Death Cursed (Death Touched, Book One)

Chapter 22

"Damn it. . ." Jack growled.

Peter flew up behind them and landed softly beside the pair. "Frustration must be saved for another time. We have more pressing matters to handle," he commented as he nodded at the huddled figure before them.

Matt still knelt on the ground, but the void was not so immovable. It swelled behind him and the tendrils shot out. They wrapped their lithe bodies around his and dragged him into its darkness.

"Matt!" Nena screamed.

For a brief moment her friend disappeared into the writhing shadows. Then the darkness parted, and her friend was revealed to them. A pulsing glow surrounded his body as Matt climbed to his feet and turned toward them. His flesh was gone, replaced by bone and shadows, and his eyes were a cold amber. All that was familiar were his clothes.

Nena shook her head as her strangled voice whispered his name. "Matt. . ."

The Corrupted whipped its head in her direction and its bright eyes zeroed in on her. Jack drew her behind him and fired. The Corrupted raised its hand in front of it so that the bullet embedded itself into the palm bone. The white cartilage that surrounded the bullet melted so that the slug clattered to the ground.

Jack looked at Peter and jerked his head at the Corrupted. "Pin it!"

Peter nodded and floated up ten feet off the ground. He loosened his silver pieces and they flew at the Corrupted. The creature himself leapt back and the void opened behind it. The pieces followed, but the tendrils slipped out of the darkness and engulfed the silver in their shadow bodies. The pieces tried to escape, but they only succeeded in stretching the tendrils like black rubber.

"Pete, what's going on?" Jack called up to his partner.

Peter clenched his teeth and shook his head. "I cannot free them!"

"Damn it. . ." Jack swore as he aimed at the thing's heart again.

The eternally grinning Corrupted started to walk toward them. Jack fired a half dozen shots in quick succession. Every bullet was deflected by the void tendrils. Peter swiped his hands across his chest and his captured silver pieces mimicked the movement, stretching the tendrils in front of the Corrupted and blocking its path with its own creations.

Jack whipped his head to Nena who stood beside him with wide eyes that lay on her friend. "Nena!" She shook herself and turned her face to him. He nodded down at the gun in her hand. "You have to do it."

Nena's eyes widened. "What?"

"It's a long shot, but maybe your gun can pierce the shadows protecting that thing," he suggested.

The echo of her formerly beating heart pulsed inside of her as she shook her head. "I-I can't shoot him! It's Matt, for god's-"

"Not anymore!" Jack snapped. She shrank away from him. He sighed and grasped her shoulders and turned to so they faced each other. "The only thing you can do now for Matt is to free him from this curse. That's all you can do."

Nena glanced to her right. The Corrupted glared back at her across the mess of tendrils. Nena pursed her lips and, without averting her eyes from it, drew her gun. The amber eyes of the creature burst like revived flames and it let out a hiss as it took a step backward away from her.

In its moment of distraction Peter was able to free his silver pieces and recall them to his side. He tensed in preparation to renew his attack, but Jack raised his hand. "Hold off, Pete."

Peter frowned. "But-" Jack shook his head.

"This is something she has to do alone."

Nena strode forward and stopped a yard from the edge of the tendrils. The slick shadows recoiled and curled themselves around the Corrupted. She raised her gun and pointed the barrel at the heart.