by Cecy Robson
My words turn into screams when Gemini throws me ahead of him. I flail, plummeting to my death when he catches me, and tosses me again!
This continues. I suppose it must. This is Johnny’s last chance to get Celia. His last opportunity to prove he can reign as a shapeshifter and that he belongs among the most feared beings on Earth. He can’t waste time keeping up a realm he doesn’t need.
I don’t get used to Gemini’s technique. I’m losing my voice, shrieking each time I’m thrown and fall. Gemini is working it, avoiding the ruins of Johnny’s world and scrambling around the mess to assure he catches me.
My surroundings are a horrible mix of bleeding colors and commotion. Gemini snags my wrist and clutches me when a large section of rocks breaks away, and I almost fall from his reach. I’m sick to my stomach, choking on garbage that has no business in my mouth.
“I don’t know how much longer I can keep this up,” I admit.
“You don’t have to,” he promises. “Last one. Try to hang to the edge, and I’ll push you through.”
I’m launched in another revolting jolt. The sky clears into a brilliant light. I stretch my hands, reaching when I think I see something I can cling to. I feel it, fasten myself to it, and just about hurl when I realize I’m gripping a Nyte by the head.
A gaping maw, with rows of freakishly large human teeth, makes up most of her face. I say “her” because one dangling boob is slapping at my right cheek, and the other is swinging back and forth, caressing my head.
“Taran, it’s dead. Dead,” Gemini hollers over my screams. “They all are.”
I’m not sure what he means until I look down. Poking through what remains of the side of the gorge are body parts. Heads, torsos, and limbs, you name it or think it, it’s there. The remains of Johnny’s Nytes we killed.
“We’re out of time,” Gemini says. He grips my ass and shoves me upward. “Climb!”
I wish I can say I didn’t cram my foot in the Nyte’s mouth to help me up or hook my hand into her lady parts for leverage. But I did, and would do it again, dammit. The manor is coming apart, and my sisters need me.
I stretch my right hand up and into the white light. I feel around, gripping a hard surface slippery with dust. Gemini clasps my foot, levitating me through and into Genevieve’s quarters. I drag my body across the floor in the time it takes Gemini to leap up and land in a crouch in front of me.
The residence is abandoned. I rise carefully, trying to catch my balance. Just as in Johnny’s realm, the alarming quaking continues, and everything is coming apart. I scan the area, my senses overstimulated from the bedlam.
I jump and bump into Gemini as the chalk circle I crawled through expands and swallows our way out. “How are we going to get out of here?”
My lover lifts the couch and flings it through the window, striking another leech Nyte sliding down the glass. “Come on,” he says.
He clasps my hand and guides me onto the roof. Roaches as large as Gemini, with bleached human faces, skitter toward us. I blast the closest one, my pent-up magic unleashing in a furious bolt and almost knocking me off the roof. Gemini holds tight, keeping me in place.
My fire struck a hole in the roach’s chest and the section of roof behind it. Empty sockets where eyes should be glance down as my fire eats through its ribs. Its mouth opens. There’s no tongue or teeth. There’s only blackness to release the gurgling sound from deep within its throat. I think its dying until I realize it’s a call to arms. Dozens of roaches crawl from the levels above and below, their bizarrely slender feet moving fast and clicking against the tiles.
Gemini throws back his head and howls, calling his twin.
My strikes hit each mark and beyond, further damaging the burning manor and causing it to tilt. Gemini grips my shoulders. “Taran, the manor is coming undone. Your fire is making things worse. We can’t risk hurting Destiny if she remains part of the house. Go. I’ll take care of these Nytes.”
For all he promised he wouldn’t throw me again, Gemini does, down another level and onto his twin’s back. More out of instinct, I snag the tuft of his neck, hanging on for dear life as he finesses his way down the multi-tiered roof.
From this part of the manor, I can see the lake, rear lawn, and the stone steps leading down to the gardens and beach. The lake is agitated and whirling with magic. Blue, green, and clear sparkles scatter across the water into the air, creating dangerously large waves that pummel the shore.
