I was growing used to how ferocious these little Earthlings were when it came to battle and war.
If Emma was any indication, they would be worthy allies one day.
“First, we’re going to work on self-defense. I’m going to throw something at you and I want you to deflect it away.”
I imagined a dirty snowball and by the time I pulled my arm back, it was in my hand.
“Ready?”
“Wait. Let me figure this out first.”
“Here it comes.”
I hurled the dirty snowball at her, tossing it underarm so it wouldn’t hurt her.
She ducked and raised her arms but it struck her on the leg.
She lowered her arms and peered over at me.
“The Shadow got you,” I said.
“It’s not fair. I wasn’t ready!”
“When Iav attacks, he won’t wait for you to be ready. He’ll attack when you’re not ready. That’s how the Shadow win at anything. They cheat and lie and steal. It’s a lesson we learned long ago. Never underestimate the Shadow or their desire to win. They will do anything to get what they want. There’s no way to beat them but to be as merciless as they are.”
“I understand.”
“Let’s try again,” I said, turning my back on her and filling my hands with a pair of dirty snowballs.
The Shadow didn’t hurl snowballs.
They threw writhing shadows that, if they successfully struck, would slither up their victims’ bodies and enter any orifice it could reach.
Then it would tear you apart from the inside.
But I didn’t tell Emma that.
She was likely terrified as it was.
“Are you ready?” I said.
Thump!
Something struck me on the shoulder, slithered down my arm, and splattered to the floor.
It was wet and ill-formed but the attempt to create a dirty snowball was a reasonable one.
I looked over at Emma, who stood coyly with her muddy hands at her sides, gnawing at her bottom lip.
“Sorry,” she said. “I couldn’t help it. Your back was turned and I thought…”
A smile curled my lips and I grinned at her effort.
“Very good. You’re a fast learner. Never apologize for taking advantage of every opportunity you can put your hands on. The Shadow will not hesitate to use theirs.”
A pair of dirty snowballs formed in Emma’s hands and I felt a shiver up my spine.
Emma was exciting.
I grew aroused as she pulled her arms back and threw her weapons at me.
I summoned a shield of black to block them, then inserted a slit in the front so I could see Emma on the other side.
The snowballs struck my shield.
Emma already had another pair of Shadow snowballs in her hands—these already a marked improvement over the ones she had thrown earlier, each iteration becoming stronger than the last.
I grinned despite myself.
This was going to be fun.
And it was.
I lowered my shield and came out with a plasma rifle—loaded with a canister of not plasma energy but Shadows.
Emma’s eyes boggled.
“No fair!”
She dropped her snowballs, turned, and ran.
I pulled the trigger and miniature snowballs streamed toward her, nipping at her heels but failing to hit her.
She ran toward the wall and, the moment she reached it, pulled her arm back, yanking a sheer wall from it.
My snowballs struck it ineffectively but I kept on firing, keeping up the pressure.
“You can’t stay behind there forever,” I said. “Now what are you going to do?”
Thump thump thump thump thump.
I maintained the rate of fire but didn’t move around the wall to confront her.
This was a new world for her, a new reality.
She needed a little time to grow accustomed to it.
She would—
One of my own snowballs bounced off the wall and reflected back at me.
It lost its strength and skidded along the floor.
Clever girl.
She’d turned her wall into a deflector shield.
I leaped to one side as the snowballs slapped at my feet.
I stopped firing, causing the snowballs to cease.
I created a large hammer carved from the shadows and hurled it at the wall.
It cracked and smashed like it was made of glass.
The shards clattered to the ground.
“Haha!” I said.
I raised my other hand and had a snowball cocked and ready to be launched.
My grin faltered as Emma held a raised pistol and pulled the trigger.
It smacked me in the chest and knocked me backward.
She’d struck me fair and square.
She hopped on the spot, her arms over her head, squealing with delight.
“I got you! I got you! I got you!”
I saw an opportunity to teach her a lesson.
Without waving my arms or removing my eyes from hers, I summoned a black wave up behind her.
It started some way back to gain in momentum and size.
Emma wasn’t aware of it as she continued celebrating.
She noticed my mask of heavy concentration and knew something was up.
She must have sensed something behind her.
She turned to witness the wave as it washed over her, knocking her to the ground.
“Well done on hitting me,” I said, “but you can’t let one victory rob you of your focus—”
Emma threw out a hand.
It wasn’t long enough to reach me and I wasn’t concerned.
I sighed.
“Emma—”
A hook followed in her arm’s wake and wrapped around my ankle.
She tugged on it with all her weight.
The cord tightened and yanked my foot forward.
She used the wave’s momentum to knock me on my ass.
She slammed into me and I grasped for her.
She struggled against me but I pulled her toward me.
I summoned a snowball and pressed it toward her, but she blocked it with her elbow and slammed my own snowball against me.
She was a natural.
I lay there, gasping, clutching her in my arms, the two of us smothered with thick mud head to toe.
Her hair was matted and dirty and she had smudges of dirt on her cheeks.
She grinned and looked up at me, her hand pressed against my arm.
She looked at my muscles and her eyes slowly slid along my chest, visible through my shirt, and up into my eyes.
I was as hard as a rock and, luckily, though my leg lay against her, my cock was pressed into the hard surface of the
