- 46 -

As the kotengu swooped down at Pandora, her life flashed before her eyes. Her body was failing, but seeing just how little of that life she had enjoyed gave her the strength to push herself. She couldn't die now that she was so close to being happy again.

Wood splintered at her back as she rolled away, the impact only missing by inches. But the creature had been too eager. It's beak caught in the wood giving Pandora time to crawl for safety as it wrenched itself free. How long would that take? Five, maybe ten seconds? She wouldn't get far in her condition, but there was nothing around that could guarantee her safety.

A loud crack signaled the youkai's escape. It's talons clicked against the deck as it approached her. Time was up and Pandora had to settle. She dragged her body under the line of deck chairs. She stared up at the steel slats above. The creature would be strong enough to bat around the metal frames with the ease of brushing loose feathers from its coat, but at least it put some kind of barrier between them. It would be an extra second or two to think.

The gun! Where is my gun? Her eyes scanned the deck for any sign of the lost weapon, darting back to the youkai every few seconds to monitor its approach. She was beginning to worry that it had slipped over the edge and fallen into the ocean when she caught sight of its leather carrying strap. She found it peeking out from behind a large metal pipe. Was it was an exhaust pipe, or some form of ventilation? She didn't know, but whatever purpose it served the ship's designers wanted people to stay away from it. A square of railing surrounded the pipe on all sides.

Pandora's mind chewed on the beginnings of a plan. If that railing held back passengers, maybe it could hold back the youkai's attacks; at least long enough for her to reload her gun. It could work. The problem was the fifty feet of open space between her and the railing. Even at a full sprint, the youkai would catch her before she reached it, and she wouldn't be going at a full sprint.

The thought was interrupted by the scrape of sliding metal. The youkai! She had kept her eyes off it for too long and it had reached the line of chairs. She watched as it climbed up onto the row and began to creep towards her on all fours. It was cautious, testing it's footing as it moved along. One foot fall send a chair sliding away. Another crushed an armrest under tow. But each failure made it more sure of itself. It was picking up speed.

Fuck. I need that gun.

But how? She hadn't gotten any faster, and the kotengu was even closer now. She needed a distraction. Her mind spun, but there was no answer. Creativity could work with a limited palette, but in the end you need at least one paint. Pandora had nothing. Her gun was across the deck. Her blood vials were back in the room. Hell, she didn't even have a shirt to take off and throw at the thing.

The youkai distributed it weight unevenly and the chair above Pandora leaned onto its back legs. The monster adjusted and the chair snapped down around her, pulling her attention. Her breath came heavy as the bird stared down at her through the steel slats. It was right above her. A quick glance back revealed plenty more chairs in the line, so she pushed herself up onto her elbows and started to crawl backwards.

The youkai followed after her. It was slow; still unsure of where it could safely place its weight. For a moment, she managed to outpace it, and even started to worry about running out of chairs, but the bird was impatient. It leapt forward and crashed down on top of her. Metal creaked as it twisted and deformed. Bending steel slammed into her legs. The pain jolted her body forward and her head cracked into the chair above her, making it jump.

She breathed through her teeth. When she pushed a hand to her brow it came back red. With a bit more probing she decided the cut was small. She turned her attention back to her legs. Best she could tell, they weren't broken, but they were pinned.

So much for crawling away.

While the kotengu watched Pandora struggle to free her legs, it let out a series of short squawks that sounded to her like laughter. It had her exactly where it wanted. The creature reared back, and she closed her eye, waiting for the impact. Anticipation ripped at her until finally she was a struck with a deafening clang.

Slowly Pandora realized she wasn't dead. She looked up to find the kotengu's beak stopped by the steel bars that made up the chair; the point mere inches above her face. Relief washed over her, but it was short lived. When the youkai pulled it's head back to try again, she noticed the impact had bent the bars out to the sides. Her barrier wouldn't hold forever. Pandora watched as each subsequent strike brought the beak closer to her face.

She stretched her head away from the rapidly opening hole, but the creatures strikes followed her. She could keep adjusting her position to buy time, but it wouldn't be long before a total structural failure. She was helpless. All the creature needed to kill her was patience. Luckily for her, its patience seemed to run out.

The youkai reared back once again, but instead of pecking at her it screeched at her from behind the mangled bars. It's vile breath made her gag. Her eye squeezed shut as bile caught halfway up her throat. She swallowed it back, then noticed the creature no longer above her. She only had a second to wonder where it had gone before she heard it land to her left.

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Pain erupted at Pandora's side. The deck chairs above her exploded out and disappeared into the night. She skittered across the deck. Another jolt of pain ripped through her as she slammed into one of the railing's vertical posts. The impact stole the air from her lungs, but that was a small price to avoid being thrown overboard the way the chairs had been. A faint splash sounded seconds later, giving her a morbid idea of exactly how far that drop would have been.

Does it matter? It only bought me a few more seconds.

The clicking of talons signaled the kotengu's approach. Her hiding place was sinking to the bottom of the ocean, her gun was even further away now, and she was cornered. There was nowhere left to run, not that she could even stand. The kotengu reared back, ready to strike. She knew it was over; she was going to die.

