“Come on!” he barked out.
We quickly rushed after him without another word, the loud noises outside growing louder. We met up with Kaylee’s dad in the hallway, seeing that he was actively loading a rifle with bullets in the top chamber.
Mr. Burrows immediately spoke up again. “Here. Take your daughter,” he demanded. “I’m a better shot.”
Mather didn’t even hesitate, handing his gun to Kain briefly in order to grab Kaylee. The head of the Guard then roughly grabbed the rifle from Kain, before ordering everyone out of the house. Elaine was by the door, ready to exit with the rest of us.
As we all rushed down the stone stairs into the street full of screaming people, I finally looked down the road to see another building collapse, dust and debris filling the air. The intense rumbling was powerful enough to crack the stone stairs underneath us, causing me to slam into the railing for support.
It broke against my weight.
Suddenly, I was hanging over the edge of the small drop into the street below, being held in place by Kain’s rough grasp on my wrist. Mr. Burrows reached out from behind him as well, both of them pulling me back onto the stairs. Kain then grabbed my shoulders to make sure I stayed on my feet the rest of the way down.
I turned my head automatically again when I heard another collapse, causing Kain to bump into me when I unexpectedly stopped, having caught a glimpse of what lie hidden within the dust. He didn’t try to force me forward though, having seen it too.
Both of us stood there in shock, frozen in fear.
“Go!” Mr. Burrows shouted from behind us, turning on his heels to point his barrel at the thing sticking partially out of the cloud of debris. He fired his gun, aiming high above the heads of the townsfolk running in a panic down the street – aiming as high as the second story of the buildings it hadn’t leveled yet.
But the bullet did nothing, except get the monster’s attention.
It took a step out of the dust, and then another, revealing what looked like some horrid mixture of a sickly wolf combined with something massive, like a dragon. Its head was the size of a horse – larger even – and its body was covered in patches of black fur with most of its body being hairless, revealing leathery midnight skin.
It almost appeared as if it had mange, especially since its head looked so much like a wolf, with brilliant slitted yellow eyes actively glowing brightly.
Except that it was larger than a building – as large as what I imagined a full-grown dragon was.
As the beast advanced another few steps, growling with spittle flying out of its mouth, it revealed massive wings that were also covered in patches of fur, even on sections of the membranes.
It was a monster from the worst of nightmares.
A massive dragon-like tail whipped around behind it, smashing into one of the buildings and leveling it within a matter of seconds. Instantly, the behemoth was hidden again in a plume of dust.
Mr. Burrows snapped us out of our shock, pushing on Kain to move us forward.
We both took off into a run, now being among the stragglers. Everyone else in the street had fled either down the road, or down an alleyway to escape the area. Elaine and Mather had both paused too, with Elaine actively picking up a small boy who belonged to a young woman with a crying baby in her arms. The three of us quickly caught up to them, and made our way to the end of the street where there was a backup of people. It looked like a cart had overturned, with everyone climbing around it while attempting to avoid getting kicked by a horse frantically trying to upright itself in a panic.
The woman with the baby tripped, landing squarely on her wrist as she tried to catch herself from falling on the infant in her arms. We could all hear the audible snap of something breaking, all of us cringing when she cried out in pain.
Mr. Burrows shoved us forward as he attempted to lend her a hand, roughly getting her to her feet. The ground was trembling again, prompting me to look back with wide eyes, seeing the behemoth running down the street with bared fangs. The fine hairs stood up on the back of my neck as I considered its size to my own – I was like a small bird compared to a lion, literally being able to fit in its mouth with ease.
It could swallow me whole without any effort.
As it barreled towards us, unhindered despite the sides of its body smashing against the buildings, I realized there was no hope that any of us were going to survive.
Not unless I did something.
I grimaced, trying not to consider what this would mean. Trying not to think about the implications.
Instantly, I bolted past Mr. Burrows and was standing ten feet in front of him and the woman, a baby shrieking behind me as I held up my gray palm to attack with magic.
But nothing happened.
Dread crept into my chest as I focused on its savage yellow eyes, glowing brightly again after having momentarily looked normal – the same kind of glow I saw in Jasmyn’s eyes when she was suppressing my magic.
Terror gripping my heart, I did the only other thing that I could, knowing I probably wasn’t going to survive this.
I ground my feet and prepared for impact.
It came sooner than I was expecting.
The monster shoved its snout down towards me, my clawed hands barely managing to grasp ahold of its upper and lower jaws as it buried my feet into the cracking stones, forcing me backwards. A gunshot fired from behind me, hitting the monster above its eye like a pebble hitting a grown man. The pitch-black scaly skin underneath the fur was as tough as the thickest of hides, and it looked to be strong enough for bullets to only lodge themselves in a couple inches at most – barely a flesh wound to this behemoth, being no worse than a bee sting.
The creature began trying to shake its head back and forth, but I found myself barely managing to hold it in place as more gunshots fired around me.
“Don’t hit the girl!” someone yelled from the trapped crowd.
