The Soul Eaters (The Thin Hex Line Book 1) by Gwyndolyn Russell (100 best novels of all time .txt) 📗

the passenger seat, his back jabbed by the stick of the gear shift.

"Never been happier to be on those painkillers." He groaned. Leaning his head back, he spied out the small window of the door.

Black smog. It splashed around through the commotion. Bullets and grenades tearing up the ground outside.

The truck rocked back and forth. Valkria and smaller counterparts were jumping on top of the truck. They clawed and bit at the internals.

Jackal reached into the back seat to grab a rifle. He kicked the passenger door open and crawled out. He caught sight of Yaaranam sitting in the mud just a few meters away. Some of the creatures jumped right over her head. Up to his feet, Jackal rolled his shoulders and looked up.

That mangled up skaginvar was on the other side of the truck, its nose close enough for him to feel and smell that foul breath. Its jaws shivered as it growled.

“J-Jack!” Yaaranam hollered.

He barely turned his head to see why she was yelling.

A dead eos a few feet in front of her started to twitch. It kicked at the ground. Its tail thumped. With a sharp twist of its head, the whole body rolled. Black blood spilled from the bullet holes as each one quickly filled in with freshly grown flesh. It hacked and vomited bile and blood. Green glowing eyes locked on Yaaranam.

Then another one started to do the same thing. Another. Another.

All of the eos that they had gunned down, and set ablaze were rising back up. Their wounds cinching shut. Some of them were unlucky enough to get up in the khexide. Those eos succumbed in no time. They hobbled and coughed as their blood poured out yet again until they collapsed back down.

The skaginvar just in front of Jackal reared its head back with a snort.

Now the eos targeted them.

Deemed a threat, the humans were attacked. Each eos that came back from the dead leaped after the nearest soldier. Trucks were overrun. Those trying to stay in cover, were eaten alive.

Reaper had gathered a team a midst the combat. None were ready to see them come back to life. Now Reaper understood what the Alpha at Avant-Garde meant. Destroy the cores. How could he have forgotten?

“Captain!” A soldier shouted. “Captain, what do we do?”

“Center mass!” He said. “Take them down again! Stay in the khexide, it’s our only cover.”

“I can see Lieutenant Jackal out there.” Another said.

“We need to help him.” Reaper lead the charge into the rest of the eos.

He watched another truck topple over to the smaller eos. Doors ripped off. Bodies dragged out. When he turned in the other direction, he witnessed a valkria, with those crescent blades extended out at either of its sides. It charged into his team, slicing one soldier clean in half.

He turned from the valkria as it ran away only to be met face to face with the scarred up face of a beast he wished he did not recognize.

He hit the ground, the back of his head cracking against the dirt. Those head-sized incisors snapped shut right in front of his nose. Reaper twisted underneath the beast in time for its paw to smash into the ground right where his head had been. He gave it a swift punch to the soft part of its neck.

A kick to its ribs and Reaper shoved the beast off. Before he could get back up to his feet, it came for him again. A leap did not take Reaper down completely this time. It bit into his arm, kept him down on his knee.

It did not matter how many times he punched the monster. It continued to bite and swipe at him.

Destroy the core. He thought.

Where was it?

Inside the monster…

He gripped its fang, pulling on it to brace himself. The next time it opened its mouth to bite down again, Reaper shoved his hand into the back of its mouth. He hissed on the bite, squeezed the fang. Down its throat.

The beast pulled back, letting go of his arm.

Still Reaper pushed in deeper until his shoulder was within its jaws. He poked around, fingers attempting to hook anything they could.

It pawed at him, pinned him to the ground with its claws, and pulled on its head.

“Oh, Jesus, forgive me.” Reaper grumbled.

He felt something! Solid.

The beast stopped moving abruptly. Its jaws opened wide. Its posture dropped, eyes darting around until meeting Reaper’s miserable gaze.

He kept his finger on the solid object. He got the sense of fear. He could almost smell it. The beast trembled. Its soul reflected in those yellow eyes.

It didn’t want to die.

Reaper took a deep breath. Pulled himself from its mouth.

A chill ran down the creature’s spine. It shook its head and sneezed.

His face twisted, he shook his arm the best he could.

The beast bowed its head, chest against the ground.

“What?” He breathed.

He touched the creature’s nose. There was an instant connection. One of a warrior’s spirit. It accepted its fate. Reaper gave it a pat on its nose. With a grumble, the beast shook its head and jumped in a circle. Jaws snapped, and its lessers stopped what they were doing. They stepped off the soldiers, bowed their heads. The leader of the pack gave a huff, looked back to the Captain, and charged down the line of soldiers.

With its posse in tow, the pack of reldul tackled down the valkria. They stood with the soldiers and fired their weapons at the incoming eos. Their alpha never strayed far from Reaper, prioritizing his protection above all else.

They made it to Jackal’s position in time to catch Vactubstein and Tunaaka charge in from the side. The geihildra snapped around at the last second, kicking its hind legs back. A combination of its thagomizer lined tail, and a clawed foot crashed into the side of the skaginvar’s head just as it started to ignite its flame.

Its gigantic head snapped to the side, fire erupting from its mouth. With a roar it turned back, making