Unfortunately, this time the Nightshade was faster.
Jake managed to get off one shot, the slug slamming into the creature somewhere between its left shoulder and rib cage. Then the beast’s clawed hand smashed into Jake’s own, leaving bloody furrows down the length of his forearm and knocking the gun from fingers that had suddenly gone numb from shock and pain. Without any hesitation, the same arm that had struck him seconds before came back around in the opposite direction, this time striking the side of his head with the back of its hand, the blow hard enough and strong enough to knock Jake clear off his feet and halfway across the room.
The Nightshade moved closer, and suddenly it did laugh, the sound striking Jake like ice pouring into his veins, causing the hair on the back of his neck to rise in response.
The laugh was low and chilling, and utterly inhuman.
Unless he did something, and did it quickly, Jake knew he was going to die.
He could clearly see that his left leg was bent at an unnatural angle just below his knee. Moving caused whitehot pain to flare in his leg, and he had to clamp down his teeth to keep from screaming aloud.
The creature was halfway across the room by then, no more than ten feet away. Its arms were outstretched, its hands, if you could call them that, clenching and unclenching in what Jake imagined was anticipation at sinking those great claws into his unprotected flesh. As it approached, the Nightshade unfurled its wings like a cobra spreading its hood. Their length cast him in shadow as they blocked out some of the light from the lantern on the other side of the room, the sound of their movement like the rustling of reeds in the gentle spring breeze by the riverside.
The sound was anything but reassuring.
Knowing that he had only seconds before the beast was upon him, Jake gritted his teeth against the pain he was feeling and tried to gather his good leg underneath him, using the wall against his back to support his weight as he pushed himself into a semistanding position.
By the time he managed to accomplish that, the beast stood before him.
Jake stared into the creature’s inhuman eyes and fear washed over him in a wave.
But the stubborn side of him, the one that had forced him to try to shoot the beast even after he’d seen it heal itself, that side again rose and coaxed his courage back out of hiding.
If he was going to die, at least he would do it on his feet, facing whatever was to come. His left hand tightened into a fist at his side, a meager defense considering what he was facing, but reassuring in its own, simple way.
All right, you bastard,he thought fiercely,let’s see what you’ve got.
As if in answer, Moloch reached out swiftly and grasped both of Jake’s shoulders in his iron grip. He dragged Jake closer, a hideous smile splitting his mouth open to reveal the double rows of needle-sharp teeth that lined his jaws.
The pain from the motion of his broken leg was too much for Jake.
Darkness closed in around him.
Out of that darkness came a voice, a voice full of menace and hatred, a voice that scurried up his spine with millions of tiny, ice-cold feet to reverberate against the walls of his skull with enough intensity to cause physical pain. It was a voice that was felt, not heard, directly inside his mind.
“You are cattle,” said the beast, with the confidence of a predator trying to explain to dull-witted prey. “You have always been cattle. That is your rightful place. Watch!”
Suddenly the darkness was swept aside, to be replaced by visions of violence and gore, of a land and a time long since forgotten and passed behind. Jake’s senses were overwhelmed by the blood and sudden violence, by the smells and sensations that came through the tide of the Nightshade’s memory. They were so real, so vivid, a drama of such scope that he was not only an observer but also a participant, locked within the creature’s mind.
As he hung there, desperately trying to fathom a way out of his predicament, the beast’s voice echoed inside his mind.
“Cattle! If it were not for the meddling of the Elders, things would not have changed; the balance would not have been disrupted. Now you can find no solace amongst them. This time, things will return to the way they were supposed to be.” His tone turned to one of grim satisfaction. “Cattle you were, and cattle you shall become again.
“There are none left to oppose me!”
Moloch leaned forward, his mouth opening wide to reveal those rows of gleaming teeth. A forked tongue flicked out to dart here and there about Jake’s face, leaving trails of glistening mucous where it came in contact with his flesh.
Moloch’s vile laugh filled the tiny room.
Jake stared death in the face, and realized that he no longer had the strength to resist. The pain in his leg was overwhelming, and it had quickly sapped what little strength he had left, so that all he was able to do was hang limply in Moloch’s grasp and meekly wait for what he knew was to come.
As the beast’s jaws came slowly closer, Jake braced himself for the pain. The mocking scorn in the creature’s laugh told him it would be anything but swift and painless.
The teeth descended.
Katelynn was riding in the back of Damon’s Bronco, listening only vaguely to the conversation going on between Sam and Damon when it happened. Her left hand held the necklace Gabriel had given her, sliding the stone back and forth on the gold chain as she gazed out the window nervously, praying they would be on time. When the stone first glimmered with the faint flickering of red light from deep within, she didn’t immediately notice. It was only several moments later, when the faint glow suddenly flashed into blazing incandescence in the blink of an eye, filling the backseat with its eerie red glow, that she did.
Katelynn felt a faint tickling in the back of her mind, a sensation she barely noticed over her surprise at the light emanating from the stone. When that tickle turned abruptly into pain, like two great icy hands squeezing her mind between them, she realized that she was in trouble. By then it was already too late, for she only had time to gasp softly in pain before the darkness that had begun swimming on the edges of her vision rushed in like the swell of the tide, and she lapsed into unconsciousness without uttering a word.
The first sign that Sam and Damon had that anything was wrong came when they felt something violently strike the back of their seat. Turning to investigate, Sam almost caught Katelynn’s next kick full in the face. As it was, he was struck high on his shoulder with enough power to elicit a sharp grunt of pain.
“Holy shit!” was all he managed to utter in surprise.
The rear seat was filled with a deep scarlet glow that sprang from the stone clenched tightly between Katelynn’s fingers, a bright, lurid light that made everything it touched seem to be drenched in a thick tide of blood. In the middle of it, Katelynn thrashed back and forth violently, lashing out with her feet, slamming her sweat-drenched head from side to side against the leather of the seat, obviously in the grip of some kind of bizarre convulsion.
For one long moment, Sam could only stare.
The sheriff glanced back over his shoulder and, seeing the weird light and the seizure that held Katelynn securely in its grip, he reacted with the quickness of years of training.
He skidded to a stop on the shoulder of the road abruptly enough to toss Sam against the security of his seat belt. Damon was out of the car and opening the rear door to get to Katelynn before Sam even realized they had stopped.
For her part, Katelynn felt a sudden, sickening swirl of light and color, and the sensation of falling down a long dark well, where she found herself looking through the eyes of the Nightshade.
Directly into Jake’s face.
He was there, no more than three inches in front of her, and she could tell by his position that the beast must be holding him in its grasp. Jake’s face was covered with a fine sheen of sweat, his brow contorted with pain. The Nightshade continued to stare directly into his face, so Katelynn was unable to see the rest of Jake’s body to determine how badly he was hurt, but at least he was still alive.