I thought it might be Mr. Burrows, but I couldn’t focus on who it was, instead feeling panicked as I stared into a mouth full of dagger-like teeth. Its breath was ghastly, thick drool oozing out over its fleshy gums. With all my effort, I arced my body to the side, shoving its head towards the ground.
The entire massive body surprisingly went with it, and the behemoth was unexpectedly on its side, destroying two buildings at once as it kicked its legs trying to right itself again.
Two men were at my side then, both of them firing point-blank at the monster, aiming for the eyes. I realized they were both on-duty guards who had come to help. They both pulled away when their ammunition ran out, replaced by two others – one being Mr. Burrows – while the prior two reloaded.
The monster got its legs underneath it again as I continued to struggle to keep its head down. The fact that my feet were buried in the street, combined with the fact that the monster hadn’t tried pulling me straight up yet, was the only reason why I had the grounding necessary to manage it.
However, it was smarter than I assumed, and suddenly I was thrust in the air as it craned its neck straight up. Even despite having my claws dug into its flesh, I slipped free as it abruptly thrust its head back down, sending me flying over the crowd. I slammed into the ground, tumbling backwards head-over-heels before twisting uncontrollably into a roll on my side.
I finally stopped when I smashed into a low stone wall circling a fountain in the middle of an intersection.
As I tried to get back on my feet before it ate them all, I coughed up blood into my clawed hand. I wiped the mess on my shirt as I began running again, feeling like everything around me began to slow down. The massive abomination had its head craned high in the sky now, a howl reverberating through the air at a much lower pitch than I would have anticipated.
Everyone seemed frozen as I leapt into the air over the crowd, some of them staring in shock at where I had landed, while others were still looking at the monster – however, none of them reacted as I quickly changed positions to one high above them.
Mr. Burrows, and the guard with him, had all fallen back against the crowd, leaving me plenty of space to land in front of the group again. However, just before my feet connected with the street, the monster’s massive jaws came down on me, smashing me onto my back against the cobblestone.
Unexpectedly, I couldn’t catch my breath as the wind was knocked out of my chest, my claws barely managing to grasp its jaws before it got its massive teeth around my body. It began lunging its snout at me, thrusting its teeth closer and closer with every shove, forcing my arms outward.
My head began to pound as I desperately tried to use my magic – any magic. A moment ago, when I was on the other side of the crowd, I felt like I had been able to use some to propel myself forward, yet now I felt trapped and suffocated again within my own body.
If only I could get away a second time, and try attacking from a distance – if only I had thought of that sooner – and yet I couldn’t get out of its ever-advancing jaws pressing me into the ground with enough force to crack the stones underneath my back.
My arms were forced out to the sides even more as I tried to keep it from swallowing me whole, suddenly finding myself staring into its ghastly throat. I could see nothing else now, except death.
I opened my own mouth, screaming as I pushed through the splitting pain in my skull, attempting to force out whatever would come. Attempting to push through the suppression magic being used on me.
My throat exploded with flames.
Hellish flames.
Chapter 12: Retaliation
My entire vision was instantly clouded with a black and purple torrent, as a jet of hell-fire erupted out of my throat. It felt like my head split open repeatedly as I continued to force out as much magic as possible through the tight seal on my body produced by this behemoth’s ability.
The struggle changed dramatically as my fire poured down its throat, eating away at whatever I wanted to destroy.
I was suddenly thrust high into the air again, but I managed to hold on while my hellish blaze began erupting out of its sides, rolling over the buildings in the area with no effect. Like a purple fiery ghost wisping on through.
I reached my limit at the same time as the monster reached the climax of raising its head up.
There was a brief pause before its snout plummeted towards the street again, dragging me along with it. I smashed into the ground, the air forced out of my lungs as my body rebounded back into the air again before slamming into the street a second time.
Suddenly, I couldn’t move. I couldn’t breathe. I couldn’t see.
My entire existence became the agony in my head, threatening to destroy my mind. It felt like nothing happened for an eternity of suffering, before I became aware of a nasty stench filling my nostrils – the smell of burning fur and flesh.
I was then vaguely aware of someone dragging me along the ground, before I noticed a warm hand underneath my neck easing away some of the throbbing. I opened my eyes with a grimace, seeing Kain’s tearful emerald irises staring down at me from only a foot away. He was knelt beside me, his hand supporting the base of my head.
I briefly realized that if my brain wasn’t hurting so badly then I might have been annoyed to see him crying again. I knew he probably had to call upon a strong emotion to use his magic, but that was going to have to change, or else I was going to find myself really irritated at him turning out to be a crybaby all the time…
Not that I planned on spending a lot of time with him anyway…
Another shadow loomed over me then, and I focused my gaze on Mr. Burrow’s hard expression. Even from this distance, I could see my own tiny reflection in his dark brown eyes – my own slitted red eyes staring back at me, set within a dark gray face distorted in an agonizing grimace.
My ears were ringing, so I had assumed that the absolute silence surrounding me was due to that. But then unexpectedly someone cried out in a shaky voice.
“Devil!”
Mr. Burrows turned on his heels, his gun raised slightly. “She just saved all of our lives!” he roared in a voice that demanded authority and respect. “This…” He paused as if struggling to find the right word, gesturing wildly behind him. “Monster would have killed all of us!”
