Book 3 - Chapter 6
The silence didn’t last.
It shattered like glass under a hammer when the first impact hit the sanctum doors. A sound so violent it rattled the reinforced walls and sent a tremor crawling through the floor. People screamed—high, thin sounds that sliced through the air like blades. The runes etched into the steel flared bright, their glow pulsing in frantic rhythm, but even I could feel it: the wards were straining.
Another impact. Louder. Closer. The lights flickered overhead, plunging the chamber into momentary darkness before stuttering back to life. For that heartbeat of black, the howls outside were all we heard—low, guttural, and hungry.
Jasper was already moving, his body a storm of motion as he tore open the emergency pack. Weapons spilled out like secrets from another world—blades etched with runes that shimmered faintly, a compact crossbow with bolts tipped in silver, vials of liquid that glowed like bottled lightning. He strapped the blades to his belt, slung the crossbow across his back, and turned to me with eyes that burned like fire.
“Stay down,” he said, his voice low, lethal. “No matter what happens, don’t move.”
I wanted to laugh, to scream, to tell him I couldn’t move even if I wanted to. My body was broken. But the words stuck in my throat, strangled by fear. Because outside, the howls had changed. They weren’t just hungry now.
They were triumphant.
The screams of the humans left outside grew louder.
The sanctum doors buckled inward, metal groaning under the force. Dust rained from the ceiling, and the runes flared so bright they burned afterimages into my eyes. Guards surged forward, weapons raised, their voices cracking as they barked orders. Bolts of light shot from rune-forged rifles, sizzling through the air, but the shadows beyond the door didn’t falter.
They poured in like smoke given flesh.
The first creature hit the floor in a blur of jagged limbs and glowing eyes. Its mouth was a nightmare of teeth, snapping at the nearest guard with a sound like bones breaking. Blood sprayed—a hot, metallic scent that turned my stomach—and the guard went down screaming. Chaos erupted. People scattered, their cries rising in a chorus of terror as more shapes slipped through the breach, gliding across the floor with impossible speed.
The supers were inside.
Jasper was a wall between me and the storm. He moved like a predator, his blade flashing in arcs of silver light. The first creature lunged, and Jasper met it head-on, his sword carving through its twisted form with a hiss of burning flesh. The thing shrieked, a sound that clawed at my ears, and collapsed in a heap of smoke and bone. Jasper didn’t pause. He spun, his crossbow snapping up, a bolt of silver slamming into the chest of another beast mid-leap. It hit the ground hard, convulsing as the rune etched into the bolt flared bright.
“Stay with me, Miley!” Jasper’s voice was a roar over the chaos, raw and ragged. “Don’t you dare close your eyes!”
I clung to the cot, my fingers digging into the thin mattress, every nerve screaming. The air was thick with fear, a living thing that choked every breath. Screams echoed, mingling with the guttural howls of the supers and the thunder of gunfire. The sanctum was a slaughterhouse now—blood pooling on the polished floor, bodies crumpled like broken dolls. The smell was overwhelming: copper and ozone and something darker, something that didn’t belong in this world.
The runes on the walls pulsed harder, their glow flickering like dying stars. Every flicker was a warning. Every tremor in the floor was a promise of death. I forced my eyes open, fighting the darkness clawing at the edges of my vision, and saw it—the truth that stole the breath from my lungs.
The barrier wasn’t just failing.
It was gone.
The breach widened, the sanctum doors tearing free of their hinges with a sound like thunder. Shadows flooded the chamber, shapes gliding across the floor with impossible grace. Eyes burned in the darkness, dozens of them, hundreds, glowing like embers in a sea of night. The supers weren’t just inside.
They owned the room.
Jasper was a storm. His blade flashed, his bolts flew, his voice was a snarl of defiance. But even I could see it—the tremor in his muscles, the strain in his breath. He couldn’t hold them all. No one could. The guards were falling fast, their weapons clattering to the floor as claws tore through flesh and bone. People screamed, begged, prayed, but the supers didn’t care. This wasn’t a battle.
It was a hunt.
And we were prey.
“Miley!” Jasper’s voice ripped through the chaos, sharp and desperate. He was at my side in an instant, his arms scooping me up like I weighed nothing. Pain exploded through me, a scream tearing free, but Jasper didn’t stop. Couldn’t stop. He ran, his boots pounding against the blood-slick floor, weaving through the storm of bodies and shadows. Behind us, the howls rose higher, sharper, almost laughing.
The tunnels. He was heading for the tunnels.
“Hold on!” Jasper roared, his breath ragged, his grip iron. “Don’t you let go!”
I clung to him, my fingers weak but desperate, my vision blurring as the world tilted and spun. The air was a furnace of fear, thick and choking, and every heartbeat was a drum pounding against my ribs. The sanctum was collapsing behind us—walls shaking, lights flickering, runes dimming to nothing. The sound of claws on concrete was everywhere now, a chorus of death that chased us into the dark.
We hit the tunnel entrance like a storm, Jasper slamming his shoulder into the reinforced door. It groaned open, metal grinding against metal, and for a heartbeat, I thought we were safe. But then the shadows surged forward, a tide of hunger and rage, and Jasper spun, his blade flashing in arcs of silver light. The first creature lunged, and Jasper met it with a roar, his sword carving through its twisted form in a spray of black ichor.
“Go!” someone screamed—a guard, his voice cracking as he fired into the darkness. “Run!”
Jasper didn’t need telling. He dragged me through the door, his muscles straining, his breath a ragged snarl. The tunnel swallowed us whole, its walls pulsing with faint runes that flickered like dying stars. Behind us, the door slammed shut, the wards flaring bright.
But even as the light burned, I knew the truth.
It wouldn’t hold.
Nothing would.
The howls began again—low at first, then rising, a chorus of hunger that shook the walls. The runes pulsed harder, their glow flickering like a heartbeat on the edge of death. I clung to Jasper, my body broken, my mind a whirlpool of fear, and whispered the truth neither of us wanted to face.
“This isn’t safety.”
Jasper’s jaw tightened, his eyes burning like fire. “I know.”
Outside, the darkness laughed.