“I did what I had to do for Dominion. For the village. And I will do what I have to do for the ones I love,” Ignatius said.
He spun around. Lightning rippled up and down his arm. He thrust his hand outward, and a great burst of white electricity sliced through the air. Maria shielded her eyes.
Malakai cried out as he took the blunt force of the magic square in the chest. He was knocked back a few feet into the street, but he didn’t fall.
Maria didn’t know how. Her jaw hung open.
Shock passed over Gramps’s face—eyes wide, lips parted.
That should’ve sent him back to the Dark Ages, he thought. Oh, he’s more powerful than I thought he’d be. This isn’t good. We are hurt. Salem is down. Agnes’s mind is preoccupied by Salem. The Muffler twins are of no use. And Maria, my dear Maria, she is not ready. Not yet.
Maria stepped forward. The same fear that had settled in her chest now struck Ignatius.
“Maria,” he demanded. “Stay back!”
“No,” she said fiercely.
So much like her mother, he thought, proud, sad, and worried all at once.
Maria took off, with the same blade that had slain Malakai once before held high above her head. Sherlock was at her side, barking ferociously—the dog Ignatius had known to be scared of thunderstorms and, on some occasions, fireworks.
The battle had started, whether Ignatius was ready or not. More blood would be spilt, that much he knew for sure.
But whose blood?
That was the true question.
Maria saw the smoking hole in the giant spider’s chest. Black blood leaked from it. She wondered briefly if something dead could feel pain. According to the anguish on Malakai’s face, she assumed they could.
Good.
Because Malakai had worlds of pain coming to him. The ice cream shop may not have been Maria’s go-to hangout spot, but Gramps and all his friends were her friends, too. They were her tribe. If you messed with Maria’s tribe, there was hell to pay.
She screamed as she ran upon Malakai.
He wants me to fear him. But I won’t let him see my fear.
Her screams were drowned out by Sherlock’s mad barking. A great love for the dog sprouted in her mind. She didn’t fear for her own life anymore; she feared for Sherlock’s, and for her grandfather’s, and for Salem’s, and for all those of the Senior Citizen Magic Brigade.
She had to put an end to it. Their lives were the most important…theirs and the village of Dominion’s.
She thrust the sword out in front of her. Fencing was not her game; she liked kickboxing and the occasional video game. Hell, she watched Game of Thrones, and the swordplay on there looked so intricate and difficult. No way could she be on that level.
But as the sword went out in front of her, and Malakai deflected her first strike, the hopelessness of the situation wasn’t complete. Swordplay apparently came natural to Maria.
She swung again.
Malakai deflected it once more, but a spark came off of his forearm. The chitinous armor of his spider DNA felt like concrete, and each blocked strike reverberated back up into Maria’s arm.
One sword versus six of those spider legs was not a fair fight. As Maria swung for a third time, picturing Luke Skywalker in her mind’s eye, a cold hand closed around her throat. The sharp claws dug into her flesh. She felt blood trickle down her neck.
“Ah—” she gurgled.
Malakai’s laughter boomed like thunder.
“Come any closer, Ignatius, and I pop her head off. You know I can do it.”
“Malakai, please. This is between you and I. Leave Maria out of it.”
Malakai tilted his head. “But it’s not, is it? This one here owns the music box; the music box that was stolen from the Arachnids. She is as much a part of the conflict as I am.”
Maria’s face turned from red to purple, slowly edging on black. Her vision went swimmy. Sherlock barked and barked, but the sound grew distant.
Still, she tried to talk. “F-F-F—”
The beast’s eight red eyes, glowing like dying embers, found hers through the darkness.
“What is that?” Malakai asked mockingly. “S-S-S-Spit it out!”
He laughed again.
The force upon her windpipe lessened. Cool night air flooded her lungs, tasting both amazing and bitter. Almost painful.
“Go ahead,” Malakai said. “Say your last words. Make them count. Last words; that’s a pretty big deal. You don’t want to waste them.”
His black lips were turned up into a smile, the fangs dripping venom in thick, pus-like gobs.
“F-F-Fuck you,” Maria said. And with the little bit of strength she had conserved, she kicked out. Her knee connected with the fizzling hole in Malakai’s chest.
It wasn’t much, but it was enough to surprise the Arachnid. He screamed out and his grip around Maria vanished. She still felt phantom fingers there; she always would.
She hit the street with a bone-crushing force that numbed her ass. Sherlock rushed toward her, his eyes wary, never leaving the creature that was bent over in the middle of Main Street.
You okay? Sherlock asked.
“Could be better,” Maria wheezed.
She wasted no time in getting up and finding her sword. When the hilt filled her hand, she felt stronger.
“No, Maria!” Gramps begged. “Run!”
She would never run. It was not in her DNA. Both Maria and Ignatius knew that.
Besides, run or not, the end was near. She could sense it.
“Do you believe her?” Tabby asked Claire. They were inside. Everyone had gone to bed. On the TV, the original Halloween played. Claire wasn’t a huge horror movie buff, but Tabby couldn’t get enough of them.
“I saw her skin glow,” Claire said.
“You don’t think she’s just going crazy like her grandpa?”
“Could be.”
Michael Myers watched Laurie Strode from behind a bush. Claire involuntary broke out in goosebumps.
“But she didn’t seem crazy to me,” Claire
