Closer: Bay City Paranormal Investigation, Book 4

the monster darted straight toward Bo, mud flying from its claws as they dug into the rain-soaked ground.
    Sam was halfway to Bo before he even knew he’d moved. His stomach lurched when he realized the creature would reach Bo long before he would.
    “Bo!” he shouted. “Bo, run !”
    Bo turned toward Sam. The glare of the lights high above revealed blank eyes in an expressionless face. His bare feet remained rooted to the rock.
    The thing flowed toward him, one serrated claw held high, and time slowed to a painful crawl. Sam kept running, trying to focus his mind enough to send the thing back where it came from. The creature wavered and slowed, but didn’t stop. It felt to Sam like beating his mind against a stone wall. He had a torturous eternity to watch the gleaming black claw slice downward, down through the rain, inevitably down toward Bo’s naked back. Sam let out a wordless cry as the razor-sharp claw hit Bo’s body and he stumbled forward.
    Time jerked into motion again. Sam lunged the last few feet and caught Bo before he hit the ground. Laying Bo as gently as he could on the rocks, Sam flung himself between his lover and the horror in front of him.
    “Go away!” he screamed. “Just go the fuck away!”
    The monster seemed to hesitate, as if uncertain of whether or not it could harm Sam. It was only a split second, but it was enough. Gathering his psychokinetic powers, Sam followed the umbilical cord of energy linking the thing to its world and focused every ounce of his mind on that spot.
    His vision dimmed and he felt as if someone was sitting on his chest, but he didn’t dare relax his concentration. This portal was strong, resisting his efforts to send the entity back through and close it. If he lost control of it, he and Bo were both dead, and a terrible threat would be loose.
    Just as Sam felt unconsciousness closing in, the balance of power shifted. He felt the pull of energy from the other side as the portal began to close. The air swirled, the fabric of reality twisting in a way that hurt Sam’s eyes.
    Calling on reserves of strength he didn’t know he possessed until that moment, Sam redoubled his efforts. With a shriek more felt than heard, the creature collapsed in on itself and vanished. Sam felt the gateway seal behind it.
    Sam’s knees buckled and he dropped to the ground, gasping for breath. He no longer sensed the portal in his head. In fact, the inert residual energy felt almost exactly like what he’d experienced at Sunset Lodge. That, more than anything, told him this particular gateway must now be permanently closed.
    Relieved, Sam turned to Bo, who lay huddled on his side on the rocks, facing the fort. Sam tried to get a look at Bo’s back, to see how badly he was injured, but Bo’s position kept his back in shadow and Sam couldn’t see anything useful. He cursed, wishing he hadn’t dropped his flashlight.
    Leaning down, he brushed the streaming hair from Bo’s face. “Bo? Are you all right?”
No answer. Sam laid a hand on Bo’s cheek. His skin was cold, the jaw muscles tense and quivering beneath Sam’s palm.
Heart in his throat, Sam pressed two shaking fingers against the proper spot in Bo’s neck. Bo’s pulse beat fast and thready beneath Sam’s fingertips. He bent closer, until his ear nearly touched Bo’s lips. Bo’s breathing sounded shallow and harsh, but at least he was breathing.
Sitting up on his knees, Sam slipped the raincoat off and laid it over Bo, then reached for his phone. He had to call Dean, and they had to get Bo out of here.
“Sam! Where are you?”
Dean. Sam looked up, and saw the flash of Dean’s penlight coming around the corner of the fort. “Over here!” He raised a hand and waved.
Dean was beside him in a matter of seconds. “I heard you yelling. What happened?” He knelt on the rocks beside Sam and handed him the open umbrella. “Hold this over us. I need to examine him.”
“A portal opened. I don’t know how, or why, other than it was nothing I did this time.” Sam watched, shivering, as Dean shone his light into both of Bo’s eyes, then pulled the raincoat down to sweep the narrow beam over his body. Bo didn’t respond, and the cold knot of fear in Sam’s belly grew. “I called him, and he turned around, but he wouldn’t answer me. He seemed completely out of it. Then that…that thing attacked him right before I sent it away. I think it cut him.”
“I’ll say.” Dean was gazing at Bo’s back, where he had