“Why do you laugh?” Silas Carver asked, confused. “Is this another trick?”
“Job satisfaction.” Struggling back to my feet, I wiped the blood from my lips. “Let’s do this.”
I swung for his head. The monster blocked the blade with his forearm. If that had been a mortal human arm it would be lying in the grass, but all my heavy blade did was take a sparking chunk out of it. Backing up, I raised my kukri and delivered a downward strike with all my might. It hit so hard the impact vibrated through my bones. It only took a chip out of the side of his neck.
He was far tougher than when Gutterres had decapitated him, and that was after walking off being hit by an armored car.
His fist nailed me like a high-speed iceberg.
When I tried to slash him again, he caught my arm and flipped me onto my back. This last form was still crazy strong. He was regular Franks strong. Driving his knee against my throat to pin me, he twisted my arm, grinding it in the socket. I roared in pain. He was going to rip my arm off with his bare hands. He was going to pluck all my limbs off one by one like a malicious kid torturing a bug.
“Assei!”
Suddenly, the freezing grip released and the pressure on my joint was gone. The Drekavac lurched away, spraying fire from one ruined eye socket.
Sonya had come back.
With her father’s sword in both hands, she waded into the monster, striking over and over. Flaming bits flew off the Drekavac with each hit.
I hurt so bad that moving seemed mentally impossible, but I told my brain to shut up and got back to my feet. Sonya was swinging that sword so fast and with such wild abandon that it was like a steel weed whacker. She’d probably slice me by accident, so I flanked around to hit the Drekavac from the other side.
The two of us hacked madly at the monster as he desperately tried to intercept most of our blows with his arms. I took some fingers off. Sonya sliced a chunk of his face. But then Carver drove his shoulder into me, trying to get away from her, and it was like getting trampled by a bull. I went down and caught a freezing boot to the head that left me stunned.
Silas Carver was being driven back as Sonya kept wildly hacking at him. She wasn’t some mystical sword master. It was clear she didn’t know what she was doing. There was nothing smooth about it, except she was just supernaturally fast, terrified, and she was really motivated.
Except ultimately, she was just a kid, and Silas Carver had been killing people for centuries. The instant Sonya overextended herself, the Drekavac surged, and clotheslined her so hard that it probably caused an earthquake back in her family’s spirit realm.
“Damnable mortals,” Carver spat. He didn’t even breathe but it was almost like he was winded. He’d been torn to pieces, nothing but a tangle of broken wires, bleeding mass and spitting fire. He lurched toward Sonya, until he stood over her helpless form. He lifted one fist to crush her head. “Worst contract ever.”
I tackled him.
We hit the ground with me on top. I struggled up just enough to get a good angle, and then slammed the kukri through his face, planting it deep into both eye sockets. The steel sank in about an inch. Not good enough.
I left my blade planted in him, stood up, and stomped on the spine of the kukri, and I kept on stomping as the monster twitched and jerked, head wires popping, until I’d driven the steel all the way through and cut the top of his head off.
Silas Carver twitched a few times, and then he was still . . . Liquid fire poured out as the contents of his skull emptied, creating a puddle of ectoplasmic mud. The body slowly began to crumble into ash. I checked the east. It was getting bright, but no sliver of sun quite yet. Thirteen and done. We’d defeated him before dawn. He was done forever.
I spit on the disintegrating corpse.
Chapter 27
As the sun rose, Sonya and I helped each other up the path toward the grove. We were both in bad shape. I don’t know which one of us was leaning on the other more. I was over twice her size, but that whole spirit-hybrid-strength thing provided one hell of a boost in the durability department.
Okay, I’ll be honest, she was the one mostly keeping me upright, because I was messed up.
“The Ward is going to be late,” I said, punch-drunk with words slurred through my swollen lips.
“I told Stricken to stall them. He wasn’t happy but he’ll deal with it.”
“You shouldn’t have come back for me.”
“You said to do what my dad would do. What would my dad have done?”
“Slutty elves.” Then I giggled.
“Shut up. I’m trying to be heroic.”
“Thanks.” I meant it. She’d saved my life. And to think she’d said she wouldn’t make a habit out of it. She was all about looking out for herself, but when the chips were down, she’d risked her life to save another’s. “That was a very Monster Hunter thing to do.”
She didn’t say anything to that.
The path Stricken had indicated was easy to follow. It looked like a regular old hiking trail winding between the very lush undergrowth. Thankfully it wasn’t too steep, because if it was, I’d have to stop and take a nap, but that was probably just the brain damage talking.
“We’ve got company,” Sonya said.
We were about a quarter mile from where we’d crashed and a couple hundred yards down the path, when I looked back over my shoulder to see that a green deuce-and-a-half truck had pulled off the road and was driving across the field after us. The tarp was down, revealing that the back of the truck was filled with men in black uniforms. The
