Crouched, I waited for her to emerge. Or at least stick her neck out far enough for me to grab her.
Casually, Sekh smashed some more of the statues, shovingthem outward into a loose arc in front of the cave. He didn’t look up or brace in anyway.
A dark shadow slowly slipped further out of the cave, keeping low to the ground. From just her head and neck, she looked like a basilisk. Long snaky neck. Tapered cone-shaped head. She drew back slightly, and the flange flared out around her head.
:Incoming poison,:I warned Sekh, waiting for her to lunge forward to launch a stream of acid in his direction.
She reared back, almost disappearing entirely into the cave, and then spewed forward. Just as I slammed into her. Clamping my jaws on her neck, I used my forward momentum to keep pushing forward. Dragging her from her hiding place.
Roaring furiously, jaws gaping open wide and snapping in the air, she heaved backward, trying to dislodge my grip on her. Bitter blood filled my mouth—which was a very bad thing.
I did not want to accidentally rip her head off and give myself two targets to deal with. Since sprouting more heads was her greatest strength, her hide wasn’t as thick as mine.
A massive stone paw crunched down on her neck.:Trade me. Go get her heart.:
She writhed beneath the sphinx’s weight, making him apply more pressure to keep her trapped. Which put more strain on her neck. If he snapped her head off…
Hissing with frustration, I whirled around to find the meatiest part of her. Something thicker than her fucking scrawny neck. Most of her body was still wedged inside the cave, but her neck thickened as it approached her shoulders. I seized another big mouthful and heaved backward, claws scrambling on the pavers. Fuck. She was so fucking big it was like birthing her out of a tight channel. As soon as both her shoulders emerged, she slipped out faster, twisting and rolling to break my grip.
Tearing her own head off.
:Fuck,:Sekh growled.:Fire might help stop her from regenerating.:
:Busy.:Even without a head, she raked her claws down my neck, gouging deep scratches in my scales, though it didn’t really injure me. Wrestling and rolling with her, I fought to pin her, but she was slippery as fuck.:Can Smoak blow fire?:
Fire rippled over the hydra, filling the air with the acrid scent of boiling acid and charred meat.
:I’ve got plenty of fire,:Shara said.:I’d rather not risk anyone else getting too close.:
Digging into the hydra’s softer abdomen, I tore my way up beneath her ribcage. Looking for the heart. Gorgon blood hissed on my scales, the reek of monstrous snake thick in my nostrils.
From the deep, dark depths of my memory, a horrifying image rose up slowly in my mind.
A small child, three or four years old. Naked. Shivering. Not from cold but fear. Bleeding and hurt and crying. So fucking terrified as the shadowed shape materialized out of the water, changing from a monster into a woman.
Skilah Gorgos, daughter of Stheno. My mother.
“Don’t make me leave.” Sobbing, I begged. I even ran to her and wrapped my arms around her waist. Clinging to her as she stepped from the water.
She shook free of me and continued walking down the beach. “Go to your father, Mehen. Maybe he can teach you some control.”
She never looked back.
When I returned years later, fully grown, my hatred well-honed and vicious, I stood on the same beach. Crying only on the inside. Wishing she had one morsel of affection or empathy to toss my way. When she rejected me again, I swore I would kill every cold-hearted Gorgon. Every mercenary, power-hungry queen who’d lay with Ladon, the hundred-headed dragon, trying to conceive a precious heir.
Only to deliver me. Abandon me. Reject me.
So fuck them all. I devoured her. Every scrap. Then I tore the entire nest apart.
Snarling with rage, I bit and tore my way through the chest cavity. Found the large, thumping muscle. And swallowed it whole.
Then I lifted my bloody muzzle to the sky and let out a victorious roar. Finally.
The last Gorgon queen was fucking dead.
Then why the fuck did razor sharp teeth slice a hunk out of my underbelly?
I rolled away before she could get anything too vital but it hurt like a bitch. Which only pissed me the fuck off.
