Twenty-four hours had passed. The Yür hadn’t sent other pieces of itself to murder us. We were waiting and planning. Marie had tinkered with the shredder in case we received another visit, and I had hunted two rabbits just outside the house.
Cooking them without electricity had been a pain, but there was a fireplace in the house. Not my most brilliant dish for sure.
I was regularly checking on our jailor, but it still couldn’t get closer to us. Sometimes it circled around, sometimes it just stood there, in the middle of the forest, silently. As it couldn’t move a lot, it couldn’t grow either and its shape hadn’t changed a bit. Maybe that was why it hadn’t sent other globules to us.
The night had been rough. Marie had barely slept, and I did not sleep at all, not when the curse was so close from us. I didn’t know how Marak could hold on to the spell for so long, but apparently, he had found a way.
Still, this couldn’t be going on for much longer. The clock ticking was in our favor, not theirs.
“I’m going to get sanctioned for missing all my required lessons.” Marie said flatly. We were in the bath together, water hadn’t been cut in the house, and Marie had warmed it up with some sort of basic fire magic. She didn’t have much of it left, with no way of doing the nature ritual, as she had not taken Illy’s glyphs with her. The rest of her energy was needed to make the sink shredder work, so this warm bath was our last piece of luxury.
Talking about luxury, it could have been the definition of the bathroom we currently enjoyed together. Large, with a bathtub the size of a jacuzzi, and everything covered in marble and silver. It was extremely modern but had no windows to the exterior. As electricity was missing, it would have been mostly dark inside, but Jeanne was an old being from long before Tesla and Edison, and we had found lots of candles hanging around.
The setting would have been extremely romantic, in an old American cheesy eighty’s way, if there hadn’t been a giant blood monster set out to kill us.
“I don’t think it's important right now.” I answered my girlfriend.
“I want my diploma.”
“You’ll study witchcraft afterward anyway.” I retorted.
“I worked hard to get it. My mom paid for my tuition. I will never be able to tell her I’m a witch, but at least she’ll know I’ve done my best at school.”
I sighed. “I get it. Still, it’s the least of our worries now.”
“It is pissing me off.”
“Yup.”
Marie splashed water in my face.
“Hey! What was that for?” I protested.
“Mean boy.”
I splashed her back.
Marie didn’t react and looked straight at the ceiling.
“What are we going to do? We can’t exactly wait here forever, Gray.”
“We could. They have gotten the ire of Astarte, not us.” I noted.
“Nah, they’ll act before that. Whatever Alik is planning, us being stuck here is part of it. I’d like to mess with this plan of theirs.”
“And I would love to do it too if only we could leave this place. The question is, how?” I agreed with her.
“Well, let us review what we know: Magic is useless on it, except if it is coming from the magic that created it.” Marie said.
“We can’t very well count on Marak, so that’s out.”
“Shredding it while in contact with lots of water is effective. Or maybe you’ve just got the stomach of a Tarrasque.”
“A what now?” I asked.
“A Tarrasque. It’s a monster in D&D, its stomach is basically a portal to death, and whatever falls into it ceases to exist.”
“Hard to get nutrients out of that. Seems like a waste of food.” I commented.
Marie laughed. “You’re such a dingus.”
I pinched her calves.
“Hiiii! Gray! Stop that.”
“Sorry not sorry…your theory is sound though.” I continued on a more serious tone.
“You’ve got an interdimensional stomach?” She teased.
“No. Not that one. I mean about the fact that if it gets shredded to pieces, the Yür can’t regenerate or move anymore.”
“And that’s all. The two ‘weaknesses’ we’ve found. The second is the most promising, but, how do you shred something two stories tall into little cubes?” Marie asked out loud.
“While making sure it can’t transform into liquid.” I added.
“Yeah, this too.”
I sank deeper into the large tub.
“Wait a second Gray! That’s it!” Marie exclaimed.
“I didn’t say anything…”
“We bring it to the ocean! We fight it in the ocean. Well, you fight it in the ocean.” She corrected with an apologetic stare.
I grimaced. “How am I supposed to do that?”
“You transform into a wolf, go at large and rip it in pieces!”
“I’m not a shark.”
