Whenthey got out of this alive, Jake corrected himself.
With his right hand he twisted the fuel knob on the lantern, turning the gas up as high as it would go, then yelled to get the Nightshade’s attention.
“Hey, asshole! Over here!”
For just an instant, the creature took its eyes off Loki and looked at Jake.
That was all the two of them needed.
With a snarl, Loki dashed in under the reach of the beast’s deadly claws and sank his teeth into the soft underside of the creature’s knee, severing the muscles there as neatly as if it had been done with a knife, pulling the beast down and off its feet. It crashed to the floor. At the same time, Jake hurled the lantern at its head as hard as he could.
The Coleman smashed into Moloch’s shoulder just as his arm came up and around to brace his fall, trapping the flaming lantern between wing and chest.
The Nightshade let out a howl of pain and anger.
Damon, Sam, and Katelynn dashed up the stairs and into the house. From high above, the sounds of the conflict drifted down to greet them, and Damon wasted no time rushing up the stairs in hot pursuit.
“Come on!” Damon called to the others as he reached the final staircase, but there had been no need, for Katelynn and Sam were right on his heels.
At that moment, a shot rang out from above.
Once the beast collapsed onto the lantern, Jake called out to Loki to heel. At once the dog stopped his attack and backed away, snarling all the while, clearly unhappy but obeying his master, as always.
Jake loved him for it.
Moloch used his good wing to push himself partially off the floor, his injured arm and leg hanging limply at his side. As he rose, Jake could see the lantern on the floor beneath him; the beast’s weight had smashed the glass but hadn’t smothered the flame.
As Moloch roared out his challenge, he called on his power, ordering his tissues to begin healing ravaged bone and muscle.
In that moment of hesitation, Jake saw his chance and took it.
Raising the pistol in his right hand, he took aim at the cylinder of gas that fed the lantern and fired.
The sheriff entered the garret ahead of the others, and what he saw there froze him in his tracks.
A great hulking beast was slowly dragging itself to its feet on the other side of the room, and as Damon stopped in the entryway, it turned its yellow eyes on him and snarled in rage. The intelligence and hatred in those eyes caused the blood to freeze in Damon’s veins. It was clear the thing was injured, yet even as he watched, it seemed to be gathering strength, using one of its long, winged arms to push itself up off the floor and into a semierect position.
Off to Damon’s right, Jake Caruso lay on the floor with his arm outstretched and pointing a pistol at the beast. Jake was slumped against the wall, one leg twisted at a peculiar angle. Between him and the beast crouched a dog, torn and bloody from the fight, but still in the game.
The sudden sound of Jake’s second shot made Damon jump.
Jake stared in dismay as the shot went wide, the recoil pulling the gun to the left so that the bullet slammed into the wood floor with a report barely audible over Moloch’s snarls of anger.
The beast was slowly getting up, moving away from the lantern.
Jake couldn’t let that happen!
He fired again, peripherally aware of movement on his left but ignoring it, concentrating on getting the shot where he wanted it, praying for it to connect before the beast got too far away. He gripped the butt of the gun as tightly as he could to prevent as much drift as possible; praying, praying, needing the shot to be true, knowing if it wasn’t he might not get another chance.
His second shot went wild as well.
Oh, Jesus!he thought, watching in horror as the beast climbed to its feet, the damage Loki had done to its hamstring by then completely healed so it could support itself on both legs, its wing slowly knitting itself back together as well.
Jake realized that in less than a minute it would be completely healed.
Suddenly other shots rang out in the room, and Jake watched in awe as the power of the impact drove the beast right back down to its knees, huge chunks of flesh ripping out of the side of its head and shoulder, the gun obviously in the hands of someone who knew how to use it, the sound of the shots echoing around the walls of the small chamber.
Jake twisted to see the sheriff, Katelynn, and Sam framed in the doorway, the former pointing a very large rifle at the beast while chambering another round.
Their gazes met, and Jake could see the fear and horror in the sheriff’s eyes, the disbelief being shoved aside in favor of action; the mind’s need for survival waiting until later to rationalize the presence of the deadly thing before them.
Their weapons went off in unison this time.
Damon’s shot took the Nightshade high in the side of the head, driving it backward, just as Jake’s struck the gas canister of the Coleman lantern with a metallic whine.
The resulting spark ignited the propane inside, setting it aflame with a loud thump and miniexplosion. Burning fluid splashed over the beast’s neck and shoulders as it was forced down by the power of Damon’s rifle.
Amazingly, within seconds, the Nightshade’s whole head was ablaze, covered with the burning fluid.
A loud, piercing scream of pain came from the thing’s mouth as it struggled to its feet. Loki was barking furiously now; Sam was at the door screaming, “Kill it! Kill it!” and Damon was readying his rifle for another shot, when suddenly the fire that was consuming the beast leapt to the rafters above. The flames spread quickly on the dry and rotting wood.
Within seconds, that entire side of the room was a raging inferno.
“We’ve got to get out of here!” Katelynn yelled to them over the hideous cries of the beast, and she rushed over to Jake and grabbed him under his good arm. Supporting his weight, she began dragging him toward the door and out of the room. Sam rushed over to help while Damon let loose with another shot.
Before Jake knew it, the four of them of them were rushing down the narrow staircase, the eerie cries of the beast being drowned out by the roar of the flames as they hungrily consumed the fuel on all sides. Loki dashed past and led the way before them, still barking like crazy.
They reached the second floor as the smoke began to flood the hall before them in great, billowing, black clouds. By the time they descended the stairs and dashed across the living room to the front door, the flames were rushing from the room and consuming the third floor in their fiery grip.
The group raced from the house and took refuge behind the vehicles farther down the drive, turning as one to watch the spectacle unfold behind them.
The entire upper portion of the house was in flames, the fire raging out of control as it burned through the wood. The garret was one mass of flames so bright they were forced to shield their eyes to see it. Damon opened the door of the Bronco and slid inside to put out the fire alarm over the police band. The others lowered Jake to the ground, leaning him against the fender so he could see, Loki crouched at his side, refusing to leave his master.
“Look!” Katelynn cried suddenly, and pointed to the upper level, where the wood surrounding one of the windows had burst free and a blazing form stood for a second framed in the light.
It was the Nightshade, its entire form shrouded in flames.
For just a moment it hung there, those eerie cries of pain and anger still issuing forth from its maw, then, with a massive shove of its powerful legs, it launched itself into space.
The beast spread its wings, and those below could see that they, too, were ablaze as they beat frantically for a minute against the air, trying to raise the beast’s form into the sky, yet the beating of its wings did nothing but fan the flames.