Battle With Fire (Demon Days & Vampire Nights)

No need. I’ll attack the rest from behind.

It seems my surprise won’t be the only one they’ll get today.

Correct.

A hard fist of magic wrapped around me and squeezed, sending shooting pain up through my middle and stabbing behind my eyes. Archion shuddered under me and let out a burst of fire as he lost altitude, doing as I’d said and veering toward the field, only he was going to miss the fluffy section of grass up ahead and land on the hard stone and packed dirt beyond it. At least, that was what the illusion made it look like.

I extended that fluffy bit toward his probable landing site, pulling it up over the dirt and then layering the design on top of the stone. It was coarse and unrefined and looked utterly ridiculous, but it should work. I tacked the magic down so it would hold under his crash landing and then threw myself from his back.

My Glaciem magic didn’t catch right away, and I dropped like a stone. Pain stabbed through my head and felt like it was gouging my eyes. A hot spike drove up through my center, starting between my legs and pulsing out through the top of my head, as though I’d been impaled on a spike.

The shock of pain, and where it had originated, triggered a very female part of me. Shock and fear clawed at me. Tugging at my vulnerability. Urging me to run off to a dark corner to hide. Because everyone knew about the inexcusable things men did to women when conquering lands.

Whether the elves intended to stir those fears or not, they had.

Vulnerabilities made us stronger. My father had said that. You could not really hate unless you knew how to love. And you could not revel in rage if you didn’t know great passion. You would never know your true strength unless you gave in to your greatest weaknesses.

They hadn’t tapped into my greatest weakness, but they had triggered the kind of hot, consuming rage that took no prisoners.

I shoved back at their magic as I fell, catching myself in a hover for a brief moment before resuming the fall. I hit the ground and rolled, no stranger to being tossed around and rolling out of it. As soon as I found my feet, I charged straight at those bastards. Just like old times.

I dipped my hand into my pouch, lost a couple spells in the process, and found the one I wanted. I snapped the casing and threw, hitting the edge of their fancy little dais as they pushed together, shoulder to shoulder, and faced me, arms coming up.

This was going to hurt.

Their magic hit me like a fucking brick. It slammed through my middle and drove all my insides out through my back. They peeled my skin from my body and stole my vision. At least, that was what it felt like.

“Shit birds sucking on a crack pipe, what in the holy fuck?” I said, continuing to run. I pushed out my magic in front of me, like rolling a carpet under my feet, making sure I didn’t trip on anything. I didn’t stop. Probably should’ve, but I refused to give them the satisfaction. Fuck ’em.

I sliced through their magic, unraveling pieces of it, but they were both at my power level, working together, and I was outmatched.

My magic hit a bump, and then my foot did. My body kept going in total blackness, my vision still cut off, and flew. I threw out my hands, and good thing I did, or I would’ve hit one of them face-first. As it was, my palms hit a pair of boobs, and I latched on, angling my body to make a solid hit and take her down with me. We rammed into the dais, and I grappled instantly, so incredibly used to this sort of thing from years of bounty hunting and tackling marks. I wasn’t the best at that job for no reason.

I landed three quick punches to her upper chest, then adjusted my aim and smashed her nose. Hot liquid sprayed across my face and my vision flickered back to life. I crashed my fist into her face again and then struck out with air, throwing my hand to the side to get her beau.

“Guards!” the other turd shouted, warding off my attack with a blast of magic. Not only were they way back here away from the battle, safe from most danger, but they apparently had guards, too.

“Come on, Gumby, let’s fight fair and square.” I pushed up a little and yanked my foot up, slamming some lady balls before hopping over her and repeatedly ramming my foot into her side. She tried to fling magic at me. Tried to push at my face with her hands. I just kept going, slashing and burning with my magic at the other one while I physically assaulted this one. They clearly were not used to animalistic close combat. Where was Roger when you needed him?