Jennifer Rardin - [Jaz Parks 1] - Once Bitten, Twice Shy

As I turned to keep Liliana and Assan in full view, I could see Vayl and Aidyn over their shoulders, struggling for possession of the key Cassandra had dropped. The Enkyklios sat forgotten, half-buried in gook. Something about the scene it played called to me, and I narrowed my eyes, trying to discern details I was too far away to see. Vayl distracted me, shooting the sheath off his cane just as Aidyn threw a punch that connected with his shoulder. The missile flew off course, missing Aidyn completely, but hitting Assan in the back of the head, taking him directly to his knees and over onto his side.

Liliana didn't even spare him a glance as she said, 'You must admit I have the upper hand, Jasmine. Perhaps now you would like to hand over Cirilai? No? Well then.' She held both hands out, as if she meant to grab me by the shoulders. Then she closed her fists.

The vice gripped my heart so suddenly, so painfully, that I screamed. It felt as if she'd actually sunk her claws into my chest and squeezed. But that wasn't the worst of it. The worst part was that I couldn't catch a full breath, just shallow pants that made me even more desperate for air. A moment's release allowed me one whopping inhale, then the vice closed again, bending me backwards, bringing tears to my eyes. Through the numbing wall of blood and panic that pressed against my body I heard the sharp crack of a rifle shot. The Deganites screamed and the vice around my heart dropped away.

I looked up from where I'd been crouching, one hand on my chest, the other on my thigh, trying to prevent a full-body muck bath while the torch sputtered on the ground beside me. I had a moment to be grateful nothing else had caught fire as I searched for the source of the shot. Cole was swinging his gun back around, training it on the Deganites, though he spared me a look that could've meant anything. I read it as a command. I've done my part. Now stand up and do yours.

Liliana stood swaying, hands out for balance, the hole in her chest a bloody blob of muscle and bone. I grabbed the torch. It flickered to life as I raised it and leapt toward her. She held her hands out as if to resist me, but the injury left her too weak to maintain even token resistance. At the last moment I flipped the torch in my hand and rammed the jagged handle into the opening Cole had left for me. Liliana clutched the torch and staggered backwards, the shock and denial on her face lit by yellow and orange flames. Then her face was nothing more than a ghostly shadow made of smoke and steam as the remnants of her physical being fell to the floor, a heap of clothes and fake hair with a few particles of dust and ashes mixed in.

I moved past Bozcowski, who was digging in the mud, apparently under the impression that we were in the middle of trench warfare. 'Where is it? I thought I saw it fall over here. Where is the key?' he kept asking himself. I was pretty sure he was in the wrong spot, so I went to help Vayl, inwardly cheering as he delivered a smashing uppercut that lifted Aidyn completely off the floor and threw him five yards back. A black slash at his throat revealed how close Vayl had already come to taking his head. Then Assan rose to block my way.

'Oh, no you don't,' he muttered, holding his sword out before him with both hands, 'I still have plans for you.'

'It won't work, Assan. I'm not a willing sacrifice.'

'But you were once, and like most contracts, supernatural or otherwise, the word given to seal the deal is the one that counts.'

I felt an immense, fiery hatred for this miniscule pile of bones and trash that had dared to masquerade as a loving husband, a charitable soul. I would disarm him with a couple of well-placed kicks. Then I would disembowel him with his own sword which, as I eyed it, seemed more and more familiar. Where had I seen it? And recently too.

He jabbed at me, forcing me to back up, to close the distance between the Tor-al-Degan, still trapped behind a knee-high wall of flame, and myself. Then I suddenly had it.

'The Enkyklios,' I breathed.

'The what?'

The scene that had played out just beyond my vision had involved the sword. Someone, a tiny blurred figure shining with sweat, covered with blood, had fought the Tor-al-Degan with Assan's sword.

'I need that sword,' I told him.

'Don't worry, you'll get it.' His smile, white and gold teeth gleaming from a face half-caked with mud and grime, made him look purely demonic.

'Then come give it to me,' I demanded.

'I was never one to turn down a beautiful woman's invitation.'

I'll bet. I glanced over his head. Vayl had Aidyn down on his knees, one hand at his throat, the other holding his wrist, pressing hard, trying to squeeze a dagger out of his grip. He leaned over, inhaled deeply, opened his mouth and breathed icy air into Aidyn's face. I saw Aidyn's skin begin to crackle and darken. Meanwhile Bozcowski had moved to another mudhole in his desperate search for the key. Then Assan demanded my full attention.

He charged straight at me, sword held high before him. 'Run bitch!' he screamed. 'Run from your fate!'

'Now why in the world do you think I'd take your advice?' I asked him. Utter disbelief crowded the rage from his eyes as he saw I meant to stand my ground. But he didn't stop. He came steamrolling toward me, mud flying from his ruined shoes, sword cocked and ready for a killing blow. Still I let him come, and just as he began to make the cut I jumped at him, coming in under the arc of his swing, giving the blade only air and a small slice of my calf, not even enough to sting until later.

Remembering every tip I'd ever heard Albert give David during his high school football days, I went in low, head up so I could see, catching Assan just above his right hip, driving him backwards into a pillar. When I heard the air whoosh from his lungs I grabbed his right wrist and twisted while I drove my other hand hard into the back of his elbow. His agonized scream told me I'd done the move right. From there it was easy to tear the sword from his grip and drive him to his knees. He hit the mud one last time, cupping his broken arm with his whole one. I swung the sword hard and straight, taking his head so cleanly that it stayed on his neck for a teetering moment before it toppled off, hitting the mud a second before his body followed.

Twenty feet beyond my left shoulder, Vayl had also found a use for one of the pillars. He slammed Aidyn into one and the resulting crack surely signaled a fractured skull. Then he looked at me. 'This is your kill, Jasmine. I have been saving him for you. Come—' Words failed him as his eyes tracked away from mine, behind me, and the horrified expression on his face told me nothing, nothing, nothing, ever goes as planned.

I turned on one heel to find the Tor-al-Degan standing inches away, her reeking breath making me feel like I'd