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We were halfway across the plaza, darting quickly across the open space. Scurrying like rats. I’d been scanning the perimeter bushes and trees, and even the many curved balconies of the palace, but didn’t see them until Camina screamed.
I twisted around to see the giant winged beast that had her in its clutches. It was like a gargoyle come to life, with grotesque feminine features, bare breasts and feathery black wings. I rolled to the side as a second creature scraped my arm and back with sharp talons. It felt like daggers being dragged through my skin, tearing off pieces of my dress into bloody red strips. I shuddered when I felt them glance off my ribcage; the icy chill of death, what should have been a mortal wound.
I sprang to my feet and fired three shots at the monster who took Camina before she was out of distance, then my quiver was empty. One arrow found its mark, piercing the great black paw and giving her a chance to slip its tight grasp. I could make out a struggle and the flash of a sword in the moonlight, then the mutid screeched and flailed, crashing through a building a few levels down below and out of sight. I could only hope Camina had survived the fall.
I continued forward alone until I saw movement in the shadows. A slagpaw, chewing on the remains of an elite corpse, its ribs and entrails exposed. His snout dripped with elite blood, dark purple and sparkly. He looked up and growled defensively, pawing his prize. I backed away slowly, but it followed. I smelled like elixir. He wanted me. I squared my shoulders and prepared for the attack, but then realized I was unarmed. I sucked in a breath to curse, but the slagpaw had already coiled like a spring and pounced. I raised my arms in defense and ducked to the side, sending out a blast of compulsion that surprised us both. It hit like a shockwave, sending us tumbling in opposite directions. I clawed to my knees, as it was already preparing for a second pass. If I could just hold him off... I raised a hand, sweat perspiring on my forehead. I could feel the effort of will building up between us. But this slagpaw didn’t know me. He wasn’t half-human, like Trevor. And most of the elixir in my system was busy holding me together.
A shape bounded up between us, right as my energy was about to give way. It was a bizarre-looking brute, with rippling muscles covered in gray fur, sharp teeth and pointy ears. It grabbed the slagpaw by the tail and spun it around, tossing it out of view. Another attacked from the side and he grabbed it by the neck before slamming it into the ground, and then smashing it in a full-body slam with his elbow.
The slagpaw lurked around him for another moment, but then howled and scampered off. The beast turned towards me, rippling muscles and fur, long claws, red eyes. But not fully animal. He gave me a dumb smile and a thumbs-up, both of which were terrifying in his monstrous form.
Then he picked me up and licked my cheek with a tongue as long as my arm.
“Ew, nice to see you too, weirdo.”
Trevor turned, his massive paw on the ground next to me, looking up at the palace. The shadow of the building darkened the entrance, but I could make out rows of guards and elite blocking the steps, their eyes and swords gleaming. Waiting for me.
I absent-mindedly stroked Trevor’s coarse fur, and pulled a vial of elixir from my bag. My companion whined at me, licking his chops, but I scolded him with my finger.
“Not yet buddy,” I said. “This one is for me. We need you in this fight.” I downed the vial whole, swallowing it in one gulp. My bracelet gleamed, a subtle white glow that illuminated the dark stains on my wrists and fingers. My birthmarks were nearly hidden beneath blood and grim from battle.
April’s bracelet beeped a warning, but I ripped it off and tossed it to the side. Restraint was a liability I could no longer afford. Too much elixir and I’d lose control. Too much and I might never come back. But it didn’t matter. This had to end now. I was a mortal engine of death, and I needed fuel. If I broke, I could be fixed later, probably.
The red dress flitted around my ankles, revealing my bare legs. It was barely hanging on by one strap. Trevor, in beast form, awaited my command, standing protectively behind me, his long claws hanging by his side. I waited until I felt the elixir flood through my system, filling me with energy.
Then I mounted Trevor like a horse and squeezed my thighs together, tapping his head. We barrelled through the line of guards, tossing them aside. Trevor threw one into the pillars of the tall gothic building, then dented his helmet with his paw. He slashed through three others with his claws. I grabbed a fallen sword and swung with abandon. I moved in a bubble, feeling everything around me like it was my own skin, like I was floating underwater, or being carried by the current.
