Dark Horse

by E. A. Copen

  A commotion over on that end of the building built up, beginning with some surprised gasps and patrons getting up from their tables to point. Some of them screamed. Wood groaned as panicked patrons abandoned their tables and stampeded for the door. I slid out of the way as best I could and strained my neck for a look at what they were running from.

  The creature almost looked like a lion, if not for the six-inch pointed horns protruding from its head, and the goat-like hooves. Membranous, bat-like wings unfolded from its body as it shook away the water and a tail whipped around, waving in the air. Only after the second pass did I realize it wasn’t a tail I was looking at, but the head of a venomous snake.

  It roared and belched liquid fire, coating the glass with it. Anyone who hadn’t already fled jumped to their feet, screaming and pushing for the door.

  I looked around for a weapon since I’d left my staff in the car along with Emma’s spear. My eyes settled on a used steak knife lying on a table nearby. I grabbed it and hopped up onto the table so I was out of the way of the panicked diners making their way out.

  Emma grabbed two more knives from other tables and joined me.

  “So much for a nice boring evening,” I mumbled and readied the knife.

  Chapter Twelve

  The glass bubbled and melted into a shimmering, red pool, leaving nothing standing between us and the monster.

  “Chimera,” Emma said.

  Beth had mentioned the Chimera as one of Typhon’s offspring when we were talking about him before. Guess that confirmed what I already suspected. These monsters that kept showing up weren’t just random attacks. Typhon was sending some of his people ahead to eliminate us before he got there. Too bad for Typhon. I’d already proven I was tough to kill.

  A head I hadn’t seen before reared around, this one the source of the pointed horns I’d assumed belonged to the lion before. No, they sat firmly atop the head of a goat with coals for eyes. It bleated, sending a soundwave through the air that shattered what was left of the glass and sent tables and chairs tumbling toward us.

  Meanwhile, the serpent head snapped through the opening the other two had made, trying to grab a few straggling humans as they ran for the parking lot. Emma threw her knife with expert precision, letting it spin blade over handle a few times before it struck the giant snake in its open mouth. The serpent reared back, hissing, and the lion head spewed fresh flame at where we stood.

  Emma jumped left while I dove right, both of us narrowly avoiding the stream of fire. Light bulbs popped and plastic fixtures on the wall melted while anything made of wood immediately caught fire.

  I pushed myself up from the floor where I’d landed, coughing and searching the tables and booths for any sign of people left in the building. Thankfully, most were smart enough to hightail it out of there at the first sign of trouble. A few terrified employees crouched behind the counter there, staring wide-eyed at the Chimera. In the other direction, I scanned the overturned tables, stopping briefly where Pony had been sitting just minutes ago. I hadn’t seen him run out, but that didn’t mean he hadn’t found another exit.

  I had no time to check, however, since the Chimera barged into the building, monstrous lion claws shredding everything and spitting more fire. Yeah, that lion head had to go and fast. Problem was, I couldn’t get close. Not only was there fire to deal with, but the snake head slithered out in front, snapping and hissing.

  Emma suddenly sprinted from wherever she’d fallen, armed with a black handled steak knife in each hand. She jumped up onto a wobbly table and let out a battle cry, raising the knives over her head as she leapt through the air.

  The Chimera didn’t even turn. It didn’t need to, not with three heads. The goat opened its mouth and let out a sound that made my teeth vibrate in my head. Rings of sound slammed into Emma and she dropped as dead weight, her back slamming into one of the tabletops and cracking it in half.

  The serpent head reared and I dodged to the left only a second before the fangs closed on the space where I’d just been. When I hit the floor, I sent a pulse of magic from my palm into the wood. Planks rippled and splintered as the wave of magic tore through the ground in an unfocused arc out in front of me, tossing chairs and table tops aside. The spell hit the floor under the Chimera’s feet and ripped it open, exposing the ground underneath. Water rushed up in a geyser and met the flame on the ceiling. The fire went out with a hiss. Well, at least that’d worked out in my favor, even if it didn’t damage the Chimera any.

