by Eric Vall
Without warning, the bouncer in the middle lashed out at the man on his right. There was a spray of crimson as the man fell to the ground and writhed in pain. Before the second man could react, his head was severed from his shoulders by a weapon we knew all too well: a chakram.
Aruna was here.
The bounty-hunter-in-thug’s-clothing dashed past the other bouncer, who was bleeding out, and through the door of the nightclub.
“Todd!” I nearly screamed into the communicator. “Aruna is here. I repeat, Aruna is here. Protect Gula and Tris at all costs.”
“Well, fuck a duck,” Todd sighed and let his real voice through.
“Ose?” Tris asked accusingly. “Your voice … ”
“Look, toots,” Todd now wasn’t trying to hide himself whatsoever, “the charade is up. I’m not really your buddy, Ose. In fact, he’s been dead for nearly two hours now, and he’s starting to smell like it, too.”
“It’s the fucking imp,” Gula hissed and summoned red Hellfire into her hands.
“Hold on, now,” Todd explained. “We’ve got way, waaaaayyy bigger problems right now. Remember that tiger assassin bitch? She’s here, right now, and she’s out to get your heads on a platter.”
“We’re on our way, Todd,” I said into the communicator and the succubi and I dashed toward the entrance. “Just try to keep Aruna off the succubi’s tail until we find her.”
I released my spell on Ose’s body, and the camera collapsed to the floor of the nightclub. At this point, I really didn’t give a fuck about keeping with the mission anymore. We just needed to keep Aruna from killing these two.
We were through the door in an instant. Once inside, I began to scan the club for anyone that could possibly be our assassin. Who was I kidding? I just saw Aruna transform into a six-foot tall muscular dude. She could literally be anybody in this place.
“We need to get to Tris and Gula,” I ordered the succubi beside me. “We can take up a defensive position, and then we’ll deal with Aruna.”
The four of us began to push through the crowd of drunken dancers, back toward where we had last seen Todd and our targets. Despite the fact that we all looked like we were in a hurry, nobody seemed to pay us any attention. Everyone just kept grinding and grooving to the beat of the bass drops blaring across the club.
“Fuck!” I yelled aloud and then pressed the button on my communicator. “Todd? It’s gonna take a little while for us to get to you. Are you and the succubi doing alright?”
“We’re headed toward the exit,” he explained. “We decided it probably wasn’t safe in this highly-populated area with an assassin who can shapeshift.”
“Good call,” I retorted. “We’ll get over there--”
I paused as some drunk dude bumped into me, and then a random girl began to grind against my side. I pushed them gently out of the way and kept talking.
“Sorry about that,” I told the imp. “There’s a lot of fucking drunk people here. We’ll meet you over by the exit, but keep your eyes peeled. Aruna could be anyone.”
“Eeeeevveeeeeenn Yoooooou.” The imp snickered in a ghastly voice. “But seriously, I’ll be on the lookout.”
Another drunken woman ran into me, and then she looked up at me hungrily as she placed her hand on my torso. As much as I appreciated the attention, we had a mission. I pushed her gently to the side and continued through the crowd.
“I really fucking wish our sisters hadn’t put an anti-teleportation hex on this place,” Cupi hissed. “That’d make things a lot easier right now.”
Todd’s voice crackled through the communicator. “I spy with my little eye … a badass demon slayer,” he said playfully.
“Is it Aruna?” I asked.
“No, bro,” the imp chuckled. “It’s you! Don’t you see me waving?”
I looked around but saw no sign of the imp.
“I don’t see anything,” I admitted.
“Don’t fuck with me, bro.” Todd sighed. “I see you right there. You’re walking right toward us. Where are the girls, though? And why are you holding onto your knife so tightly?”
I patted my belt and realized my dagger was missing from its holster. My heart sank into the pit of my stomach when I realized what was going on.
“Todd!” I yelled into the communicator. “That’s not me, it’s Aruna.”
Chapter 19
“What are you talking--holy shit!” Todd cried out from the other side of the line, and then there was nothing.
