“What the fuck is this?” I shouted.
“Did you think I wouldn’t notice four very naked women leaving? You’re not that engaging, Terry.”
“Leave them alone,” I said between clenched teeth.
“Don’t lose it, Terry,” Izzy sent to me.
“I wont, but I’ll fuck this guy up if he hurts my Tua.”
“I’m with you.”
“Just watch.”
Something dropped from the ceiling behind my Spec Ops team. They all looked back as one. Reina opened fire on what took the form of a stone dog. The bullets bounced off and the dog slowly stalked forward like nothing was happening.
The video had no audio, but I could make out the word run as Porsha yelled it. While they ran the dog took off and three more drops hit the ground. A moment later four stone dogs gave chase.
The lead dog caught up to Reina, but didn’t attack. It kept going passing her. Same with the second dog, then the third.
My Tua looked down at the dogs running next to them and I felt thier fear and confusion. Other than running nothing crazy happened. My Tua shifted and ran faster. The dog picked up thier pace as well.
It wasn’t until each dog was beside a Tua that the attack happened. The dogs all jumped. Then spike shot out from them to both sides. One side slammed into the wall stopping thier forward momentum. The other side punched through my Tua in various places and pinned them to the other wall. The dogs had become small spheres with dozens of stone spike protruding from the sides.
My women writhed and screamed, but were unabke to break free. Generous amounts of blood hit the floor bellow them. Then the screen went dark.
“You will let them go,” I snarled.
“You should have kept them here. Thier pain is your fault,” Anders said.
Chapter 37
I pulled from my pack, all except those present and the Spec Ops team. Considering I was shifted most of it went to the women with spikes running through their bodies. The majority of the rest went to the mages. I hoped it would be enough.
“Is this when you start your futile attempts to get through my barrier?” Anders asked.
“Yeah, I guess it is,” I said.
I made the first move dashing forward and slashing at the barrier with my claws. Green arcs of electricity danced down my arms causing great pain. It was nothing compared to the pain my Spec Ops team was going through. The shield flared and became opaque. I hoped the mage would be blinded by the wall, but wasn’t willing to put my money where my claws were.
"What do we do?" Morgana asked.
I wanted to shout for her to start firing at the shield, but I knew that would result in the shield exploding outward and probably killing us all. There was also the possibility of the mage hearing and countering. An idea came to me. Why can’t…
I sent a quick mental message to everyone in the area. Right away my mages moved to the wall and began charging up thier spheres for attack. It was good to be back to myself and come up with something better than just hack and slash, like I was doing just then. All part of the plan though.
A red and a blue beam shot out from my sides hitting the shield. In a couple seconds the barrier reached max. I stopped fighting and ran back to my mages. Izzy stood between them holding her pistol in her hand. I grabbed them all and held them close, then wrapped my wings around them. As an after thought, I popped the Shell ability. It didn’t activate.
The wall of light exploded out and I was hit with a wave of energy. All at once it pupled my back muscles and seared the skin of my back as well as the membarane of my wings.
“Everyone OK?” I asked in a hushed tone. Talking louder would have required filling my lungs more. Not possible with the pain in my back.
“We are,” Izzy said. “Are you?”
“I’ll be fine,” I said.
I didn’t feel fine. My healing ability usually dulled the pain while fixing me. Not this time. Nor did I feel the usual sensation of my wounds being repaired. I couldn’t spare a thought for it now. There was too much to do.
I let go of my Tua and lowered my wings. The burned skin on my back and wings crackle as I moved. Anders sat at his desk clearly visible. The fingers of his hands were intertwined and his palms rested on the desktop. The mage wore a smug smile, but didn’t speak or move, just watched.
I sent my next instructions to my Tua as I walked back to the desk. I found exactly what I thought I would, the shield intact. I went back to work at it with my claws.the sparks flew out from where my talons struck. Green arcs danced down my arms hurting much more than the last time. I kept at it though. When we could no longer see beyond the green wall, my mages went to work. Read and blue beams hit the ground.
Scarlett went to my left while Morgana went right. They continued to hit the floor with their beams as they walked around the shield. They vanished from sight, but I could hear the thrum of their power in action.
The light from the shield grew and I worried we wouldn’t make it in time. Scarlett returned first. She went to work in front of me joining the line she already cut to Morgana’s. Then my fire mage cane a round and added to her line. The floor creaked and groaned before the lined touched.
There was a loud crash and the cylindrical shield fell straight down. When it hit the ground the energy exploded outward, but not up. We were untouched.
I didn’t waste time and dropped into the hole. My wings allowed my to glide down with lazy beats and I took in the new battlefield. The legs on one side broke and the desk listed to one side. The mage lay on his back over the remains of his chair. He groaned and began to stir as my feet hit the floor.
I rushed to him pleased to find my assumption was correct. The fall had thrown off his concentration and the shield was gone. I grabbed the front of the Anders’ shirt and spun tossing him away from the small section of his office. He landed on his side and rolled before coming to a stop in his back.
I walked and stopped when I stood over him. The way his limbs flopped around made me think he was suffering from several broken or shattered bones. He coughed and blood exploded from his mouth.
