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"Oh, delightful. You want me to become a giant paperweight. All right," he said. "Stand back. I'll try not to hurt anybody, but no promises."
As we fell back, the sounds of our enemies grew louder. Before they could make it through the door, a haze of glittering mist rose around Smoky. I covered my eyes and backed away, Chase by my side. The sound of breaking rock echoed in the room, then more crashes, and when I finally peeked, there was Smoky in all of his dragonly glory. And just in time. Three men popped through the door, but they took one look at the dragon and screamed, retreating as quickly as they'd come.
I was about to let out a sigh of relief when another movement caught my eye, this time from behind. Whirling around, I was just in time to see Tyler-turned-Kyoka enter the room from the cave where we'd left Rhonda's body, with the Jansshi demon right behind him. We were in for it now.
* * *
CHAPTER 19
Kyoka's eyes were glowing like a rabid dog caught in headlights. He glanced up at Smoky, then back at the Jansshi demon. "He can't hurt us without hurting his friends."
The Jansshi demon nodded. Tall and spindly, he had a bloated stomach and looked like a caricature of a human, with greenish skin and long claws that dripped with what I could only assume was venom. When he opened his mouth, I could see the gleam of his sharp, serrated teeth. He moved with a lurching gait, his knees bent. No wonder the werespiders liked him—he was one of their homeboys.
I caught my breath. The Jansshi actually worried me less than Kyoka. A thousand years hanging out in the Sub Realms must have given him a whole new perspective on how to make life miserable. His powers had probably grown during that time, and he hadn't been keeping the best of company. No doubt Lianel had given him a number of pointers.
Camille, Trillian, and Morio were closest to the Jansshi, and they formed a semicircle, waiting for it to make a move, while Chase, Menolly, and I reluctantly faced Kyoka. Smoky kept watch on the entrance to the hall. There were a lot of spiderlings out there, but they knew what a dragon could do to them, and they kept out of his reach, which meant that he kept us out of their reach.
In every battle comes that one moment of quiet calm. It only lasts a fraction of a second as force assesses force, estimations are made. Then the flag falls, and the journey into hell begins. And so we stood poised on the brink, waiting for that indecipherable moment when the muse whispers, "Go."
Kyoka raised his arms and, as if waking from a long dream, I lunged forward, sword out. To my left, Chase whipped out his gun and fired, but it was useless. Kyoka inhabited the body of a man already dead. There was no heartbeat to stop. When he saw that nothing happened, Chase went for his nunchakus.
To my right, Menolly sprang into action. Kyoka spun toward her and muttered something. She froze in midstep, paralyzed as if she were porcelain. Cripes, he knew spells that worked on the undead! I lashed out with my blade, catching him across the upper arm, but he just laughed and spun into a dropkick, landing a blow in my stomach that propelled me back a good three yards. I landed hard, scrambling to my feet just in time to see Chase move in.
Camille and Morio were conjuring some force together, their hands joined as they focused on the Jansshi. The demon was trying to engage Trillian, but he danced back, pulling out some shooting stars and firing them quickly. One of them caught the beast in the forehead. The Jansshi let out a loud yowl and yanked the star out of its brow, tossing it on the ground. Camille and Morio took that moment to fire off whatever it was they were conjuring, and a shower of sparks flew from their hands, daggers of light aimed directly at the Jansshi. It screamed, rubbing its eyes as it stumbled around.
"It's blind!" Morio shouted. Trillian whipped out his blade, dashed in, and gutted the creature, ripping it from stomach to throat. A grotesque pile of intestines flopped out as the demon flailed and toppled over backward.
Back on our side of the battle, Chase had moved in on Kyoka, expertly whirling his nunchakus. If we hadn't been in the middle of a life-or-death fight, I would have stopped to watch.
Kyoka frowned and raised his hands. He was getting ready to try another spell. I grabbed a rock and lobbed it at him, hitting him square in the shoulder. That was all it took to break his concentration, and startled, he jerked around. Whatever he'd been planning on doing went out the window, because Chase seized the opportunity and let fly with a blow that hit him in the head.
The shaman lurched backward, but then a noise caught our attention, and we all turned toward the dais where Smoky sat. The egg that rested behind him began to crack, and before we could stop him, Kyoka raced toward it and jumped, landing next to it as it broke open in a cloud of dust and smoke. With a loud screech, he slowly fell to the ground, his body decaying before our eyes like time-elapsed footage on some forensics show.
What the hell? Was he dead? It couldn't be that easy, could it?
And then, as the dust cleared, a creature stepped out of the remains of the stone egg. A nightmare straight out of my dream. With the torso of a man and the body of a spider, he was gloriously terrifying. Hair as black as night drifted down his shoulders, and his eyes glittered, but the rest of his body was bloated and huge, with jointed legs that ended in sharpened points. His laughter reverberated off the ceiling, and a crazed light filled his eyes. Kyoka had truly returned in all his former glory. And more.
"Shit, they grew a new body for him!" I stumbled back, terrified and yet knowing that we couldn't stop yet.
Smoky let out a roar as the mad shaman looked at him and said something I couldn't catch. Within seconds, Smoky shifted back into human form and collapsed. Shit! Kyoka had the power to dispel a dragon?
"Toto, I don't think we're in Kansas anymore," Chase muttered. I glanced back at Menolly, who had managed to come out from under the statue spell. She took one look at Kyoka and backed away. We quickly joined her.
Camille whispered something to Morio, who shook his head. "It's our only chance," she said. "Just do it. We have no choice."
They clasped hands again and began the chant Camille had been using against Lianel. "Mordentant, mordentant, mordentant, mordentant…"
Trillian and Menolly stepped in front of them in order to deflect Kyoka's attacks while they built up their energy. A chill raced down my spine. Now I knew what kind of spell they were casting: death magic, one of the most ancient and dangerous kinds of magic to use. Slowly, as the energy built, Kyoka moved forward, an impassive look on his face. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw that his warriors—the werespiders—were now in the form he had taken. They were edging into the room. We had to do something, and we had to do it now.
A wave of dizziness rushed over me, rising from the depths of my soul. An ancient stirring began to awaken. It had tried to waken before, only this time there was nothing to stop it. I let go and surrendered to the transformation, only it wasn't my tabby self I was changing into. Whatever this new form was, she was huge and fierce and imbued with a power beyond the natural world.
My head dropped back, my neck rolling as bones shifted and skin stretched, fur sprouting from every pore. I dropped to all fours, arms growing as legs shortened. Hands and feet became paws, huge and black with pads that were thick from running in the jungle. A sharp, painful tug, and my spine lengthened. Claws and teeth grew, sprouting long and sharp, and my already heightened sense of smell intensified.
The mark on my forehead blazed, and I could feel him nearby. He was standing there, in a cloud of smoke and fire, the wreath of leaves around his head burning like Lucia's candles. His cloak swept his feet, and with every step, he left a trail of frost and flame.
I glanced up and saw myself reflected in his eyes, a massive black panther, sleek and muscled, with eyes as emerald as the shimmering forest.
The Autumn Lord leaned down and touched my head. "Complete the task I set forth for you," he said. "Destroy the shaman and send him and his children to the grave for good. I give you the power to act with this form."