“Fuck this,” I growled and summoned purple Hellfire into my hands. “I’m parting the drunken sea.”
I clapped my hands together and formed a long thin line of violet fire in front of me, directly between a bunch of the dancing civilians. I raised my hands in opposite directions vertically, and the Hellfire rose to be seven feet tall. Then, I moved my hands in opposite directions to create two walls that gently nudged people out of our way. Once there was an opening in the crowd, the succubi and I dashed through.
Before we could even reach the end of the tunnel, I located Aruna. Directly to our right, people were screaming in terror and fleeing the scene as flashes of red Hellfire lit up the dark club.
“There!” I pointed and released my barrier.
The crowd around the fight had thinned out enough that I could just make out the figures of Aruna, Todd, and the succubi.
“Don’t engage until we get closer,” I ordered. “We don’t need any civilian casualties.”
As we approached the battle, “I” leapt out of the way of one of Gula’s massive fireballs and unleashed the chakram. Todd cartwheeled out of the way of the projectile right in the nick of time.
“Everybody was kung-fu figh-thing!” he exclaimed, landed, and then launched a snowball-sized ball of fire at the doppelganger in time with a “Ya!” My clone knocked away Todd’s attack with my goat-headed dagger, and then landed on the ground acrobatically.
“Well, this is awkward,” I growled once we got in position.
I summoned forth green Hellfire into my hands, surrounded a couple of bar stools with its shimmer, and then launched them at the impostor. At the same time, Liby tossed a handful of enchanted yellow spears at the assassin while Cupi tried to freeze Aruna with her blue fire.
My doppelganger’s body was engulfed by black ectoplasm as it backflipped over the barrage of projectiles effortlessly. The clone finally landed on its feet, and its body was now back in the form of the deadly assassin, Aruna. The Rakshasi may have dodged our magic spells, but unfortunately for her, Ira was more of a “hands-on” type of player.
The Sister of Wrath brought her morning star down directly onto Aruna, and the assassin barely managed to halt the spiked weapon with her stolen blade.
With a grunt of effort, Aruna slipped out of the tangle of weapons and then proceeded to flip around Ira, slicing the succubus’s leg and arm with the chakram as she did so. Once Aruna was behind the succubus, she drop-kicked both feet into Ira’s back and sent her sprawling across the floor.
“That’s so fucking hot,” Ira cooed from the ground as golden Hellfire encased her body and stitched her wounds shut. “I hope you cut me some more.” Ira summoned turquoise fire into her hand and immediately tried to snipe the Raksashi with a stream of acidic flame.
Aruna spun away from Ira’s attack and tossed some sort of double-edged dagger at the succubus. At the same time, she somehow had the presence of mind to whip out my goat-headed dagger and hold it in front of the acid. There was the smell of melting steel and a sizzling sound as the blade corroded but thankfully didn’t break.
“Hey!” I hissed and launched a fireball at the assassin. “Didn’t anyone ever tell you not to destroy other people’s property?”
Aruna dashed directly at my fireball, vaulted over the projectile, and raised my dagger into the air. She came down right on top of me, but I tossed up a quick shield of purple before the blade could pierce my skull.
Instead, there was a deafening snap, and I saw the bla
de of my beloved dagger fly off to the side. Before I could even react, Aruna threw up her legs, wrapped them around my waist, and then used her momentum to throw me to the ground.
I tumbled across the sticky floor of the club, only stopping when I threw out a barrier of purple to halt my momentum.
Aruna had no time to respond as we all began to assault her with spells from every spectrum of the rainbow. Still, the assassin had, well, tiger-like reflexes and barely managed to stay one step ahead of our onslaught.
After ducking past another of Liby’s yellow daggers, the Rakshasi hopped into the air once again to go on the offensive, but this time Cupi was prepared for her. Right as Aruna hit the top of her jump, the blonde succubus smashed into her violently using her wings.
The two women tumbled through the air and then crashed into the ground about fifty feet away from us. Both of the warriors jumped back to their feet instantly and began to go at it in hand-to-hand combat.