  It did distract the monster as it tipped to the side and fought to get its four hooved legs back under it. When that didn’t work, the creature simply spread out its wings and flapped. The whirlwind fed the flames in the corners of the restaurants and pushed me back. There wasn’t enough space for the Chimera to get off the ground though.

  I shielded my face from the wind with an arm and gritted my teeth. No spell in my arsenal would be useful against this thing, and I had a feeling steak knives wouldn’t do much damage if I could even get close enough to use one.

  That left my Horseman powers, which wasn’t much to go on. I’d still need to be close enough to grab the thing’s soul, and that would only work if it had a soul to grab. Not all monsters did.

  I blinked and called up my Vision. People and fae held their souls in their chest right at the bottom of the rib cage. I’d never looked at an animal to locate its soul, but if I had I’d always assumed it’d be in the same place, and probably a different color than any others.

  The Chimera's soul blazed a brilliant fiery blue resting in the base of the goat’s throat. It shifted and I spotted another glowing orb in the lion’s chest, this one bright red. A quick glance at the snake and I confirmed my suspicions. The Chimera wasn’t just one soul, but three: one blue, one red, and one green. A golden string of magic ran through each one. Divine binding magic. That was a little shocking. Typhon was a Titan, and based on what I knew about Titans, they fed on magic, but that didn’t make them gods. Then again, I’d never seen what Titan magic looked like. Maybe it was the same.

  The lion belched out another spray of thick, magma-like fire, forcing me to move out of the way or burn. A table suddenly uprooted itself and flew through the air, slamming into the side of the lion’s head. I whirled around to search for who could’ve tossed it. Those tables weren’t tiny and would’ve taken at least two men to lift.

  Emma stood just a short distance away, her fists clenched. She bent and grabbed a chair leg, liberating it from the rest of the chair before wielding it like a stake and rushing to drive it into the lion’s throat. Black ichor spilled out from the wound like tar and steamed when it hit the floor. The lion roared and tried to spit fire, but it couldn’t even manage smoke with the wood wedged in there. It was debilitated, but not dead.

  I was more focused on Emma than the Chimera, however. I’d left my Vision on, which gave me a prime view of Emma’s soul. Normally, her soul was like every other human soul, a brilliant ball of white light, except that she had the added weight of guilt chained to her. The people she had killed in the line of duty, or perhaps those she’d failed to save, hung off the soul in her chest by thin threads, weighing her down. Except there seemed like there were a lot more souls there, these held in place by a thin golden thread similar to the one connecting the Chimera’s different souls. The golden thread of magic ran through her soul and weaved all around her body, flowing through the same paths as the little tendrils of silver soul that were normally there. Could this be the spell Loki had used on her? And if I could see it, maybe I could undo it and I wouldn’t need a Spellweaver.

  The goat head bleated, the awful sound of it making me put my hands over my ears and grind my teeth. Black hooves reared and came down where Emma had been standing only moments ago.

  This is my chance. While it’s focused on her, maybe I can sneak in. But how? A frontal assault wouldn’t work, and with three heads, it’d see me coming from either side. No, I had to come at it from the back. Fat chance of
that since the exits were on fire. The only way to get to the Chimera’s rear end was to walk right by it and promptly get eaten.

  The snake head lashed out at me and I tried to turn aside to dodge it, but wasn’t fast enough to avoid getting grazed by one of the fangs. It sliced me open and coated me in a sticky substance that burned like alcohol on an open wound, but the snake didn’t manage to chomp on me. It drove its fangs into the floor just a few feet behind me instead.

  I grabbed for the pile of silverware just a few feet away, gathering up a handful, and charged the snake while it was still trying to get itself free. The goat bleated at me, the sound pushing me off course. I threw a metal spoon at it, hitting it square in the teeth. Not enough to do any damage, but it must’ve hurt at least a little because the sound abruptly cut off.

