I sprang from my squatting position and pulled my purple-hued blade in front of me.
“Is it part dragon?” I shouted to Cass, who was perched once more on his hoverboard.
“Looks like it,” my bestie replied, though I’d been kidding of course.
Dragons weren’t real.
Right?
‘Act now, think later,’Cass reminded me.
Right.
Last time I’d simply cut the demon giant and it had exploded—more or less—so maybe the same might happen this time. If we were lucky, it might be that easy.
Now, how to get within range of a five-armed, fire-spitting dragon … thing?
The apollyon took one look at Brock, my glowing sword, and the rest of our crew, and turned about-face, running away from the gateandus, heading in the direction of the town.
Shit!
He was smart enough to know when he was outnumbered, but there was no way we could allow it to reach the city.
I was just about to take off after it when I heard a strangled gasp come from Molly.
“We’ve got another live one!” she shouted as she stepped in front of me, popping off her shotgun before I could even process what was happening.
I pivoted in the direction of her shot, where a nasty little winged creature had just popped out of the gate. It had leathery bat-like wings and glowing red eyes. On an ordinary day, it might’ve been intimidating despite its smallish size. But compared to the damn apollyon, it didn’t stand a chance of stealing my attention.
“Kill that thing! I’m going after the apollyon,” I shouted at Molly, Cass, and Tianna.
Brock, Reo, Haru, and about twenty members of the pack, which had caught up with us, followed me down the hill toward my cabin. The beast was crashing across Brock’s land, crushing plants and small trees as it went, lumbering in the direction of the main road. Due to the size of its stride, it was covering ground quickly—too quickly.
“I need to get within range to slice it,” I told Brock and some of his wolves as we ran.
Brock’s wolf head nodded.‘We’ll circle it and cut off its retreat so you can use your weapon.’
Good plan. Maybe having the pack help out would turn out to be a good thing.
“Hey, you big dumpy oaf,” I screamed after the apollyon.
It halted just behind my gran’s cabin and turned, malice glowing in its eyes.
“Fan out,” I called to the wolf pack.
They hesitated until Brock repeated the order, then they obeyed. Good ol’ werewolves and their hierarchy.
“Look at the shiny, pretty purple light.” I waved my sword at the monster in a figure-eight pattern, tracers branding the outline in the fading light of dusk. The beast watched it as if in a daze. Its big, googly eyes rolled left and right as they followed the glow.
Score! I had been hoping it was relatively dumb.
While it was busy watching the arcing purple light, the pack surrounded the beast in a dense semicircle. I continued to spin the light, stepping slowly, drawing closer and closer to it. Reo and Haru closed in on either side of me, about ten feet away from the apollyon.
‘Now!’Brock commanded.
The pack attacked.
Brock, Ray, and one of the other dominant wolves leapt into the air, each latching jaws onto one of the beast’s five arms, while the more submissive, yet equally fierce, wolves tore into its ankles.