“In all those years, the Beast hasn’t learned to fight in water?”
“A MOST INTRIGUING PROPOSAL.”
“…The Beast seems to like your idea.” I announced.
Marie grimaced in turn. “I’m not really sure about my plan, suddenly.”
“Yeah, me neither. I still feel we’re missing something. Why is this Yür thing so rare if it is that strong?”
“I don’t know, because it has only recently been used? No real point in summoning something if you’ve already trapped the thing you want it to kill. Photographs only exist…”
“Pictures have existed for more than a century.”
“Not high-definition ones.” Marie retorted.
“Why would it need high-definition? It clearly doesn’t have eyes to see.”
“Maybe it does? Maybe it can see everywhere with magic and that’s how it hunts?” Marie proposed.
“Maybe…” I was so close, I felt I almost had it, but couldn’t find it. “Fine, we’ll try your plan.”
Both of us stood inside the garden, I was already naked, ready to transform.
“You stay on my back at all times, until the fight begins.” I ordered.
“Yes. And then I can always use vines to rise above the water, don’t worry.”
“Vines?”
“Yeah, Illy taught me her signature spell.”
“I’d like to learn that one.”
“What for? If you ever used it, you’ll just create an absurd vine rising above the clouds to the kingdom of giants.” Marie teased.
“Too much sarcasm. Not good for your skin.”
“Oh no!” Marie grinned. Unlike her tone, she was nervously grabbing her arm with the other.
Stolen story; please report.
“I like using sarcasm when I’m stressed out as well, Marie. It’s alright.” I tried to reassure her.
“I know.” She took one long inspiration. “Let’s do this.”
I began transforming.
We fused through the trees. I was feeling so at ease in those woods. Except the game was scarce, where birds and mammals should have been frolicking in this birth of spring, nothing. Everything was scared, hiding or fleeing the monstrosity breaking the sanctity of the forest.
It was north of us, which was good because we, were going west.
I ran and ran, jumping across cold flowing water, trees and rocks, while Marie was holding for dear life, probably scared by the idea of hitting a branch and falling off.
Which wouldn’t happen. Silly mate.
When we arrived on the rocky shores, a tumultuous sea met us with a gust of wind and seawater.
“Ok, this seems colder than I thought.” Marie commented.
I grunted. Why did she think I didn’t want to do this?
“I got the message, Gray. If we get home, I’ll make you free hot chocolate for the rest of the year.”
I growled appreciatively; this trade seemed fair.
Marie laughed silently, then held on to me tighter.
“It is still not here? Seems you’re still faster than it.”
Yes, Marie was right.
I could hear it though; it was less than a mile away. I could feel it sucking away its surroundings, like a giant leech.
The book had said it didn’t kill things around it, to better sneak and hide from the view of normal humans. It didn’t seem to care here. Marak had to be controlling it somehow, making it even more dangerous than just a consciousness-ridden curse.
This was weird. It was almost invincible, would stop at nothing, and was even versatile enough that it could be controlled for long periods of time?
My nose tingled.
I growled at Marie.
She understood and slipped away from my back to fall on her feet.
“I’ll go hide next to the water. Give it hell.” Marie tried to encourage me, but her voice was riddled with anxiety.
She climbed down the slippery rocks with care, finding a little alcove next to the waves. I could still see her, but she was well protected from all sides by the large boulders and could jump into the water if desperate. Which I would rather not see happen, as even if the sea was not raging, it wasn’t calm either. With the temperature of the water, no normal human could hold on long inside the treacherous blue immensity.
My right ear flinched.
It was close now.
“Squish. Glug. Squish.” The reddish absurdity got out of the edge of the forest. A beautiful fir crunched on its own weight behind the Yür, its trunk rotten to the core.
The monster had grown, but not by much.
It ran towards us, or at least it had the semblance of a run at us. It was balancing itself in a morbid way, as if a dead marionette of a human being pulled towards us.
I went towards it.
I needed to bring it towards the water, and I didn’t want it to go for Marie.
As I got close, I couldn’t refrain a sneeze. With my fully transformed nose, its smell was more than disgusting. The blood it was carrying with its unholy curse was since long rotten, and some of it had coagulated, chunks flowing around its swirling insides.
