C’mon. This is nothing.
Rhys tried to force his legs to movement, but, aside from pain so severe it was making his eyesight blurry, his legs seemed to have turned to rubber. They sagged underneath him, refusing to hold him up anymore, and he crashed sideways against a dumpster, panting, his breath suddenly too thick in his throat.
“I’m sure you wish you’d taken me up on my offer now, don’t you.”
Despite the agony that was now engulfing him entirely, Rhys still felt a flare of anger at the suit man’s smug tone, and he forced himself to look up and meet his eyes.
Rhys gritted his teeth. His jaw felt like it was locking, all his muscles seizing up – but then, that was the effect of wyvern venom. It paralyzed your muscles, stopping your lungs from breathing and your heart from beating. And it did itfast.
Still, he made himself maintain eye contact, and forced his vocal cords to work.
“Youwish.”
Gratifyingly, he saw a flash of surprise pass across Suit Guy’s face, right before, scrounging up every last scrap of strength he could find, Rhys launched himself forward again.
He staggered a little, but still, the fact he was able to move at all seemed to catch Suit Guy by surprise. Rhys lifted a fist, slamming it into his jaw.
He was only able to put about half of his full power into it – if that – but it was enough to have Suit Guy –I really should have found out his name,Rhys reflected – stumbling backward. One of his henchmen caught him before he could fall, but Suit Guy shrugged him off, clearly enraged.
“You really don’t know when to quit, do you?” he growled, as he raised the gun again.
Rhys felt the second bullet like a wave of fire through him, though he could tell, unlike the first one, that it had only winged him and wasn’t inside his body.
That didn’t seem to make it any lessfucking painful, though.
He lurched over, pain tearing through him, but he managed to maintain his footing.
This time, however, it wasn’t only pain that filled him – it was also rage. The rage of a griffin thatrefusedto be taken down by any old lowlife like these ones.
We will never surrender our life so easily!his griffin screeched, its wings spread wide, even though Rhys knew it could feel everything he was feeling.
We can’t fight them all off, though,Rhys told it, and he knew he was right. He forced himself upright again, looking between Suit Guy and his cronies.
You may not be able to, butIcan!
Before Rhys could stop it, he felt the griffin surging forward.
Wait!
He tried to hold it back, knowing that in this state, if the griffin took over, there was a real chance that in its rage it would totally bury the human side of his consciousness – Rhys would never be able to shift into his human form ever again, and he’d remain as a griffin for the rest of his days.
Having said that…
Having said that, Rhys knew his life right now probably couldn’t really be measured in days – it was more like a matter of minutes. Maybe even seconds.
Fuck it. What’ve I got to lose?
This was his last chance. Either way, he was probably going to die. Might as well go down swinging.
He let go of his control, and felt the griffin take him over.
Its wings unfurled from his back as his hands became massive, cruelly curved talons. A lion’s tail swung out behind him. His face became the visage of a massive golden eagle, hooked beak at the ready.
Now we’ll see who’s finished!the griffin cried out, even though pain was still suffusing every cell of its body.
Despite everything, Rhys, from his passenger’s eye view in the griffin’s body, could see the fear on the men’s faces as he shifted.
Suit Guy, clearly panicking, raised his gun yet again – but even weakened, the griffin was too fast.