  The snake flexed his jaws as I came close, but he was still buried deep in the wood. He didn’t get free before I pulled out a fork and jabbed it into his eye. Black blood spurted and the snake head ripped itself free, waving like mad in the air and hissing, but no matter how much it writhed, the fork wouldn’t come free, and he couldn’t reach it with his hooves.

  With the snake head distracted, and the Emma keeping the lion head busy, that left only one head to avoid. Since it wasn’t spitting fire or trying to eat me, I figured I’d chance it. I sprinted for the Chimera, keeping my Vision active. Come on. Run faster.

  At the last second, the Chimera turned so the goat head was facing me. Crap. I tried to put on the brakes, but I was too close. The goat lowered its head, ready to skewer me with its sharpened horns.

  A brown bottle crashed into the side of the goat’s head and it looked up, shifting the horns just enough for me to slide by. Somewhere in the restaurant, I registered the sound of cheering. I guess the employees had decided to get on the action because they pelted the Chimera with everything but the kitchen sink. Had they been able to get that free, they probably would’ve thrown it too.

  While they threw bottles, plates, and pans at it, I grabbed handfuls of white fur and pulled myself up the side of the Chimera’s neck. It was too busy trying to shake off the assault to notice me. The goat head opened its mouth and bleated loud enough that it knocked over a few of the employees who’d stayed behind. The others grabbed their fallen friends and hauled them back behind the counter while I climbed up to sit on the back of the goat’s neck, my body pressed against its spine. He reared and bucked, trying to throw me off, but I dug my heels in and kept my Vision on.

  The goat’s soul bobbed just out of reach. If I could just go a few inches to the side...

  “Lazarus!” Emma shouted suddenly.

  I looked up just in time to see the snake head plummeting toward me from above. Frantically, I grabbed more fistfuls of goat fur and pulled myself another inch down the Chimera’s back. The snake chomped down on the back of the goat’s neck, prompting the goat to rear and scream. Black blood spilled out over the goat head’s white fur.

  Now or never. I clenched my teeth and reached into the Chimera. My hand closed around something that felt more solid than a normal soul and I yanked it out. The glowing blue soul danced in my closed fist for a moment before the light faded, leaving me with a cool blue rock in my palm. I almost stopped to examine it, but the goat head slumped over and I tumbled into a freefall.

  A second later, my back hit something squishy and wet. I groaned and fought to pry myself out of the salad bar before the snake could strike at me a second time, but it was no use. My ass was wedged into the salad bin and I couldn’t wiggle free.

  The snake head darted for me, fangs bared.

  And promptly found Pony D standing between him and me, one hand raised. Magic whipped out of Pony, snapping in the air like an electric whip. It lashed against the snake’s face, tearing it open. Black blood rained from the sky, coating everything. The serpent reeled, shook its head and shot at Pony, jaws snapping.

  I looked for Emma to help, but she was busy, holding open the mouth of the lion as it tried to chomp down on her. The broken splinter of wood was still protruding from the lion’s neck, ichor seeping down over Emma as she gritted her teeth.

  The snake closed its jaws around Pony’s arm, swallowing it to the elbow. Then the creature’s one remaining eye narrowed to a slit. It tried to jerk away but couldn’t move.

  Pony made a determined sound and twisted to glower at me. “Hurry up! I can’t hold his tongue forever.”

  I finally launched myself out of the salad bar and ran for the glowing green soul sitting at the base of the snake’s neck. The soul popped free with only a little effort and, like the first, glowed only for a moment before it became nothing more than an inert colored stone.

  The serpent’s head rolled to the side. Pony pried open the jaws and pulled his hand free.

  I didn’t have time to check on him. I had to deal with the last head before it swallowed Emma whole.

  She grunted and pushed it back, stepping clear to give me my shot.

  My fingers closed around the glowing red soul, and with a yank, I pulled it free. The last Chimera head slumped, and its body went limp, falling on top of several tables with a resounding thud.

  I let out an exhausted breath and opened my hand to look at the three stones, each no bigger than a bottle cap. What the hell were those things? And why had souls been attached to them? Did that mean someone had made the Chimera?

  “Hey, man!”

