Nash curled his upper lip.
“And they don’t have to kill you to get to Luca. They just have to slow you down.”
The sharp ivory points of Nash’s teeth grew longer.
“I don’t want that to happen.”
Nash’s jaw popped, and black threads poured down his arms.
“Let me help you, please.”
Johnathan wouldn’t have asked another man for permission to do his job, but Nash wasn’t any other man, and Johnathan didn’t stand a chance.
Growling curs closed the distance. Nash leapt from the porch, going from human to Anubis so fast his clothes shredded.
The Anubis’s front foot had barely touched the ground when it vanished.
Phase three. Johnathan had heard the rumors, but to see it?
Pain-filled screams broke the air, and slaps of red sprayed from the mass of oncoming creatures. The gap in the horde of animals created by the Anubis closed without slowing them down.
“Goddamn it.” Johnathan tore back through the house. “Seung, take Luca and your betas, and go.” Johnathan tossed Craige the keys to the rental. “You and Dalton take Dr. Dante—”
“No, I can’t be around—”
Johnathan silenced him with a look. “Take him in the opposite direction. Guard him with your life, or I’ll fucking kill you myself.” He headed back toward the door.
“Where are you going?” Seung said.
“To help without getting killed.” At least that’s what Johnathan hoped.
He ran to his truck.
If he couldn’t use the Sarvari, he needed a different weapon, and the Chevrolet, armed with a cattle pusher, a V-8, and nine-hundred feet of torque would have to do.
He got in and cranked up the engine.
The station wagon and sedan came from the other side of the house, parting ways when they reached the driveway. Seung east, Johnathan’s betas west.
The Anubis erupted from the swarm with curs locked on every limb. The animals were more gray than black against the Anubis.
It snatched one clinging to his thigh, and crimson sprayed from between its teeth. Before the Anubis dropped the body, two more curs latched onto its front leg.
Johnathan plowed into the horde. Broken bodies flipped onto the hood, punching dents into the metal then bouncing against the windshield. Cracks spider-webbed across the glass.
Deep thumps resonated from the undercarriage, and the truck jostled as it climbed the dead.
Claws gouged the fenders. Both side mirrors sheared off. Johnathan cranked the wheel in a hard right, sweeping away dozens of animals, breaking the rush of their attack against Nash.
The Anubis rolled, tearing the curs free, shredding them under its claws.
Another wave of creatures descended.
Black threads spun from the darkness of the Anubis’s coat, winding around its limbs, packing on mass. Its spine lengthened, its head elongated, and what had been impressive became monstrous.
Then it winked out of existence and curs separated, leaving behind a swath of dismembered bodies. The Anubis reappeared, only to vanish again. More curs fell, pulled apart as if they’d never been whole.
Johnathan guided the truck around the blanket of corpses, picking up speed as he approached a mass of animals clamoring to join in attacking the Anubis.