Thyla - Kate Gordon [59]
And he looked like Sir Edward Chassebury.
‘Come, men!’ he called, and his voice was like the quiet loading of a hunter’s gun. And I knew as soon as he spoke that he did not simply look like Chassebury. He was Chassebury.
The man who killed my mother.
My blood flowed hot. Claws scraped my palms as I made my hands into fists.
‘Perrin?’ Rhiannah cried, her voice strangled and trembling. ‘Perrin, there’s so many of them. What do I do?’
‘Take your cuff off,’ Perrin hissed. ‘Then just do what comes naturally.’
Four copper bangles fell to the ground.
And though I should have gasped at what I saw in front of me – my roommate and classmates becoming animal – it was when they found their true forms that I felt I knew them best.
The Sarcos stripped their blouses and shirts, leaving their torsos naked.
I watched, holding my breath. Perrin in his Sarco form was very different from Perrin in his human form. He seemed even bigger and stronger. His broad chest was now part white, part black, and its muscles were taut and … delicious.
I forced myself to look away from him. I looked instead at the others.
Their skin was now black, mottled with white. Their noses were longer – almost like snouts – and their ears were higher and larger. Their eyes were narrower and further forward. Their hands grew sharp claws. Their legs bent back inside their trousers. They were Sarco.
I found them awesome and terrifying all at once.
And then it began.
Perrin’s roar was like a war cry. The four Sarcos leapt forward, covering the space between them and Lord’s men in a fraction of a second and enveloping them in a haze of claws, teeth and fists. Guns fell to the ground as the men struggled against the brutish power of the beasts. I could barely make sense of what I was seeing. Though my Thyla senses made it easier to distinguish body from body, the frenzied rhythms of the fight still blurred the images in my head. There were no gunshots, but I could hear the sickening raking of sword against flesh. I could hear screams of pain. I could see bodies dropping to the ground, then struggling to stand again and continue fighting. It was difficult to see who was winning. It seemed, for now, that the two sides were evenly matched. But for how long?
My heart thudding, I squinted and craned, certain that one body at least had not moved since falling.
It was certainly a Sarco. And female.
One of my friends was dead.
The Sarcos were fighting well, and I couldn’t just watch them struggle and fall. I needed to help.
But I didn’t know if I had ever fought before. I could not remember.
‘For pity’s sake!’ I growled at myself. ‘Just remember!’
And then it came back. Shadows into light. Memories of fighting. Of me fighting. Of me punching and biting. Biting men. Biting humans. Of me roaring, ‘Stay away from her! Leave her alone! She’s not yours to take!’
Of the cold, metallic voice of Lord saying, ‘They’re all mine. When will you vermin understand that? They are worth nothing to anyone except to me. They are all mine!’
And then flying fists, gouging claws: his hands; my claws.
Edward ‘Ted’ Lord. Sir Edward Chassebury. I had fought Lord Chassebury before.
I could do it again.
I poised to pounce.
The arm that wrapped around my throat was like a vice – heavy, painful, unyielding.
I opened my mouth to scream, but before I could a hand pressed hard against it. I struggled and writhed and jabbed at my attacker with my newly powerful limbs, but I could not shake them. They were stronger than I was.
They must be immortal, too, I thought.
I felt their breath against my ear, and then they were speaking.
And I knew this voice too.
‘Ssshhh, Tessa. It’s okay. It’s only me. I need you to turn around very slowly. Don’t make a sound. Please. Trust me.’
How could I trust him? After what I had heard?
‘Hello, Vinnie. I was hoping it would be you …’
How could I trust him when I knew he was in league with her? With the one