Frozen Fear Book. 2

❅ Chapter 2 ❅

The deafening howl of the barghest rung in my ears as I flew forward. With no weapon, I'd have to use the hand to hand combat Sebastian had showed me a few months before.

My eyes were level with the hellhounds maw, its fangs a gleaming black array of deadly canines. I gulped, gritting my teeth and spinning just before the mutt and I collided.

The monster landed on all fours, spinning, and growled, low and deadly. I dove away, falling into the snow, but I quickly got to my feet. My heart kick started, pounding in my ears. I wasn't sure why, but even though I could feel my magic strumming my intestines like a guitar pick, I couldn't quite bring it to the surface. It was almost like there was a plug stopping the flow.

The iron shackles around my wrist must've had some kind of magical canceling charm on it. Damn witches.

The wolves snarled, their lips pulled back. I watched as it crouched, muscles and tendons coiling under its fur like tight springs. If I couldn't get these damn shackles off, I'd be an easy kill. A mouse for a falcon to pluck off the ground. With one mighty bound it soared towards me, black eyes glinting with a menace that made my blood freeze in my veins and threaten to choke me.

I dove to the side, attempting to dodge, but one of the barghest's paws clipped my shoulder and I landed with a muffled thud on my back. The air whooshed from my lungs. Desperate, I gasped, trying to recover all my stolen oxygen.

I attempted to sit up, but it was too late. The hellhound had circled once more, and this time it was faster. I stared up into its deadly jaws, my adam's apple bobbing in my throat. I couldn't breathe with the faerie on my chest. It was milimeters, centimeters away. A line of drool dribbled from its gullet and onto my cheek.. One of the wolf's snouts snapped right by my ear, causing me to jump. I could've sworn it cackled at me like a human, its eyes darkening.

"Nowhere to go, little princess." It placed it paws on my shoulder, shoving me back into the snow as I bucked.

I could hear the gunfire of the witches, the crackle of their magic in the air. They and faeries alike were falling to the ground like heavy sacks of meat, lifeless.

I struggled under the barghest's weight, but I couldn't seem to slip out of its grasp. It huffed, and its breath reeked of rot and gore. I gagged. It curled its long, sharp talons into my shoulders, and I could feel cotton and skin alike give way beneath them. I gritted my teeth as a scream built in my throat, just as warm streams of blood slid down my shoulders and onto the white snow like delicate ribbons.

There was chaos surrounding us, a suffocating cloud of it, but all I could see was dark reddish-brown fur, black fangs, and beady, hate-filled eyes. This was it. I knew I wouldn't die here, in the company of many other fallen witches and a few barghests, but this was still the end. The end of everything. The barghest would maw me until I was nothing more than a twisted pile of bloody bones and torn skin, but still leave me alive. Mab would continue on with her ceremony, take my body and heal it, steal it, and Sebastian would be left without his memories forever.

One of the heads lifted its muzzle, and a blaring howl of victory sounded in the air, causing goosebumps to rise on my flesh. I bucked harder just as the steel fist of panic clamped its fingers around my throat. The other, on the other hand, was enjoying showing me its fangs, snapping them right in front of my nose.

I caught a glimpse of a shadow out of the corner of my eyes, and my heart sank. Another barghest prowled nearby, circling, no doubt called by the its brother's victorious bay, and it was too close for comfort. Both sets of eyes were pinned on me, its two heads low. When it caught me looking, it pulled its lips back in a rapacious grin, giving me a good view at its jagged and gleaming teeth.