The air around us was hot and stifling, and the scent around us had changed. I smelled sulfur, and the stench of a great animal suffocated my noise. There was a rumbling sound that shook the earth, as if the monster was sleeping.
“He’s close,” I told everyone. “Be on your guard.”
“I can hear him slumber. Let’s go in and cut his throat,” Finlay suggested.
“We need to be cautious. This is a fae killer. We aren’t sure what we’re dealing with,” I said.
“It’s not going to give us the silver crown all wrapped up in a tidy bow. Take your cock in your hand and go in there,” Finlay taunted.
I scowled, but moved on ahead. The cavern opened up to a massive space, one that had a beam of light coming from a large hole in the ceiling. The cave itself was monstrous, hundreds of feet tall and just as wide. Fully-grown dragons could fly in circles around it and not feel cramped.
My eyes fell upon the creature in the middle of the room. Ailen Dierdra was a massive beast. He was a red, three-headed reptile, with poisonous spines lining his back and scales that appeared sharp to the touch, and a barbed tail that curled around him as he slept.
The beast could dwarf a building. His claws alone were the size of houses. His enormous bulk made Stefan look like a rabbit, and Stefan was no small shifter by any means. I wasn’t sure how it got inside, but figured there must be an alternate entrance.
I looked for the crown, but didn’t see it anywhere. I wasn’t sure where the monster could be hiding it. We’d have to search the cave to uncover it, and we wouldn’t be able to do that effectively without waking the monster up, which meant we’d have to kill it.
“How should we fight this big bastard?” Finlay asked lowly as he observed it.
“I can’t even tell where its weak spots are,” Amantha said.
“Those scales are like titanium. You’re not going to be able to penetrate them for shit,” Stefan said. “You want an effective hit, you’re going to have to go for the belly, or the sensitive area underneath the throats.”
I nodded as I surveyed the creature. “Finlay, Arthur, we’re not going to be able to take this thing down with our teeth and claws.”
“Aye,” Finlay agreed. “Swords it is.”
“I can distract the middle head,” Stefan said. “The rest of you can go for the others.”
“Amantha and I will cast spells, to disorient it,” Emma stated. “Then you boys can slice off the heads, and it’ll be over.”
“It seems like the most effective strategy,” I said. “Let’s do this quickly. If we overwhelm it, the fight will be over in moments. We attack all at once.”
Everyone waited on my signal. I waited for a second, wanting to survey the situation further for any possible weak spots we might’ve missed, but without warning, the eyes of Ailen Dierdra shot open. The monster gave a raging hiss, and smoke emitted from his mouth as he awoke. He smelled us. Ailen staggered to his feet and his wings spread wide, scraping the sides of the cavern as he emitted a snarling noise.
“Go, go!” I ordered, drawing out my blade. The sound of singing metal rang out through the air as Finlay and Arthur withdrew their swords. Crackling sounds grew beside me as Emma and Amantha ignited spells.
Stefan charged out first, taking the form of a dragon. Stefan stampeded forward, letting out a roar as he approached the middle head. Ailen Deirdra snaked out the middle head and bit down, and Stefan narrowly avoided the blow. He slammed into Alien with all his might, lashing out with fangs and claws. Stefan blew out a jet of flame, though the fire rippled over Ailen’s scales without any sort of consequence. The monster was fireproof, and heat didn’t seem to affect it.
Arthur ran to help him, jabbing his sword out at the creature’s neck. It was difficult to wound Ailen without hurting Stefan, however, so Arthur was forced to stay back as the two reptiles warred for victory.
Finlay and Amantha raced for the third head. Amantha cast out illusion ropes that looped around the neck of the third head, and yanked them to the earth. She gave out a cry of great effort with the movement, her strength waning as she worked on keeping the ropes binding the creature secure. The third head flailed, lashing out with sharp teeth as Finlay approached.
Emma remained at my side and called to her magic. I saw a haze overcome the eyes of the head we were battling, but it faded quickly. I had to spring out of the way and roll as the head shot off a fireball in my direction.
“I can’t overpower his mind. He’s too strong!” Emma shouted.
“Can you take over his vision? Should be easier!” I asked.
“I think so! Hold on!”
The haze came over the creature’s eyes again, and the first head emitted a screech. Emma had overpowered Ailen’s sight, although her spell had only worked on the head that we were fighting, and not the two others. Emma gritted her teeth and held on to the spell as the head shook back and forth, attempting to regain its sight.
While the girls were attempting to deal with holding the heads in place, the rest of us worked on getting close to their throats. Finlay danced around the ropes of Amantha’s spell, while I circled the monster, unsure of how to get close while the beast was weaving its horns about. If I struck at the wrong time, I’d be impaled.
“Ethan, hurry!” Emma shouted. She struggled to maintain the monster under her spell, sweat visibly breaking out on her brow.
Urgency swept through me at my mate’s pleading. The head began banging against the earth, in an attempt to stop the illusion overtaking its vision. I ran toward the head at full speed, swinging my sword and bringing it down with all my strength.
