Lilith, countdown from 5 minutes please. Let me know at each minute.
‘As if I would stoop to becoming your stopwatch. Why don’t we switch and you count for me?’
Because you would slaughter everyone if I let you have control. Do you know what non-lethal even means?
‘Of course. I have never participated in non-lethal combat, but a girl can try new things, no?’
I’m not risking the lives of innocent people for you to ‘try new things’. I’m staying in control.
‘Hah! I’d love to see you try, little morsel. If you haven’t noticed, it's been some time since we last ate. We’re starving. Once blood starts to spill, I doubt you’ll be able to stop yourself.’
We’ll see. If you’re right, then we get to eat anyway so start counting.
‘Sure thing, morsel. If only to prove myself right. 5 minutes starting… now’
The stables had two large aisles that spanned left and right of the main room. The front aisle was the one with the windows, and as such, was where we were all positioned. I joined Cecelia on the left side, while Phern covered the right. Sebil and Lucas were standing by the main doors, attempting to hold the barricade in place from the numerous civilians attempting to force it open with their bodies.
“Cecelia! I need you to promise me something.”
“Bandit, now is not the time to start pinkie swearing like we’re schoolgirls.”
“It’s serious, Cecelia. I haven’t eaten recently.”
Cecelia’s eyes widened, seemingly understanding the entirety of what I was about to say.
“I need you to promise me that you’ll stop me from killing anyone. I don’t- I can’t have any more on my conscience.”
She gave me a firm nod, and the look in her eyes told me that she was serious about preventing the same casualties that I was.
The best case scenario for us was to prevent any of the townspeople from entering the stables in the first place. If no one got in, then we didn’t have to risk injuring any of them.
I heard the sound of glass shattering as a brick crashed up against a nearby window. Thankfully, with the reinforcements that Phern had managed, the brick had only broken the glass on the outside layer. I would need to give Phern the biggest hug when this was over.
‘Four minutes left, darling.’
Good, one minute down, no Thrum residents inside.
The double doors in the front seemed to be taking quite the beating, but with the combined effort of Sebil and Lucas, it hadn’t given way just yet. I was starting to think this might not be as dire as I thought. I heard more glass shatter against the building, most likely from the various bricks and stones being thrown into the coated windows. One of the windows near Cecelia and I had a rock finally break through the hardene goo that it had slowly been chipping away at. One opening might not have seemed like much, but it was a sign that the fortifications were about to begin falling. I looked around for anything that could help to block the newly opened window.
“Cecelia! The trough!”
I was able to get enough of Cecelia’s attention to have her help me lift the trough in the pen into the window to lodge it and leave it blocked. With a great amount of effort, we managed to jam the trough into the window to at least make it difficult to crawl through. Just as we finished, yet another window’s slimy fortification crumbled.
“I got this, bandit!”
I gave Cecelia a confident nod and moved back towards the main room, figuring that way I could move to the left or right to help Cecelia or Phern, whichever needed help more. The scent of burning drifted playfully along my senses. I looked around at the others, but none of them seemed to be concerned with what I was smelling. They must not be able to smell it just yet, was it distant? I focused in on my sense of smell, once more experiencing the strange sensation of a radial ‘sight’ around me in which the vague outline of things appeared in textured scents. Once focusing, it was easy to smell where the burning was coming from. The ceiling of the stable was on fire. What I had thought were just more bricks hitting the window must have been something entirely different. How long had the fire been building on the outside?
I returned to my senses, calling out towards the rest of the group to warn them of the potential problem quite literally looming over our heads. “The ceiling is on fire! Don’t get caught under it if it comes down on us.”
“I was planning on standing under it until you said that.” Cecelia snarked back at me, using one of her circular devices as a shield to block one of the windows that must have fully broken.
‘Three minutes, morsel.’
As if the puppets outside knew of their dwindling time, their efforts doubled. The front door began to show cracks and splinters as the crowd forced their bodies into the doors. Not good.
The loud splintering crack from the back wall caused me to turn and see a lumber ax lodged into the wall. Then two. Then three. It seems a group of the townspeople had decided to get creative by making their own door where there was none.
