Chapter 158 Blood in the dark
Chapter 158: Blood in the dark
Milo's POV -
Blood in the Dark
“Damon!” a scream tore through my throat, as the first feral lunged .
The feral's teeth gleamed in the darkness as it launched itself at Damon. Who was ever ready to meet them. His beastly huge hands caught it mid-leap, his massive jaws crushing its throat before it could even scream. Black scorching blood sprayed across the cavern walls, the metallic stench instantly corrupted the air.
Silence descended following the first attack, from the darkness I could picture eleven more pairs of glowing eyes that opened towards us.
“What are these?” I asked Damon, as we backed away slowly, the creatures advanced towards us, their angry snarls echoing and vibrating through my bones.
Apparently they value their own.
The finally came out towards the little illumination, and my breath seized, These creatures had been trapped down here for years, maybe decades, according to Damon. Their bodies were wrong, so wrong I suddenly had the urge to vomit just from mere looking at them.
ugly twisted things, that had patches of fur hung from gray skin stretched too tight over bones that jutted at unnatural angles. They continue to bare their jagged sharp canines at us, while their eyes move intelligently…
I froze, these are wol…
"Stay behind me," Damon commanded through our bond, snapping me out of my choice thoughts. His voice was sharp and commanding ,but I could feel his exhaustion. The fall had reopened wounds from the battle with the Council. Blood seeped from gashes along his flanks, turning the water around us dark.
Two ferals attacked from opposite sides. Damon spun, using his tail like a massive club to send one flying into the limestone wall. The crack of breaking bones echoed through the cavern. But the second one managed to latch onto his shoulder, dirty teeth sinking deep.
He roared in pain, the sound so loud it made my ears ring. With a violent shake, he dislodged the creature, but three more took its place. Their eyes gleaming with evil intelligence, they were learning, coordinating their attacks.
"There are too many," I said, my voice barely audible over the snarling and splashing.
Damon as a beast was more powerful and deadly, almost more powerful than 5 alphas combined but under the intelligence and cunning of the ferals , he was slowly burning out.
A feral dropped from a ledge above, aiming for Damon's exposed back. Time slowed. Without thinking, I dove forward, my hand finding a sharp rock beneath the water. The stone connected with the creature's skull just as it was about to land on Damon. It collapsed into the water, but that gave Damon enough time to sink his claws into it, silencing it for once.
"I told you to stay back!" Damon's mental voice was sharp with fear and anger.
"And let you die? Not happening."
A warm feeling spread from my chest, becoming hotter as time went on, but instead of rejecting or trying to snuff it out, I accepted it, channeling it into my limbs, just like I have been learning to do from James and the shadows.
Another feral lunged at me from behind. This time, my body moved on instinct. I grabbed its throat, using its own momentum to flip it over my shoulder into the water.
Where had that come from? I stared at my hands and how easy it was. I had never used this in a fight before, well because I had not fought in any fight, but my muscles seemed to know exactly what to do.
Leanor, my wolf purred inside me.
“Ahh” I turned, to see Damon tore through two more ferals, their bodies floating motionless in the increasingly bloody water. Only four remained now, but they had pulled back, circling us warily. They had seen their pack mates fall and were reassessing their approach.
The largest one, clearly the leader of this twisted pack, made a chittering sound. The others responded immediately, spreading out in a hunting formation I recognized from watching the pack train.
"They are going to rush us all at once," Damon warned.
"Then we take them together."
"Milo, you cannot…"
"I can and I will. We are mates, remember? We fight together or not at all."
I felt his reluctance through the bond, but also his acceptance. There was no time to argue.
The ferals attacked as one. Damon met two head-on, his massive form a whirlwind of teeth and claws. I faced the third, my body moving with that same strange instinct and fire. Duck under its swipe, grab its arm, twist until bones snapped. Use its body as a shield when the alpha tried to flank me.
The leader managed to slip out of Damon's range, and dove for me. It was smarter and faster than its mates, it teeths aimed at my throat, an evil smile plastered its face, as it knew that I could not dodge in time.
But I did not need to. Damon appeared from nowhere, his jaws closed around the alpha's neck, inches from my face. With one powerful bite, he ended it.
I stared wide eyes at him, and the other ferals he was fighting minutes ago lay dead floating in the water.
We stood there panting, surrounded by floating corpses and blood-tinted water. My hands were shaking, adrenaline making everything too sharp, too bright.
"Are you okay, Milo?” Damon's shaky voice boomed in my head, as he rushed towards me, checking for invisible wounds.
“I am fine” I tried to assure him I was realy okay, but Damon did not hear.
We walked around slowly around the cave, while looking for an entrance.
Damon asked about my skills that have become sharper and lethal than before.
We waded through the carnage, looking for a way out. The walls were too smooth to climb, worn down by centuries of water. Numerous other small tunnels spread out, leading to an unknown distance.
"We are trapped," I said after minutes of roaming about with no success. trying to keep the panic from my voice.
"There has to be another way. This cavern is ancient. The old packs would have had escape routes, in case they were found out."
I ran my hands along the walls, feeling for anything unusual. Stone, more stone, and then something different. A section that felt smoother, deliberately carved rather than naturally worn. Leo growled in my head.
"Here," I called. "There is something here."
Together, we examined the wall. There were symbols carved into the stone, nearly invisible unless you knew where to look. Pack symbols from generations past.
"My mother showed me these once," Damon said. "They are found in sacred places that are untouched my man.."
I pressed on the largest symbol, a crescent moon intertwined with a wolf. Nothing happened. Then I tried tracing the pattern with my finger, the way I had seen elders do during ceremonies.
The wall shuddered, our bodies tensed, Stone ground against stone as a section swung inward, revealing a passage beyond. I thought it was another tunnel, but it was not the passage that made me gasp.
Through the opening, a soft blue light spilled out. Not the sickly glow of the ferals' eyes, but something pure and beautiful. I stepped through first like I was enchanted, and what I saw stole every thought from my mind.t
The cavern beyond was impossible. The ceiling stretched up so high it disappeared into darkness, but thousands of tiny lights covered it like stars. No, not lights. Some kind of bioluminescent moss that pulsed gently, creating the illusion of a night sky underground.
In the center of the cavern lay a pool of water so clear it looked like a liquid glistening diamond. The bottom was visible even from here, covered in white sand that seemed to glow from within. Crystalline formations grew from the walls like frozen waterfalls, each one catching and reflecting the natural blue light from the crystals that lined the stone walls. the whole ancient untouched space simmering like something out of fairy tales.
"Damon," I breathed. "What is this place?"
But when I turned to look at him, he was already beside me, his red eyes were wide with something I had never seen before.
Recognition mixed with pain mixed with a longing so deep it took my breath away.