Back in Yuki’s room, Yuki was still trying to no avail to make Siren better. Though she couldn’t tell for sure, it seemed to her that she was getting worse. Siren tried to speak, but her words came out slurred and unintelligible. She didn’t notice that behind her, the smoke had almost finished forming, and now occupied most of the room with its hulking head grazing the ceiling. Siren’s pulse went up higher as it began to become solid—everything about it was all too familiar to her. The twisting horns, the blackish brown blood matted fur, even its heavy steamy breath coming from its nostrils made her shiver at the memory of the fight to the death she almost lost nearly a century before. With all the strength she had, Siren uttered the only words she could bear.
“Yuki…behind you…”
Yuki heard it without Siren’s warning, and was already turning around, but even then it was too late. Yuki gasped as she stared into the deep emotionless red eyes before her, and froze in place, hardly able to breath.
In the hallway, Al was using all his might trying to open his master’s door by smashing into it once again. His body was already sore from doing this so many times over, and he knew it would be black and blue by the morning, but he didn’t stop trying. Eventually, half out of pity and half strained by losing precious time, Vaze told him to stop and let him handle it. With one mighty kick, Vaze made the wooden door fly off its hinges in a shower of wooden splinters while Al stared in amazement and a hint of jealousy.
Vaze shrugged it off and entered the room with his dagger ready. Al followed close behind with his palms spewing light into the dark room. Unlike the other rooms, this one was starved of moonlight, so Al’s spell cast ghostly shadows everywhere.
A floor board squeaked under Al’s foot and he jumped in fright, accidentally bumping into Vaze. Vaze shot him a look, and Al shied away. Vaze sighed shaking his head and made his way over to the bed. A motionless lump huddled under the covers. Hesitantly, Vaze slipped the tip of his dagger under the blanket, and drew them back. Gidian sleeping soundly would have been preferable—a bloody body was possible—but he hadn’t expected to find what he did.
Suddenly, a shrill scream cut the air, followed by a blood curdling roar. Vaze cursed and darted out the door leaving Al staring dumbstruck at the pillows made to look like a person. Still in shock, Al turned to run after Vaze.
Kyra was sleeping soundly until a shriek pierced her ears, forcing her eyes open by pure instinct. The glint of a knife blade was enough to wake her up entirely while she spun out of the way, allowing the blade to miss by hardly a hair’s width. She heard her attacker hiss under her breath as Kyra lunged out of bed. Her hand shot to her hip where her dagger always rested, only to find it was gone. Kyra’s attacker laughed as Kyra swore. Hostility bred from countless battles filled Kyra’s eyes as she focused her gaze on her opponent. A beautiful blonde woman smiled back at her mockingly, and an unearthly roar broke the silence between them.
“Looks like my pets are finishing off your friends already,” the woman said. “It won’t be long until all the screaming stops, and the bloody mess is cleaned up.”
“Who the hell are you?” Kyra hissed, ignoring the woman’s taunting.
“Oh dear, you’re not very lady like are you?” The woman put a hand over her mouth and gasped innocently. “If I didn’t know any better I might’ve mistaken you for a foul mouthed man.”
“Drop the act and tell me who you are!” Kyra snarled like a ferocious lioness, but the witch looked at Kyra as if she was a small kitten that she wanted to kick.
“Impatient aren’t we, Special Forces captain Kyra?” The woman purred, and Kyra’s eyes widened in surprise. “Oh yes, I know who you are. I know all about your many accomplishments and battles you have under your belt. Are you not the ‘first woman to ever become a captain of Moraj’s army’? Or the ‘youngest to ever defeat a general in hand to hand combat’ and ‘a survivor of a Convergence’ all at only the age of ten? It’s shocking I know so much about you, when you don’t even know my name. It is a pleasure to meet you. My name is Matilda Desule, also known as the Black Witch, due to my many talents with black magic and its many creatures. However, I think you know of my master. Does the name ‘Velkire’ mean anything to you?”
Before Kyra could answer, there was a deafening crash, sending splintered wood everywhere as a massive arm crushed the wall behind Matilda. A furry clawed hand nearly the size of the bed sank to Matilda’s feet, laying open as if waiting for instructions. The witch stepped on to it casually and let it carry her back out into the hallway. A large beast jumped through a hole in the ceiling holding Matilda in one hand, and a small figure in the other. Kyra dashed after it, but stopped short as she began to see stains of blood on the floor.