When I turned back around to relay the two-pronged assault, I noticed that Cecelia and Phern were now having to deal with the townspeople that had started to crawl into the windows.
I watched Cecelia use her two adaptable weapons as tonfa-like batons, battering the townspeople in what looked to be a very painful fashion. Luckily, it seemed as though she was able to land a blow to the head that would ensure they stayed down. Some citizens will just have to live with some stellar headaches when they wake up.
Phern looked to be having a much better time dealing with the intruders in a peaceful manner. She darted around with impressive agility, grabbing on to a person’s leg and solidifying goo against a surface to hold them in place. When she couldn’t reach a foot, she would glue their hand to a wall in order to keep them there. She was slowly growing a collection of people posed like they were playing some sort of charades party game gone wrong.
Sebil also seemed to be fairing just fine considering the circumstances. The same crossbow that had been used many times before was being wielded once more. Through the growing cracks in the double doors, Sebil would fire the bolts into a leg, sending a pulse of electricity through their body, putting them asleep faster than anyone else was managing to. I didn’t want to ask how many more bolts he had available out of fear I wouldn’t like how little it was.
Looks like we each have our problems then. I would handle the ones on the back wall. Once the townspeople had axed their way through enough wood to squeeze through, the seeped inside of the stable like weeds.
Okay, non-lethal, should be simple, right?
I moved towards the first intruder, dodging their ax swing and grabbing the hand that held the ax in the same motion. I slammed their hand into my knee to force the ax out of their grip and onto the floor. My plan worked flawlessly, aside from the part where his other hand swung directly into my nose. I reeled back in pain, gathering enough of my bearings to avoid the following swing.
He was graciously far too invested in hitting me that he didn’t bother to go back to pick up the ax. I let enough anger flood into me that shadows formed along my forearms, remembering to close my fists in order to avoid slicing anyone with the claws. I’d be able to hit a bit harder like this, and more importantly, I’d be able to take more hits to my arms without them breaking or otherwise.
It took a great deal of effort, but I was eventually able to return to the offensive against the man, swinging a fist hard enough towards his face that he went flying back against a nearby wall. Shit. I didn’t kill him did I?
I ran towards the limp man and put my ear against his chest. It was still beating, thank Gods. Unfortunately, it was another painful reminder of how hungry I was. The next two townspeople crawled through the gaps in the wood by the back wall.
‘Two minutes…’
I ran towards the two mundane looking people, a man and a woman. The woman wearing an oversized coat, and the large lumbering man wearing a very official looking outfit. Both of them still wielded axes, and made it very clear they planned to use them, swinging just past my cheek as I dodged out of the way of one of the swings.
Keeping up with the two of them proved difficult, one swing usually leading directly to another as they alternated their attacks seamlessly. Eventually, the man landed a firm swing into my left shoulder, the ax grinding against bone as it settled into its place firmly in my flesh.
“Dad! What are you doing?”
I turned to the voice, my face paling as Danil stood in the doorway to the mailroom. I told that kid to stay inside!
“Dad, they’re trying to help us!”
“He can’t hear you, kid! Get back!” I replied, looking towards the man who I now knew to be the sheriff of the town. I watched him pick up the ax from the first man that had fallen to the floor. The sheriff looked to me, and the ax that stuck out from my shoulder, and then shifted his gaze towards the teenager that stood in front of the mailroom.
I moved between the two of them, nearly avoiding a swipe from the sheriff when I got there. I needed to keep the attention on me, and away from the gate guard who I doubted had combat experience. Once I had gotten there, the sheriff, woman, and I all froze from a deafening crack that reverberated through the support beams. The roof was caving in.
‘One minute…’
The flaming pillar burned with such a beautiful dance that it captured my attention nearly the whole time it was falling into the stable. My attention was quite forcefully brought back to the fight at hand as the sheriff's ax slashed across my face. I turned back to swing a fist towards his face only to find that he was currently being tackled by someone. The pillar crashed to the ground near me, pushing a wave of intense heat and uplifted ash my way in its glorious impact.
