That's it. That was what she wanted to hear.
She yanked the blade free, slashing it across the shrieker’s throat in the next second.
Kira took stock.
Bodies littered the clearing. Many of them a result of her rampage. A few were Jin’s contribution, showing scorch marks.
She pointed her blade at Jin. "This is your fault. Don't think I've forgotten that."
"If you have breath to talk, you have breath to kill faster."
He swooped on a clump of shriekers, lightning bolts erupting from his body.
"How do you like me now?" Jin crowed. "Not the easy opponent you thought, huh?"
Kira killed two more shriekers who decided to test her patience.
"Maybe if you'd done a little more of that sooner there wouldn't still be this damn many."
Jin sputtered. "How do you think I ended up pissing them off in the first place?"
A shrieker padded toward Selene from behind. Selene slid out of its way in one graceful movement, bringing the parasol down hard on his neck. There was a crack, and the shrieker slumped to the ground.
"Perhaps we should focus on the matter at hand," Selene suggested.
"Is that a parasol?” Jin asked. “What is it made of? Steel?”
Amusement touched Selene’s eyes as her lips curved up. "Something like that. It's an invention of my own design. This is the first time I've used it. Quite effective I might add."
Instinct warned Kira. She leapt into the air, her body arching as she flipped over the shrieker that had thrown itself into her blind spot.
She landed, stabbing into the base of its neck in the next moment.
"You can handle it from here," Selene said, looking around. "I'll take my leave."
Kira hesitated before nodding in acknowledgment. Selene had stayed far longer than Kira had expected, dealing with more than a few of the pesky bastards. It would be greedy for Kira to ask her to stay to the end and risk exposing her to the Haldeel.
"Maybe stay home until the quorum is over," Kira suggested.
"You worry about yourself. Me and mine know what to do. We’re not nearly as likely as you to go tilting at windmills that are already on fire."
With that, Selene glided across the steppingstones of the pond and disappeared into the trees.
Kira and Jin moved to block the shriekers who would have followed, cutting through their ranks with zero mercy.
A long time later, Kira's arms and body screamed. Exhaustion pulled at her, demanding a break. Just a little one. Enough to catch her breath.
Kira felled another shrieker, whirling to meet the next, only to find nothing there.
She panted as she looked around, noting the mounds of dead bodies. Nothing moved except her and Jin. The previously beautiful flowers were now speckled with red.
"I think that's it," Jin said, listing to the side. He sounded weary as he came to rest on a tree branch.
Kira's hand with the blade remained in a defensive position as she weaved on her feet. "Did any escape?"
She held her breath, praying he said no.
If a single shrieker escaped, they'd have to go after them. Otherwise, this would happen again. Shriekers reproduced through parthenogenesis, which was a fancy way of saying they didn't need a partner to multiply.