My cheek presses against the wolf’s fur when he dives to the next level, each altitude providing a different view of the madness.
Destiny was right. Celia didn’t make it anywhere near the perimeter. No one did. Everyone left is fighting a horde of Nytes along the sand, lawn, and woods in between, including Uri and all his remaining vampires.
The night sky is alight with magic. Witches from across the globe cast their curses and hexes while the roars of battle sound from the most powerful weres and vampires of their kind. My pulse beats in rapid bursts, my body trembling with how badly I need to join the fight.
Gemini’s twin peels back his fangs in a snarl, barely making a sound as his nails scrape the stone of the topmost terrace. We’re off the roof but still far from the battle.
Johnny makes sure it stays that way.
I’m launched across the terrace when an anaconda Nyte slams into Gemini’s twin. Stars burst into my vision as my head bangs the rough surface. I tilt my head up, calling to the twin and barely forming my words as the snake coils around him.
The twin squirms, beating the snake against the stone and digging his fangs into its flesh. I swear when my head becomes too heavy to keep elevated. In the sky, a moth with iridescent wings of silver flutters by. I can’t be certain the image is real and blink several times to clear my head. I can’t just lie here. Not if I want to live.
My head falls to the side in the direction of the lake. I see several injured weres drag Celia down the length of the beach, fighting to keep her away from the increasing waves obliterating the shore. She screams to Aric, who falls back. I don’t understand what’s happening until Fate’s latest masterpiece breaks through the water and faces off with Aric.
A sea dragon, several stories high, emerges from the lake, its partially eaten body falling away from his frame and splashing against the tumultuous water. Sharks with human hands (more of Johnny’s creations) leap from the lake, gobbling up the bloody wads.
Koda and Bren rush to stand with Aric, as do the weres who were close friends with Aric’s father. It’s only them, but it’s all Aric has now.
Johnny is playing for keeps and has our allies surrounded. The weres don’t get far with Celia; they loop around, leading her away from an advancing group of Nytes. The only way out now is across Lake Tahoe. But, no way can they risk taking Celia through with those monsters roaming the deep.
“Buck dis sheet,” I mumble, forcing myself up.
The moth I saw earlier flutters back, circling me. I’m suddenly alert when its asexual body and multiple arms flap excitedly and dive for me. I fire and miss, fire and miss, fire and, oof, it’s on me.
Its pincher feet secure my ankles. One set of hands press onto my chest, the other wrench my hands over my head. Another arm protrudes through the Nyte’s belly just to press a finger to my lips and “shush” me.
“Let me tell you a story,” it slurs in its garbled speech. “Where once a pretty little thing and her pretty little sisters thought they could save the world.”
Its voice is the thing of nightmares. It racks my heightened nerves and urges me to plead for my life. My chest rises and falls in convulsive motions, the moth’s weight threatening to crush my ribs with each small breath I draw.
“How about…” I swallow several times, struggling to catch my breath.
Its hand strokes back a strand of my hair. “Yes, my sweet?”
“How about instead of a story…you fuck a donkey instead?” I suggest.
The moth laughs. Aside from spreadin
g more of its weight against my chest, it’s too captivated by the scene unfolding at the beach to bother with me.
My head falls to the side. I push aside the hurt, using my anger to build my fire. I can’t strike with my arms held down. But I can damn well kindle my fire from my core and surround my body with it. All I need is a little more air, and I can help my friends.
The weres attack the dragon at once. Aric scales the neck, yanking through the layers of deteriorating muscle, desperate to reach the brain.
The sea dragon shakes its head, swaying from side to side, trying to fling Aric and the wolves at the sharks. Bright orange light ignites from the sea dragon’s underbelly, billowing smoke and fire from the holes in its neck.
“Aric,” Koda howls.
The wolves leap from the dragon when fire streams through the openings of its skin. They tumble into the water and are immediately swarmed by the sharks.
The dragon blasts a funnel of orange fire in Celia’s direction. Celia breaks free from the weres protecting her and takes off down the beach, permitting the weres to scramble to safety and leading the dragon away.