When I looked back towards the man, I noticed that he had been tackled by Lucas. Did he run over to this side before the pillar fell? Why was he here?
I watched him raise the magical restraints over his head, swinging them down onto the head of the man. The blow was blocked by the sheriff’s ax, before the sheriff kicked the Marked off of him entirely, sending Lucas sliding across the ground towards me.
“Why the fuck are you here? You’re supposed to be at the front door!”
“I don’t trust you alone with the kid.”
“That’s rich coming from a bandit!” Danil commented, clearly unaware of the full complexities of the situation. Lucas seemed frustrated about the fact that Danil viewed him as a bandit and me as a hero. Must be tough to be viewed that way, huh Lucas.
“Deal with the woman if you’re going to bother me.” I commanded, running forward again to re-engage with the sheriff as Lucas ran towards the other woman that had broken in through the back.
Once I had gotten close enough to the man, I waited for an opening to strike. Sidestepping a powerful downward swing allowed me the grace I needed to land a firm punch across his face. Even with the shadows wreathed around my arms, the man had treated my punch like any other. That very same punch sent another man hurtling mere moments ago, leaving me momentarily shocked. My faltering stupor allowed him to wrap a firm meaty grasp around my throat. Before I knew it, I was flying through the air until I impacted the flaming pillar.
“Nooooo!” The squeaky voice of Danil pierced through the miasma of our fight.
I scrambled away from the pillar as fast as I could, the scent of searing flesh along my back making my stomach growl in pathetic hunger. I coughed up the blood that forced its way up my throat. Gods this man was strong. While I stumbled back into the fray, it seemed that the sheriff had once again shifted his target back to the Danil.
I watched in horror as the sheriff raised the ax to cleave it down towards the boy. I could see tears streaming down the teenager's face as he pleaded.
“Dad! It’s me! Please!”
I couldn’t make it in time, but as much as I was remiss to admit it, Lucas had saved the day. The Marked had thrown himself into the sheriff, knocking his swing wide from its target. The sheriff didn’t take well to being interrupted, grabbing Lucas by the throat, much like I had been, before throwing him towards me. I planted my feet in the ground and did my best to catch the Marked to prevent him from landing in the flames like I had. The impact still managed to rip the breath from my lungs.
“Fuck! Gods your body is boney!”
Lucas pulled himself out of my grasp as soon as he was able to. “Don’t touch me, beast. I don’t need you fantasizing about eating me.”
“That’s not- Your elbows hurt like a motherfucker.”
“I would hope so, I utilize them as weapons when hand-to-hand fighting.”
The two of us rushed back towards the sheriff, who had stalked Danil back towards the mailroom. He was unable to pull back his ax as my hands had already wrapped around his. I could feel that my claws were starting to sink into his arms as I held them. Sorry sheriff, you can ticket me later for assaulting a guard.
While I held him in place, I felt the boney body of the Marked use my shoulders as a stepping stone to leap onto the sheriffs shoulder and wrapped the magical restraints that held his wrists together around the man’s neck.
For a moment, I thought our conflict was reaching it’s conclusion before the man swung his head backward, connecting with Lucas’ head with a sickening crack that made my head hurt just from imagining the pain. Lucas tumbled down onto me, freeing the sheriff from my grasp.
The man grabbed Lucas by the throat once more, throwing him into the far wall, a resounding crack telling me he had become lodged in the wood much like I had been in the inn earlier.
I tried to clamber back up to my feet before receiving a dazing kick to the face that sent me rolling away in the direction of the flaming pillar once more. My entire head spun like it had been detached from my body and used in a sport.
I could barely make out the shapes of the father and son through my head injury. I saw the sheriff land a swing with the ax into the boy's leg as he attempted to run by. Drawing blood and dropping Danil to the floor like a puppet with their strings cut. Maybe not the best comparison to draw at a time like this.
“Dad please! It’s your son! Don’t kill me please!”
