"No one dies for me," Gillian snapped.
William waved to the chimeras. "Did no one hear me? Everything is settled, my word is law. Let's go."
Puck, a born prince and once a future king, longed to attack this usurper who thought to take charge. No one ordered his troops but him!
Jealous? Now? Over this?
"Pandora is really attractive," Gillian said, her tone sharp enough to cut through steel. "Do you want her?"
She battled jealousy, too?
Clarity. Puck jabbed a finger in Galen's direction. "Control your demon."
The male hiked a shoulder, unconcerned. "Counter offer. I do me. You do you. We both do the girls."
Puck was in his face a second later, punching, breaking his nose. Gillian and Pandora cheered.
Galen grinned as blood poured down his face. "What? Was it something I said?"
William delivered the next punch, merely earning a laugh from Galen as he popped his jaw back into place.
Crazy male! Puck ushered Gillian to the chimeras, helped her mount, then mounted Walnut.
As William trotted past Puck to take the lead, he muttered, "Remember what I told you."
Their group trekked through the forest, leaving Rathbone, Winter and Cameron behind. To circumvent a surge of guilt, Puck replayed the conversation he and William had earlier, as Puck set a thorny border around camp.
"Fun fact," William had said. "I collect skulls. Pretty ones, ugly ones. Male, female. Young, old. Immortal, human. Those of my enemies and friends alike, and even a person I met in an elevator."
"Is it story time?" Puck had been in a deep freeze at the time, and antagonizing the male had seemed like a wonderful idea. "Gee whiz, Willy. I wish you'd warned me. I would have dressed in my pj's and snuggled under my favorite blanket."
The beloved son of Hades had continued on, unperturbed. "I have thousands of skulls. The only thing they have in common? I murdered the person they once belonged to."
"Yawn. You're big and bad, and you do creepy things. Noted. Your point?" He'd spread his arms wide. "Wait. Let me guess. If I'm not careful, I'll end up as exhibit A in your collection."
William had run his tongue over his teeth. "I hate those skulls. Every...single...one. They remind me of the worst deeds I've ever committed. Once, I considered getting rid of them. Before I'd made a decision, however, a friend stole my least favorite of the bunch. Do you know what I did?"
"Bored him to death with this story?"
"Tracked him down, cut off his head and turned his skull into a urinal. My point, as you so eloquently requested, is this--you do not steal from me."
A fetid stench permeated the air, cutting into Puck's reprieve. He grimaced as he picked up notes of death, decay and sulfur.
"Galen," Pandora bellowed. "I told you not to eat those burritos."
"You're blaming me for this?" White-feathered wings gliding in a measured back and forth motion to keep pace with the chimeras, he said, "I thought you were to blame. I was going to be a gentleman for once, and not comment on your raging flatulence. My mistake."
Puck scanned the area, and discovered four rotting bodies partly hidden by piles of leaves about a hundred yards away. Using magic for an up-close inspection, he realized the victims had been ripped to pieces.
He slowed his pace, coming up beside Gillian. "See the bodies? They died badly. Whatever killed them could still be out here."
"Don't worry," she said. "I'll protect you."
He glanced at her, and she curved her lush red lips in a smile, setting Puck aflame with lust.
Must have her. Soon.
Pandora, who rode at Gillian's other side, withdrew a sword from a crisscross sheath on her back. "What kind of beast could we be dealing with here, Indifference?"
"You may call me Your Majesty." He wasn't the demon. Would never be the demon again.
He forced the devastation to reclaim center stage in his mind. Limbs had not been cut from the bodies but ripped. There were bite marks on every visible patch of skin, but not fang marks. Scratches made by dull nails rather than claws.
Considering each hand had blood and tissue caked under every nail bed...almost seemed like the people had attacked each other.
Surely not. "The beast... I don't know."
"I'm more concerned about the maze." Gillian pointed to the right. "I feel like I've seen that tree three times already."
Maze...maze. The word poked and prodded at Puck's mind. Gillian had called Sin's creation a maze more than once, but he'd never treated the forest as anything more than, well, a forest.
Had he erred? "Fly up, Galen, and tell us what you see."
Galen obeyed, and the higher he went, the wider his eyes became. "You guys should see--"
He smashed into an invisible ceiling, impact snapping one of his wings. Like a falling star, he streaked down, down, before crash landing a few feet from William, skidding across the ground and slamming into a tree.
Both of his wings were now crimped and twisted at an odd angle. His shoulder was clearly out of its socket, and his ankle broken; bone cut through flesh. What had to be thousands of bugs swarmed from the tree trunk to glom on to him.
In unison, everyone dismounted and rushed over to help. With a yell, Galen rolled away, knocking into Gillian, who fell.
Cackle, cackle. Indifference enjoyed the show.
Tensing, Puck hustled to his wife's side--but William flashed, reaching her first. He expected rage. The bastard touches what's mine. Instead, he experienced...gratitude. The bastard helped her when she needed him.
"I'm fine," she said, and smiled. "Truly."
All right, now he experienced rage. That is my smile.
Galen jammed his fist into his dislocated shoulder, popping the joint back into place. Even though his ankle flopped uselessly, he stood and limped toward Puck. "Prick! Did you know I would--"
Peanut head-butted his midsection. Once again, Galen slammed into a tree.
"Well?" Puck prompted. "What did you see?"
Galen stayed down. Glaring, he said, "I saw our doom."
*
Gillian listened, sick to her stomach as Galen described a nightmare of biblical proportions. Sections of the maze were trading places. Meaning, no matter how far the group traveled, or how new the landscape appeared, they might never reach Sin's fortress.
"Do you know how I know we're going to escape this maze?" Pandora announced. "Because I'm here."
Hey! That's my line.
Gillian rubbed the back of her neck, only then noting the drop in temperature. From somewhat cool to welcome to the Arctic, so cold her teeth started chattering.
The others noticed, too, frowning as snowflakes twirled from the sky, landed on exposed skin and were absorbed through pores.
Inside her, blooming heat chased away the cold. Blooming...blistering. Her runes flickered on and off as her blood became lava, and her organs became ash.
Magic?
"Puck." She tried to say more, but searing agony suddenly and unequivocally consumed her. She whimpered--and then she screamed.
"Help..." The bones in her face, chest and limbs elongated, thickened and rotated. Dark fur sprouted, overlaying every inch of her skin. Her gums developed a heartbeat of their own as tusks extended upward, past her upper lip. Claws grew from her fingers and toes.
With the horrid change, she lost her center of gravity and toppled.
Peanut swung around, screeched and backed away from her.
Where was Puck? She needed him. Vision hazing. Where, where? Her gaze landed on--no! Her teammates were gone. In their place? Horned, fanged monsters.
Thoughts devolving, almost indistinct, savage instincts taking over. Not my friends, but my enemies. Food. So hungry.
Gillian reared back, readying herself...and then attacked.
34
Mind a war zone, Indifference's protests clattering, Puck struggled to make sense of what was happening around him. Gillian, William, Galen and Pandora had dropped to all fours and now prowled around each other, snipping and snarling.
Foreboding deluged him. This will not end well.
Appropriate. William launched at Galen, teeth bared. Locked in a battle to the death, the two males bowled over twigs and rocks.
Gillian released a war cry and hurtled her body at Pandora, who met her midway. Biting, slashing. Blood spraying.