As I ran towards the fighting women, Aruna tossed a handful of her black ectoplasmic substance in my direction. The ooze struck me in the chest and then instantly began to travel across my body. I pulled back and tugged at the gooey material, but it just kept spreading.
“Jacob!” Todd and Ira said in unison, and they ran over to help.
The substance ran down to my legs, and I could no longer move. I felt Todd and Ira tugging at the ectoplasm as it began to engulf my head, but it wasn’t going anywhere. The last thing I saw before the world went dark was a spray of debris upward as Aruna morphed into some large animal.
Then there was nothing.
I could still hear my friends’ muffled screams through the suffocating goo, but there was nothing I could do to help them.
The entirety of my life began to flash before my eyes. I saw all my friends back in Kansas City. I saw my family. I saw the succubi. When my memories hit the last few months, a dull throb begin to rise up in my body. I saw a bright white light, and I assumed this was it. The big one. The end of the line.
No. It couldn’t be.
It was the power of the Divine filling my soul. I tried to scream as I channeled the energy outward in all directions. There was another flash of brilliant white light, and then I was floating up in the middle of the room.
“Your horns!” Ira gasped.
“Holy fuck!” Todd exclaimed. “You really are a grower, not a shower, aren’t you?”
I reached up and felt at the horns on my head. They were twice the size they normally were, and I could see out of my peripheral vision they were glowing with a deep blue magic.
Down below, Cupi and Liby were both trying their best to keep Aruna at bay, but the assassin was relentless.
The Rakshasi ducked under a wave of red Hellfire, rolled across the floor, and lurched upward at Cupi. As she propelled herself upward, Aruna unsheathed a katar out of her belt and thrust it toward the succubus’ jaw.
Cupi threw her face backward seconds before the blade of the brass-knuckled sword would have put her head on a pike.
Just as the blade passed in front of the blonde’s nose, Libidine threw a couple of her enchanted daggers at Aruna. Without missing a beat, the assassin spun around and knocked away the projectiles with her katar. In another swift motion, she leapt into the air and roundhouse kicked Libidine in the face.
The dark-haired succubus’ body twirled around and then collapsed to the ground.
Cupi lashed out at the Rakshasi with a glowing fist, but this time Aruna was too fast. Before the succubus’ attack could connect, Aruna swiveled her body around and came down with a windmill kick.
The blow struck Cupi at the top of her skull and put her out cold.
“I don’t know about you guys,” I spat as my feet touched back onto the ground, “but I’m really fucking tired of this shit.”
Ira and Todd both charged at Aruna, and I provided a few blasts of Divine light as covering fire.
“Me too!” Ira growled, lit herself up with pink Hellfire, and prepared to split into two.
Meanwhile, Todd’s tiny frame was much quicker than Ira’s, so the imp reached his opponent first. Todd propelled himself off the ground and somersaulted at Aruna, but she instinctively ducked and swung her katar at the lightning-fast assailant.
There was a loud crack, and a piece of black ivory flew from a blur of red. Todd landed and touched at his right horn, which was now little more than a stump jutting out of his forehead.
“Son of a bitch!” he growled, but Aruna paid him no attention as she was already engaging with both of Ira’s halves.
I unleashed another round of Divine light at the assassin and forced her to dodge sideways … right into the sub’s waiting whip.
The enchanted tail of the bone-whip lashed around Aruna’s right arm and yanked her katar away violently. At the same time, the dom swung her morning star at the Rakshasi’s skull and just narrowly missed. Distracted by the dual forms of the succubus, Aruna was completely helpless when Todd leap at her back.
Unfortunately, the assassin quickly called the ectoplasmic substance to her neck and blocked Todd’s blow. The imp fell backward and waved his hands violently as the magic goo spread across his body.
I threw out another wave of blinding light, but it did little more than inconvenience the Rakshasi as she continued to fight.
Fuck. There had to be something more I could do. She’d already taken out three of my friends, and as much as I respected Ira’s fighting skills, Aruna was currently acting like an animal backed into a corner. That made the Rakshasi even more deadly than normal.
