Page 88 of Ravaged Devotion

“He has a better chance than we do,” Ryker pointed out, though he was admittedly nervous now as well. They were all psychotic in their own special ways, but he and his friends were close, and they’d only just gotten Uriel back.

“If it was me or Rue,” Uriel said absently, as though reading Ryker’s mind, “you’d feed me to those monsters in a heartbeat.”

“You are my best shot at returning to him in one piece,” he didn’t bother trying to deny it.

They laughed, and then Ellery grabbed one of the buckets, moving it over to the door, and Uriel and Ryker followed suit.

“Hold this end.” Uriel handed one end of the rope to his cousin, then cracked the door open and peeked outside, scoping the area. “I’m going to walk it as far as it’ll go and then will tug when I’m there. Place it on the ground and light it once you get the signal.”

“We’ll wait ten seconds for the fire to spread,” Ryker told him. “Then head toward you.”

“Take the fire extinguisher.” Ellery didn’t have to point out it’d be harder for him to splash a monster and light a match on his own. At least the extinguisher would give him some form of defense if it came down to it.

His cousin grabbed it with his free hand.

They didn’t waste energy talking after that.

Uriel slipped through the gap in the door, carrying the drenched rope, and began uncoiling it as he moved low and quiet. As soon as he was swallowed up by the fog, Ellery and Ryker tensed, practically holding their breath as they waited for him to reach the end. It seemed to take an eternity, but was probably less than two minutes.

As soon as Ell felt the tug, he opened the door the rest of the way and set his end of the rope off to the left. Ryker struck a match and lit it, and they waited on a count of twenty, watching as the flame spread. The glow illuminated the thick white and gray, causing bursts of light to create a shadow play, even as the heat dispersed the fog.

It left them more vulnerable in the sense there was less coverage, but they darted out of the pool house, eyes tracking the rope as they carried their buckets, paying more attention to their right side where there wasn’t a wall of flame protecting them from attack.

Ryker caught sight of the massive dark figure approaching first, not waiting to get a clear view. He lifted the bucket and splashed the creature.

Ellery already had the match lit and tossed, and the hiss the creature made turned into a roar as its hulking mass was set aflame. They caught sight of damp wet fur and long teeth, the fire spreading over the monster quickly, causing more of the fog to lift from around it, but they didn’t linger.

They took off faster, knowing the screams would draw more attention, and finally met with Uriel. He led the way, knowing exactly where to find the back entrance to the lodge even in this weather.

The door was locked.

He tried pounding on it a few times, hoping to catch the attention of someone inside, but nothing happened.

“Swap.” Ryker dropped his bucket and switched places with Uriel. Sticking close to glass door. “Spread the chemical.”

When they’d been teens, Rue’s dad had been involved in a helicopter crash. The chopper had suffered mechanical issues and nosedived into the ocean. By the time the coast guard had reached it, it’d been entirely submerged. The coroner had announced the cause of death to be drowning, and the police had revealed that both his dad and the pilot had survived the initial landing, but had been unable to open the doors due to water pressure.

Ryker slipped the switchblade Rue had gifted him out of his pocket and turned it around. The end had been designed specifically to break through thick glass.

Rue had been afraid Ryker might one day find himself in a similar situation as his dad. He’d wanted him to be prepared.

At the time of the gift giving, Ryker had teased him for it.

Now, he was going to kiss him for having such spectacular foresight.

Uriel and Ellery created a semi-circle around the area, keeping within it, and then the latter pulled out his last match, and set the ground ablaze.

The moment he felt the heat at his back, Ryker brought the end of his tool to the spot just above the doorhandle and slammed it against the glass with all of his strength. The sound was loud enough to attract anything with ears even remotely close by.

The entire door shattered, glass tinkling as it exploded into pieces, cascading across the floor of the lounge.

The three of them ran through the opening and sprinted through the lounge without bothering to look back and see if the fire they’d set was doing its job. The sliding doors came open with a clatter, and they entered the lobby, finding it empty.

Ellery and Uriel went straight for one of the heavy benches lining the walls, hauling it over as Ryker shut the doors once more and flicked the lock at the top and bottom. They used it to brace the doors closed after, then went back for another for good measure.

“You think this will hold against one of those things?” Ell asked as soon as they’d barricaded it.

“No clue,” Uriel admitted, wincing when more animalistic cries could be heard from outside. “They’re outside the ring of fire, but there’s no telling how long that will keep.”