“That was a good move,” Anders’ said. His voice was a ragged approximation of what it had been. “It would seem I am broken and defeated. You’ve won, Mage Hunter. How about that?”
While he spoke a green glow surrounded his right hand. Black ozzed through the green light. “Or am I?”
The light seeped into the ground and the mage let out a shuttering gasp. Then he was dead. But that black striped light?”
“Hey, Morgana, and Scarlett, something happened. I think he’s dead, but something happened!” I shouted without looking up.
There was a thump behind me, but I didn’t dare look away. I could tell it was Izzy as I felt her coming closer.
“He looks dead,” Izzy said.
“Yeah.” I spent the next few minutes describing what I saw to Izzy and my mages.
“It could be nothing,” Scarlett said.
“Or it could be everything,” Morgana said. “No way of knowing.”
“What do you think we should do?” Izzy asked.
“Take the mages to find my Spec Ops team and see if they are OK,” I said.
“You really like saying Spec Ops, don’t you?” Izzy asked.
“I sure do,” I chuckled.
“Meet me at the stairs!” Izzy shouted up before leaving the room.
Then I was alone with a dead mage. The room became quiet and still. Keeping my eyes on the body, I tried to shift back, but nothing happened. Several attempts were made before I heard the mental message from Izzy.
“The spikes are gone and the Spec Ops team is doing alright. Seems you are pumping energy into them and their wounds are just about healed.”
“Thanks, Izzy.”
Laughing filled the room causing me to jump. I backed away from the corpse at a crouch looking around wildly.
“That was a masterful plan, but you didn’t count on me,” Anders voice echo
ed through the room. “This place it truly mine now and I belong to it. Prepare to feel the wrath of my house.”
The room shook hard enough that I had to dig my toe claws in to stay up. That turned out to be a bad move as a section of wall flew at me becoming a long pillar. The post slammed into my side tearing me free of the floor and rocketing me across the room. I hit the wall with a crunch and a web of sharp pains.
I struggled to get up while pain erased every other sensation I felt. A pillar shot up from the floor slamming me into the ceiling. It fell away faster then I dropped. I hit the ground and screamed. Another pullar shot up and I managed to roll to my right enough for it to clip me and send me rolling away.
This was too much. How did I fight something I couldn’t see? How do you fight the environment when everything can be used to attack me?
“Terry, the girls are all healed up. Take the power back. We are on our…”
“Izzy?” I sent back, but no response came.
She was right, I had to take the power available to me and win. It was the only way to make sure they were OK.
I pulled eighty percent from my pack. Time slowed while two pillars came at me from the left and right. I jumped back using a flap of my wings to gain some distance and time.
My broken bones twisted and popped as they moved back i to place. I screamed again nearly passing out. Then the fire in my muscles and joints soothed with the cool sensation of mending. Before slow time ended my wounds were healed.
More than that, there was a warmth in my chest. It grew becoming jotter and begging for release. A pillar came rushing head on at me, and I smiled. Fire blasted out of my mouth hitting the pillar and burning it to ash.
“Damn you!” The house shouted.
The floor groaned then cracked and split forming squared along the length and width of the room.
The hundreds of squares quivere and undulated. They rose and fell like a wave starting at the far end and growing in size. At the rate it grew there was no doubt I would be squished against the ceiling if I stayed put. Time to see what my smaller wings could do.
Running toward the wave I jumped and beat my wings. Relief filled me when I left the ground and picked up speed. I whooped with delight and joy at being able to utilize my dragon abilities even though I was diminished.
Square posts a foot wide shot out from the walls. I had to dodge by shooting up or diving down. The room was tall, but there were limits to how much I could maneuver in the space. It was something I tried planning for, but pillar shooting out high with three others below it caused me to go up. My wings hit the ceiling with a clatter of thuds. Without the lift they provided flight was impossible. The pillars running horizontally across the room that caused my dilemma were more than happy to help break my fall.
Ribs snapped and my arms and legs broke as I bounced through a maze of pillars to hit the ground.
At me current power draw, healing was a non issue. The pain really sucked though. It sapped my will to keep going. I wanted out of there and I wanted it now.
That wasn’t an option though. I didn’t know if I was Anders sole focus, or if my Tua were fighting for their lives. With the walls and floors trying to kill me, I couldn't spare a moment to check on them. Even as I healed I had to roll sideways to keep from being squished.
Anders gave me enough time to rise to my feet. Then I was hit from the sides by pillars squishing my torso. Everything went dark and I felt myself fall. The pain of my shattered back hitting the floor brought me back from the precipice of unconsciousness. I screamed.
The healing kicked in and I was good to go a few minutes later. During that time I had to keep rolling to not get splattered.
“Fuck you!” I shouted as I stood up. “Fuck you!”
Anders laughed, the sound coming from everywhere. It really pissed me off.
“FUCK YOU!” Flames licked my tongue as I shouted. I let lose a roar full of fire.
