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Holy shit, she was determined to make us her bitches!
“Look out,” I yelled as I dove out of the way.
There was a loud noise, and the ground shook. As I pulled myself out of the rolling mists and glanced back, I saw that Smoky—in his dragon form—had drop-kicked her as she zoomed past. The Karsetii was now a good twenty yards away. But though the kick had sent her flying, she didn’t seem all that hurt, because she was making a beeline back toward us, this time with her suckers first, tentacles ramrod straight, looking ready to force themselves down Smoky’s throat.
In a movement more graceful and quick than I thought possible, Smoky soared into the air, spiraling up out of her reach. The dragon was in his element, I thought, as he dipped and hovered over us, his wings soundlessly gliding on the astral currents. The mist followed his wake, providing a motion trail of swirling smoke, and I stopped, struck by the sheer beauty of the beast.
Vanzir leapt up. Out of his hands shot the spiraling tentacles that were his attack. He aimed them toward the demon, and they wriggled forward like pale, fleshy worms dug up from some nightmare garden. They landed against the brain sac and dug in, and it was then that I could see the tip of one of them as it wavered in the astral breeze. It reminded me of a lamprey, with a circle of teeth that latched onto its victim.
Vanzir’s cords caught hold and drove themselves into the demon in a frenzied, hungry dance. I heard Delilah retch. She looked horrified, staring first at Vanzir, then at the demon, as if she didn’t know who to root for. I caught her gaze and shook my head, mouthing, “Knock it off.” We couldn’t afford to alienate Vanzir, nor could she afford to be squeamish. This was what the Karsetii had done to her. She should be grateful she wasn’t dead from its attack.
As Vanzir began to source energy from the creature, Morio raced in, back in his human form, silver sword drawn high. He landed a sharp stab on the back of the head, and the creature writhed. That seemed to shake Delilah out of her revulsion, and she joined Morio, her dagger out and plunging into the head of the demon. I couldn’t wield silver, but I landed a good solid kick under the eye.
The Karsetii lashed out with one of its tentacles, catching Morio in its fury. It didn’t grab hold of him but launched him back, sending him flying through the mist to land on the ground near Camille.
As she knelt to help him, Smoky bellowed out, “All clear,” and we all jumped back, Vanzir recalling his tendrils like a power cord rolling back into the vacuum.
Smoky belched, and a great ball of fire rolled out of his mouth, streaking down through the sky to land atop the Karsetii. The hive mother shrieked in pain as the clones shifted position and slammed back into the central demon, renewing her from the drain Smoky’s attack had inflicted.
“She’s healing herself,” I yelled out.
Roz threw another firebomb, and it landed on her as she whipped around in his direction. That one had to smart; he managed to hit her right above the eye. The noise was horrendous as she roared, charging him like a mad bull.
Delilah rushed forward, chasing the demon. The Karsetii’s head was pulsating. Something about music soothing wild beasts crossed my thoughts, but I pushed it away. I had my doubts whether Brahms’s “Lullaby” would settle the hive mother down for a nice long nap.
I was right on Delilah’s heels. Kitten was a damned good fighter, but she wasn’t much of a match for this creature. But she surprised me. She launched herself from a running start, flipped head over heels through the air, and as she landed, found herself close enough to take a good, long swipe at the Karsetii.
“Lysanthra!” she called out, and her blade hummed and began to glow. I skidded to a halt. Maybe I hadn’t been imagining things. Maybe the blade had some form of magic locked within it that I hadn’t seen before. Camille had been trying without any luck to get her own silver blade to wake up, but Delilah had apparently nurtured hers into quite a handy friend.
The silver took on a reddish sheen as steam wafted off of it. What the hell? That was weird. As Delilah plunged it into the demon, raking it down the Karsetii’s side, the steam took on form and substance, looking for all the world like a winged sprite. But there, the resemblance to the willowy forest creatures ended, and the sprite opened its mouth to show huge, misty teeth and fastened itself like an eel to the demon.
“Holy hell,” Camille said. She’d helped Morio to his feet, and they, too, were staring at the unfolding scene. “What the fuck is that?”
