"Now," I told Bryce. "It's recovering for the moment."
The plane propelled forward with a sharp movement. I fell back into a seat and scrambled for the seatbelt. Even as a vampire used to flying redbills, I hated these deadly metal contraptions that humans insisted on piloting. It was completely unnatural in sensation. Redbills fared much better, and I could actually bond with them, just as I had with Drigar.
Lyra helped Sike with his seatbelt. The plane accelerated forward and gave a mighty lurch when Bryce raised it off the ground. A thump sounded from the bottom of the plane, making my stomach clench. The monster was fighting to get to us, even now.
"Hold on," Bryce yelled as he pushed the plane harder and faster into the sky. Up and up we rose. Sharp nails snatched at the plane's frame until the aura itself was attached to the plane. Bryce grunted as the unexpected weight threw the plane completely off balance.
We rose at a sharp angle as the beast desperately scraped at the tail of our plane, trying to succeed in getting on top. The smell of human panic, sweat and stress hormones, made the experience doubly overwhelming. Bryce maneuvered wildly, attempting to throw the beast. It was to no avail. I heard the metal crumple around the monster’s grip.
"Its aura is as powerful as ever." In fact, I felt the burning sensation grow stronger. The monster thudded against the plane and suddenly disappeared, but the aura jumped up above me. I turned to Bryce. "It's on top of the plane."
"Oh, excellent," Bryce snarled and jerked the controls to the side. Lyra tensed in her seat as the plane shook. It was too rough for her to stand, and there was no way to attack it while it was on top of our rocking aircraft. We were helpless in this moment, utterly dependent on Bryce’s piloting skill. The plane straightened out for a moment as we had to coast above some of the nearby trees. Lyra quickly undid her seatbelt and threw herself out of her seat. She dashed over to the puncture marks forming in the top of the plane and aimed her gun, waiting for the metal to split open from a powerful claw. The aura above me froze and then moved to the side.
"It's coming around," I warned her. She gritted her teeth in frustration and fired a round, but the bullets flew through the air without making contact, crumpling the plastic walls they hit. My stomach clenched as the tingling in my body grew larger, as if a wave of the creature's aura had come smashing down on me. "Lyra, stop."
She paused. Heavy thuds battered across the ceiling and the left side of the craft. Cam jostled in his seat from the force of the beast’s movements, looking green in the face. His gaze went to the back of the plane.
"The shots are enraging it," I cried over the sound of screeching metal. A horrible grinding noise caught my attention from the side window, and the plane dipped sharply. My hopes dropped as I realized the creature must have hit our left engine. The metal above us crinkled under the weight of the beast. Wind whipped around as the beast tore at the ceiling, pulling a chunk back like the top of a metal can. I spotted the distinct hints of white claws and noticed something dripping.
We could see it. Or part of it.
I chucked what I could throw at it, using the heavy toolbox next to me, as it was the first thing I could grab. If we were going down, tools for the plane were the least of our worries. The beast was thin and spindly, shaped like a lizard, with long teeth in a large mouth. Whatever cloaking or camouflage it had was failing, revealing strangely milky skin with leathery scales. It reached down to swipe at me, but I drew my blade and slashed up as Lyra fired another shot. The beast howled, and now the sound overwhelmed us with its ghastly tone. Away from the ground, it was twice as loud, even with the wind whipping around us. Leaving the Leftovers had finally allowed us to hear it in its full glory.
Bryce slammed his hand on a red button, and a panel opened, revealing parachutes. Lyra fired at the creature as Bryce yelled for me to grab the parachutes. I'd never used one before. I threw them to Bryce, Cam, and Sike, saving one each for myself and Lyra. Cam ignored his, providing covering fire while everyone else donned theirs.
Luckily, backpacks were easy enough to put on without instructions. I glanced at Lyra, and she gestured to the cord on my parachute. "I'll tell you when to pull, if we go down," she said as the plane rocked. Sike and I had sat through a brief tutorial on parachutes before the mission, but it was nowhere near enough to prepare us for a situation like this. Even with my advanced healing and strength, I didn't want to take a fall from the sky like this.
Lyra quickly hoisted the backpack over her shoulders as Bryce steadied us. The plane gave a creak as Cam pulled back to shoot at the beast while Lyra buckled herself into her parachute. As the white skin flashed again, his bullet made contact with the creature, earning a scream. My blood staggered with adrenaline.
"We can hurt it if we see it," I yelled. Unfortunately, it was good at dodging. The creature forced itself through the opening on the top of the plane, its body slamming against the walls. Its huge body left it no room to turn, and the rest