Gasping for breath face down on the ground was Gidian. Kyra rushed to his side, forgetting about the beast and the witch entirely.
“Gidian, can you hear me?” she asked urgently. Gidian turned his head slightly and looked at her with his panicked eyes.
“Kyra, it took one of them,” he wheezed painfully. “It took one of the others. You must save them!”
“Gidian, you’re losing so much blood, I can’t just leave you.” Kyra’s heart started pounding. It was an impossible choice, deciding between friends.
“I’ll be fine, but you must stop her,” he said. “If we don’t she could kill us.”
“Kyra!” Kyra whipped her head around and found Vaze rushing through the giant hole followed by Al and Yuki. “That thing took Siren!”
“What? How?” Out of all her companions, Siren was by far the most capable and experienced, therefore would be least likely to be the hostage in any kind of situation.
“That thing was about to grab me, but she pushed me out of the way and it got her instead,” Yuki growled angrily. Yuki seemed enraged enough to single handedly slaughter an army, but looks were not everything. Kyra knew what she had to do.
“Al, stay here and heal Gidian,” Kyra ordered. “Vaze, Yuki and I are going to take on that thing and save Siren.”
“Wait, I can help!” Al protested quickly, but Kyra sighed, making him stop abruptly.
“You will be helping by healing Gidian, Al,” Kyra said. That might have made him feel important, but he couldn’t help but feel like a child. “You are the only one who can heal him, and it’s too dangerous for you to go up against that thing.” Al clenched his fists and bit his lip in frustration.
“But I can help!” Al pushed. Vaze put a hand on his shoulder and looked him dead in the eye.
“Al,” Vaze said. “You’ve already done so much. You don’t have to fight any more. We can handle it, but we need you here to heal Gidian.”
Al opened his mouth to protest more, but Kyra had already dashed out of the hole and barked orders for Vaze and Yuki to follow. Yuki flashed from a girl to her massive Blood Wolf form and darted after her. Vaze’s wings ripped out from his back and with one mighty swoop he shot through the hole in the ceiling, disappearing into the night sky. Al groaned in defeat as he kneeled down to his master, trying to remember the spells for healing. No matter how jealous he felt, the gasps of his master finally reached his ears, and Al frantically begun his prayers.
Wind whipped through his hair as Vaze shot through the sky, sending strands flying everywhere. Vaze closed his eyes and snuck a smile to himself. Out of all the things he loved doing flying was what he loved most. It was a rush to have nothing between your body and miles of empty space, along with the feeling of speeding through the air. Vaze batted his wings again, arching up to face the moon. Seeing it from the ground was nice, but seeing it high up in the sky was exhilarating. Vaze took in a deep breath of the crisp cold air, and shut his eyes. His wings folded close to his back as he straightened up, letting himself tilt back in the air, slowing allowing gravity take its course. A mighty roar came from below, and he knew it was time to rejoin the others.
Inside her mind, Yuki was cursing herself for having heightened senses while a wolf. She could smell the beast so strongly
it made her eyes water from its foul-ness. The overwhelming scent of death only grew stronger as Yuki leapt through the gaping hole in the ceiling.
The beast was enormous, making Yuki seem like nothing more than a lap dog in comparison. Its shaggy body looked like that of a man, but it had the head of an ox with twisted horns. Its beefy arms and legs were roughly the same length and equally lethal. In one of its massive hands was Siren, who looked like she was hardly clinging on to life—let alone breathing. A woman sat on its shoulder casually, smiling smugly as she spotted Yuki.
A deep growl erupted from Yuki’s chest as she bared her teeth. It turned its head towards her with a grunt, staring at her with mocking hatred, and the woman laughed at her.
“How cute!” the woman mocked. “A Blood Wolf pup thinks she is any match for my pet!”
“You won’t think it’s so cute when your ‘pet’ is a pile of blood and guts,” Yuki growled. The woman leapt off of the beast’s shoulder giggling and landed lightly on the ground.
“Let’s just see about that, mutt,” the woman said as her beast shook its grubby mane and snorted at Yuki, scraping at the ground with one foot, preparing to charge. Yuki lowered herself and reared her ears back growling.