  I looked up. The employees had emerged from their hiding places. Some were spraying out the fire with fire extinguishers while others hugged each other. One knelt by Pony, who’d fallen.

  Panic bit at my heart, leaving behind an icy chill. I pocketed the stones and limped to kneel at Pony’s side. He was awake and alive, but breathing hard. I glanced down at his arm. It was swollen below the elbow, near doubling in size, and the color of a plum.

  “Wasn’t sure I still had it in me,” he said, and wheezed out a breath.

  I shook my head. “You shouldn’t have done it.”

  Pony hadn’t used his magic in that capacity for more than a decade. He’d been losing his touch even back when I was a teenager and he was training me. It took too much effort to toss around spells and so he’d sworn off using his magic that way. Said he’d taught me everything he could. But I’d never seen that spell before.

  I turned to look around, meeting eyes with one of the busboys. His hair was disheveled, but he looked otherwise unhurt. “You, call an ambulance.”

  “Bullshit.” Pony closed his eyes. “I ain’t goin’ to no hospital to die. I thought we covered that.”

  I wanted to argue with him, but what was the point? Me and him, we’d already had all the arguments we were going to have. By the look of his arm, the best outcome was an amputation, and considering how advanced his cancer was, he might not survive going under for it. He was right and I knew it. If I sent him to the hospital, he’d die there.

  That didn’t make it easy.

  Pony patted my arm with his good hand. “You know how I always said I wanted to go?”

  I couldn’t help but chuckle a little. “Yeah. Piss drunk and surrounded by beautiful women.”

  He laughed. The laughter morphed into a strained cough and then a wince. “I suppose...frog legs’ll have to do.” His grip on my arm tightened, his face morphing as if he were in pain. “Go on. Go on and do it or you’ll miss it.”

  I nodded and licked my lips, bringing up my Vision again. I could see his soul resting inside his chest, flickering like a candle against the wind. Soon, it’d go out on its own. How much power did a dying man’s soul have? Enough to power the spell I needed to save the city.

  As gently as I could, I reached inside, first brushing my fingers against the outer edges of it. The shock of contact sent an echo vibrating through the tendrils of his soul. When the shockwave hit his brain a heartbeat later, his head slumped to the side. I thought maybe I’d done it wrong until I heard him take another raspy breath.

  I let go of the breath I’
d been holding. I’d only put him into a coma with the touch. If there was any pain when I pulled out Pony D’s soul, he wouldn’t feel it now. Still, I couldn’t bring myself to do it. Was this the right thing? What if I was missing something? Some way to save him? I could use the Kiss of Life... But it’d be cruel to just put him back into a body that was quickly fading anyway. There was no going back for Pony D. Only moving on.

  I lifted the flickering soul out of his chest.

  His last breath escaped as a contented sigh and if I looked close enough, I was pretty sure I saw him smile just a little bit.

  Chapter Thirteen

  The next fifteen minutes were an awful blur. Someone brought my staff in from the car and laid it gingerly on the floor beside me while I sat in the wreckage. I assumed it was Emma. Who else would know to do that?

  Emergency vehicles showed up along with news vans. They came to take pictures of a fire they were told had broken out, and stayed to film the three-headed monster. I should’ve stopped them, but I didn’t know what. I was suddenly at a loss to do much of anything except sit there and hold Pony’s soul in my hands.

  After what felt like an eternity, someone put their hand on my shoulder, and I looked up into the kind brown eyes of Detective Moses Moses. “Best put that somewhere for safekeeping, don’t you think?” He nodded to the soul.

  I blinked as if his words had woken me from a long sleep, then nodded and picked up my staff. Binding the soul took a lot of energy, enough that once I’d completed the spell, I swayed, despite not having moved from where I sat. To anyone else, it would’ve looked like I held the soul against the metal until, slowly but surely, the staff absorbed it. What I’d really done was more complicated and involved imagining lots of lines of crisscrossing magic, fusing the power of the soul to the silver bands.

  When it was done, Moses offered me a bottle of water. I didn’t realize how thirsty I was until I started drinking it.