Chapter 15 #2
“Ouchie!” The tulpa swiped at him, missing by a fraction. “Bad Dragon!” it shouted, shaking its pointed finger. Just like a kid. It turned as Ruby crept up from behind and kicked a stack of cars, sending them crashing down. Ruby scurried back.
“Tulpas are Thoughtforms,” Cyn spoke as though he was merely conversing with himself. “Not terribly smart but capable. Created by a powerful mind, given an agenda that they’re pretty single-minded about. But they like the killing part.”
“It looks weirdly familiar.”
“It’s you, Ruby, at the age you were when Mr. Smith had your parents killed. Sick bastard must have gotten it from the newspaper article. He’s trying to screw with us.”
“Ohmigod, I see it now. My hair. My eyes. How am I supposed to kill myself?” she squeaked. Yeah, it definitely screwed with her.
“Gotta get over it.” Cyn approached, drawing its attention. But he looked as disturbed by the image as she was.
The tulpa picked up one of the carburetors from the pile and threw it at him.
Cyn rolled out of the way, and it reached down for another one.
Ruby took advantage of its distraction and started to jump on its back, but it spun toward her.
The damned thing threw that carburetor at her.
Ruby ducked behind a rusty Ford truck with an inch to spare.
She actually felt the air as it whooshed past and crashed into something behind her.
“Ruuuuby,” the tulpa called in a singsong voice, “come out and play with me.”
It started to pick up the truck—the whole damned truck—when it spun around as Cyn obviously attacked.
The truck dropped back down again, narrowly missing Ruby’s foot.
She scooted out and jumped onto the tulpa’s back, plunging her talons into what felt like rubbery flesh.
As long as she didn’t look at it, she could kill it.
“Naughty Dragons!” it shouted, slapping a hand behind it and flattening Ruby.
Cyn swung his tail in an arc and stabbed the tulpa’s stomach. It wailed in outrage and thrust its hands toward him, knocking a stack of flattened cars so hard that the stack started to fall. Ruby screamed as cars rained down on Cyn.
Before she could think to help him, a hand slammed down on her.
The breath left her lungs as she fell to the ground, landing on her back.
The tulpa lifted a foot and stomped down right over Ruby.
She could do nothing but hold her talons as stiffly as possible, making herself into a big sandspur.
The foot came down and jerked back up again, followed by a childlike scream.
Ruby had still suffered the brunt of the pounding, her body aching as she tried to get up. The tulpa clutched its foot and hopped over to a flattened car. Ruby saw the cars shake as Cyn tried to free himself. The tulpa smashed the pancake down on top of the moving piece.
“Bad tulpa!” Ruby shouted, pulling herself to her feet.
The tulpa scrunched its face up. “No, you’re bad!”
Ruby needed to keep the tulpa’s attention while Cyn tried to extract himself from the pile. In giving the tulpa her childhood look, Smith had also given it a child’s behavior.
Ruby countered with, “No, you’re bad.”
Was Cyn trying to extract himself? Or was he badly hurt?
She flicked her gaze behind the tulpa, seeing a Dragon’s hand reach up and grab onto the edge of a car.
When the tulpa followed her gaze, Ruby rushed forward and sank her teeth into one of its legs.
Bad idea, though, as it kicked in an attempt to throw her off.
She clutched the thick stalk with her talons until a big hand grabbed hold of her and plucked her away from its leg.
The tulpa lifted her to within inches of its face—Ruby’s face—and scowled. Then it spun as Cyn obviously did something to it. Suddenly Ruby found herself the battering ram as she rushed down and smashed into him. They both tumbled to the ground in a heap of arms and legs and tails.
“You all right?” they asked each other.
After giving each other a quick nod, they got to their feet and faced the tulpa.
It was picking through a huge pile of various parts, grabbing up a handful of fenders and throwing them at Ruby and Cyn.
Like a child in a temper-tantrum frenzy, it kept scooping up headlights, rims, and pieces of jagged metal and hurling them.
Cyn pulled her behind a Corolla as a crumpled motorcycle came flying at them.
The car shook with the impact. He popped up and tried to send a deadly trail of black smoke at the tulpa but had to duck again as a tire sailed toward them.
“We need to split up and attack from two fronts. If you can distract it like you were doing earlier—”
“When I was being crushed and grabbed and stomped on, you mean?”
“Yes, that was perfect.”
“Really? That’s what you want me to do?” With a growl of indignation, she waited for the next deluge and then darted out as the tulpa grabbed more ammunition.
She launched up, as high as she could go, swearing she felt her wings unfurl for a second.
As the tulpa turned back for another throw, Ruby hit its neck and held on.
The tulpa tossed the handfuls of junk at Cyn before it reached for her.
He sent a stream of smoke at its stomach, and she felt the blast vibrate right through the tulpa. “Ow, tummy ache!” it cried out. When it smashed into a stack of crushed cars, Ruby took the brunt, feeling the sharp metal scratch across her scales.
“You’re in the wrong place!” Cyn called. “I can’t hit the target with you wrapped around its neck.”
She tightened her grip as it took several loping steps toward the two-story metal warehouse. “I need to train. Just tell me how to kill this thing!”
