As Theo’s blood splattered to the ground, the dark red blood writhed on the stone floor before turning black.

The black pool stretched farther than it should have been able to and a great, clawed paw emerged from the darkness.

This was the reason warlocks were so hated.

Theo’s blood was an agent used to summon creatures from…well, he wasn’t sure exactly where they were from.

Regardless, he had no control over the summoning. His existence simply lent itself to evil no matter what his will was.

Not even a second passed before an impossibly large wolf emerged from the ground while shaking its matted fur.

Its back was even with Theo’s shoulders, and it showed its dagger-like fangs as it licked its chops.

A paltry sacrifice.

The wolf growled while its glowing gaze fixated on the trail of blood that Theo was attempting to stem with his palm.

Then go back. I don’t want you, pup.

Theo glared at the wolf before splitting his attention to Marie and the children.

Marie was adjusting her grip on her sword while taking advantage of Theo’s and the wolf’s distraction to weigh her options.

The wolf wound around Theo, lingering beside his arm.

You are stupid, Warlock. The wolf snapped. Fighting a mage with a dagger. Only wish death on your enemy. Not yourself.

Theo glanced back toward Marie and drew in a deep breath.

He could sense that this wolf was fearsome, but…

Marie was proficient with the sword. He could trust her to survive and protect the children.

“Bye.”

Theo gave Marie a quick wave before dashing out the dungeon.

He made a sound that was something like a laugh as he ran.

It was ridiculous of him to attempt to play hero from the beginning. The best he could do was shove problems on others.

Theo supposed that was a talent in a way too, though.

His other talent was getting out of trouble only to land himself in more trouble.

Several guards were running at him down the hallway with swords drawn. Behind them was a man with a staff – a sorcerer.

The sorcerer clanged his staff against the floor and began chanting.

More of Theo’s blood dripped to the floor and started writhing on the stones.

Something dark and scaled emerged before slithering forward and sinking its fangs into the sorcerer’s leg.

The sorcerer didn’t get a chance to finish his chant as he collapsed to the ground.

The guards broke apart as they tried to pull the beast off their comrade.

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Theo took advantage of their temporary distraction to run away.

His feet carried him through winding halls until he reached a large, ground floor window.

Theo could hear footsteps chasing after him, but he didn’t bother looking behind him.

Instead, he quickly forced the window open and clambered into the snow.

The cold air bit at his cheeks while Theo glared at the snow covered garden he had just entered.

It would make it more difficult to run away if he was leaving behind clear tracks.

Still, that just meant he had to run faster.

Occasionally a little bit of blood he hadn’t managed to stop fell to the ground.

But Theo didn’t stop to see what manner of hell-beast he had summoned.

Instead, he pumped his legs faster. He was nearing the edge of the garden when a familiar scream pierced the air.

Almost losing his balance as he changed trajectory, Theo turned around.

Three creatures that looked like a cross between a bat and a vulture circled Marie. They were a strange cross between ridiculous and terrifying.

They were like something that would make you wet yourself in a nightmare, but then you would wake up and wonder why you had been so scared.

Except it was real.

Which made it scary like the dream, Theo supposed.

Marie was coping with the creatures, but their movements were sporadic. It was difficult for her to land a shot on them.

Theo grimaced. She was a capable woman. One of the best in her field. She could handle a couple of hell-bats.

…Still, he could see she already had wounds from her battle with the wolf creature…

Theo grabbed a shadow that was lurking under a rose bush and twisted it into a vaguely lanced shape.

Kill the hell-creature. Theo whispered to it.

The now-lance shivered with excitement. Theo threw it. It flew true and one of the hell-bats hit the ground.

It was a stupid waste of time. Theo knew that.

But occasionally his impulses got the best of him and tonight was one of those times.

Turning to run, Theo didn’t stay to watch the rest of the fight.

He was horrible, leaving the woman who had once saved his life to fight some monsters he had summoned.

But if he didn’t – Theo shook the thought out of his head.

Theo ran to the small castle’s walls.

This lord’s castle had rough, stone walls, so there were plenty of foot holds.

It was a pleasant contrast to the king’s nearly unclimbable palace walls Theo had recently had to circumvent.

Theo was glad for that. He didn’t want to have to fight his way past the guards at the gates.

Unfortunately, the snow made the wall slippery.

Theo almost fell twice before he pulled himself to the top of the wall.

He spared a moment to glance back. Marie was running toward him now.

It occurred to Theo that he had seriously miscalculated by helping Marie fight the bat creatures.

Theo glanced down. It was too far to jump.

Marie pointed her pistol at him.

Theo hit the top of the wall on his stomach and scrambled down the other side.

He would rather not find out what type of unpleasant spell she was about to fire at him.

A shot whizzed by his head. Theo didn’t know what spell that bullet contained, but from the electrical crackle in the air it was pretty powerful stuff.

Theo ran to the wall and breathed a sigh of relief now that there was a barrier between him and Marie.

Still if he didn’t hurry –

A crash knocked Theo off the wall. Or rather the wall fell off with Theo.

Theo twisted to land on his hands and knees, blood trickled from his ears from the blast.

He scrambled to his feet, looking for his assailant. It was Marie, the residual magic crackling around her, proved she had been the one to fire that shot.

If it could even be counted as a gunshot.

“Is that pistol a cannon?” Theo muttered as he scrambled to his feet.

It would take Marie a few minutes to collect enough magic to do anything big like that again.

She must have drained the area of much of its ambient magic to blast through a wall like it was a tin can.

However, he wouldn’t be surprised if Marie could manage to scrape together enough magic for a smaller, but still threatening spell much faster.

Furthermore, her comrades would have heard the explosion and would crash this fight any moment.

The explosion had also made him dizzy enough that he wasn’t confident he could wield a dagger very effectively.

There was only one option if Theo wanted to escape, and it was his least favorite.

He would have to purposefully summon something with his blood.

Theo twisted a shadow into a blade sliced his hand with it.

It tried to burrow in his flesh and bath in his blood. Theo tossed it aside.

He knelt to the ground.

Marie rushed forward, gathering as much magic as she could.

Theo pressed his hand to the snow.

His red blood squirmed, then congealed on the white canvas before turning black.

It was quite gross really.

Marie fired a shot.

Thankfully, she hadn’t had time to gather much magic or refine it. It was a relatively small lump of magic.

It knocked Theo back with the force of a very, very concentrated punch.

He landed on his back just as a serpent clawed its way into this world.

Theo and Marie both froze in shock as it opened its jaws and released a defiant roar.