‘You are demented.’
A wide and wicked smile of sharp teeth appears out of the darkness briefly before disappearing, and a raspy laugh replaces it.
‘Certifiable. Yes, or at least so I’ve been called. The point is, you do NOT bow. Take this pain andGive. It. Back!’she demands.
The darkness clears, and I find myself still in Nixdice’s possession, and she’s jerking me around like I’m some RaggedyAnn doll in front of my friends. And worse, she’s trying to use me as a ransom.
I suddenly feel heat flare within me. I can still feel the pain that’s throbbing through my body, but it somehow coils within me and merges with the heat that’s gaining traction inside me.
“If you want your precious thing back—” I can’t hear anything else she says as this new heat surges through my body, and I throw out my good arm towards her, screaming as I release all the pain and heat that’s gathered there.
An arc of white light slices through the air and passes through Nixdice’s body. She freezes mid-speech, and her eyes laser-focus on me as her lips let out a gasp before her upper body slices off her abdomen, taking me down with her.
Shit! I didn’t think that through. This is really going to hurt,I manage to think as the floor rushes toward me.
CHAPTER 28
I Tell Her, I Tell Her Not
Levi
“Rez!” Moni yells, and I rush to slow Rez’s descent, but with an entire upper torso of a spider attached to her, it’s almost impossible. But it’s enough to allow Slayer and Knots to slice the claw away from the body, and Lynx grabs her out of the air with his scorpion tail.
“Thank the Fates,” Chester sighs in relief as everyone gathers around Rez. I keep my distance and watch as they take turns checking each other’s injuries and making sure we’ve made it out okay from the fight.
From what I can tell from here, Rez has some damage to her shoulder, and Knots’ left wing has lost some primary feathers, but besides some scrapes and bruises, everyone else is okay. We are all alive, and that’s what matters most.
Blessing walks over to stand with me. “I really don’t understand why they would attack us specifically. Like us, they attack only to protect their young or to survive. They do not hunt us, and we have given them no reason to earn their ire.” He shakes his head before he turns to me. “Thank you for helpingus. We have medicine and supplies for your injuries, and when you’re ready, we can take you to the portal you are searching for.”
I cock my head and give him a disbelieving look. If he had a flesh neck, my hands would probably be around it right now, since he kinda threw us into this fight with no warning. He at least tried to help take down the spiders with his metal spear. That’s probably the only thing that’s keeping me from zapping the crap out of him right now. He’s not as proficient a fighter as we are, but that doesn’t mean much since we have been training with L.A.M.B., and we aren’t Gargoyles going against our greatest weakness.
“Aren’t I glad my neck is stone?” He smiles at me, and I clench my teeth.
“Thank you for your hospitality,” I manage to say through tight lips before turning to address the group.
“If you guys follow Blessing, he has supplies to help clean you up and heal what they can before taking us to the portal,” I explain, and I’m relieved to see the same reaction on my friends’ faces. But they do a great job of covering their shock and shuffle our way.
“I’m gonna stay and help dispose of the bodies,” I tell them as they pass, and I turn to Blessing. “Are you okay with me burning them in the fireplaces? Or do you use anything from them?” I ask, making sure I don’t rob them of any supplies.
“Thank you for asking. If their pincers are still in good shape, we can use those. And now that the ceiling is fixed, the fireplace is fine to use. We weren’t using it before, because we didn’t want to alert any predators to our young that we couldn’t close the hatch. Now we can start moving them back in once the room is cleaned up,” he tells me before walking out with my friends.
As my friends walk out, I watch as Rez holds her right arm to her chest, and I find myself rubbing my chest where my heartis. I know if I were to look, the sore I have is looking worse. Stupidly, I try to think back to the first time we met, and even that first day is starting to waver. I remember she was scared, and I had to explain her options. I don’t even remember what those choices were, but they upset her, and I touched… was it her hair?
I grind my teeth against the sharp pain pressing on my chest once more and drop the thought. It will come to me when I really need it. Let me get to work. There are at least twenty corpses that need to be disposed of.
I go to the closest spider and easily cut off an intact pincer with my magic, placing it off to the side before dragging the body over to the massive fireplace. It’s tall enough that I can walk into it, so rearranging the body of the spider doesn’t take long, and once I have two in there, I throw a fireball in to start the fire.
I continue the process, letting my mind wander as I work at getting rid of spider bodies. My thoughts wander to one supe with pink hair that fills my mind.
Emer.
Is she still in Ever Woods? Did she also get hurt? Nah, she’s a beast, and she has a good team too. She’s probably down in Hell, and of course, she has family down there, so she will easily pass through there with no problem. Her uncle is Asmodeus, and he won’t let anything happen to his niece and daughter.
Slap.
I sputter and choke on the stream of water forcibly hitting me in the face.
“You done with your nightmare?” JP snarks before letting up on the waterworks.