It bashed her into the side of the building, and she had no choice but to let go. She slid to the ground with a hard thump.
“Not like that,” Cyn called.
She sneered at him. “Smart-ass.”
He sent a stream of black smoke that wrapped around the tulpa’s neck.
While it grappled for the stream, she tore at its ankle, sending it off balance and toppling to the ground.
It made an even bigger thump as it hit. Cyn tussled with it, like a rodeo stud with a calf, working that stream of smoke as he pulled closer.
“Get back,” he said, his teeth gritted with effort.
He yanked and severed the tulpa’s head. What looked like black oil poured out of the gaping hole of its neck and down its body. Then the whole thing shuddered and disintegrated.
Ruby dropped to her knees, exhausted and aching, automatically Catalyzing back to human. “That was fun.” She looked at the mess the tulpa had left, and a laugh-hiccup sound came out of her.
“You okay?”
She pushed up, to prove that she wasn’t a simpering female, and brushed off the dirt. She winced at the bruises and cuts. “I’m fine. I held my own, didn’t I?” Damn, why’d she have to add the question?
“You did.”
“We fought well together. I wasn’t a handicap.”
“No, you weren’t.”
And damn but she thought she saw pride in his eyes. “Any other information you’d care to share about creatures we might encounter?”
“Magick has no boundaries, no end. You would run screaming into the night if I told you everything about our world at once.”
“In other words, later. And you know what? At this moment, later is okay with me.”
He was already walking over to where they’d dropped their clothing. She followed, seeing his injuries. Nothing too serious, most having started the healing process within seconds. Beyond those bruises, he was breathtakingly perfect. He walked without shame or self-consciousness, his shoulders high.
“Ruby?”
The sound of Nevin’s voice, filled with shock and a hint of accusation, floated from a distance. Where, she now saw, he stood at the gates watching her and Cyn retrieve their clothes.
She slapped her shirt against her chest. “Oh, great.”
“This is when the clothes shedding can be tricky,” Cyn said to her, pulling up his pants in one slick move. He moved in front of her, blocking Nevin’s view.
“Fire ants,” Cyn said to Nevin.
Ruby blinked. “What?”
“Fire ants all over us,” Cyn clarified to both of them.
He shrugged. “Had to shed the clothing because there’s nothing worse than fire ants up the crack of your ass.
Wouldn’t you agree?” Because he sounded so unruffled, and snapped his shirt out while seeming to inspect it, Nevin had no reason not to believe him.
“You’re good,” she said in a low voice before taking the opportunity to dress behind the shield of his body. “And I thought I was a great bluffer.” Not one logical reason for standing there in the yard naked with Cyn, a man she’d met just the day before, came to mind.
“Yes, I am.”
She met Cyn’s gaze at those sultry words, feeling an answering spark in her eyes, and forced herself to look Nevin’s way. “Please, go.”
“I was just worried. What happened with the trouble? I heard a lot of crashing sounds.”
“This doesn’t concern you. And don’t come back until I call you.” Why’d he have to become motivated now? “I’ll explain everything… somehow,” she added in a whisper.
Nevin gave her a wounded puppy look before turning away.
In an even softer voice, Cyn said, “You have to cut ties with him.”
“I know. He could get hurt if something else waits to attack us here.”
“And having a Mundane in our lives is dangerous for us, too. Rule Number One.”
She bit her lip as she watched Nevin walk to his car. “I’ve complained ever since learning that I had to share ownership of this place with him. He couldn’t balance a budget if his life depended on it. But now his life depends on me cutting him loose, separating the businesses.”
“You care about him,” Cyn said, heading toward the office building.
“I do. He’s a stray, like I was once a stray. I have a soft spot for them.” She leaned down to pet one of the kittens that was crouched between two coolers. It hissed and ran away, sinking her heart. “Must be spooked because of the tulpa. Red, it’s okay. Come here.”
The cat was looking at her, its fur raised. Then it shot away and disappeared among the cola coolers. Her shoulders drooped. “Now the strays don’t even want me.”
“Don’t take it personally. Cats freak out around Dragon energy.
” He smoothed his hands over his hair, then pointed to one of the Elementals hiding behind a hub cap propped up against the fence.
“That one seems to like you. He was following you around the other day.” He curled his fingers in invitation, and the Elemental slowly emerged. “He’s a fire Elemental, like Allander.”
She knelt down as the creature with the red-tinged skin and large eyes took tentative steps toward her. “You said they don’t talk. How do you know Allander’s name?”
“Just pick a name. He’ll tell you if he likes it or not.”
She tilted her head. “Hm. How about… Ziggy?”
It made a face that actually looked like a grimace. Cyn’s expression was about the same.
“Fine. Fergus. How about that?”
The frown relaxed, and its eyes twinkled. Her heart lifted. She’d lost her cats, but maybe she’d gained an Elemental.
“As much as I hate to interrupt this touching moment…”
She shot him a look. “I’ve lost my uncle, my livelihood for now, and my identity as a normal person living in a normal world. So finally, I’ve found a creature who likes me.” She lowered her voice to a growl. “Give me a friggin’ minute.”