Vivian
Guns pointed at us before we were down the steps. I placed myself in front of Theo. Maybe I couldn’t fight, but I could shield. They wouldn’t risk killing me when they could still leave here victorious with a new “battery” and field.
They looked much less like an army than they had before.
Their two biggest soldiers were slumped over in the cabin.
There were several dead on the ground outside, presumably Theo’s doing.
Half of the survivors looked like white-collar contractors about to shit themselves from the mess this turned into.
Sure, they had the numbers and the weapons, but nobody remaining looked nearly as intimidating as who we’d already taken down.
Dr. Gable stood next to the binder-carrying Pyran with a short ponytail. They spoke in hurried whispers while he ignored everyone else anxiously asking for direction. Ponytail must be his right-hand person.
The Thornian C.E.O. didn’t look quite as grand covered in blood and missing a horn. Composure and grace were out the window. He was frazzled, pissed, and shaking. And he seemed to be taking those feelings out on the Pyran.
A dozen of the group left on my field looked like soldiers.
That was a lot of people to be outnumbered by, but Theo was so much more than one man.
Especially when he was feral, the back of my head only touching his upper stomach as he hunched over and around me.
It was a much fairer fight than I think any of them were prepared for.
I looked around to see if I could spot Nurghle, but the motion triggered a wave of vertigo. I swayed, and Theo grabbed my waist to hold me up. His spare hand rubbed my back.
The daytime stars had started setting over the horizon, a mix of purples and blues cutting through the heavy gray clouds and bleeding their colors over the treetops as night approached.
There was a soft pattering in the distance—approaching rain.
The muted smell of wet dirt and pine hit my nose, carried by the breeze wafting over nearby mountains.
“Where’s Nurghle?” I whispered to Theo. It would be dark and storming any minute now, and I couldn’t see my baby anywhere.
He squeezed my arm to confirm he heard my question before addressing the crowd.
“I blew through most of your army already, Gable!” Theo shouted.
“Will you leave us the fuck alone now? There aren’t many pawns left for me to crush before it’s your turn to face me again.
Your horns will be mounted on the fucking wall after I’m done with you. ”
He might have been bluffing about the horns, but I didn’t mind the idea.
Gable’s horns would represent defeating our enemies, overcoming my trauma.
I did not lose myself in this battle today.
I stayed me. The gray would match the walls nicely.
I might not be a killer, but I was fucked in the head. I smiled.
“We aren’t leaving here without her!” Gable shouted, his eyes wild as he pointed a talon at me.
“Hand her over and go back to your aimless hiking trips, Theo! You’ll find another demigoddess, I’m sure.
And then, when you give away her location too, we can repeat the process.
We can go through this as many times as you want, until you find redemption for all the innocent people you killed pointlessly.
You may end up being the most helpful tool to me by the end of it all. ”
Theo snarled, his hands squeezing me tighter. Gable was well-versed on his deepest sore spots, and he was prodding them aggressively. They must be running out of options, if they were willing to continue provoking my monster.
“After all,” Gable continued, his unhinged voice taking on a mocking tone. “We haven’t found a field paired with a living demigoddess since Tesilvis. We would gladly accept the help finding more. They make for powerful factories, and even more powerful batteries.”
Theo trembled with rage. His fingers flexed as if torn between letting go of me to attack and holding me safely against his core.
I pet his forearm soothingly, reassuring him everything was okay.
Gable was just trying to piss him off to separate us.
By standing where we were, I kept them from shooting Theo, and Theo kept them from taking me.
The moment we were apart, they could do both.
“Theo, I need you to stay here with me,” I cooed softly. “They can’t do anything if we’re together. Please stay calm for me.”
“I’m so… angry,” Theo growled.
“I know, baby. I know. And it’s okay that you’re feeling that way. But you need to hold back for a moment.” His anger was not my weapon to command. Every time he expressed a feeling was a victory on his healing journey. However, for now, he needed to listen to me. I felt him still ever so slightly.
“Maybe you don’t live up to your lethal reputation. What a pity,” Gable mocked. “Everyone, take careful aim.”
They won’t shoot. They won’t shoot. It’s a bluff.