Danil attempted to backpedal on the ground as his father slowly stalked towards him. His father raised the ax once more, intent on swinging it directly into the kids head. I didn’t need Lucas to stall for me this time, I had transformed my body enough to utilize the full sprinting speed I had access to on all fours. I was able to place my body between the ax and Danil as the sheriff brought it down. It lodged painfully in my back as I hunched over the boy in my shadow form. Rivulets of blood streamed down the translucent coatings that covered my entire body as swing after swing ripped through the meat of my back. I didn’t dare imagine the sight from Danil’s perspective. I knew blood was dripping down my face, and my fangs showed the carnivorous nature of my identity.
By the time I had ensured Danil’s safety, the ax had sunk into my back enough times I no longer had the strength to fight back, barely even able to raise myself on to my feet to allow Danil to crawl out from under me. The blood that soaked the ground around assaulted my nose, filling my mind with thoughts of how h u n g r y I was.
‘Last minute is up, the spell should drop any second.’
The sheriff made me hurt. I could practically feel his heart beating in his chest.
‘Careful, fledgling. You’re losing yourself.’
He ripped all of this blood from my back. It was only fair if I got his blood in return.
‘His eyes, darling! The spell is gone!’
The ax dropped to the ground. My prey must know there isn’t any point in fighting back. Gods he was full of nutrients. He would make a good meal.
‘You’re going feral, fledgling! Can you hear me? You need to get a grip!’
I prowled towards the helpless man as he stepped away from me. His delicious fear must have made him clumsy, as he tripped onto his back, crawling away from me as best he could. It wasn’t good enough.
With practice grace, I lept on top of the man, leering down into the man’s eyes. They painted a breathtaking picture of desperation. It was almost like I was watching his greatest regrets playing out in the glossy irises.
He stuck that ax in my back quite a few times, it only made sense that I could play with such a fun toy before eating him. I leaned in towards him, smiling to show him the tools of his imminent death before licking his cheeks to savor the adrenaline that coated his sweat.
‘Can you even hear me, darling? You need to stop!’
A rock hit the side of my head. I turned to face three people who had just crossed the flaming pillar that set the stage for my dinner. They wanted to take my food from me. He was m i n e.
The blonde haired human was shouting something at me, attempting to wave me off of my prey. She wanted to take my food from me? Unacceptable. I was so hungry, I needed this food. I returned to my prey, lifting up his left arm and sinking my teeth into the flesh. I would start with an appetizer.
I only managed one bite before a world of pain seared every inch of my body. I screamed out in agony as a thick electricity worked its way through my body. It hurt! Too much pain. Too much pain.
I looked at the man, some kind of weapon in his hand. He must pay, he made me hurt. I will have two meals tonight. When I closed in on my prey, the other two by his sides started to move towards me. Very well, if the humans wished to be eaten as well, then I would pluck the kidneys from them with glee.
The smaller woman threw strange magical blobs towards me, easy to dodge. Was she even trying? I closed the distance towards her in an instant, her eyes flaring in a delicious portrait of surprise. Before I could close my jaw around her, something had bashed the top of my head causing me to reel back in pain. The tall woman had hit me with a large warhammer! She would die next. When I tried to move, I found myself unable to, I had stepped into the magical blobs from earlier. Was that planned when the small woman had missed me?
Not enough to hold me. I let out a screech and ripped my paws out of their restraints, charging into the tall woman fast enough to throw her back into a wall. I followed up my attack with a swipe of my claws, but it only caught a strange metal device. It was the man once again. They would not stop getting in the way of my f o o d!
Too many. I need to eat, not here. Not here!
I twisted around and began to charge through the broken wall. It gave way with ease, blinding me with the bright light of the last moments of the sunset. There was nothing to hold me back, I needed to find food.
I raced out of the strange town I found myself in, there had to be food in the wilderness away from the humans that only brought pain.
‘Listen to me, little morsel! You need to calm down!’
I hunger. I need food I need to eat.
I felt desperate as I ran on all fours, leaving the town with so many vile humans. I could see a crowd of them at the building I ran away from. They looked confused, many of them pointing towards me and yelling. Would they hunt me? I needed to eat, I could not be hunted.
I will leave and find food, far from the humans that hurt me.