Still disoriented from bashing her head into what she fervently hoped was a skull, Effie didn’t move before the second creature scuttled over her body, pinning her arms down on either side of her.
The smell of decay and rotting flesh filled her nose as the Shadow formerly known as Jo opened her mouth in a snarl.
Saliva dripped from her mouth and splashed onto Effie’s face as she hissed, “Bad girl, mousie.”
Thankful for the sparring lessons with Kael where he’d forced her to get herself out of similar positions, Effie used her good leg to shift her weight and toss the creature off her body.
Crouched against the wall, Effie quickly took in her surroundings. The wooden building was small, built for children perhaps, and had clearly seen better days. The wood was rotten and damp, a few moldy blankets tossed along the floor. It was wider than it was tall, and there was barely enough room for an adult to stand upright. At least one of average size. For once, her small stature would work to her advantage.
That might be the only thing currently in her favor.
Two against one were rarely good odds. Add to that the lack of weapon and a shredded ankle, and things were looking decidedly grim. The odds may be stacked against her, but she was not about to die in this Mother-forsaken treehouse.
Fueled by a feral need to survive, Effie scanned the dim room and eyed the two Shadows crawling toward her. There was nothing she could use against them, save her hands.
Hand-to-hand combat it is, then. Effie pushed to her feet and curled her hands into fists, angling her body so that her injured ankle was behind her and not bearing any of her weight. It was an awkward position, but it was the best she could manage given the circumstances.
“Mother as my witness, if I get out of this alive, Lucian owes me a damned arsenal of weapons. I’m tired of finding myself without one when it matters most,” Effie said in a bland tone, feigning a casualness she did not remotely feel.
“Oh, you won’t be leaving, mousie,” Tess said, spitting out a mouthful of blood.
“Not alive,” Jo crooned.
“What are you waiting for?” Effie taunted, bringing her fists up the way Kael had taught her.
Everything faded, her vision tunneling until all she was aware of were the two women lurching toward her.
Alright, Effie, you can do this. Get them on their backs. You can’t use your legs so you need to get them on the floor. They aren’t full Shadows—otherwise their blood would run black—so you should be able to stun them with a few well-aimed blows. The head would be best. You need to get one of them out of the picture quick so you can try and fight them one at a time.
She continued to feed herself directions, her mental voice as steady as if she was Kael or Ronan talking her through drills.
The women broke apart, choosing to come at her from either side. It was a smart move, as it would split her focus, but Effie anticipated it. She threw up her left elbow, striking Jo in the nose and then twisting and following it up with a punch to the throat. Jo stumbled back.
Tess grabbed at her waist, and Effie hopped to the side, using all of her strength to push the woman off of her. Tess went flying, and Effie blinked in surprise. She knew she’d been getting stronger due to all of her morning training sessions, but there was no way she should have had the power to do that. Especially not to someone infused with a Shadow’s innate strength.
The distraction cost her. Jo was back, her broken nails slicing into Effie’s skin as she reached to fist her hand in Effie’s curls.
Effie growled low in her throat and shoved both her fisted hands into the other woman’s stomach. There was a sickening crunch as ribs snapped in half and Jo bent over with a keening cry.
A quick check revealed that Tess was still on the other side of the room, so Effie launched herself at Jo, tackling the woman to the ground.
It was a graceless move at best. More a throwing of her body than a well-aimed blow, but it was effective nonetheless. Barely bothering to take a breath, Effie straddled Jo’s narrow hips and began throwing punches at her face. She could feel the crunch of bones beneath her fists, and the spray of blood as she continued to strike.
The Shadow was screaming beneath her, trying to buck her off, but Effie was only focused on making each hit land. She aimed for the center of the creature’s head, seeing nothing of the woman who’d tried to be her friend. All she saw was an enemy. One that needed to be put down.
Effie let out a savage cry, pulling back her arms again and again. Never satisfied, never pausing. She continued to rain down blows one after the other, until it was no longer clear whose blood coated her hands.
Fury fueled her, spurring her on. A dark voice whispered in her ear that it was her or them. There was no choice. She was not dying today.
These. Things. Would. Not. Win.
Each word was punctuated with another wet strike.
The body beneath her had long since stilled, but still, Effie didn’t stop. Not until the thing no longer resembled anything remotely human—and even then she continued to punch into the pulpy mess.
Effie didn’t know what finally made her stop. Only that something not wholly sane within her calmed, settling back into its cage. She was shaking, her knuckles raw, and her body painted in blood.
Chest heaving, Effie sat back on her heels, immediately shifting her weight to the left and off of her injured ankle as she searched for the second Shadow.
How come she hadn’t made her move by now? Effie had certainly been distracted enough to make an easy target for the other woman.
But Tess was nowhere to be found. What could she have possibly done to cause a Shadow to flee from her?
Taking a shuddering breath, Effie glanced back down, and finally saw what had become of Jo. A horrified whimper escaped her as she processed what she’d done, the level of brutality she’d been capable of unleashing.
No wonder Tess fled.
Scrambling off of the body, Effie crawled to the corner of the room and threw up.
Chapter 23
“She’s in here!”
Effie lifted her head up just enough for her eyes to peek up over her arms. Much of the afternoon light had faded, leaving the treehouse mostly in shadow. She could just make out Lucian’s dark head in the soft light that still fell through what passed for a window.
She had no idea how long she’d been curled into a ball in the corner. Everything after when she’d gotten sick was a blur. Although she must have snagged one of the blankets off the floor at some point, because one of the moldy scraps of fabric was flung over the top half of the corpse in a desperate attempt to cover up what laid beneath.
If only it was as easy to hide the image permanently seared into her mind.
Lucian took one look at her and then glanced at the body beside her.
“It would seem that we’re too late for a proper rescue.”
She couldn’t even muster a smile.
Lucian frowned. “Effie?”
Tears filled her eyes, and she squeezed her arms tighter around her trembling body. How was she supposed to explain what happened when she barely understood it herself?
A muscle ticked in Lucian’s jaw, and he eyed the wooden structure, his frown deepening as he did. “Effie, I’m going to need you to come to me. I’m too big to move about in here. Can you do that?”
Apparently, she took too long to respond because Lucian started to push his shoulders through the small opening in the floor anyway. A shiver raced along her skin as she realized it was the same one that Jo and Tess had used to pull her up by the legs. Effie shoved the thought away, she didn’t want to think about either woman right now. Or what was left of them.