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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."
And then I was back in the room again, but the only other person there was Kyoka. Everyone else had vanished. Kyoka moved toward me.
"So, he's sent you to do his dirty work?" Kyoka said. "The first time he sent a Viking, and now he sends a panther? Come then, my pretty pussy. Let's play." He motioned for me to bring it on.
I let out a roar that shook the room, then hunkered down and sprang.
Kyoka shot a stream of energy directly at me. It hit my side but passed through as if it were nothing more than vapor. Startled, he let out a cry. "What the hell—why didn't you—"
Before he could finish, I was on him, trying to avoid those sharp daggers he used for feet. I let loose with a swipe from my claws. Kyoka lurched and fell onto his side. It was as easy as dropping a shoe on a spider.
Flash. I caught him across the chest, and he began to bleed as I raked, slashing through his flesh. The smell of blood set off a hunger so deep that I knew I could never quench it.
Flash. He grabbed for me, catching me around the throat as his hands formed a vise. He twisted my head, trying to break my neck.
Flash. I leaned back, then lunged, bringing my fangs down to rip at his face. The taste of blood filled my mouth, warm and sweet, and teasing me on.
Flash. He managed to reach up with one of his jointed legs. Pain lanced through my left back leg as he punctured it, and I let out a yowl. Furious, the fire of the Autumn Lord fueling my heart, I gathered my strength and bit once more. This time, my teeth went through his shoulder, into the soft flesh of his neck, and I snapped my jaws shut. The killing bite.
Kyoka shuddered as the room swirled.
I blinked and found myself in a field of mist, in my normal form. My left leg was bleeding, and I was standing in front of Kyoka's spirit, which hovered above his dead body.
As if I had done so a thousand times before, I held out my hand and touched the ghostly presence. Visions of fire and anger swirled through my thoughts. Men dying under torture, women being ravaged for use as breeders, children not true to the new form being offered to the young spiderlings as food.
All of these images passed through me like a silent movie, flickering in an abandoned theater. Kyoka's memories, they were of his life as a shaman when he had created the unnatural Weres and perfected their new form.
My stomach rolled, and I thought I was going to vomit, but a force stronger than my own will steeled me up, and I straightened my shoulders.
"Kyoka, in the name of the Autumn Lord, I charge you with the Death Maiden's curse: the final death. Go and be cleansed from this world and from all worlds. Return to oblivion. Return to the pool of fire and ice from whence we all emerge. Be no more." The words were unfamiliar to me, and yet they were mine to say. As I spoke, my core froze, and I aimed the icy line of frost directly into his spirit. Like a snowflake melting on the pavement, he vanished.
Kyoka was dead. Truly and forever dead, consigned to oblivion.
As the presence of the Autumn Lord began to fade, I heard him say, "You have done well. You will be the first of my living emissaries. My Daughter of the Grave." And then he, too, vanished, and I found myself standing in the middle of the room, and my friends were scrambling, shouting my name.
"Delilah? Where are you? Good gods, there she is!" Chase was closest to me and, as I collapsed, he caught me and lowered me to the ground. My leg burned like a son of a bitch. I blinked as they crowded around me.
"Are you all right?" Camille dropped to my side. "Delilah, say something. Where were you? What happened? Where's Kyoka?"
I glanced around. There was no sign of the shaman. His body had vanished. Smoky was awake again, guarding the door, though the rest of the spiderlings seemed to have beat a hasty retreat.
"How long have I been gone?" I managed to ask.
"A good fifteen minutes. Kyoka vanished when you did."
She looked at me closely. "Great Mother, the mark on your forehead!"
"What? What is it?"
Menolly joined her. The men hung back, more out of respect than lack of curiosity, I thought. "It's swirling—all gold and black and red."
I reached up and lightly skimmed it with my fingers. My brow tingled, and I could feel the presence of the Autumn Lord, barely out of reach. "I think what just happened activated its power."
"Tell us everything," Camille said, a worried look on her face.
And so I did.
"We have to get medical help for Venus," Camille finally said when I'd finished. "And we need to return Rhonda… Rhonda's body to her family."
