The Girl Who Dared to Stand (The Girl Who Dared #2)(7)

Four creatures the length of my arm were attacking them. Their bodies were a carapace of blue-black shine, the mouths divided into four flaps that opened to reveal ring after ring of sharp teeth—which appeared flat, but were razor sharp.

I recognized them instantly, having been called in with Gerome and several other Knights whenever a nest of them was found. They were rust hawks, parasitical insectoids that had somehow evolved to eat metal. They were attracted to rust, but once they found a source, they didn’t discriminate—they’d eat either rusted or clean metal for days until nothing else remained.

They were also highly aggressive. And venomous.

Their wings buzzed violently as they swooped down from above, three-toed talons clacking together, trying to get a grip on something—anything. The talons were attached to a venom source at the ankle, the thick venom sacs jutting off the scaly legs like some sort of tumor.

One scratch and a human would die. I had to get my friends out of here. Quickly.

The closest one was to my left, pushing against Grey’s forearm, its talons clicking together as it tried to inject its venom into his chest. I crossed over to it quickly, and grabbed the creature from midair at the base of one of its wings.

It flailed as I hauled it back, the segmented body whipping around and trying to get an angle on me. The leathery wings beat against my hands and knuckles in an attempt to break free of my grip, but I wasn’t having it. I slammed the rust hawk’s body into the wall, hard, and then dropped it to the floor and crushed its head with a hard stomp.

Grey moved in next to me to add a stomp of his own, then darted off. I followed his motion and saw him heading for Zoe and Eric. Quess was in the process of spearing a rust hawk with a metal bar, so I ignored him for now and focused on Maddox and Tian.

Maddox was in the same position in which I’d found Grey, her arm up and holding back the vicious creature. Its mouth flaps were wide open, however, and it was attempting to bite the dark-haired young woman, the ring of muscle that controlled its mouth puckering open and closed as it grabbed at her. She grunted and flinched her head back, trying to get it off of her before it managed to bite or scrape her.

Tian was behind her, the younger girl shielded by the older girl’s body. Her blue eyes were wide and filled with fear, yet as I approached, she reached around with one hand and quickly jammed something small and silver into the creature’s side.

The rust hawk gave a shrieking gasp, the lethal talons snapping at her as she withdrew her hand, leaving a tiny knife embedded in its side. Yellow fluid seeped from the wound onto the floor… but the creature was far from dead.

I got there just as it drew back a few feet, preparing for another attack, and leapt up and spun, my foot extending. I hit it hard, with a crunch, and heard it impact the wall as I landed, my eyes immediately seeking it out. It was lying on the floor a few feet away, the wings still … but already starting to flicker and move again.

Tian darted out, a fresh knife in her hand, but I stopped her before she got too close to the stunned creature, knowing full well how dangerous rust hawks could be. Even stunned, their talons worked reflexively, and the only way to survive a scratch from them was through amputation of the limb. But if it hit the face or chest… death was guaranteed. I passed Tian back over to Maddox and then moved over to the rust hawk, quickly bringing my foot up and down to smash the thing.

The resulting squish was gross, but satisfying, and a fresh survey of the room showed me that the other two were down as well, Grey, Eric, and Quess in the process of boot-stomping the final one.

I exhaled, relieved to see everyone relatively uninjured. But it was better to be safe than sorry, and I needed details. “Did they scratch anyone?” I asked, my eyes immediately going to Tian’s arms and hands.

I was unsurprised to see Maddox already inspecting the young girl. The two were practically siblings, having been raised together by Cali. Everyone in their group fussed over Tian something fierce, and I could understand why: she was perhaps one of the sweetest creatures to have ever existed, even if she was a bit odd.

“I think we’re good,” Quess said, tossing the rod he had been wielding onto the ground with a metallic clang. “These things must’ve moved here in the last month or so. That was the last time any of us was here.”

His voice came out hollow, devoid of any life, and as I looked around the room, all I could see were tired and defeated faces, fear radiating from them like heat from a furnace. Zoe looked like she was barely keeping herself from crying by clinging to Eric, while Eric himself seemed more subdued than usual, his eyes sliding over the eight on his wrist. I looked down at my indicator to see the nine still holding strong, but that only made it clear that we weren’t protected by the walls of Sanctum anymore. If we had been, the shielding paint would’ve blocked any signal from coming through, and I would have seen only a green dash. We were exposed without that paint on the walls.

“Quess, did you bring the paint stuff that blocks Scipio’s signal?”

The young man looked up at me from the insect carcass on the floor, his eyes empty. He stared quizzically for a few more seconds and then said, “I’m sorry, what did you say?” His cheeks colored with embarrassment.

“The paint,” I repeated patiently. We were all on edge or in shock. “The one you created? The one that can protect us from Scipio?”

“What’s the point?” Maddox asked angrily. “My mother is gone. She’s dead, and it’s only a matter of time before Devon finds us again and kills us all.”