I MUST HAVE HIT my head.
I saw Rynne shift into a polar bear. It doesn’t make any sense. Rynne is a shapeshifter? Aren’t only monsters shapeshifters? But these monsters… They’re calling him an angel.
My body aches everywhere, and I’m bleeding. Rynne’s fighting off monsters while I’m sitting here defenseless. I try not to make a sound as I attempt to drag myself away from the battle. If I can’t fight, I have to do my best not to get in the way. But I feel so confused, so conflicted. What is Rynne? Is this what he meant when he said there are things about him I don’t know? If he’s really an angel, why has he been hanging around me all this time and what is he doing, claiming to be a human and a hunter? What purpose would an angel have for doing those things?
I find my way to a wall and rest my back against it. I hold my left arm as still as possible. It hurts so bad. It’s definitely bruised, and maybe even broken. More than anything I want to scream or cry, but I have to be strong. I can’t be any more of a nuisance than I already am. Rynne’s right here fighting for me. His white fur coat is already splattered in blood. If it’s his, the monsters’, or both, I don’t know. He’s still fighting relentlessly, so I hope that means he isn’t hurt. I won’t be able to bear it if he gets hurt because of me. Or worse.
“You’re all a bunch of useless sacks of meat,” the silky smooth voice of a female sounds from down the hall. I turn my head in the direction of the voice, but most of the lights have been busted. Fires are scattered around and growing, but she’s too far away to see clearly.
A hush falls over the screams and clashing noises that filled the hall just moments before. Even Rynne has stopped fighting. His sides heave with labored breaths, and I know he’s almost spent.
The woman speaking before reveals herself just underneath the flickering of a lone light. She’s beautiful, voluptuous, curvy, seductive in every sense of the word, and she’s all legs. She’s the kind of woman you only see in magazines, the kind of woman portrayed in illustrations of a temptress. She’s the kind of woman with beauty you can only achieve by digitally modifying a photo. Then I see her glowing teal eyes. Her eyes are different from the other monsters’. They’re the kind of eyes I’ve only ever seen from demons.
“Exones must have been careless,” the woman states as she walks past the flickering and burning light.
The other monsters clear a path for her. “You don’t look so tough,” she says, “especially not at the moment.” Her eyes are glued on Rynne. She looks like she wants to eat him. “Why don’t I rip out your heart so you can feel exactly what he did when he died?”
Rynne growls at her, but the sound is weakened. I can see him shaking. He was barely holding off the other monsters before, and they were nothing compared to this demon. No monster is.
This is it. This is the end.
Tears spill from my eyes as I’m consumed by my inadequacy. Rynne wouldn’t be hurt and dying right now if it wasn’t for me. If I was stronger, we would be working together to stop this demon. If I was stronger, I could save him. But I’m not strong. The only things I have left are my diamonds, but they can’t help us either.