"I'm sorry, Lily."

Pandora always thought her death would be a surprise. That she wouldn't even realize whatever mistake lead to her end. She would continue with confidence until her life suddenly snuffed out. But as the youkai sprang forward, her calm evaporated. For the first time in years, Pandora flinched.

Her body fell out from under her. That flinch had inadvertently pushed her body past the edge. Her balance dissolved; she was slipping. Her stomach flew into her throat as gravity took hold. She flailed, desperate to grab hold of anything. The post! Her hand wrapped around it just before she slipped fully over the edge.

She swung in an arc and crashed into the side of the ship. Somehow her grip held through the shock of the impact, but it wouldn't last. Even fueled by the desire to live, she could feel her arm giving out. The lactic burn that proceeds total muscle failure engulfed her forearm. Her fingers drifted further away from her palm until she was holding on by only her fingertips.

The heavy beating of wings turned into the soundtrack of her of her fall. As the creature took flight once again, the powerful gust of wind it caused did what time would have done anyway. Her grip failed, and she dropped towards the ocean. Maybe it was because she knew it was coming, but she didn't scream when she fell. She sure as hell screamed when the kotengu swooped down and dug its claws into her sides, though. After catching her, the beast turned its gaze upward and began to climb in altitude. Each beat of its massive wings pulled them further up until they were above the deck again.

"What? Need to finish me yourself?" Pandora spat through gritted teeth.

It wanted to drop her onto the deck and watch her splatter. Maybe as revenge for shooting it earlier, or maybe it wanted a body to eat afterwards. Hell, maybe it simply found pleasure in killing. Whatever the case, it gave her an opportunity. But she would have to hurry, before the youkai flew too high.

Pandora leaned in to the youkai's grasp and bit down as hard as she could. She made sure to favor her left side, letting her fang sink deep into twitching muscle. The creature screeched, and it's grip fell away. Pandora dropped, this time with an unknown distance between her and the impact. All she could do was tuck her chin and hope that protected her head.

She struck the deck and bounced. For a moment she thought she was wrong about being carried back over the ship, but she could feel the wood grain beneath her fingers. The feeling of drowning was only the wind being knocked from her chest. She had landed unharmed on the main deck. Well, alive anyway. No small amount of luck had gone into that fact. A foot further to the left and she would have landed on a railing and snapped like a twig.

Wait! That wasn't the railing guarding the fall overboard. She had landed beside the vent where she had spotted her gun. She stretched toward the strap. Her middle finger tickled at the leather, but she couldn't quite hook the tip over it.

An enraged caw bellowed down at her. Everything she had gone through, only to end up in the exact same place: flat on her back with the kotengu barreling down at her. Exhausted, she let her head drop, and found herself staring at her arm. How could I have forgotten? The path she had traced for Gamal was still in place.

Raising her arm to the sky, she recited the curse. "I can't take it, it's just so amusing. You bask in the strength you'll soon be losing."

Darkness gathered in her palm, then rose like smoke towards the beast. It twisted itself around the creatures arms and wings and dug in like barbed wire. Pandora watched as the youkai's muscles locked and ceased. It dropped from the sky like a stone. The impact rolled across the deck and rumbled below her.

Pandora squirmed closer to the shotgun. As much as she wished that drop would have been enough to end things, youkai don't tend to be as frail as humans. She watched as the kotengu pulled itself up onto its feet. It trembled slightly, shaken by the impact, but the fall had mostly enraged the beast.

The kotengu slammed its talons into the wood, bracing itself. It leaned forward in a stance that reminded Pandora of the way velociraptors hunt. In the face of death, Pandora laughed to herself. Raptors have feathers, yet I never considered them. If she somehow survived this hunt, she still had room for improvement.

The kotengu seemed to take offense to Pandora's laughter. It cawed with the ferocity of a lions roar, then burst forward. The hundred feet of distance between them dissolved in a second. Pandora's confidence returned. No more hiding and no more second chances; the hunt reached it's conclusion here.

The kotengu opened its mouth and lunged forward, biting down around the barrel of a gun. Pandora flipped the thumb latch. The previous shell shot backwards, and the gun loaded a fresh round. She slammed her forearm into the barrel, forcing the breech shut.

"I hope you're hungry."

Pandora pulled the trigger painting the deck bright red. Gunsmoke billowed from the fresh hole in the back of the youkai's head. Slowly, it slid from the end of the barrel to collapse to the ground, and Pandora followed after it.

She was spent. Sleeping with a succubus had done enough, but between her open wounds and the blood price of her curse she didn't know if she could continue. She was dizzy. Her vision blurred. Her body felt like a sack of loose sand. If she went to Gamal's room in this state, she would die. If she didn't, Lily would.

The decision weighed down on her, holding her still as she considered it. She reached to her weapon and flipped the thumb latch again and made sure there was a fresh round in the chamber. She would need it. After all, if she didn't try to save Lily, she couldn't live with herself anyway.