“I don’t know what a draken is! LET ME GO!”
There was a loud crash and cursing from Luci’s captors.
“You little witchling bitch!”
Luci screamed again, and I acted without thinking. I punched my claws forward, and ripped the base off the tree apart, emerging into the bright light. Two Lykos and two vampyres stared at me, their jaws hanging open. The first vampyre cradled his hand, nursing a large burn. Luci hissed at him.
“Looking for me?” I snarled and exploded into action. I threw both of my knives, each of them finding a vampyre throat. They fell, gurgling with their hands at their throats, the first managing a high-pitched whistle before I struck. The lykos growled and I drew my short sword. I eyed them warily, but they didn’t attack—just continued to growl while backing away. The whistle must have been a signal, because the small scouting party quickly swelled, and I found myself surrounded by nearly a dozen ampyres and lesson demons. Luci backed into me, whimpering. Lesser demons were small, only coming up to my waist. Their skin was a dark red, their heads bald and eyes pitch black. They chattered at me, their sharp tails whipping back and forth with the promise of blood. Vaguely I noted the Lykos were gone.
“Got any other tricks up your sleeve?” I asked Luci, half kidding, half hoping she would. To my surprise, she responded.
“Grandmother says I can’t unless it’s an emergency.” Her black eyes were wide with panic.
“I think this would qualify,” I hissed back, as they slowly stalked us. I threw my sword into the chest of the biggest vampyre, then dove into the next with my claws and fangs. Three more quickly pounced on top of me, the first skewering himself on my hard, spiked back. His weight pushed me down, and I knew eventually they would overpower me, and I wouldn’t win.
“LUCI RUN!” I screamed, hoping she could get back to her people.
I felt a blast of heat and heard tortured screams. The scent of burning flesh hit my nostrils, but I ignored it as the bodies on top of me went still. I fought and clawed my way out of the pile to find the forest a holocaust of destruction. Luci stood in the middle, her eyes blazing as everything burned around her—the trees, the bushes, even the ground. We were trapped.
The smoke thickened, making it hard to breathe, let alone see. Luci screamed her rage and fear at the world, the fires blazing higher in response. I grabbed her arm and Luci snapped out of it, her sharp eyes darting around to the destruction. She went deathly pale.
“Come on, move!”
I snarled, but she was rooted to the ground. I tried to throw her over my shoulder, but my injured wing throbbed from being overworked too soon, and I tugged uselessly on her hand. How did such a small little thing stay so rooted to the ground?
“LUCI MOVE!”
I yanked hard on her hand again, but where would we go even if she did move? Everything was black, thick rolling smoke—it was impossible to see where the flames ended and more began. I tripped over the body of a vampyre and went sprawling. With shaking hands, I retrieved my dagger from his throat, feeling around for the other body, and thankfully closing my fingers around the hilt of my second one. I’d be inconsolable if I ever lost the first gifts anyone had ever given me. I sheathed them back around my thighs with shaking hands, and yanked my short sword out of a dead, flaming chest. All around us bodies were turning to ash, and if we didn’t find a way out, we’d be next. It was almost impossible to get a clean breath.
“Can you stop it?” I yelled back to Luci, but it was like talking to a large, terrified doll. I seized her hand again and picked a direction. Flaming tree limbs fell from the sky, making it impossible to move anywhere with confidence. The urge to let out a distress call was strong, but I tamped it down. That would be the quickest way to draw the demon hordes to me, and they were clearly already searching hard.
I coughed, wondering if I could fly us both away while struggling to get air. I grabbed Luci and held her tight to me, shielding us both with my wings as I flapped them hard as a last resort. I felt an odd tingle, then all the air vanished from my lungs. I was left sputtering and choking, releasing Luci as my hands went to my throat in blind panic. Where did the air go?
The flames around us instantly vanished, sucked back down into the ground and out of existence like they’d never been there to begin with. The forest around us went deadly silent, surrounded by blackened, charred remains and grey ash. Luci stuck her head out from behind my wing, and the air immediately returned. I fell to the ground gasping, relishing the feel of clean air returning to my lungs.
“LUCI! LUCI!”
A stoic, breathtaking woman with silver hair met Luci halfway, falling to her knees and seizing the small girl in a fierce embrace. Luci was babbling now, crying hysterically as she described the vampyres, Lykos, and demons who had come for us. A group of women halted a few feet behind the first woman, stopping together in formation as one cohesive unit. They all had the same silver hair and wore the same white linen shifts. Luci’s red hair stuck out like a flaming beacon. I rolled again, trying to get my feet under me. The woman shoved Luci behind her and raised her hands at me in a threatening gesture. I flared my wings again, flinging off soot and debris as my fangs flashed. My body still ached, but I could probably fly if I absolutely had to. That would likely be my own defense against a witch. If their glares were any