I was a wound that wouldn’t heal. A gash of pain, the edge of a razor. In less than a minute, I was alone, standing on a pile of the guards I’d slaughtered. The crescent moon behind us cast a long shadow; my dark hair and the shredded fabric of my dress fluttered in the wind.
The darkness flickered, and I was surrounded again, by a new batch of elite I only half-recognized. A few of them were older, grizzled men in polished suits. Behind them, massive mechanical brutes stomped into view, in gold armor, nearly twice my size.
I heard someone shouting my name, and then two canisters rolled past my ankles, fuming pink smoke. When the elite attacked, they were black vapors flitting through the coiling plumes of antidote, that swirled like iridescent serpents.
I felt an explosion of compulsion, as the first vampire slashed a blade an inch from my neck. I spread my fingers and froze him in place, willing him to stop his attack. I caught the second and third this way as well, but they kept coming. Even weakened by the antidote, I could barely hold them in place. I caught five more in my snare, but was shaking with exertion. Trevor snapped them up, biting into them like ears of corn and spitting out bloody chunks, bounding around like a puppy. The mechanical creatures, impervious to my charms, began to close the distance.
I glanced up at the heavy ornate doors of the palace, sealed in place. I scanned the entrance for weaknesses. Just above the roof, I saw a shooting star, and then several dozen. The flaming arrows crossed above us silently, then fell like a cloud of darts.
I held my breath; it was like Denvato all over again. Only this time, the arrows didn’t hit us. Whoever they were, they were helping.
The elite around me fizzed like fireworks, as the elixir in their blood ignited like gunpowder. They sputtered into each other like melting candles. Torches, bathing the courtyard in flashes of bright light.
One of them streaked past me, in a fancy dark suit, clawing at his shoulder blades. His pale, half-charred face in agony, a slew of flaming arrows in his back. The rest of the elite in my grasp snapped suddenly, as bullets pierced their temples. The strain and tension of my compulsion disappeared as their consciousness faded. Those few unscathed, ducked away into the shadows when I released them.
A dozen whirring drones descended from the sky, buzzing around the large mech brutes and blinding them with spotlights. It kept the machines occupied, swatting at their new assailants like flies.
Trevor nuzzled my arm and I scratched his chin before climbing onto his back again. As I did, I noticed his tattoo, now stretched and obscured beneath his fur.I’m the arrow.
I took a deep breath, and we charged forward. I hated to use him like this, but I had to get through that door, and this was our only chance. We dashed between the two metal guards, darting under their slashing swords, and burst through the entrance, violent and unstoppable. I shielded my eyes from the shards and splinters, barely seeing the glint of sharp metal until it was too late. The bear trap snapped shut around Trevor’s ankle, yanking him into place and catapulting me forward towards the sweeping staircase of the grand foyer.
I looked back at Trevor, howling in pain, his eyes wide. His leg was caught in the steel jaws of the trap and fixed with heavy chains to both walls. The wreckage of the door and his bulky, mutid frame filled the entrance. I tried to soothe him, but a moment later Penelope’s head appeared in a gap next to him.
“Go!” she shouted. “I’ll keep him safe until the others arrive.”
I nodded reluctantly, then headed up the stairs.
I crept my way forward, through the ornate dark halls, the rounded high ceilings and impressive architecture. I’d never spent much time in the palace, and the inky blackness made everything foreign. But I guessed the throne room would be in the middle, or the top, and so far I’d made my way unimpeded. The floor squeaked under my feet and the silk dress ruffled around me, as I tightened my grip on the royal sword I’d stolen earlier. Nothing as fancy as King Richard’s gem-studded weapon, or Damien’s lighter blade. This one had probably seen little use, in the decades before my birth. A time of peace, which I had come to destroy. It felt too long and unwieldy for this enclosed space, the tight corridors and high decorative ceilings. But I kept it in lieu of other options.
I was nearly at the top floor, when a shadow stood across from me, at the end of a dark hallway illuminated by windows. A second later I was shoved backward, so hard I felt my back shatter through the door and then the far external window. I rolled to a stop at the edge of a wide outdoor balcony, wincing as I felt shards of glass pierce my palms and wrists.
