Inky mist floated in through the cracks around the window. A young girl muttered in her sleep, clutching her stuffed bunny tightly to her chest as if having a nightmare.
Slowly, the mist coalesced, forming into a dark humanoid shape. Long tendrils tumbled to the floor from slender arms like wiry streamers. Hundreds of unblinking black eyes scanned the room. The pastel pink walls seemed lavender in the dim moonlight that streamed through the blinds. Toys were strewn across, ranging from dolls to metal matchbox cars. The creature carefully traversed the littered landscape, stalking toward the bed. Thrashing fingers grasped with suppressed anticipation toward the sleeping, whimpering child. Her eyes flickered behind her lids, almost as if they could see the approaching monster, but could not open to meet its terrible advance.
Slobber slowly drooled from the monster’s mouth, and its trunk-like head stretched forward eagerly. Rows of gnashing teeth clacked softly like the clattering of building blocks. It could taste the young girl’s terror as she ran from phantoms in the dreams it had planted within her. She was just ripe enough for harvest, her fear reaching the right pitch to signal its master, siphoning a piece of this city’s soul. But the creature didn’t understand this; it simply acted on the instinct that had been implanted into it. There was only one thing on its primitive mind.
That there was nothing like the helpless to whet a famished appetite.
The tubular mouth opened, expanding like a balloon. Wiry tendrils splayed out, ready to squeeze her throat so tightly not a gasp would escape. Her terror would be complete as it pulped her head and extracted the sweet, terrifying dreams from within, like juicing an orange.
Its many eyes saw a closet door open, though there was not a sound. It swiveled to stare as a familiar scentless female strode forward, her hands extended before her. She was drenched. She smirked and said something from beneath a faceplate, her neck fixed tightly with a thick, white neck brace.
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Addy was cold, wet, and miserable. And to make things worse, she’d only just realized that the stupid creature wouldn’t be able to hear her. She’d spent all night coming up with that line, and it had been fucking wasted. But she didn’t have time to dwell on her wasted one-liner: she summoned Blaster, who swirled and writhed through her veins and burst from her hand. Her other hand, which was numb from the Frost Spell the Leaser had engraved upon it suddenly got a lot colder. It felt like her palm would peel off. A frigid mist sprayed out alongside the stream rocketing toward the enraged monster. Too late, it seemed to sense it was in danger, and tried to dodge, but was smacked in the chest by the freezing water that hardened into ice as the frozen mist coated it, crystallizing into a white mesh.
Addy didn’t give it a chance to recover. Her left hand was still numb, but her right was nimble, if a bit tingly. She drew Snap and fired several shots into the screaming creature. Not a sound escaped Addy’s Dampening Sphere, but the muzzle flashes lit up the room, and the suddenly awakened little girl’s screaming soon joined the shrieks of the wounded monster.
Snap clicked as the last round collided with the frosty, oozing monster. There was a rattling at the door, and the little girl’s ear-piercing screams chorused with her parent’s desperate shouts. It was bad enough the little girl was in danger, and though Addy had felt a little dirty for doing it, locking the door was the only way to keep the parents from getting in her way.
The Misty Snatcher pounced at Addy, and she dropped Snap to the carpet, pulling out Splinter. It collided with her, residue oozing all over her jacket. It grabbed at her throat, but the neck brace softened its death grip, giving Addy just enough time to stab the monster’s throat with Splinter. Addy expected resistance despite herself as the blade sank in, but Splinter passed through as if slicing air. But instead of parting into mist, Residue bubbled around where the blade had struck. The Misty Snatcher gurgled, and Residue spurted out of its tubular maw onto Addy’s faceplate, where it fizzled away into nothing.
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The monster let go with a morose trumpet as Addy repeatedly stabbed it, sinking the knife to the hilt each time. The monster stumbled to its feet, knees buckling. Addy jabbed at it, Splinter extending before her. The Snatcher threw itself against the window, shattering the glass with a crash. Addy heard a dull thud as it smacked into the ground below and ran to the window to see its shadowy form limping away; it had fallen two stories.
