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I'm just repeating myself. Thinking the same damned dark thoughts on repeat. It's not helping.
I try to focus. Remember things my father taught me.
But memory is tainted by my new reality.
My father probably isn't my father.
Fuck, Aliana. It's not the time for an existential crisis,I scold furiously, heat rising along my neck because I'm so angry with myself.
But if not now, when?
Behind me, Chase trips on a step and grabs at the railing. I turn to see him cursing at himself under his breath, and I wonder for a second who has the reins right now. I'm guessing Empty, since Chase may be a lot of things, but clumsy isn't one of them.
"I've got this," he mutters.
"Mate?" I call out in a whisper.
"Yes?" His forest-green eyes flash up to mine with an adoring yet slightly psychotic look.
"Let the human drive right now. Keep yourself safe for me."
His lips twist, but then his body relaxes before it takes on Chase's familiar, cocky, chest-puffed posture.
The human man's eyes are steady as he glances up at me and mouths, "Thank you."
I give him a wink that probably looks far more sassy and relaxed than I feel before turning forward again and following Dev onto the emergency landing for the second floor.
Creep waits until we're all huddled on the landing before he steps into the corner and disappears, going to check the floor. I wait, pressed between Dev at my front and Tesq at my back, the heat rolling off of both of them stifling in the small space.
Crash!
The door in front of Dev smashes open, and a bright-green, snakelike appendage wraps around his head, dragging him through the door before I can blink.
FUCK!
I race after him, all thoughts and worries wiped from my mind, my body taking over, intent on action.
I spot a blur of movement to my right and immediately pivot, pressing the trigger and sending a bolt in that direction before my vision even confirms that I'm facing a goobed—a ridiculously immature name for a slime monster. My aim is true, but my bolt darts right through the jelly of the fucker's body and lodges in the wall behind it. Waste of ammo.
Frustrated, I raise my hand and send icicles flying his way. The smug monster smiles at me as they enter his body, pricking it in six different places. He's certain they're going to fly right through just like my bolt, and he oozes forward.
Unsure if my plan will work, I simply wing it, clenching my fist and then throwing my fingers wide, imagining the ice inside ofhim expanding, shooting outward, sharp crystal spikes growing out in every direction until the icicles resemble throwing stars or saw blades that will chop this bastard to pieces.
He lurches in place, and his grin droops while I tick up the corner of my mouth.
On the outside, I'm smirking, but internally I'm punching my fist in the air and jumping up in excitement.
Next to me, Tesq throws a creature that looks like a yellow orangutan with bat wings for ears. It soars across the room and crashes through a window headfirst. The monster's body starts to disappear, but its leg gets caught on a shard of glass. It howls in pain as it ends up dangling outside the window, suspended and stuck, slowly bleeding from the gash in its leg.
Good. Motherfucker deserves a slow, painful death. They all do. They've chosen to stand against my mates, and we're going to wipe every last one of them out.
Finally, battle mode seems to click on inside my head as I settle into the fight and send another round of ice spikes at the slime monster. This time, when I spread my fingers wide, I lift and lower my hand, sawing up and down inside of him until he wavers in place and then melts into a sticky green puddle.
I can't help it. I make a finger gun and blow imaginary smoke off the top of it before winking at the puddle and stepping forward to find my next victim.
Who else wants to play?
I scan the room and do a quick check to ensure my mates are doing okay. The confidence and bloodlust of war have seeped into me, and I'm not really worried. They're Terrors after all.