Something was weird.
It was going for me, but not straight at me. I was only thirty yards away (27m) and could feel the energy flowing around it. Marak’s energy was clearly still around, but it wasn’t doing anything to it anymore, it had free reigns.
Instincts kicked in.
The curse wasn’t interested in me.
That made no sense, but I had no time to lose, it was barely ten yards (9m) away from me now and going for someone behind me.
My paws launched themselves before I even understood what was happening.
In two long strides I had jumped down to join my girlfriend on the coastline.
On top of the rocks, the Yür had followed, and it reached towards us with extending, floppy arms. Tendrils of liquid and flesh spiked out of him, going at us fast.
“Gray what…” Marie didn’t have time to realize what was happening.
I grabbed her by her leather jacket, and catapulted her in the air, towards the sea.
I couldn’t dodge the fleshy tentacles, and it felt like hundreds of metal rods smashed on my left side.
They did not pierce my flesh, but I yelped in pain, and got projected on the ground. A wave of cold water hit my back. At the same time, I heard the splash of Marie falling in the sea.
I immediately got back up on my legs, but the Yür had no interest in me, and it was already trying to follow Marie.
I snarled and caught it between my jaws, recklessly trying to protect my mate, but just snapped my mouth in liquid, flowing out of my mouth. The creature had now overtaken me.
I growled and jumped in the water, pursuing it.
“Gray! I’m over here! What’s happening?”
A quick look in the direction of the voice showed me my girlfriend well above the water, a vine pulling her up by the waist.
The Yür was only going for her, and she hadn’t realized yet.
It was splashing in the shallow waters, only twenty yards or so away from her.
It felt less liquid, more solid now.
One stride, and I was behind the creature, I bit down its semblance of legs, and this time, felt some resistance.
The loss of its limb destabilized it, and it fell on its side. At the same time, it launched bloody spikes towards Marie again, who shrieked in fear, shielding herself with her arms uselessly.
Fortunately, because the Yür was falling, the attack missed her completely,
I jumped on it, viciously ripping it apart inside the water, but its left side swelled like a fleshy wave, and pushed me away, towards deeper ground. I couldn’t reach the bottom anymore, but I was closer to Marie.
The Yür rose, a new squishy leg bursting out of it. The pieces I had really gotten good fell out of him, magic dissipating, but the rest of my attack just transformed into flowing blood once out of the water, and it reconstituted itself in a fraction of a second.
Barely a scratch, considering its size.
It raised its arm again, this time, towards me and Marie.
I dove, reached the bottom in an instant, and jumped out of the water, hovering in the air between it and Marie.
Just in time.
I felt the spikes hit me, once again.
Something had to be broken after that impact, but It was the last of my worries.
This wasn’t going to work.
“Gray, let’s get away!” Marie had arrived at the same conclusion.
Unfortunately, I had launched her too far away, and I doubted I was faster than the Yür inside water. I thought it would have been weaker once completely solid, but unfortunately, with its ability to attack at medium range, the water was impeding my range much more than the Yür’s.
I wouldn’t be able to reach Marie and protect her at the same time.
My brain raged, I inspected the Yür, slashed a new attack of spikes out of the air.
I didn’t know how to get closer to my girlfriend. I had to concentrate on the unrelenting thing in front of me.
As a matter of fact, I didn’t have to do a thing.
A thump, then and a warm and familiar thing landed on my back.
“Let’s get out of here!” Marie ordered.
As I looked towards where she had been, I saw an empty vine disappear in the waves.
She had launched herself towards me with magic.
I felt her grab onto me with all her strength.
I dodged a new attack of the Yür.
It was stealing the energy of all the sea life around it, and launching flesh spiky tentacles towards us, but it wasn’t moving forwards anymore. Nothing was stopping it, except maybe that it instinctually knew going deeper in the water would be detrimental to it.
I swam backwards, dodging and biting.
After a few yards, we were out of reach.
It took one step forwards and stopped. Its tentacle-like arms moved away from us and began attacking fishes and algae’s. It noticeably grew. Then took another step.
So that’s how it was. Too slow, though.
“What…pfff, urgh, salty…” Marie tried to talk, but despite my best efforts, I couldn’t keep her out the cold sea water.
