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Fuck The wo to stop it He had to get between her and the hiath had turned to look at her He plunged his sword into the back of the skull of the closest one, pushed hi carcass froed toward her She stopped, skidding over the ground, leveled the shotgun, and fired

Her eyes squeezed shut and her body jerked with the force of the weapon, but her shot had hit one of the sgath, knocking it into the next

They went down in a pile of claws and teeth, fighting each other for a few precious seconds

Madoc juh the air as he landed This sword’s balance was different from the one he’d used for centuries, and because of that, his ai off the head, he ath’s shoulders

The thing turned on hi its teeth Madoc kicked it in the head with his boot, stunning it

He heard Nika screao anywhere else in the face of a screa behind hiround like a puppeteer had cut her strings

Madoc bellowed and headed for her, needing to catch her before she hit the ground even though he kneas a futile atte on the back of his leather jacket; then a cold blast of wind hit his back as claws barely missed his skin

Madoc turned toward the sgath, his sword lifted to defend against another attack

The sgath that had slashed his jacket to pieces was in the process of clawing at hiain, only now that the blade was in the way, it ended up severing its o

Behind that one, there were still fourfor hiood odds on the best of nights, but tonight, with Nika lying helpless only a few feet away and Madoc fighting with an unfarim

Instincts embedded in his DNA deht to die, knowing that the sgath left alive were strong, s to happen If he took out half of theaed everything

Madoc bellowed, rushing the closest sgath, forcing it back with a series of fast, short jabs from his sword None of the strikes hit, but theyto be traath was busy licking up a puddle of its own blood, which would heal it, but there was nothing Madoc could do about that He’d kill it when he could There were four ht now

Two of them moved out to his sides to flank him while the one in his face kept his attention He saw the he could do to stop them until the odds wereto his left

The one on his right let out a deep hissing kind of growl, and the others’ ears twitched as if listening

Then, as if they’d choreographed it, all four of theot in a hit on his arh his leather jacket and raked over his skin He could feel the sting of poison as it entered his system and kneas totally fucked now First, his reaction speed would slow; then he’d si Nika defenseless

Like hell He’d just have to take theath snarled and snapped as they fought to get closer He kept his sword et in a clean blow With each beat of his heart, hisNika, letting her die These things were going to kill him; then they’d tear her delicate flesh apart and feed on her blood

Rage exploded inside Madoc, driving back soath aith his boot, giving hiave theotten in a blow came back for seconds Only this time, it wanted a bite

Sharp yellow teeth closed in on Madoc’s thigh He saw the bite coath to stop it He braced hi clean off and fuck up his balance

Then suddenly, there was a streak of oily fur where the thing had been a second ago as one of the other sgath attacked it It turned on its own kind and sank its teeth into its fellow sgath’s neck

Madoc didn’t question his luck There wasn’t ti chance

He shoved his blade through the botto its mouth shut Then he levered its heavy body at the tip of his sword, flinging it at the one left standing They toppled over Madoc didn’t wait for theain their balance He followed, hacked the head off one, and leaped over the pulsing arc of black blood that spewed out of its neck

A hard boot to the side of the next sgath’s head kept its teeth away, but its back claws caught Madoc’s leg Pain and fury collided in his chest, co paw and shoved his sword into the thing’s gut It wriggled and howled as he cut it open It took only seconds to kill, but each one of those seconds left hihting continued to do so while Madoc sneaked up behind the one trying to heal itself with its own blood His blade dived down in a deadly arc, but his strength was fading and the cut wasn’t clean His sword lodged in the thing’s spine It bucked, knocking Madoc to the ground The h so collapsed, twitched twice, then went still

By the tiath re black with the blood of its kin and its glowing eyes fixed on Madoc

He was too weak to defeat it He could barely lift his blade

The thing stalked toward hi Madoc braced his feet apart and blinked in an effort to clear his fading vision As he neared it, it lifted its head as if offering itself up as a sacrifice

He didn’t trust what he was seeing It had to be the poison fucking up his vision

Or maybe this was some kind of trick

Madoc lifted his sword He’d use every last scrap of strength he had defending Nika It probably wouldn’t be enough, but he had to try

The thing carowl slid from between its teeth, but they stayed claot to within sword range and stopped