“That could be a problem.”
Daemon’s roar drowns out the end of Mikey’s sentence, shaking the room. Clouds spill over the walls in buckets and drift around our ankles, cooling everything. The pillar or water streams underfoot, flooding the cracks we’ve made in the thick glass below as his talons make the wooden floor splinter. Water spills from his mouth as the council steps back with triumphant grins.
“This guy just won’t die,” Mikey growls as she takes a step back.
Vines grow from under the council’s feet, lifting them high into the air as Daemon’s torn fairy wings rise. They’ve grown exponentially, but there’s no way they could make him fly, considering his ginormous size.
I don’t think we’ll make it out of this one, I press outward to Mikey, not taking my focus from Daemon. Where’s Maverick?
Guess he’s tied up, she responds, licking her lips as the gears twist in her mind.
Let’s get those we turned out of here.
Mikey nods and glances once at Nathan. Wordlessly, we decide to leave him. He’ll be of no help to us.
On the contrary, I think, mulling it over. If we could get him to talk…
I’d rather die, Mikey returns as we spin on our heel. The vines made a path for Samuel to walk closer. The ring on his index finger glows a bright orange as he mutters something under his breath.
He traces a symbol in the air before a burst of orange light erupts before us, and two gray copies of him appear. With an insidious smirk, each copy reaches forward and touches Mikey and me, muttering a single word I don’t know under their breath.
There’s a pulse of energy that ravages my brain, the tightness around my scalp loosening before something begins to drip down my forehead. Silvery ooze catches my attention, burning my skin as it travels down my face and onto the ground, dissolving into the water. There’s a sudden weight lifted off my shoulders, and the anchor to my soul I hadn’t realized was there is suddenly gone. I feel chilled, and not purely from its absence.
The two mirror images vanish, and in my periphery, I notice Mikey’s crown returning to its original liquidized state, disappearing into the water as well. We share a quick glance as we gather ourselves, and I notice Samuel whispering something else. Daemon’s breath is at our back, and I can hear him slowly approaching.
“That’s better,” Samuel sneers as he stretches his hand out again. “Now for the fun part.”
Run.
I move to rush past the wizard and over the vines when my vision blurs and a loud bell tolls, rocking my body with pain. Blood seeps from my ears as ichor lines my tongue and burns my chest as it dribbles out.
I hear his cry out as my vision returns. Mikey’s tried striking him, but a shield of shimmering light appears around his shoulders, blocking her. Within a moment, his ring glows again and a vine from the bundle he stands on creates a circle around the three of us and withers, white light flashing. Nausea washes through me as spots appear along my vision. I grit my teeth and ground myself, watching as blood spills from Mikey’s tear ducts, and Samuel grimaces. I sprint closer and swipe at him, but he blocks with that magical shield once again.
My claws nick his skin, drawing blood. For a moment I wonder if wizards can be turned into Bleeders, too.
There’s a burst of energy shadows rise from the ground and writhe around Samuel like flames. His figure becomes shrouded, but it does nothing to my view of him.
He backs away on the now withering vines, both of us reaching out to strike him.
Mikey hits.
Samuel cries out as he continues up the vine. Maybe he’s out of shields.
The flaming shadows drop as black veins climb Mikey’s arm and she grist her skeleton teeth in pain.
I leap and follow him up the vines, reaching out and wishing to do what my mom had done with her claws. I don’t know how to extend them, but I’m willing to try.
Nothing happens as I reach him, missing once, but finding an opening to bite him on the wrist as he lifts his hand to block. I dig in, the ichor seeping from between my teeth singeing his skin and making my stomach growl with hunger. There’s a strange sensation that creeps over my senses, one that reminds me of when I was first turned into a Bleeder and wanted to eat.
Mikey comes up behind me and punches him in the face. I hear something crack as his eyes roll in his skull. She then kicks him off the vine and he begins his ten-foot drop to the floor.
I release him from my jaws and glance around the room, the hunger growing and piercing my stomach like a swelling ball of needles. The other members are simply watching, either refusing or not wanting to help their cohort. They’re letting Samuel fend for himself when he’s dropping—
He mutters something and stops abruptly, five feet from the floor. He gives a sly grin as he shoots up higher than the vine and spreads his arms wide. How in the world are we going to reach him now?
The vines completely crumble beneath us and we plummet. I land on my feet and Mikey rolls into a crouch. He’s almost forty feet in the air, and we have no way of reaching him.
“Throw me,” Mikey instructs as she runs over. She makes a basket with her hands before putting one on my shoulder, and I mimic her. She places a foot in and I squat to get as much leverage as I can. “Cool. I’ve always wanted to be a cheerleader,” she mutters.
I cast a glance upward to see Samuel muttering under his breath and pointing a finger in our direction. A fracturing line of black lightning shoots from his finger and toward Mikey. The lightning fragments across her body, and I watch as her skin turns gray and seems to almost decay like she’s a zombie, ichor exploding from her mouth, reminding me she wasn’t human before she was turned again.
She almost slips from my grasp as Samuel descends about ten feet, readying another spell.
“Let’s leave,” I whisper to Mikey as she comes-to, her skin returning to normal.
“No. Throw me,” she demands, steam coming from her skin as it slowly repairs itself, black ooze coating her chin and neck, charring the hem of her shirt. The determination permeating from her… I can’t say I’ve ever seen her this alluring.
“Okay.”
I crouch and strain my muscles as I lift her. At the peak, she uses my momentum and pushes off, my fingers bending and breaking beneath the force. She rockets into the air and reaches high, managing to grab his ankle. She brings her claws around and slices into his calf, meat falling out as blood splashes onto my face.
Suddenly, there’s a roar. I see sharp, jagged teeth before…
Darkness.