I pulled from my Tua as I did in a way unlike I had before. This was more like siphoning from a house then using the potential energy that we shared. The fire streamed out of me reaching farther than ever before. Areas of the floor, walls, and ceiling caught fire.
Anders screamed, a sound equal parts ander and anguish. It felt good to hurt him for once.
The fires did two things. The obvious and expected consequence was destruction. The unintended consequence was the effect it had on the floor. Since Anders had sectioned off the floor into square pieces the magic holding those pieces up staryed to fail. Sections of charred floor fell away. From the groaning sound coming from what remained, I didn’t have long before there was no where to stand.
There was the issue of heat and smoke as well. Neither seemed to bother me, but my Tua would be affected.
I ran for the door and left the burning room behind.
Chapter 38
While running through the house Anders kept up his assault and screams of pain. I answered the pillars of house material attacks with fire and claws. To keep hurting him, I sprayed intervals of fire.
My thinking was Anders’ body was dead. The house had become his new body and destroying it would kill him. That was my hope anyway.
I came to a room full of plush looking furniture and smiled. I saw a news report once about the material that went into a couch being called solid gasoline by firefighters. They said it was so flammable, that a couch on fire was almost always going to burn to the ground and take everything around it along for the ride. I let lose a flame hitting the couch with a satisfactory fire erupting to life.
Soon after I came to the stairs and headed up. My Tua were all up there. Izzy had probably come this way, and my mages would have gone from the floor above. The Spec Ops team didn’t get much time when Anders sicked is mutts on them, so I guessed they were above. Then I felt stupid and realized guessing wasn’t needed. I felt for them discovering my guess had been correct.
One left turn after reaching third floor and I found my Tua. They jumped, duck, and dove to keep from being smashed by pillars from the floor and walls. The majors use their water and fire powers to destroy the pillars they came at them as they were nowhere near as agile as the Lycans.
Rushing forward, I use my claws and fire breath to clear a path. Once I reached them I continue to destroy pillars as they came at us.
"Everyone follow me," I said. "Mages at the rear destroy any pillars that come from behind."
Return back the stairs and went to work destroying everything in my path. In my wake the pillars lay broken in charred. The walls and ceiling were lit the fire and burning as we passed.
Anders continued to shriek and scream but the volume was much lower now. When we reached the stairs the house began to tremble. The thought of the old mage suffering brought joy to my heart and blood to my Dick. I hoped the burning felt like it would if it was his own flesh.
We made it to the first floor and found that some of my flames had burned their way through the ceiling and were starting on that floor. We made it all the way to the front door before Morgana stopped us.
"We have to go to the basement!" She shouted over the roar of the fire. "Those mages are still down there we have to save them."
"I don't know about that," Portia said. "We gonna risk our lives for them? For all we know they're just as bad as that Anders Douchebag."
"We don't know that for sure," I said. "So yeah, we are gonna go down there and find them. No scratch that, I'm going to go down there and find them. You guys are gonna get clear the building."
"We can't leave you," Scarlett said.
"Are any of you fireproof?"
"I am," Morgana said. "But I'll do as you say."
"Anyone else?" I looked everyone else in their eyes. When no one answered I had my answer. "Then go out and wait for me out there. I'll be back as soon as I can."
I turned and headed back into the building without waiting for a response. I felt all of my Tua getting farther away and knew they obeyed me.
I found two doors in the kitchen. The first one turned out to be the pantry, but the second open into a dark room with a set of stairs going down. I shot out of a small burst of flame to light the darkness and make sure there wasn't trouble waiting. It was clear so I descended.
The stairs went down to good ways to a landing then turned left and went down a few more feet. There was a slight stink of feces and rot. What I didn't find, was a light switch. Every couple of feet I let out a small brother flame to continue to give me brief snapshots of the area around me.
The space was mostly empty having a cement floor with periodic wooden support beams. Hundred yards away I caught a glimpse of the door and made for it. The stink I've noticed when reaching the basement grew stronger the closer I got to the door.
As I reached the door flickering light behind me caught my attention. I turned to look and saw fire working its way down the stairs. That might be a problem, but it was one I would have to deal with after I found the mages.
The door was padlocked should, but a swipe from my clause fix that issue. When I pulled the door open the stink hit me full on in the face. It was 10 times worse than with the door closed. Bile rose in my throat and I pushed it down. I let out a puff of fire hoping it would burn up the scent molecules, but it didn't give me any relief. Since there was no choice I moved forward doing my best to bare with the smell.
After two steps something small hit my forehead. I reached up feeling the cord close my fingers around the giving of yank. A bank of lights along the left and right flickered to life. In the center of the room was a round stone circle. Stacked on top of it were two more smaller circles each getting smaller the hire they went. Around the base level we raised platforms that protruded over the edge with bodies laying on the platforms. The closest person was dead and half rotten. My hopes of finding anyone alive dwindled quickly.
I drew closer and went to my right to go around the circle. The fourth person I came to was still but looks like they could just be unconscious. After a quick check I discovered he was dead, and continued on. The platforms were numerous and there had to be more than the couple dozen bodies. When I reached the platform farthest from the door I found a woman who was not only healthy looking but her chest rose.
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