My heart pounded as Theo attempted to push me behind him. I used all my strength to keep myself pressed against his front, locking my arms against the doorframe so I couldn’t be moved. Now was not the time for this disagreement! This stand-off would be over the moment I wasn’t in the line of fire.
“Last chance to save yourselves, demigoddess,” Gable called out in a song-like taunt.
“Demigoddess? I thought I was a battery,” I scoffed, twisting in Theo’s arms as he picked me up and stepped back into the cabin. “Theo! Stop! Listen to me!”
My pleas weren’t heard. Mid-turn, something crashed into our sides and we both went careening into the clover at the base of the steps.
I lifted my head from the ground, disoriented.
Theo and the Lychan-Quadmos were practically on top of me, wrestling ferociously.
I thought that fucker was dead!
I tried to throw myself into the mix as Theo’s shield, but I immediately took a blow to the temple that turned my vision dark for a fleeting moment. As I collapsed to the ground, the Hybrid stared at me, eyes wide. He’d hit the wrong target, the precious battery.
Theo tackled the Hybrid in his moment of hesitation.
I scurried to my hands and knees, quickly shoving myself back between them before Theo could be hurt. If I had to hold onto my mate like a fucking koala to keep us both safe I would.
I struggled to move with them, squeezing myself between the chomping jaws and claws and bodies twice my size.
Theo bellowed at me to move, but I wouldn’t be doing that.
If he didn’t want me swinging an axe at people, he’d have to deal with me helping in a way that did come naturally to me. Sheer willpower.
We were a mangled tumbleweed of blood and body.
Every movement was a blur of flesh and pain was coming in frequent, non-fatal blows.
As much as those hits hurt, Dr. Gable’s top guard must’ve known better than to kill me in a skirmish.
As long as I involved myself, he shouldn’t take any deadly swings, lest it accidentally be my throat that gets clawed out.
“Vivian, leave!” Theo roared.
“Can’t do that, baby!” I coughed as I took a punch straight to the kidney. I felt more like a punching bag wedged between them than a person. My world spun. I was too disoriented to be more than a determined obstacle.
“Vivian, I swear to fuck—!”
There was an ear-piercing shriek from outside of our struggle.
We froze, all turning our heads toward the sound.
What happened? I couldn’t see anything more than the vague figures of the interlopers awaiting instructions. Night had fallen since we’d been tackled from the steps, caking us in darkness.
Another scream. The pop of a gun firing.
Theo’s arm wrapped around my waist, pulling me with him as he took a cautious step back.
A full-blown panic was rapidly erupting in my field.
Screaming and shooting doubled by the second as more fell into the same terror.
Whatever was out there was scary enough to make our enemies forget all about us.
I only saw vague shapes thrashing around in the dim haze.
“Voss!” The shout barely cleared the commotion.
My eyes followed the Lychan-Quadmos who we’d been fighting as they ran towards the one-horned silhouette of Dr. Gable. It was kind of pathetic, the way the Hybrid scooped Gable and Ponytail off their feet and tossed them each over a shoulder before running away.
“He’s going to run!” I gasped, attempting to step forward against Theo’s hold.
“Let’s go back to your cabin, Viv,” Theo’s deep voice was soft but deep enough to carry over the high-pitched screams.
He started pulling me with him as he slowly retreated back towards the cabin. I struggled against his hold, blood, sweat, and rain slipping between our bodies.
“What do you mean ‘let’s go back’?!”
I twisted in his arms, finding his eyes fixed on the mass of darkness swallowing everyone around us.
I may not be able to see what was happening, but something in his expression told me he could.
I stilled and listened closer. There was a disturbing number of groans, crunching, and squelching noises.
A shadow grew, running towards us. Someone emerged from its dark cloud, sprinting for his life. He blubbered incoherently; his words lost in the grotesque chorus filling the night air.
It was only once the person was a few feet away that I saw the white, antlered skull of a nocturnal grove beast tower over him, biting down on his shoulder and bringing him to the ground.
Theo took yet another cautious step back with me, distancing us from the gurgles and tearing of predation happening at our feet.
Looking up, I could suddenly recognize the white skulls and jagged antlers everywhere—the disorienting haze of darkness was their horde’s mist. Night had fallen, and the largest monsters of this forest had left their groves in search of dinner.
And since collectively deciding I was better left uneaten, they had full access of the field. Well… not quite full access.