CHAPTER 25 - ENTANGLED

The demon bear rushed me, and I swear I now totally understand what people mean when they talk about their lives flashing in front of their eyes. There was a brief moment where everything seemed to slow down and all I could see were those horrible red eyes, boring into mine. This creature was so full of anger and hatred that it was practically oozing out of its pores.

I screamed—I’d love to say it was in defiance, but I’m betting it sounded closer to terror. Thankfully the timer on my Drain Spell expired and I unleashed it as the thing barreled out of the hallway and into the kitchen. Even a second Drain Life didn’t finish it off, which shocked me. I figured two casts of the spell would probably do anything in. It had to be at least tier two, at that rate.

My zombies launched themselves at it from either side, grabbing hold of the bear’s shoulders and stabbing with their knives. The tiny blades looked pathetic next to the raw size and power of the bear, and it shrugged both zombies off, flinging them sideways. It reached the kitchen island and tore into it, shattering the marble top and ripping the wood panels apart.

But then Hope was back in the fray. My faithful puppy ran up to the bear, let back her head, and howled!

It was the same cry I’d heard right before the bone dogs attacked the station, the same nerve-chilling sound. This time, it didn’t do anything to me, but it clearly impacted the bear. The monster slowed and shook its head, like it was trying to shake off an annoying fly. It turned to glare at Hope and snarled.

“You leave my dog the hell alone!” I shouted as I swung my axe at the thing’s head. I hit—the axe head sunk a couple of inches into the side of the thing’s face. It staggered back, ripping the weapon from my hands, and clawed at the axe until it clattered to the floor.

I’d successfully gotten its attention back on me, which maybe wasn’t my best move. Thankfully, that Agility crystal was still working for me. When the bear swung a paw at me, aiming to take my head off, I dropped. Fast as I could, I just let myself fall to the floor so the claw sailed by overhead. Shards of wood broken loose by the blow embedded themselves painfully in my arm. Then I rolled, rushing back to my feet again. I’d never been this fast in the old days, so thank god for magic.

Both of my zombies were working the back end of the demon bear over with their short blades, stabbing it again and again. It ignored them, though, still focused on trying to hit me. Maybe it knew I was the person in charge? Either that, or my Drain spells were just doing that much damage. The timer was almost up. I had a feeling that one more cast and I could finish this thing off. I just needed to survive a few more seconds.

The bear lunged at me, but the weight of my zombies on its hindquarters slowed it enough that I was able to step back, out of the kitchen, toward the front end of the house. I heard voices out there. Help was on the way! I had people coming, so all I needed to do was hang on.

Then it was pushing through the hall, rushing at me with nothing at all to stop it. Just before it could arrive, Hope dove in the way and howled again. It slowed the bear, but didn’t stop it. Another second and first Hope, then I, would be torn apart.

I felt the Drain Life timer expire like a drink of water after a day in the desert. I reached out my right hand and cast the spell. Black mist shot from my fingertips and stabbed into the creature, sinking into it. The bear froze, withered visibly in front of my eyes, and then collapsed.

It was over.

I panted, trying to catch my breath. Almost on autopilot, I walked nearer to the thing. I wanted to be damned sure it was gone, but Hope rushed in to make sure for me, chomping it on the snoot. The bear didn’t react at all. It was well and truly dead, at last.

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“Nice job, pup,” I told her. She yipped in response. I swear, she acted more like a regular dog all the time.

The bear was gross, but it undoubtedly had a crystal, so I gingerly put my palm on its forehead. The fur was exactly as disgusting as I thought it would be, and I wanted to find some hand sanitizer fast. Or soap. Or something. But a nice-sized clear crystal popped out into my hand. Tier two, by the looks of it.

“Selena! You all right?” That was Alfred. He was there, with his team—and mine. I’d sent Tom to get him, and Neal must have met them on the way in and come back with them.

I nodded to him. “Yeah, I’m good. It’s dead.” I shot Neal a glare, and he blushed, then looked away. That’s right, you should be embarrassed, you shit. Running off and leaving me.

“Come on, let’s get you outside. There’s blood on your arm. You need Henry?” Alfred asked.

I followed him to the door and back out into welcome daylight, but I shook my head as I walked. “I’m find. It never hit me, just some shrapnel from its claws blowing up the cabinets in the kitchen. I finished it with a Drain Life spell, and it healed the cuts.”

“Gotta love that spell,” Alfred said with a smile. “I’m glad you’re okay. I came as soon as Tom reached us, but we were two houses away. Sorry it took so long.”

“All good. I’m going to sit here on the steps for a few minutes and let my team ransack this place, though. Now that the monster is dead, they should be safe enough.”

Tom seemed okay with that idea, but Neal shot me a black look that told me I’d struck a nerve. Well, that was intentional. He’d taken off when I asked him to have my back. That meant I couldn’t trust him, not at all. I plunked myself down on the steps like I said I would and leaned back against the cool stone, letting it soak some of the heat of the fight away from my tired muscles.

Turned out that casting Drain Life three times in rapid succession didn’t come without a cost. I was bone-tired, and it wasn’t fading away quickly like one might expect. I’d burned through a lot of some sort of resource casting that spell over and over. My gut, and a few wisps of memory from the spell stones themselves, told me I could improve that with more Will, so that would have to be something I chased down.

Tom stuck his head back outside. “Did you already get a stone from it? I tried tapping it, but nothing popped.”

“Yeah, I did,” I told him. “Got a tier two clear. I’ll give it to Lords when we meet up in a bit, okay?”

“Sounds good,” Tom replied. “We’re avoiding the bear and the basement, but working to get whatever food is salvageable from the kitchen and supplies from upstairs. I brought you this.”

He tossed me a damp facecloth. “You got a little bloody there,” Tom added.

“Thanks,” I replied, catching the cloth. I noticed he had my axe, too. “Can I have that back?”

He seemed a little reluctant, which I could understand, but he came forward and set it down on the steps beside me. “Sure.”

That was a longing look if I’d ever seen one, and I could totally understand. “Don’t worry, we’ll make getting weapons for you guys a priority. There might even be something in the garage here. I’ll join you guys once I rest some. We’ll want to check the garage, too. Might be something useful out there.”

It took me a good ten minutes and a light snack from my backpack before I felt well enough to stand again without a wobble. By that time, Alfred’s group had finished with their first house and jumped ahead of us to the next one. I’d just gotten back to my feet when Neal’s head poked out around the corner of the house.

“Hey, we went to the garage. Some cool stuff out there, but we could use your help,” he said.

“Oh! You could have waited,” I said, a little alarmed. They’d gone to investigate a new building without backup? Anything could have been hiding in there. “I’ll be glad to help.”

I scooped up my pack, slung it on, grabbed my axe, and followed him. My menagerie was in tow right behind me. The side of the house was covered with a nice lawn that ran alongside the driveway, but I couldn’t quite see the front of the garage from where I was at. It was tucked away fairly well back there.

It wasn’t until I reached the back yard that I got a good look at the garage and realized the doors were still shut. Neal was a few paces ahead of me, and Tom was right by the garage itself, but neither of them were in the garage, nor was there any sign they had been.

Alarm bells went off in my head, but I couldn’t think why they’d lie to me.

Then Tom reached out a hand toward me, and the grass writhed under my feet. It grew two feet in as many seconds, braiding itself around my legs. I was stuck!

He’d cast Entangle on me? For a split second I couldn’t understand why. Then Bradley came around the corner of the garage, his rebar in hand and a dark look on his face, and I knew I was in deep shit.