The beast threw back its head back, letting out a blood curdling battle cry that rang through the night. It hurtled itself at Yuki with amazing speed, shaking the ground beneath it with every step. Going against her animal instincts, Yuki lunged at the beast to meet it head on, fangs and claws flashing in the moon light.
Matilda smiled when she heard Yuki’s snarls as the two collided. Yuki had locked her jaw on the beast’s shoulder and had begun to claw at the beast’s thickly layered chest. The foul taste of blood tinged her mouth, making Yuki want to vomit, but she locked her jaw on tighter. The beast cried out and grabbed Yuki’s neck, ripping her off and sending her flying. The poor Blood Wolf yelped in pain as she crashed against the hard ground. The beast leapt down after her, making the ground shutter as it landed and creating a crater on impact.
Kyra’s heart yearned to help Yuki as she stalked through the shadows, but she knew the beast was not the biggest threat. The witch Matilda still hadn’t noticed as Kyra moved closer. Even if Yuki could defeat the beast, they would not stand a chance against the witch directly.
Before Yuki could scramble away, the beast was upon her, holding her down with one massive foot. It pushed down on her rib cage, and Yuki howled in agonizing pain as the beast slowly put more and more pressure on her strained bones. Deep grunts that resembled laughter erupted from the beast’s chest as a sadistic shine appeared in its eyes. Black blotches began to dot her vision as Yuki’s wolf cries became more human, and her shape of a Blood Wolf began to shrink back to her human body. Yuki fought desperately to keep her body in wolf form, but slowly she was losing control. As the pain increased, she knew her human body would not be able to endure the pressure, and would snap like a twig.
A sharp cry of pain ululated from the beast, and all together the pressure on her rib cage dissipated as the beast tottered back grasping its shoulder, leaving only an ache as Yuki’s wolf form grew back into place. The beast swat at the air around it as a black blotch zipped all around it, so fast that not even Yuki’s sharp eyes could identify it. With one quick swat of its hand, the beast made contact with the blotch, sending it flying back. Without hesitation, Yuki caught it, and heard the swearing flowing from his mouth as he rubbed his rib cage.
“Nice catch, Yuki,” Vaze said while hoping out of Yuki’s long wolfish arms. His rib cage stung, but he ignored it. The glint of his dagger met his eye from the beast’s shoulder where he had stabbed it in. The beast tried desperately to grasp and pull it out, but its massive hands could not grab the nimble handle of the blade. Its efforts only shoved it in deeper. The beast thrashed around wildly, and dropped Siren close to its feet.
“Yuki, get her now!” Vaze barked as he swept into the air and hurtled himself towards the beast. Yuki bolted towards Siren, dodging the beast’s flailing arms. Trying not to hurt her, Yuki bit the collar of Siren’s shirt and rushed the small Guardian away from danger. Yuki laid Siren against the wall of the house, once again human.
“Siren, can you hear me?” Yuki shook her gently. Slowly, Siren’s eyes cracked open. Yuki let out a sigh of relief as she began to morph back into a Blood Wolf to rejoin the fight. A small hand grabbed her arm, and Yuki turned back to Siren. The little Guardian looked as if she was hardly able to stay conscious.
“Yuki,” she whispered weakly. “Don’t go. You’ll die if you do.” Yuki grinned wolfishly and chuckled in her deep raspy voice.
“I won’t die, don’t worry,” Yuki replied, but Siren did not release her grasp.
“No, you don’t understand,” Siren wheezed. “You can’t kill it. It’s not flesh and blood, even if it seems like it. No matter how much injure or vanquish it, it will not die.” Yuki shook off Siren’s arm and turned away from her.
“Everything has to die eventually, and we’ll last longer than it will,” Yuki said hiding doubt in her mind.
“Yuki, no!” But Yuki had already rejoined the fight. Siren tried to cry out to them, but her voice left her as black dots began to blotch her vision again.
From inside the house, Al could hear the battle clearly. Anxiety and worry were eating him alive as he tended to his master’s wounds. Al’s hands glowed with a greenish twinge as he pressed them against Gidian’s wounds, the flow of blood already starting to subside. Finally, Al could feel the skin close over his master’s wounds, and he withdrew his hands, releasing the spell. His master would still be weak, but all the internal damage was healed.
