When Lily Kline takes possession of a Gothic estate with Ian Hawke, her co-heir and a stranger, she soon realizes there is more than meets the eye within the many corridors of the sequestered mansion.
Ian is aloof and even hostile at times, and thou...
Morack stood to his full height and stared down at the girl's crumpled body. He couldn't believe his luck. It had been easy and entertaining. Like a wolf sparring with a rabbit.
A warm tingling started in his hands and spread up his arms.
What was this?
He turned his hands over in surprise, examining them.
The warmth grew hotter still and was instantly painful, like hundreds of fire ants marching up his arms, biting his flesh each step of the way, and spreading out over his entire body within a matter of seconds. He had no time to think, it was happening so fast. He opened his mouth to howl as the searing pain engulfed his limbs like invisible flames and a mounting pressure in his chest cavity burst like an internal grenade.
All around him the beasts continued to wage war oblivious to his crisis but his screeching voice permeated the throngs until they finally took notice and stopped to stare. His cries were so deafening they clutched their ears and squeezed their eyes shut.
Above him the sun vanished and the sky darkened instantly as though a slated blanket had been tossed across the heavens. Thunder clapped, eclipsing his wails.
Then, as quickly as it had started, the burning pain vanished and a cool, tingling sensation replaced it—as though a bucket of ice water had doused his body.
His mouth hung open a moment and then he let out a shout of sudden triumph as renewed strength and power flooded his body.
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The world seemed to freeze around Ian as he heard the first blood-curdling scream.
He had just downed another beast. His whole body ached and blood flowed freely from numerous slashes and bite wounds.
None of the creatures he'd faced thus far had induced any terror in him like this sound had. It was like thousands of nails dragging down a chalkboard all at once.
As if on cue, everyone stopped fighting and turned toward the source of the noise. He knew without a doubt it was Morack, though there were too many creatures in front of him to see through.
Ian pushed his way through the beasts, trying to catch a glimpse of what was going on, but suddenly collapsed to the ground as waves of pain washed over his body; as severe as if a hose of acid had been turned on him. He writhed back and forth, clawing at his skin and wildly scanning the crowd to see who or what had done this to him.
A spreading chorus of distressed wailing surrounded him. Thunder crashed. Then, just as the agony peaked, it left as quickly as it had come, leaving him with an all-consuming sense of power.
The slashes and gouges and bite marks on his skin and muscles closed up and scarred over within a mere half second. Physically, he felt better than he had in years, as though nothing could ever stand in his way again.
Yet his heart sank to his feet.
The reason his ability to heal had been suppressed and sluggish lately was because of Lily. And the only possible reason for its returning strength was . . . her death.
The sky above him had turned to slate as his father's cries of pain became shouts of triumph.
The thunder ceased.
Ian jumped to his feet and lunged through the crowd, bumping beasts out of his way like bowling pins. He broke through the cluster encircling Morack and there stood his father—looming over Lily's lifeless body. Morack's face was upturned to the sky, hands raised palms up, energy surging up and down his arms like static.
Ian hesitated and stopped short, catching sight of Callamous and Varkis nearby. The look of despair in their eyes confirmed his worst fears. They were bloodied, broken, and defeated. Mike stood near them, tears making trails in the dirt on his cheeks.
Morack stopped gloating and lowered his head, scanning the crowd until his vermilion eyes locked onto Ian's.
Utter fury filled Ian's body and his face distorted as he thrust his hands out in front of him—casting streaks of fluorescent green at his father with a deafening crack.
Morack blocked the lightning bolts with his palms and they dissipated against an invisible shield emanating from his hands. Then, holding his arms out straight at his sides, the energy that had been building in them acted like a giant magnet drawing creatures toward him. As the first beast made contact, Morack's arm went into its body as though it were liquid and instantly absorbed the creature into him.
Morack's body grew taller.
Callamous, Varkis and Mike were far enough back to take instant cover, running in the opposite direction, but many of the beasts did not clue in soon enough, and though they dug their claws into the ground, they were dragged to Morack's side and absorbed one by one until he towered above them all: losing all recognizable features as his body twisted in and out of grotesque shapes.
Ian too was jerked toward his father along with the others, digging his heals into the ground to no avail.
Morack's magnetic power was like a collapsed star.
Forming balls of energy in his palms, Ian blasted them into the ground ahead of him and the explosions sent him flying backward, released from the pull. He hit the ground hard, rolling a few feet before coming to a stop. He scrambled back to his feet just as Callamous galloped up to his side in battle form; smoking black with blazing eyes.
"What's happening?" he asked, skidding to a stop and stamping a hoof.
"I'm not sure," Ian said. "I've never seen him do anything like this before!"
"Is Lily—?"
"Don't say it."
"Do you have a plan?"
"Yes—I'm going to kill him."
"But without Lily—"
"Ssh—something's happening."
Morack stood two stories tall now and would soon dwarf the mansion. Appendages grew and disappeared as he struggled to take a notable shape.
"We should attack now while he's still transitioning," Callamous growled.
"No—we're no match. If you touch him while he's like this, you'll just be sucked in like all the others."
Morack's body completed its transformation as they spoke. It became long and segmented, each section covered with a tough shell, and sprouting dozens upon dozens of centipede legs. He dropped down to the ground with a thwumph, showing himself to be ten feet tall and the length of three school buses end-to-end. His face was a giant maw, lined with the teeth of a lamprey. A pair of jade eyes gleamed on either side of his head.
"It has been an honor fighting with you," Callamous said.
Ian nodded. "For Lily," he said, voice catching on her name.
"For Lily."
Callamous charged forward.
Ian followed suit, grabbing a fallen sword from the ground.
The world seemed to slow around him as he ran, the cries of dying beasts fading away as he focused solely on his target. In his periphery, a gargoyle charged from the forest with an axe aimed at one of the centipede legs, but Morack lifted the limb and stabbed it through the gargoyle's back.
Like a blade through a fly.
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