“You got me,” I said, then shook myself out of my surprise. The demon was wailing now, so loud that it hurt my ears, but she was still aiming for Roz, who was running like a bat out of hell—or an incubus on the run from an irate father, I thought cheerfully as I sped up and managed a spin-kick right in the place Delilah had wounded it. The sprite—or whatever it was—was no longer visible, but the wound hadn’t closed and, in fact, it appeared to be growing wider. Whatever the dagger had done to the Karsetii was having an impact.
Rozurial whipped around and yelled, “Stand back!”
I dropped to the side; he didn’t have to tell me twice, especially when I knew he was carrying firebombs. As I rolled and came up in a crouch, covering my head, sure enough, an explosion rocked the area, knocking me forward a good three yards.
Twisting, I saw the Karsetii shift directions. She was headed my way now, and her eyes had taken on the gleam of a wounded wild predator. Most of her tentacles were either scorched or had been blown to smithereens. Whatever Roz put in those little goodies of his worked wonders.
I scrambled to my feet and took off. Crazed demons were nothing to mess with, and though I thought I could land another blow on her, it was about time for Camille to do her thing with the horn. Or at least I hoped she was ready. I was about to suggest that she get her butt in gear when I tripped over some protrusion coming from the ground.
The astral plane was rife with rocks and odd twisted trees and so forth, so much that newcomers often mistook them for their counterparts on the physical plane. But here, the doppelgangers were often actual creatures—or at least sentient in a way that the originals weren’t. Whatever I’d tripped over scuttled away in the boiling mist that covered the ground.
Oh shit. I glanced over my shoulder. The Karsetii was gaining on me fast. The hive mother appeared to be stronger when she was wounded—at least she was more aggressive—and I struggled to my feet and headed out at a dead run again. But her tentacles reached me first—the two that were still intact, that is. They caught hold of me and lifted me up. I glanced at a third one that was sniffing me out, hovering all too near my head.
Then, as if she hadn’t found anything to her liking, the tentacle dropped away, and I felt myself being whipped through the air. Before I knew what was happening, she’d launched me to the side. The world went spinning around me as I careened head over heels toward the rising mist. I was going to hit and hit hard. Thank the gods I was a vampire. A broken bone would heal, a busted artery wouldn’t do much in the way of damage. Just so long as I didn’t land heart-first on a jutting piece of wood or in the middle of a bonfire, I should be okay.
As the ground wheeled up to meet me, I found myself facedown in the mist, landing with a harsh thump. Thank the gods again. There was nothing beneath me but the astral landscape, sans tree roots, rocks, or boughs. But the landing jarred me so much I could barely move. I winced, pushing myself up to a seated position. Nothing broken. Nothing seriously wrong. Not even the wind knocked out of me, since I didn’t breathe. The shock of hitting hard had stunned me, but as I shook it off and stood up, I was ready to jump back into the fray.
I whirled around, looking to see where the demon was now. There—heading toward Camille and Morio. Roz was on her tail, pulling what looked like another firebomb out of his pocket. Delilah was making tracks right behind him, and Vanzir was speeding in from the side. The sound of wings whooshed overhead, and I glanced up in time to see Smoky bearing down on the Karsetii.
Smoky let loose with a fiery blast, scorching along her back, then pulled up sharply and veered to the side. The Karsetii slowed. Not much, but enough to tell he’d hurt her. Roz reached her and tossed one of the firebombs into the wound Delilah had given her, which had split wider still. And that’s when I realized what her blade could do: The wound was continuing to grow; it hadn’t stabilized. That meant that the Karsetii wouldn’t be able to heal up from it right away, even if she managed to suck the life energy off one of us. If we could do enough damage, we could actually kill her.
Camille had the horn out, and she frantically waved me off. I skidded to a halt and began to backtrack, looking for cover. Roz and Delilah split off to the side, and Vanzir joined Morio, flanking Camille’s other side. I could hear her chanting something, but I didn’t stick around to find out what. I had to find cover. Light or fire—it didn’t matter. The horn had proved its ability to magnify power, and I didn’t want to be around when it shifted into high gear.
At that moment, I felt talons clutch around my waist as Smoky swooped down and carefully caught me up in his claws. He flew up and away, with me dangling between his front feet, and I stared at the mist-covered ground as we beat a retreat from Camille and her horn o’ death.