Al rubbed the blood off his hands, quietly tip toeing to the door past his unconscious master. His fingers hardly touched the knob when he felt a hand grab his ankle and made him yelp like a frightened puppy. His eyes shot to his master.
“Al, don’t go, you’re not strong enough yet,” Gidian’s tone was firm, but Al knew his master was still weak.
“Liga!” With a quick flash, ropes grew from the floor and bound Gidian. If Gidian hadn’t been drained from the shock of healing magic, there would have been no way he would have been bound so easily.
“Al, don’t go!” Gidian struggled against the ropes, but they were too strong for him. Al shot a small look of apology back to his master before he bolted out the door, leaving Gidian screaming after him.
The faint shouts of his master followed after him as Al darted through the hallway and down the stairs of the inn, towards the front door. He could already hear howls of rage and shrieks of pain, but they all sounded unworldly to him. Hurriedly, Al threw open the door of the inn and burst out into the night, and was hit with the ear piercing cries of the beast.
Hidden in the shadow of a large tree, Matilda spotted Al and cursed. That boy could ruin her entire plan if left unchecked. Her eyes darted to the shadows beneath her, and two long jet black snakes slithered into existence. The witch smiled to herself as her new born pets spotted Al and darted towards him, tracing the ground like ink on paper. Almost close enough to strike the witch, Kyra saw Al and realized the witch’s plan.
“Al! Look out!” The words escaped her lips before she could restrain herself, and she regretted it the second they came out. They echoed through the night, causing both Al and the witch to turn and become aware of her presence. Kyra’s eyes met Matilda’s, and time seemed to stand still for a moment as the witch’s look of confusion mingled with Kyra’s anxious one. Then before Kyra could even curse, the witch’s expression flashed to rage, her eyes turning blood red. The witch lashed out at Kyra with her claws, but Kyra jumped back, causing her deadly nails to miss by a fraction of an inch. Matilda roared in frustration, and thrust her other arm out at Kyra, grasping at the air.
Although the witch’s hand was nowhere near her throat, Kyra felt massive pressure around her neck, cutting off her air and lifting her off the ground. The pressure increased, forcing her chin up. Out of desperation, Kyra c
lawed the air around her throat, and struggled in horror as a massive hand draped in shadow appeared. Its demonic fingers laced around her thin neck, slowly crushing the life out of her. Matilda smiled at her sadistically as Kyra thrashed her legs out at nothing and pried against the hand in vain. Through wincing panicked eyes, she saw Al calling out to her as the demonic snakes came upon him. The first, a black boa, darted at him, and before Al could defend himself, it wrapped itself around his body, crushing him with its powerful constriction. It only held him in place as its partner slithered hungrily towards him.
The second snake, a black cobra, reared up two feet away from the struggling Al. Its head drifted from side to side as its hungry eyes focused on Al’s neck. Its forked tongue darted in and out of its mouth, as if it was sizing up Al as its next tasty meal. Al gazed into the snake’s orange slit eyes and was filled with fear and terror. Sweat ran down his brow and his heart threatened to pound right out of his chest as what seemed like imminent death was preparing itself to take a bite out of him.
Then, something inside Al snapped. Instead of fear acting as a paralyzer, it was suddenly a motivation. Using all of his strength, Al thrashed against the grip of the boa, ignoring the pain as it squeezed tighter.
Yuki could hear her comrade’s distresses behind her, which encouraged her to fight even harder. Vaze was still flying around slashing the beast as it tried desperately to knock him out of the air again. Yuki watched patiently as the beast occupied itself with Vaze, until she saw it stumble. In that split second, Yuki saw her chance, and seized it. Faster than the eye could track, Yuki lunged at the beast, and thrust her claws into the beast’s chest, piercing through its heart. She dug further to sever its spine.
Yuki growled in victory as her eyes met the eyes of the beast. Yuki didn’t know what to expect when she finally gazed into the blood red pools of the beast’s eyes, but what she saw was certainly something she did not anticipate. Instead of pain, anger, or even the slightest hint of shock, the beast’s eyes were amused. A deep rumble of chuckling emerged from the beast’s chest, causing vibrations to run throughout Yuki’s body. Before Yuki could escape, the beast grabbed her around the neck and ripped her arm out of its chest, ignoring its gushing blood as if it were nothing more than a paper cut.
Playing With Fire Page 26