Total pages in book: 88
Estimated words: 83353 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 417(@200wpm)___ 333(@250wpm)___ 278(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 83353 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 417(@200wpm)___ 333(@250wpm)___ 278(@300wpm)
“R’orn?” she gasped, because the huge Kindred was suddenly looming over both her and her attacker.
R’orn didn’t answer her. Instead he squeezed until Sam heard a low cracking sound. Slasher69’s hand suddenly went limp. He howled in pain and dropped the knife to the floor with a clatter. He let go of Sam’s throat too and she was able to back away. But R’orn wasn’t done yet.
“You fucker! I’ll fucking kill you!”
The big Kindred’s voice was thick with rage. When she looked up at his face, Sam saw that his normally golden eyes were blazing blood red in the darkness. God—she’d never seen anyone look so scary!
“R’orn…” she began, still backing away, but he still wasn’t paying her any attention. Taking her attacker’s head in his hands, he twisted forcefully to one side.
It looked like a move from an action movie, where the hero breaks the bad guy’s neck. But R’orn didn’t just break Slasher69’s neck—he ripped his head completely off!
There was a horrible wet, fleshy tearing and the crunch of broken bones. Then blood was fountaining out of the bloody stump as Slasher69’s headless body sank to its knees…and then slumped to the floor.
“Oh my God!” The words came out in a breathless scream before Sam could stop them. She clamped her hand over her mouth and looked up at R’orn. Something was happening to him…he was changing somehow. Getting bigger…and fur was sprouting on his arms and chest.
“Samantha…” His voice came out in an inhumanly low growl. Suddenly, Sam realized he was standing in a puddle of moonlight spilling from a broken window nearby.
“Oh my God—your Beast! Is he…is he coming out?” she gasped, looking up at him.
R’orn nodded.
“Can’t…hold him back…much longer,” he grated out. “Samantha, run!”
As he spoke the last word, she saw his face begin to change too. It was elongating in the moonlight, becoming the head of an enormous wolf-like creature.
Then her paralysis broke. She turned and ran, almost stumbling over her own feet as she headed desperately for the side door exit.
Ominous noises were coming from behind her. A low, rumbling growling that sounded like words, though she couldn’t make any of them out. And then she was out the door and running through the cracked and pitted parking lot, trying not to stumble over her own feet as she raced for her life.
She risked a glance behind her and saw, to her horror, that the huge wolf thing that R’orn had become was after her! It was running on its hind legs but other than that, it looked much more like an animal than a human. He hadn’t been kidding when he’d said his Beast was cursed—it looked just like a werewolf from a horror movie to Sam!
The trees—maybe I can hide in the trees! she thought wildly. She had to do something—the Beast was gaining on her with incredible speed!
She made it out of the parking lot and hit the mini jungle running, but the thick underbrush slowed her down considerably. She found herself fighting through the foliage, pushing and shoving desperately to get through the matted tangle of vines and creepers and branches.
There were crashing sounds behind her and she knew the Beast was on her trail. Still, desperation kept her going. She had to get away! Maybe if she could make it through the forest, she could lose the Beast and circle back around to her car. Maybe…
And then she felt something hook into the back of her shirt.
She thought it was just another branch but when Sam turned her head, she saw glowing golden eyes behind her. The thing that was hooked into the back of her shirt and holding her back were the Beast’s claws! He had already caught up to her somehow, though it should have been impossible. He was too big to squeeze through the underbrush and branches as she had done!
Sam gave a desperate tug, throwing all of her body weight forward. She heard a low ripping sound as the claws snagged in the cotton fabric ripped open the back of her classic Lost Boys t-shirt. With another convulsive movement, she wiggled her way free and found herself falling…right into the center of a small clearing in the middle of the tangled forest.
“Oh…oh my God!” she gasped as the Beast came crashing through the underbrush, breaking branches and pushing them aside as he came. So that was how he’d managed to get though—by sheer brute force.
He stood over her and Sam saw that any clothing that R’orn had been wearing before he changed was gone now—ripped away from the huge, furry form that loomed over her in the moonlight.
The Beast had come for her and there was no getting away, she realized.
She was trapped.
17
SAM
“R’orn? Are…are you in there?” Sam was still flat on her back, looking up at the enormous hairy form looming over her. The Beast stood on his hind legs and he really did look nine feet tall—as though the top of his head might touch the round white moon above him.