“What happened? Why did it only go for me at the beginning?”
I growled. We couldn’t really have a conversation in this situation.
“It definitely went for you in the house, why…” She coughed after a wave hit her straight in the face. “I won’t be able to hold on for much longer, I’m freezing…”
I whimpered in worry. I couldn’t skirt around the Yür, it was very slowly moving deeper and deeper, but was following me left and right at the exact same speed I swam.
We couldn’t make it to shore. Well, I could. But I couldn’t leave Marie here. She had no stamina anymore, and without my back to stay afloat, she would drown.
“…Gray…” Marie’s teeth were shivering.
I whimpered once again.
“It doesn’t recognize… you in wolf… form…”
…since the invention of high-resolution pictures, this last hurdle has been overcome…
Pictures.
There it was.
The thing that had bothered me before.
The Yür was basing its hunt on two things: the type of blood that constituted it and an image of the victim.
Why would Henry and Astarte not know much about it?
Why, even though it seemed the perfect killing machine, was it not the mainstream way of getting rid of vampire or witches’ problem?
I grabbed Marie and put her on the water. She tried her best to float, even calling upon a vine, but only a tiny branch emerged from the water, quickly disappearing.
“I…won’t…be able to float for long. Hurry…up.”
I transformed back into Igris.
I sank as the pain broke bones and flesh.
Maybe I would drown.
I did not know.
After what always seemed like an eternity, my mind became human-like again.
I was on the bottom, but still had plenty of air.
My eyes adjusted themselves to this shadowy underwater.
Marie had begun sinking.
I felt utmost terror, but relinquished the emotion towards action.
In two strokes I arrived at her level, grabbed her body by one arm, and reached for the surface.
She was still alive, just having lost consciousness now but had swallowed some water already.
I pushed her body above water, and swam directly towards the shore, and the Yür.
As soon as I arrived ten or so yards away from it, the murderous curse raised its fake arms, which extended once again into long tentacle-like spikes.
At first, it was easy to dodge. It was hard to say if the Yür was interested in me again, as I had Marie in my arms, but my gut feeling told me it was actively aiming at me as well, contrary to before, where it was just attacking me because I was in its way.
But the closer I got to it, the harder it became to dodge its attacks, considering I had a half-drown Marie on my back and didn’t have safe footing.
“Sorry love.” I had already decided on a plan.
I pinched her nose and closed her mouth. I dove underwater with her beneath me.
Spikes hit my back, forcing me to clench my teeth in pain. Some began tethering themselves around me.
I looked at my lover’s unconscious body sinking under me.
I closed my eyes and concentrated.
The largest bowl of water possible, above the water.
I visualized the spell.
Something akin an explosion.
The fleshy tentacles on me were annihilated.
Colossal pressure on my back, that pushed me into Marie and on the rocky marine floor.
I held myself over my girlfriend, bracing the pressure of the water above to protect her.
I continued visualizing the spell.
More.
Marie began convulsing under my grasp, grasping for air.
It would have to do.
I broke the spell.
I took Marie out of the water as fast as I could.
The Yür had washed away on the rocky beach.
It was in pieces, but unfortunately, the pieces were large chunks still full of magic.
As a gigantic amount of water receded in the ocean, the chunks stayed there. When all my water would be gone, it would transform into liquid and form itself back.
I didn’t have much time.
But it would be enough.
I fought the current of magic water driving itself back into the sea. It barely impeded my movement.
My only thought was about Marie.
Miraculously, as soon as we reached firm ground, she coughed out the water in her lungs and began breathing anew.
“Thank God.” I blessed everything and everyone.
“Gray?” She asked in a tiny voice.
“Yes, yes, I’m here.”
“Some people can still feel cold…Don’t forget next time.”
I smiled wildly, if she could still joke around, she would be ok.
“Sorry about that. I was so scared… It's not over yet. We need to go back to Jeanne’s house. I’ve got it. I know the Yür’s weakness.”
Marie didn’t answer. I heard her breathe rhythmically on my back.
Out of the corner of my eyes, the pieces of the Yür morphed into patches of red liquid, all of them regrouping once again.
I ran towards the forest, Marie on my shoulders.