Sariel frowned. “Is the addition ofupreally that crucial?”
“Yes! Yes, it fuckin’ is!”
“Seymour! Sariel!” Day grabbed Seymour’s leg and tugged frantically.
“Sorry! Freakin’ up is what I should have?—”
“No! Look!”
From the darkness around them, two massive figures dressed in all black appeared. They were both hulking behemoths, and Seymour hated that for the first time in his life, he actually recognized the monsters these were immediately.
Trolls.
The shadows moved, and now flanking them were a dozen more monsters—werewolves, lizard guys, a very angry tree, and others Seymour hadn’t seen before and never wanted to again.
Jerry ran to the trolls, squealing, “The beacon! They got the beacon!”
The two trolls looked at each other, nodded, and started toward them.
Great.
More fighting.
As Jerry fled off into the darkness and vanished, there was the distinct sound of chimes. Soft, tinkling, and oddly magical in a familiar way Seymour couldn’t place. He didn’t give himself another second to think about it—it was time to scrap with a bunch of monsters.
Again.
He looked around for a weapon, and he spotted the stanchions lined up in front of the club. He unhooked the closest one from the rope so he could swing it over his shoulder like a bat.
Sariel immediately transformed into what Seymour considered to be Super Saiyan Angel One, which had the most humanoid shape but was still quite otherworldly to behold. The rings of his head spun rapidly, and he let out a growl,his wings flapping as he roared, “Surrender now! Or face dire consequences.”
“The most dire!” Day meowed ferociously. “Because I didn’t get my dinner…” She licked her lips and stared down the tree. “But a salad sounds so refreshing right now.”
“Yeah!” Seymour grunted, wishing he had something equally cool to say right then. “What they said. Well, what he said since none of you idiots can hear her?—”
Day’s jaw unhinged with a loud crunch.
“Oof. Probably good you can’t hear that or y’all would be shittin’ your pants right now.”
The trolls were getting closer now, the left one rumbling, “Return the beacon… or suffer.”
“You can suffer a load of this!” Seymour raised the stanchion.
“Seymour,” Sariel warned. “Stay back.”
“Stay back? You can kiss my?—”
One of the werewolves tackled Seymour to the ground, and they went tumbling across the road.
Seymour threw up the stanchion to catch between the werewolf’s jaws, staring up into blazing yellow eyes and big, sharp teeth. He grimaced as he strained to keep the stanchion in place, hissing, “Your breath… fuckin’...reeks!”
The werewolf snarled and bit down, denting the stanchion.
“Oh fuck, fuck, fuck?—”
The werewolf yelped as he was dragged backward, his lower half vanishing into Day’s open maw. She swallowed him up with a noisy slurp and then whirled around, standing before Seymour as she screamed, “Whoever is foolish enough to dare attack my family will face my wrath without mercy!”
Seymour clamored to his feet, his heart soaring in spite of the current danger.
