Dark Pact - A Seven Hungers Urban Fantasy Adventure by Morgan Quaid

Author:Morgan Quaid [Quaid, Morgan]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2024-06-10T00:00:00+00:00

14. Herald

Petra’s baton was ripped out of her hand as she fell hard against a stone pillar. The blow knocked the wind out of her, a sharp pain swelling in her ribs and lower back as she scrambled to her feet.

The monstrous form lumbering toward her was clothed in a red coat, its thick limbs and hulking frame at odds with the small, swollen, mushroom head jutting from it broad shoulders. Strands of stringy hair clung to the malformed fleshy head, as beady eyes regarded her.

She recognized it as the Herald who had delivered news to the villagers outside the tower. Up close and personal, the creature seemed much larger and more menacing than it had on the bridge. Its mouth hung open slackly, revealing rows of jagged blackened teeth from above and what looked like a single blunt molar from below. Spittle frothed in the corners of its mouth as it spoke.

“What is it?!” the Herald boomed, floorboards shaking as he ran to Petra, swinging a massive fist at her head. “What is this thing?!”

She ducked and rolled away, drawing Thorn and firing two rounds, her eyes closed to avoid blinding herself as the explosive bullets hit home.

When she opened her eyes again, the chamber was filled with white dust and one of the pillars had a large chunk taken out of it. There was no sign of the Herald, but Petra could see a thread of silken fiber running toward a shadowed section of the room. Rumbling laughter came from the darkness as she trained her weapon.

This level of the tower was completely free of furnishings. Unlike the machine cluttered floor beneath, this chamber was empty but for the stone pillars reaching up from below and stretching to the ceiling. The staircase Petra had climbed to get here continued up to the next level and she could still hear the steady din of the incongruous machine performing its pointless task.

As the dust cleared, the Herald stepped forward and stood looking down at the sizable hole in his stomach. He laughed once more as black ichor oozed from the wound, dribbling down his shirt and red pants. He shook his head, jowls wobbling and sending ropes of drool left and right.

“It has a bite,” the Herald said, grinning grotesquely as it began lumbering forward again, the gaping hole closing as it balled up its fists.

Petra fired again, aiming directly for the hulking figure’s chest as the Herald lunged toward her. She ducked and rolled, running from the beast as it thudded into the floor, splintering wooden boards and turning to face her, heedless of the wounds in its chest and arms.

Backing away from the monstrous form, Petra emptied the clip of her gun and slid it back into its holster, pulling free Thistle and surveying the damage her light-infused bullets had done.

Several of the stone pillars had been cracked and battered. One had entirely fallen away, blown apart by the explosive power of several of Thorn’s rounds. Once more,

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.