Out of the corner of my eye, I saw a glint of light. My goat-headed dagger. Or, at least, what was left of it.
I reached out and called the broken blade back into my hands with a cast of green flames. The weapon rocketed back into my right hand, and I examined it for a moment. The hilt was still completely intact, and there was still a jagged edge where the steel blade was once attached.
Fuck it. It was better than nothing.
I ran my hand over the remains of the dagger and enchanted it with my Divine light. The blade stretched outward until it formed into the shape of a more traditional one-handed sword. I did a quick spin to get a handle on the weapon, and then I rushed toward Aruna.
As I approached, the assassin punched Ira’s sub in the face and tugged the enchanted whip out of her hands. Instantly, the flames extinguished from the bone hilt of the weapon, and Aruna used it to her advantage.
The assassin flipped the pointed bone in her hand, ducked out of the way of the dom’s morning star, and drove the pointy end of the hilt into the sub’s stomach. The sub’s eyes widened, but I wasn’t sure if it was with shock or pleasure. She stumbled backward and fell on her ass as she fumbled at the hilt of her own weapon.
Finally, I was in the thick of the chaos. I lashed out at Aruna, but she rolled out of the way of my blade. Instead, the glowing light of the Divine struck the dom’s morning star and sent it spiraling across the room.
“Sorry!” I apologized and then turned to face down the Rakshasi.
“I was hoping you’d get in on the action, handsome.” Aruna grinned. “I was starting to get bored.” The assassin reached back into her belt and produced another unknown weapon. It was short like a dagger, but it looked completely different than any weapon I’d ever seen before, with a broader blade that was only sharpened on one side. Most jarringly, the hilt of the weapon was thin and long, like the handle of an axe.
“I’ll give you some action,” I growled as my eyes fixed on her weapon.
“You should be honored, mortal,” Aruna growled. “I only bring out my bhuj for my deadliest targets.”
The assassin spun around and brought the handled-dagger upward.
I quickly deflected it with a barrier of violet flame, and then swung my enchanted sword at the Rakshasi. At the same time, Ira unleashed a handful of acidic Hellfire at point-blank range.
Aruna twirled the hilt of her bhuj to block my attack, but I tw
isted my weapon to bind her blade long enough that the burst of acid splattered across her arm. The Rakshasi let out a scream of pain as Ira’s spell sizzled the flesh on her left shoulder, and then she flipped her blade to her other hand to swipe at Ira’s feet.
This time, her attack connected, and there was a brief spray of blood as the succubus’ shin was sliced open like a grape. Ira fell to her knees, and Aruna finished her off with a boot to the face.
“Fuck you, bitch!” I screamed as I summoned Hellfire into my free hand.
I lashed out at Aruna and punched the angry assassin directly where Ira had hit her before. At the same time, I stabbed at her gut with my blade.
The Rakshasi’s head rocked backward from the punch, but she had the presence of mind to reach out and grab my enchanted blade with her bare hand. Her desperation play was enough to keep me from impaling her, but she was now roaring with pain as the flesh on her hand burned with Divine light. Aruna brought her bhuj back around and smashed it hilt-first into my face.
The world went topsy-turvy for a moment from the impact of the blunt handle, but I quickly reoriented myself. Then I threw up a spell of purple just in time to block the incoming windmill of Aruna’s blade.
As the blade sparked off the shield, I tried to toss down a portal of green Hellfire at the assassin’s feet, but she backflipped into the air and out of harm’s way. While she was tumbling backward, I tried to hit her with another few shots of Divine light, but it was to no avail.
As she passed over her chakram, the assassin dislodged the weapon from the floor. She landed gracefully on her feet and readied both of her deadly blades.
“I’m trying to play fair here,” I warned, “but you’re making it really fucking hard.”
“You talk too much, mortal,” the assassin hissed as she twirled around and tossed the bladed disk in my direction.
I threw up a portal of green in front of the incoming projectile and it passed harmlessly through. Now, I had a split-second decision to make.
Did I try to reroute the attack back at Aruna, or did I try to get cute with my powers?
