Vicious Creatures: A Fun, Fast-Paced Urban Fantasy (The Waif in the Wilds Book 1) by Lauretta Hignett

Author:Lauretta Hignett [Hignett, Lauretta]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2023-10-28T16:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER 19

The rush didn’t last long, but the feeling of self-righteousness remained with me. I left the woman tied up and screaming on the floor beside Methusela’s dead body, and slipped out of the cabin and over the wall, before anyone saw me.

It was over; the commune was destroyed. None of these things lasted more than a couple of days without their leader. Once their tormentor was gone, there was nothing to hold them in place. Most cult members cried for a day or two—they might even call the police to take care of the body and investigate the murder—but then, inevitably, for the members who remained, it was like taking sunglasses off and seeing the world clearly for the first time. The rest of the Children of the Passion would be fine.

I slipped through the woods, just as quiet as last time, moving silently in the pitch darkness, while exploring my feelings carefully, with trepidation, like you’d probe a sore tooth with your tongue.

I felt different. The rush I got from taking out a mark disappeared just as quickly as it usually did, but another emotion had swamped me—both before and after the kill.

A burning conviction. Killing Methusela Baron had been the right thing to do.

My experiment seemed to have worked. Maybe, just maybe, I was on the path to redemption. Maybe, when I died, and the mirror of judgment was held up in front of me, I’d see myself as a hero rather than a vicious, cold-blooded killer.

The feeling faded, though, as I moved further away from the commune. I lost the game trail twice. I stumbled around in the woods for a little longer before finding a clear path out to the road.

There it was—around fifty feet up and to the left. I’d have to climb out of this small gully to get back on the path.

My skin suddenly prickled. The old trees around me began to rustle; I froze in place. There was no wind here, not down in this sheltered gully. But above me, the trees began to whisper and shake, sending a chill down my spine. Then, a low, menacing vibration reached my ears.

A growl. Soft and low, coming not from my left, or right, but from everywhere. The woods were growling, just like Sarah said.

I stayed as still as possible, watching the shadows in the trees. A solid, dark shape moved in the distance. It was huge, nearly twice the size of a grizzly bear but sleeker, not slim at the back legs like a wolf but more boxy, like a... like…

I had no idea. Just as quickly as my eyes found the gigantic black beast, it disappeared. Then immediately, it popped up again, stalking through the trees, thirty feet to my right.

What the fuck?

It wasn’t a shifter. Definitely not a wolf. It was big and pitch black and very solid.

The road was only twenty feet away. I could make it if I ran… but whatever that thing was, it would probably chase me.

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