In her pregnant state, Celia isn’t as fast. She hugs her belly, her bare feet beating against the sand as she fights to keep her baby safe.
“No,” I rasp.
My fire builds, brewing into a firestorm but failing to unleash.
Aric hangs tight to the dragon’s head, punching it through the eye and blinding it. Like a man possessed with rage, Aric digs his hands through the socket and yanks out lumps of brain.
Aric’s attack is savage yet has no effect on the dragon. The monster keeps going, barraging Celia with an undulating stream of flame.
I scream. “No!”
Aric howls, leaping off the dragon to take the blow for Celia.
He’s too late.
Ileana takes it instead.
Naked, her magnificent body brilliant in the light, Ileana stretches her limbs, shrieking in agony as the fire incinerates her flesh. The power of this ancient vampire spills out from her breaking body, amplifying and expanding into a protective sphere.
Aric tackles Celia and races her away.
Ileana remains standing, through the upheaval of battle, the collective shock around us, and the dispersed groups continuing to fight, she does not fall until the last of the sea dragon’s flames lick her bones dry.
I writhe, willing my magic to discharge. The first waves of heat gather along my skin, only to be snuffed when the moth slaps me across the face.
“The little tiger still thinks she can fight,” the moth slurs. “Poor little thing. Doesn’t she know her cub is just as dead as she?”
The Nyte leans in, licking the blood streaming from a cut above my eye. It expects a free feed, not the headbutt to the face I nail it with. The moth arches up, swiping its nose, its antennae twitching as it analyzes the dark fluid closely.
I clench my jaw, working to restart my fire as the discord on the beach reaches its tipping point.
Uri jumps into the fray. He lifts a large boulder and hurtles it at the dragon, giving Celia and Aric time to escape. The boulder partially crushes the dragon’s face, yet it barely makes an impact. The dragon shakes what remains of its head, angling its gargantuan body and stalking after Celia.
Uri rushes to Ileana’s remains, lengthening his nails and slitting his throat. Like a fountain, blood pours from Uri’s neck, saturating Ileana’s skeleton.
Aric bolts down the beach, carrying Celia. Every were and vampire in the vicinity is tearing into the dragon, trying to take it and the circling sharks apart.
Everything I see becomes too much to bear, and my body reacts, striking the concrete like a jackhammer, the blazes surging within me set to erupt.
The moth strokes my head, satisfied that Celia no longer stands a chance. “Let me eat you,” it tells me. “Let me enjoy another taste before you die.”
I grin, even though that much hurts. “How about we send the moth to the flame instead?”
My fire washes over the moth and me, singeing its wings and limbs like paper before cooking its long outlandish form. I push its burning remains off me, grimacing as the moth continues to analyze its dying form.
Gemini’s twin hobbles to me, his ribs cracked. He licks my face, encouraging me to my feet when I stumble.
“Taran,” Gemini falls next to me. “What happened?”
“A moth tried to eat me,” I say.
He stretches his arms to lift me. “No. You have to help Celia and Aric. We’re losing, Gemini. They need you.”
“Go,” I insist when he appears torn. “My fire will protect me from anything that comes.”
Gemini kisses my face. “Stay alive. You hear me? I’ll be back.”
Gemini and his twin catapult over the terrace. I take a long, cleansing breath and try to stand. It takes me hugging the stone pillar for me to get my footing, but I manage and stagger across the terrace.
I’m not moving fast, but I am moving, my head clearing from the beatings it took the farther I walk.
An explosion rattles the ground and has me glancing over my shoulder. The manor splits apart, indenting inward. A crash follows, and another after that. I think it’s the magic breaking down Vieve’s home and Destiny losing her grip until a VW Thing launches out of the house and screeches to a stop in front of me.
“Dude!” Shayna pushes up from the driver’s seat and waves.
I blink at her a few times. Shayna is many things, perky, cute, and fiercely loyal. She is not what anyone would call a safe and conscientious driver. She reaches across the old death trap of a vehicle and flings open the door. “Get in, T. Time to save the day.”
