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.Childlike intheir proportions, but a bit off, as though they d been stretched.Large,round spots and long streaks of body paint ran along their legs and arms.Their muscles gleamed in the dim light, lean and wiry.Some wore hides, mattedand mangy, festooned with bones, tusks and twigs, their ankles and wristslayered in bracelets of leather and twine.Their faces were hidden beneathdevilish masks of hide and hair, feathers and antlers.They closed in on him, dancing about with quick epileptic movements.Theysurrounded the cage and peered in with wild, crazy golden eyes, eyes just likePeter s.Nick now understood that Peter had indeed played him.Thepointy-eared boy had tricked him so that these things could& could what? Nickglanced at the long knives, at their hungry eyes. WHAT DO YOU WANT? Nick shouted, his voice quivering.They answered by rolling their eyes around, like victims of delirium, bygrinning wide, toothy grins and clacking their teeth together, clacking andclacking and clacking; the sound was deafening in the silence of the room.No, no, no, Nick thought.No more, please.Nick withdrew within himself then, just like in the mist.He had no desire towatch his own death, but if he had to, he wanted to be in the very back rowwith his hands over his eyes.They untied his cage and dragged him out, strong, cruel fingers pinching intohis flesh.Someone put a necklace made of bone and teeth, fingers andears human fingers and ears around his neck.They pulled him over to thepillar and began to dance around him in circles, wrapping him in twine, allthe while giggling and flicking their tongues at him, rolling their eyes andclacking their teeth.He wanted them to go ahead and kill him, anything tostop that awful clacking.There came a clang from somewhere far off.The demon spawn, the monsterchildren, or whatever they were, stopped in their tracks.They fell silent.The mist was all but gone now and morning light filtered in from severalangular windows.The extent of the circular chamber gradually materialized outof the gloom.The walls were a mix of rough-hewn stone and natural caveformation.Nick could clearly see a red door surrounded by giant roots, rootsas thick as barrels.Nick couldn t imagine what size tree could have rootsthat big.He tried to see the top but it disappeared into the roof of thechamber.The demon spawn were all staring at the red door.One of them spoke, his voicehushed. The Devil Beast comes. Comes to break bones and chew marrow, said another.Several answered in anxious whispers: We shall all eat soon. They spread out, forming a wide circle, and began to smack their closed fistsinto their open palms.Fear sharpened Nick s senses and he became acutely aware that the air smelledof stale sweat, boiled meat, wet leaves, and beetles.He studied the red door.Could there really be something coming to cook and eat him? He didn t want tobelieve it.Yet he found his eyes straying to the knives and hatchets, thedark stains saturating the dirt, the child-size pots hanging in the fireplace.He couldn t get the thought of the hanging bodies out of his head.I don twant to die, he thought and realized he was crying.Bells jangled behind the red door, louder and louder.Then it stopped.Therecame the clack of a bolt being thrown and the door swung slowly inward.A monster stood in the doorway, a head taller than the other creatures, drapedin hides and wearing a mask of bone and fur.A pair of goat horns twisted outfrom either side of its head and a tangle of coarse hair was captured in athick braid that ran down the length of its back.And all of it, skin, mask,fur, horns, was covered in cracking red paint.It carried a short club withone long jagged hook protruding from its end.Page 35 ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.htmlIt locked its eyes on Nick, raised the club, and let loose a loud snort. Oh no! Nick cried. No! No! No! He jerked wildly at his bindings, tuggingand pulling until he freed his arms.He yanked down the twine around his waistand legs, stumbled to the ground as he tore his feet free.Nick rolled to hisfeet, glanced back, saw the Devil Beast coming for him, and ran.He tried tobreak out of the ring of creatures, to barrel right through them, but theygrabbed him and shoved him back.The Devil Beast caught Nick across his face with an open palm.Pain explodedin Nick s head and he went sprawling to the stones.He crumpled into a balland lay there clutching his head.It s over, Nick thought.I m dead.The Devil came for him, driving a hard kick into Nick s upper thigh.Nickscreamed, saw a foot coming for his face, and managed to move.The kick caughthis shoulder and sent him tumbling. STOP IT! Nick screamed.The Devil tromped after him, raising the club with its wicked hook above hishead.Nick sprung out of the way.The club hit the stones, getting knockedloose from the Devil Beast s grasp and bouncing across the floor to the middleof the ring.Nick jumped up, limping away, trying to keep some distancebetween himself and his tormentor.The Devil leaped forward, catching Nick by the arm, spun him around, andbackhanded him across the face.Searing pain and white-hot light sent Nick reeling, fighting to keep his feet.And still the Devil came.Nick tasted blood, touched his lip, and was shocked by the amount of blood onhis hand. WHAT DO YOU WANT? Nick screamed, as though he didn t know, asthough he expected anything other than being brutally beaten to death.The Devil just continued to track him around and around, giving no answers, apredator intent on its prey. WHAT? Nick screamed. WHAT? Nick spotted the hooked club lying in thecenter of the ring.His eyes shot back and forth between the hook and theDevil.The Devil stopped and stared at him.Nick dove for it, snatching the hook up off the stones.The weight of itsurprised him and he almost dropped it.He held it in both hands and pointedthe wicked hook at the Devil. C MON! Nick cried, blood and spit flying fromhis lips. C MON YOU MOTHERFUCKER! The Devil just stood there. C MON! Nick screamed, the club shaking as his arms quivered.The creatures around him began to chant, Blood, blood, blood, on and onuntil Nick thought he would go mad. Enough! He let out a howl and rushed the Devil, bringing the hook around ina wide overhand swing, intent on sinking it deep into the Devil s skull.At the last possible second, the Devil caught Nick s arm at the wrist andwrung the club away
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Tematy
IndexChristine Feehan [Dark 16] Dark Demon (v5.0) (epub)
Christine Feehan [Dark 18] Dark Possession (v5.0) (epub) i
Christine Feehan [Dark 15] Dark Secret (v5.0) (epub)
Claire McNab [Carol Ashton 01 Lessons in Murder (v5.0) (epub)
Christina Dodd [Fortune Hunte Danger in Red Dress (v5.0) (epu
Chuck Logan [Phil Broker 05] After the Rain (v5.0) (epub) id
Chuck Logan [Phil Broker 01] The Price of Blood (v5.0) (epub
Christian Cameron [Tyrant 02] Storm of Arrows (v5.0) (epub) i
Lyndon Hardy Alodar 02 Secret of the Sixth Magic
Rice Patricia Magiczny dar