My eyes quickly caught other small details through the darkness. Spilled barrels, claw marks— the signs of a fight, or struggle. The blood showed signs of someone else being dragged along the floor. There’d been two people here, both attacked at the same time.
I heard sucking noises. Something was feeding on the corpse. The dead eyes of a Marked stared out at me as I approached. As I drew closer, my sight illuminated green scales.
The monster was long and thin, reptilian, with four legs and a long, snake-like neck that ended in a pointed head with venomous jaws. It wasn’t much bigger than a large dog, but that didn’t make it any less dangerous. Its vicious red eyes caught me as I approached, and it hissed, lashing a whip-like tail.
Momentary shock went through me. Abeithir? What was it doing here?
Thebeithirwent to run. I chased after it. The creature scattered between barrels of wine, and I slipped on the blood trying to catch up. It spit venom at me, which I quickly dodged. Sizzling green liquid landed on the floor next to me and ate up the concrete. I got within reaching distance and extended my arm for the tail, but it lashed me in the face and left a small mark. My hand instinctively went up to my face. Before I could do anything else, the creature left through the door I’d come out of and hurried away into the night.
I groaned. Who knew where the monster had went?
Something wasn’t right here.Beithirweren’t native to Malovia. They could hardly be classified as monsters, and didn’t come from the underworld. They originated in Scotland. They were more of a magical creature than anything else. Dangerous, yes, but not specifically out to harm human beings in service of Droga.
Yet thisbeithirhad. He’d killed two people before getting away the last time. Yet there was no easy entrance for the creature, as far as I could see. I’d had a hard enough time finding a way inside, and it couldn’t come in or out through the wards that defended the warehouses.
The evidence was clear. The monster couldn’t have gotten in unless someone had let it.
I examined the body. There was a large, gaping hole in her middle— thebeithirhad shot his venom at her, and it’d ate away at her body. Claw marks, like those from a griffin, were deeply embedded in the floor— I even found a missing talon that had been ripped off, and a few feathers the griffin had lost while trying to get away. Next to them were bloody footprints that looked human, and a few scraps of frayed black cloth.
Her Companion had been taken by force. It was the only thing I could conclude from the situation.
I searched the warehouses extensively, but I didn’t see any other sign of thebeithir,or clues as to where the captured Companion had been taken.I’d scared the reptile into hiding. I found pieces of where the monster had been— a nest, even, made of old, oily rags— but nothing else. I destroyed the nest before a thought came to me.
Someone had let the monster loose inside the warehouses in order for it to hunt down and wound fellow Arcanea. If thebeithirdidn’t kill it, they’d kidnap whoever was left alive, now that their monster had made the job easier. What they did with them, I didn’t know.
This went way deeper than a few monster slayings. If I truly wanted to figure out what was going on, I’d have to leave the monster alive, and come back tomorrow to see who was following it around.
Puzzled, I went back the way I came through the sewers and resumed my walk to campus. I wouldn’t figure this out tonight.
I took the rooftops on the way back home. Less conspicuous. I was nearly back to Arcanea University when I heard screams— they were coming from a female.
Instinctively, I knew they were coming from Emma before my brain registered the fact. I increased my strides along the rooftops to get to her. What was she doing out so late at night? Didn’t she know these streets held danger?
I came to a stop on the edge of a rooftop that hovered over an alleyway below. There, Emma had her back pressed against a dead end, while two hooded figures approached her. They wore cloaks of all black, with grotesque masks of skulls painted in red blood covering their faces. They advanced slowly on her, saying nothing, appearing as horrid ghosts from hell about to take the life of a frightened mortal.
“Don’t come any closer, or I’ll fry your ass! I’ve done it before!” Emma shouted. Her voice was tight with fear. She raised her hand and attempted to make light come out of her palms, but it was weak, and her magic failed her. Her power got dimmer and dimmer with every steady step the strangers used to approach, arms extending to grab her. Her whole form quivered as they continued their slow advancement, remaining silent and stoic.
Rage blinded me and made adrenaline pound through my system. They had the nerve to threaten my mate? Howdarethey!
I fell from the rooftops and landed in front of Emma. She gasped— the figures stopped their advancement toward her as they stared upward at my form.
“I suggest you walk away,” I said lowly. “Or the consequences for remaining here will be your lives.”
The masked figures didn’t listen. They lunged forward, one of them exploding into a grey alicorn to deal with me, the other reaching out toward Emma.
I reacted in mere seconds. I grabbed my dagger and shoved my shoulder into the charging alicorn, knocking it over. Then I whirled around and grabbed the one who was trying to hurt Emma. I shoved the dagger into its stomach— a fatal blow. I heard the person gasp. The alicorn on the ground— who I assumed had to be her Companion— let out a high pitched scream.
I shoved the masked figure backward, ripping out the dagger. She clutched at her stomach, attempting to hold in her innards. The alicorn scrambled to get up and used his neck to lift his Marked onto his back. Hoof steps clattered into the night as the shadowed figures fled, the one I’d stabbed leaving a blood trail behind.
Normally, I’d follow to finish the job, but I wouldn’t leave Emma’s side. You’d have to take my other leg before I’d leave my mate alone after what had just happened.
I turned around, and my cloak swooped behind me. Emma was still shaking. I longed to put my arms around her and hold her, calm her down— but she’d already been terrified enough by masked men tonight. “Are you all right?”
She gaped at me. I think she was speechless, or going into shock. Her expression was frightened. She didn’t know who I was.
“It’s fine,” I said gently. “I’m not going to harm you. Now I ask again— are you hurt?”
She finally found her voice. “I… I don’t think so.” She pried herself slowly off the wall. “Who were those people?”
