Page 35 of Justice
The wolves' attack did nothing to stop the monster’s advancement, and beside me, I felt everyone tense. We all knew we needed a plan, but what that could be was something outside my grasp. Fuck, but the task seemed impossible. I wasn’t the only one who thought so, of that I was sure.
We couldn’t even really fight it; our weapons were left in England. Not like I thought it would do much good being that the wolves’ bites didn’t phase it. “Do you have any weapons?”
Horo rubbed the back of his neck nervously. “Not much, we hadn’t needed to have much. We’re wolves . . . we attack with our teeth.”
Fuck. “Get me what you have.”
I watched for a brief moment as Horo disappeared down the hatch, and I wondered if he would return with weapons or pussy out and leave everyone above to fight for themselves. It was evident that we were currently on the losing side of this affair, and if I could swoop Liberty up and drag her away, I would do so. Unfortunately, I doubted any of the scowling men beside me would let me take her away to the unknown.
The monster moved close enough that the sand blowing from its body pebbled into my skin, the sting like a thousand miniature knives running through my flesh. The wind around us howled and screamed, the sound painfully piercing my eardrums. The monster opened its mouth and roared, causing us all to cower down and cover our ears as blood began to seep through our fingers. It fucking hurt; it was excruciating, but nothing nearly as painful as the embers that burned in my stomach as the monster reached for Liberty.
Behind me, the clink of weapons let me know Horo hadn’t abandoned us, at least not yet. I didn’t waste time seeing what he brought. I reached and grabbed the first weapon I could before stepping in front of liberty, ready to defend her. Not like she wanted me or would even let me do this alone. Instead, she stepped around me, saddling herself to my side, where she was sandwiched between Justice and me.
The events that had recently compiled against us had made her braver and stronger somehow. The Hag stone around her neck was still nestled tightly against her breasts, and the necklace, the fucking necklace made her look like the royalty she was destined to become. She was a force, standing tall, and at the moment, I may have had no fucking clue how we would pull it off, but I knew by the determined look on her face, that we would not only survive this, but fucking conquer.
She was ready to slay, and I’d never been so turned on in my entire life.
Above us, layers of clouds molded together, forming dark skies overhead before sheets of rain began to pour down. Our clothes got soaked in an instant, hindering our movement as we tried to go toward the monster. His screams of protest shook our surroundings as he batted at wolves and let streams of mud fly from his palm toward us.
The mud was hot, and had we not jumped to the side as quickly as we had, our flesh would have surely burned down to the bone. The mud hit the ground behind us, the sand hissing as the heat hit the cold ground. With the monster distracted, Sterling charged first, his sword aimed at the monster’s calf. He swung it, the blade disappearing through the sand before surfacing on the other side. The parted sand stretched, fusing back together as quickly as it separated.
He swung again, this time with Ellis joining him by swiping at the other calf. It did nothing to slow the monster down; the separation of his limbs had no effect as he reached toward us, his eyes set on one thing and one thing only. Liberty.
From the other side of Liberty, a compact, green ball left Justice’s hands and landed right in the center of the monster’s chest. One second ticked by, then the next, before an explosion of light burst outward, sending sand and mud blasting out before it boomeranged back in, structuring the monster’s body again.
“Well, fuck,” Justice mumbled. Yeah. I agreed.
I took in a deep breath, trying to avoid the sand and water as I inhaled, then let the magic I had tuned and tweaked for so long flow through me and into my palm. The sword's handle began to glow before the power traveled lower, taking over the whole blade. I swung it upward before charging forward, aiming for any part my blade could touch, swinging and digging wildly into the mass structure of living sand, looking for a weakness, a sign, anything that would help me defeat it.
Beside me, everyone did the same. Each time my blade hit, the magic would leave a dent, a scar, a tiny chunk out of the beast, but it wasn’t enough. One ding at a time wasn’t going to break him. One chip wasn’t going to stop him. One scar didn’t mean he was broke. Out of the corner of my eye, I watched Liberty, solidly holding her own as she dodged the grabs the monster attempted and sunk her blade wherever she could. It did nothing, of course. Not even a dent without the magic backing it up.
From the right, the sound of liquid caught my attention, and I turned in time to see a wave of water heading violently toward us. I opened my mouth to shout a warning, but it was too late; the water had already reached us, lifting our bodies from the ground and carrying us away from the monster. It was a fight to function in water that was riddled with sand, but each one of us put up the effort, knowing that if we stopped moving, the weight of the sand would pull us under.
I swam toward Liberty as Horo passed me, heading toward the monster with an odd weapon attached to his back. I didn’t stop him; my main focus was her as she frantically looked around. “My sword. I lost my sword, Oak!”
The sword was doing shit anyway. “Then we find another way!” I had to shout, even though we were a few feet away from each other, the noise nearly canceling out my voice. “There is another way.”
I had to believe that because the situation we were in right now was shit. Killing a monster that self-heals seemed to be nearly impossible. Finding the weakness to take him down was something unobtainable when we were fighting even to get close, when we were blinded by sand and half drowning in watery sludge. My fingers grazed against Liberty’s as the other men made it to her side, and I couldn’t help but grab onto her fingers, closing my hand tightly around hers.
“What’s he doing?” Justice asked, and we turned to his beta, who was struggling to swim in place as he aimed at our opponent. From his weapon, streams of fire erupted and hit the monster, causing tiny glass shards to fall away.
Fulgurites.
“I know what to do!” I screamed over the noise, then gathered what strength I could and pushed bolts of lightning out of my palms. The bolts hit in rapid succession, each one that hit chipping off a chunk of him. But, I was a vampire before a witch, and all the strength and skill I learned wasn’t enough to sustain for long. We needed more.
I turned toward the group and opened my mouth to tell them when a spark of light from Liberty’s necklace caught my eye. An idea caught, and as much as I thought to discount it, I couldn’t. “Liberty, use your necklace!”
“What?” She looked confused.
“Your necklace. It’s magic, right? If it can hold Justice for sixty years as a wolf, it could take down this little monster.”
Technically, I didn’t know if that was true, and visually, this monster was not little. But for the sake of pep talks, it was all I had to offer. “I don’t know how.”
“Mo chuisle, you will find a way.” I sent another bolt toward the looming form, my strength pulling from my body with it.
Beside me, Justice, Ellis, and Sterling crowded our girl, and I wasn’t sure if it was their comfort or strength they were lending, or maybe their bit of power sent to her to borrow, but the necklace went from a sparkle of light to a full-fledged glow. She looked down at the necklace in awe; the glow illuminating her face.
“Tell me what to do.”