ground for angry eels. Their seaweed tresses danced back and forth in a jumble of mossy green. I’d already done the Naiad thing; there would be no repeat performance.

Naiads behind, Scorpers in front.

Channeling my wolf, I showed my teeth and snarled toward the stream. “Do not f*ck with me. Do you hear me!” I yelled to the rippling water. “You will not like what you find.”

“Hold on,” Danny said from somewhere close. My gazed landed to my left on a group of small river birch nestled right next to the stream. Danny rolled out of a pile of rocks. He sat up and brushed himself off. “That was quite a ride, wasn’t it? Wasn’t expecting that—”

“Danny, look out!” I yelled right as a green blur darted from the water.

I leapt into the air.

The Naiad had shot out of the water quickly, but I tracked it as I moved. In my Lycan form, I was just as fast. Its long arms reached for Danny, its body already shriveling out of its environment. I screamed as we collided. Danny rolled out of the way. The Naiad’s horrid face met mine, its eyes putrid in their moldy sliminess. The thing barely weighed anything. My canines were down, my claws slid into the soft, squishy flesh of its shoulders, poking though the other side.

I had to stifle a wave of nausea as we hit the ground. It struggled beneath me, its gaping mouth snapping its rows of sharp teeth open and closed, its tongue like a giant green worm wiggling back and forth.

I snarled through my raspy throat. “If you tell your people to back off, I will let you go. We don’t mean to harm you, but I will do what is necessary.”

The thing continued to thrash beneath me. I had no idea if it understood me. We were right next to the water and waves started churning in earnest on the surface, the angry Naiads wanting their comrade back. I gazed down into its face, watching as its eyes shriveled in its sockets. This one was an adult for sure. It was twice the size as the one I’d fought in the water. Pieces of its flesh were deteriorating at an alarming rate. They were flaking off and falling to the ground. “I don’t want to kill you,” I snarled. “Give me a sign you will not attack and I will toss you back in the water! Do you hear me?”

The thing stilled.

I knew I had only moments to decide. I shifted myself off of it to see if it would fight, but it didn’t move. It was too weak. Its hideous arms resembled shriveled raisin skin. I bent down without thinking, scooped it up, and carried it to the edge of the shoreline. It was long and gangly, but it weighed nothing. “We want no war with you,” I growled, my vocal cords straining. I tossed the shriveled Naiad back into the water. I had no idea if it would live or die. Once it hit the surface it was pulled under immediately and the water calmed.

But in less than a few seconds, heads popped up again, almost like a choreographed ballet.

I backed up.

The water swished like a wave pool, and at the exact same moment hundreds of gaping mouths opened up to face the starlit sky.

Shit, this doesn’t look good. My wolf agreed with a howl.

I took a few more steps backward as one solid chord of sound pierced the air. A single shrill note, beautiful in its intensity. Like a high note in a choral number, perfectly pitched. It went on for three beats and ended abruptly as every single head slipped below the surface at once.

Not even a ripple remained.

There was no evidence there had just been an army of supernatural beings beneath the surface. What was that? Did they leave? My wolf growled, as unsure as I was about what had just happened.

“Thanks,” Danny panted, coming up to me, his body still healing from the damage from the fall. “In my shape that thing might have been able to take me and gobble me up.”

“You would’ve had it handled,” I said. “They’re like jelly out of the water. Come on. We have to get out of here.” I slowly morphed my body back into my human form as I took a step forward. “We have to start climbing.”

“Jessica,” Danny yelled. “Watch out!” His hands reached me an instant too late.

The Scorper had wound itself around my foot, all its barbs digging in, easily piercing deeply into my ankle. The sting burned like molten lava, blinding me with its intensity. Scorching-hot coals raced up my leg, infesting my body with its poison spell in an instant.

I fell to the ground.

Then the thing was miraculously off my leg. Someone was lifting me. There was yelling and screaming.

“It’s going to be okay. Do you hear me?”

Tyler?

Danny’s calm murmurs floated over me, but were replaced by a horrid screeching inside my brain. My whole head ached, quickly filling with a thick, orange haze. It enveloped my wolf. She was fighting, working hard to clear it, but it wasn’t easing. The haze just kept getting thicker.

I was transferred into a new pair of arms. “You must stay strong.” Naomi’s voice echoed in my ears like thunder, her mouth right next to my ear. I latched on to it like a lifeline. “I am taking you up the mountain. You have had Selene inside you already, Ma Reine. Use it to your advantage. She will have left antibodies in her spells, and if these spiders are her creations, you can fight them using her essence. The same essence that ran through your veins a short time ago. Find it.”

My human side had trouble processing her words, but my wolf started to howl, clawing at the ground in my mind, trying to uncover something we had buried deeply. I saw the glimmer of red as she kept digging, her paws moving quickly, the orange so thick I almost couldn’t see her. Then like a fountain, red sprang forth again, its tendrils sprouting in the air like a vicious web. My wolf jumped back, letting it flow outward.

My back arched, my spine bowed backward. The intensity of the reaction was forcing me to change. I embraced it.

Anything to stop the howling pain.

The red veins of Selene’s essence hit the orange poison, and where they met, it burned clear, making a pssst sound as each tendril seared a little more. My muscles danced under my skin.

“That’s it,” Naomi murmured. “Fight this. You must fight. Use your power.”

My body arched again, my full change coming on fast. My legs bucked, shifting, my clothes tore, and my jaw lengthened. I tried to calm myself to make it easier, but that was impossible. I knew if I couldn’t clear my body of her vile spell, I wouldn’t wake up.

This was it.

“That’s it, Ma Reine. Let it come,” Naomi spoke softly.

Tyler’s voice echoed in the background. “Step back,” he instructed. “Give her room.”

“It is within you, Ma Reine,” Naomi said, her voice getting thin and hard to hear. “Selene is not stronger than you. These things are a child’s plaything compared to your power. Eradicate the spell they carry from your being, using what Selene has left in you, and you will be free of her forever.”

Ma Reine. I finally understood.

My Queen.