There was a lot of whispering then, but no one dared to speak up a second time. I heard Mr. Burrows tell a couple of his guards to not let anyone come closer, while he told a third one to go find my father.
Dad.
Where was my daddy? I really needed him right now, more than ever. I felt my eyes begin to sting as I thought of my mom too, wishing she were here as well.
Unexpectedly, Kain leaned forward, pressing his forehead against mine and staring into my red eyes. I didn’t like the sudden proximity, but I got over it really fast when I felt the pain and tension begin to truly release inside my head.
I sucked in a ragged breath, realizing it was the first gasp for air I had taken since I had forced my magic out. I hadn’t been breathing at all before. No wonder he was crying – he probably thought I was dead.
The trickle of warmth coming from Kain’s forehead continued to slowly seep down my body like warm water, relaxing my sore muscles. The sensation was nothing like when I had synced my magic with Jasmyn – this was more like the effect of his magic, like a spell spreading throughout my core instead of the raw energy itself. It was comforting and didn’t feel overly invasive at all.
I held up my clawed hand then, trying to look at my trembling fingers past Kain’s head as I attempted to return my body to normal.
But nothing happened. My nerves still felt on-edge, and I couldn’t seem to pull the magic swirling around inside of me back into the channels where it belonged. I couldn’t calm down enough to shift back into my human form.
Once Kain was finished, he finally pulled away, but kept his face closer than I would have preferred. I stared past him up at the sky, as the weight of the situation began to fall on me.
We were probably going to have to leave town now, no longer being able to hide what I was. I didn’t mind the idea of leaving behind most of my classmates, but I wasn’t sure I was ready to consider the idea of never seeing Kaylee again – a realization that surprised me. Granted, would she even accept me now that she knew?
I gasped, remembering her for the first time since we had left the house. I tilted my head back, looking at the world upside down as I tried to find her in the crowd. Much to my surprise, rather than everyone fleeing the scene, more people had gathered – a few of them holding tools like they were ready to use them as weapons. Shovels, a pitchfork, and one even had a sword. No guns though, not other than the ones the guards had.
I finally caught sight of Kaylee on the side of the street, her mother and father with their arms wrapped around her. They were all looking at me with wide eyes, Kaylee included. She flinched when I made eye-contact, prompting me to lower my chin to stare up at the sky again.
So much for saving that friendship.
Maybe if she had found out under different circumstances…
I noticed in the corner of my eye that Kain had sat up straighter, looking towards the monster I had barely managed to kill.
Unexpectedly, he bolted to his feet and tapped the guard next to him on the shoulder to get his attention. I stared at both of them for a moment, before I slowly sat up too. I realized immediately that Kain hadn’t really healed me, sensing that my body was repairing the internal damage by itself. Maybe that’s why I couldn’t transform back?
Instead, he seemed to have dispelled some of the suppression magic that was lingering on me. Or rather, he just eliminated the recoil of me forcing my magic through, despite the seal.
The suppression was still there though – only the headache was significantly more manageable. I wasn’t sure how it was possible to still have the monster’s seal on me, unless…
I gasped as I focused on the behemoth’s wolf-like face, seeing a small sliver of its eye cra
cked open, the gold iris underneath glowing slightly.
It was still alive….
But Kain hadn’t noticed that.
Rather, he was staring at the man with dark bluish hair that was climbing over one of the creature’s massive legs. The stranger landed on his feet and then began scanning the group with a smirk on his face. It only took him a second to pick out the unique person in the crowd, his eyes settling on me.
His grin grew even wider as he sauntered towards us, walking on by the monster’s head as if it wasn’t a threat to him at all.
“Stop right there!” Mr. Burrows barked out from behind me.
The man with dark bluish hair held up his hands innocently, continuing to approach slowly. “Relax, relax,” he said in a soothing voice. “The girl saved my life. I just wanted to say thanks.”
My eyes narrowed, unsure of what the man was referring to. Was he talking about the monster just now?
Needless to say, the guy’s calming tone caused the guard next to me to lower his gun. The man then stopped about six feet away and knelt down to be on my level, eyeing me strangely – almost as if he were in awe of my demon form.
“Wow,” he finally exclaimed after a moment. “Truly, you are one of a kind. Very pretty too. What a catch.”
“W-What?” I stammered in disbelief. I couldn’t understand what he was implying. Just that I was pretty? Or something more? The man was easily twice my age, not that I would have felt any more comfortable with the way he was looking me over if he were younger.
“I said,” he replied with a wide grin. “What a catch! You sure did a lot of damage to my chimera, but it was worth it.”
Unexpectedly, before I could even respond, the man’s face split right down the middle with a sickening crack.
I gasped in horror as the split continued down his neck, his face folding apart, followed by his chest.
His tan shirt tore as his ribcage opened right up, revealing no signs of a heart or lungs within. At the same time, his body began growing, shredding his shirt even more. Suddenly, it was like his entire body was just one massive mouth full of dagger-like teeth – a mouth big enough to swallow me whole.
Magicbound to a Snake Girl Page 15