The rattling door had given way to slamming as something heavy was thrown against it, making the door buckle in its frame. Addy grimaced, then saw the limb of a tree nearby. The door buckled again. A woman shouted from behind the door, her voice shrill with fright. Addy pocketed Splinter, gathered up Snap, and went back to the window.
“Are you a superhero?” the little girl asked in a trembling voice.
Addy paused, then said, “Sure, kid.”
The tree limb was right there, and Addy jumped for it, grabbing with both hands. It bent under her weight, and she let go, bending her knees as she smacked into the soft lawn below. Shocks of pain shot through her legs, and she gritted her teeth. Above, Addy heard the door smash open. If she stuck around, people might get the wrong idea. I mean, who’d believe the kid that a superhero burst out of her closet to fight a monster?
Addy sprinted after the Misty Snatcher, which she saw stumble down an alley several houses down.
She’d had to watch the house for hours, waiting for the little girl to be put to bed. Addy had used her Phasing Pond Spell—which had the miserable side effect of soaking her—in order to get inside the little girl’s closet, waiting for the Misty Snatcher to finally show its face. Or rather, what passed for its face. It had been painful watching it stalk toward the little girl, drool slobbering to the floor out of its disgusting mouth. But Addy had waited, wanting to strike when it was at its most vulnerable. She’d honestly expected Snap to be able to finish the job. She’d been a little dismayed when it hadn’t even fallen. But now that she’d stabbed it with Splinter, its magical abilities were thoroughly fucked. It would be weeks—maybe even months—before it would be able to turn into mist again, and any supernatural healing factors it had would be degraded to near nothing. It would die tonight.
And it seemed to realize this. Or at least had been forced to reckon with it. Addy found it lying on the ground, chest heaving. It had evidently collapsed from massive Residue loss. It whined pathetically, like a kicked dog. Its numerous black, fish egg eyes were staring at Addy, pleading for mercy.
She stepped on its neck, and cleanly severed its head with Splinter. It croaked in shock, then rattled in death throes as it slowly melted away into oozing Residue.
As the Residue fizzled away into nothing, becoming invisible to mortal eyes, Addy collapsed against a nearby wall, and closed her eyes. She was exhausted. She’d done her job. No one else had died from her overconfidence the night before. She’d won. So why didn’t she feel anything other than exhaustion? Shouldn’t she feel triumphant?
“Don’t move!”
Addy groaned, and saw a bald, bearded man in a bathrobe, pointing a snub nose revolver at her, his hands shaking uncertainly. Addy could tell just by looking at him that he had never pointed a gun at anyone in his entire life. Addy could tell, though, that despite his discomfiture and lack of confidence, he had the steely resolve of a father protecting his family. He would shoot her if he felt he had to.
Addy dismissed Dampening Sphere and said, “Sure thing.”
“I’ve called the cops, so don’t do anything,” the dad said, his voice trembling angrily.
His eyes kept flicking toward the melting Misty Snatcher.
“You curious what that is?” Addy smirked.
“No,” he said.
“Bullshit,” Addy chuckled, “Your mind’s catching up with you, and it doesn’t know how to process whatever the fuck that thing melting before your eyes even is. It’s trying to figure out why it fizzles away into nothing, and it’s melting your brain just a little.”
“Stop talking.”
Addy got to her feet.
“Stay where you are!” he bellowed, his voice echoing off the tight walls of the alleyway.
“You won’t shoot me, I don’t think,” Addy said, and looked at the man, “You know on some level that I just saved your daughter’s life. So, I’m going to go home, and you’re going to say a burglar broke in, but you managed to chase him off with your gun, but you couldn’t apprehend him. They’re going to have a tough time putting a lot of this together, and they’ll definitely be confused by the wet closet, but they’ll believe you, because they’d rather not look into the weirdness of this case any further than they have to, though they won’t quite know why.”
“How do you know that?”
“Because that’s how shit like this usually goes in this city,” Addy said, “Do yourself a favor, and forget what you saw in this alley. Especially me. You’ll be happier that way.”
Addy walked down the alley for a home and a bottle-sized nightcap.