“It’s okay.” I hook my thumb in the direction of the steps. “I’ll just walk.” And take my chances with the scary entities wanting to play tug of war with my innards.
Shayna flings a knife over my shoulder, stabbing a frog with far too many legs and tongues. I hadn’t noticed it, but nothing ever gets past Shayna.
“Come on, T,” she says. She frowns and looks behind her. With a flick of her wrist, she stabs something on the other side of the car with her sword. Whatever she kills makes a squeamish and gurgling sound. Still, she turns around, grinning, her ponytail swinging away in the breeze.”
“What are you waiting for?” Shayna asks. “We have to save Celia.” She beeps the horn twice as if it will somehow seal the deal. “And this is just the puppy to do it.”
She’s right. God help me, she’s right. I don’t quite get the door shut when Shayna stomps on the accelerator like she’s squishing a bug.
Instead of heading toward the beach, she careens around toward the side of the house. “Where are you going?” I screech, reaching for my seat belt.
“To save, Ceel,” she reminds me. She glances down to unclick the locking mechanism on my seat belt and almost hits the side of the house. “You don’t need that, dude. Trust me.”
If I had any breath when that moth creature slid on top of me, I would have screamed, yet still not as loud as I do when Shayna crashes over and through every burning and demolished piece of house she can find. She flips on the wipers when something…maybe a liver…smacks against the windshield and smears blood across the glass.
“Oof,” she says. “I hope that wasn’t someone on our side.”
Shayna takes the next turn on two wheels, racing at high-velocity, parallel to the beach. We pass Aric, Misha, and Celia. “Wait. You’re going the wrong way.”
“I sure am,” she agrees.
I almost think this is another Nyte in my sister’s place. But even evil doesn’t drive this bad. “Aren’t we driving Celia to the perimeter?”
“Pfft, gosh no,” she says. “We’ll never make it there in one piece, T.”
She narrows her gaze, mowing down an effed up version of Humpty Dumpty. She slams on the brakes, puts it in reverse, and runs over it again, spilling black gunk all over the lawn as she peels away.
My fingers turn blue with
how hard I’m gripping the side of the car. “Do you even know what we’re going to do?”
“Totally. Me and Emme have a plan,” Shayna replies. Her skin is smeared with her blood and a lot of something else. Several cuts line her arms, and her ponytail is askew.
“Are you going to tell me what it is?” If it sounds like I’m yelling, I am.
“Sure,” Shayna says, smiling. “We’re going to hit the sea critter with the car.”
“This car?” I ask.
“Yup.”
I point down. “This one right here.”
“Absolutely, dude,” she says.
“Then why are we driving to the front of the house?” I screech at her.
Shayna giggles in that ridiculous giddy way she does when she finds the car keys we’ve carefully hidden. “T, I’m going to need a running start. Oh, and since you’re here, don’t forget to fire this bad boy up.”
We reach the edge of the line. Shayna donuts around and punches it. “Relax,” she says when I gape at her. We’ll jump, Emme will catch us, it’s all good.”
I look at the tier below where our supposed savior Emme is running for her life. She’s screaming bloody murder as a battalion of two-feet-tall Oompa Loompas chase after her flinging pieces of flaming candy.
Never in my life did I think I’d say these words. “The Oompa Loompas are after Emme!”
“What’d you say, dude?”
“Oompa Loompas,” I repeat, because it didn’t sound insane enough the first time. “They’re chasing Emme and hitting her with flaming Tootsie Rolls.”
Shayna crinkles her nose. “Those aren’t Tootsie Rolls, T,” she tells me.
Johnny really has gone too far. I fling lightning like a woman possessed, frying the little bastards to bits until they’re out of my view.
“She’s not going to make it,” I say, turning back to face the front.
“Sure, she will,” Shayna says. “Emme’s good like that.”
We’re almost to the end when the sea dragon pops its head up. Shayna taps my leg. “Ready to get airborne?”
She doesn’t expect an answer. She’s just prepping me to jump and trying to be polite.
“One,” Shayna says, her tone growing serious.