23. Lea
23
LEA
T he smell of something burning filled my nostrils, dragging me out of bed.
My feet were moving before the rest of me had even fully woken up yet.
I rubbed the sleep from my eyes as I looked out my window, seeing the city colored in a powerful orange and red, despite it being in the middle of the night. “What’s—going on?”
A piercing scream ripped through the silence, and sent a rush of urgency through my body.
Someone’s in trouble!
I made it to my front door and pulled it open.
The wall of heat hit me in the face full force.
The fire blazed so intensely that I couldn't tell from where it originated.
I brought the sleeve of my robe up to cover my nose. I needed to keep the smoke out of my lungs.
I looked around, spotting a woman who was under a burning piece of a large wooden beam that had collapsed. “Hold on! I’m coming!
I darted off in her direction, but stopped after hearing the building collapse right next to me.
The heated stone blocks made a terrible creaking sound as they rubbed against each other and fell over into the street.
The ground rumbled as if the Giants had awoken, and their Stampede had begun.
“Help me! Please!” the woman pleaded with me.
I have to make it across!
I ran back inside to grab my potion pouch, which was sitting on the little coffee table in my living room.
What's that smell?
I looked around, realizing the smoke was coming from inside my place as well. It began creaking all around me, and I knew I had mere seconds to get out.
My heart jumped into my throat. Ravana!
I ran into my guest room to find that she wasn’t there. I shouted to the skies, “Where is that girl?”
She was accustomed to coming and going as she pleased, especially at night.
Does that mean she’s out there?
All I could do was hope that she was okay wherever she was. I sent out a silent prayer to Lunaira as I darted out the front door. I reached into my pouch and grabbed a handful of Port Powder from it.
Useful stuff… Glad I invented it!
I threw the Port Powder at my feet and jumped into it.
I landed on the floor on the other side of the collapsed building, right next to the woman who needed my help.
By now, the fire had reached her legs, and she was kicking and screaming helplessly, desperate to get away from it.
The smell of her burning flesh turned my stomach, but it didn't deter me.
My hands slipped under the burning beam, and I groaned as I tried to lift it off of her. Fire bit at my skin, tearing through it like hot butter.
I let out a scream, the excruciating pain unbearable, but my claws unsheathed themselves and dug into the wood as I got a sudden burst of werewolf strength.
I flipped the beam away from the woman, and immediately began slapping my palms around her robes to put out the fires busy consuming parts of it. I only stopped as soon as I was sure no flame remained.
The woman sat up slowly, shaking with tears pouring down her soot-covered face. “You saved me… I don't know how I can ever?—”
“Repay me by getting to safety,” I interjected, pulling out a healing potion from my pouch to pour it on her burned legs. I watched with bated breath as her destroyed flesh began to repair itself before my eyes. “You should be able to walk now.”
I helped her to her feet, and held back a hiss, realizing how sore and burned I was myself after all that.
“Solara’s blessings to you, child! I won’t soon forget this.” She bowed her head down and thanked me before running in the opposite direction of the ever-growing blaze.
“Ravana, where did you go?” I mumbled to myself while looking around for her, or anyone else who might need my help.
My eyes fixed on a silhouette walking through the thick black smoke toward me, seeming unbothered by any of it.
“I was hoping I’d find you out here. You’re Jax’s new plaything, aren’t you?”
Even though I couldn’t make out his face, that voice was unmistakable.
I didn't know whether it was due to the adrenaline rushing to my head, or because there was a much more terrifyingly massive fire burning closer and closer to us, but I was nowhere near as scared of him as I had thought I’d be facing him again.
Diesel.
“Who are you?” I had to remember to play my part still.
Although the mission was coming to fruition, I had to remain on my guard.
“I find it hard to believe that you don't know who I am,” he said, seeming almost offended by my question.
Good.
But before I could think of anything to say to him in response, he stepped through the smoke, and I stumbled back on sheer instinct and alarm.
When the hell did he get so big?!
Diesel stood at least eight feet tall, and had more muscles rippling through his clothes than ever before. “It's time this city remembers who really owns them.”
He must have taken something, I deduced. But what potion does that to a shifter's body?
The only thing I could hear was my heart pounding in my ears as I watched him reach into his bag and pull a potion bottle from it.
Instead of drinking it, he chucked it away from him. I watched on, unable to stop any of it, as the vial hit a building, exploding like a bomb.
The building began to creak, right before it crumbled over completely, demolishing another home along with it.
That’s it. I won’t let him destroy anything else ever again!
My skin tore open and my wolf pelt enveloped my entire body.
My teeth grew so sharp they could easily have sliced clean through my tongue if I wasn't careful.
My bones broke and elongated, creating my true form.
My hefty paws landed on the cold stone as I moved into my fighting stance.
“You want to fight me? Don't make me laugh.” Diesel shifted faster than I could register it. He got down on all fours and disappeared.
He’s fast. Another thing that unknown potion likely does for him…
But I wasn’t afraid of him anymore. Diesel had taken enough from me. I was ending things. Right here and now!
I closed my eyes and focused on the sounds around me.
The crackling fire and distant screams filled my ears, but just beyond that, was a ferocious heartbeat.
It was pounding uncontrollably… And it was coming at me from my left.
I opened my eyes and jumped back just in time to avoid Diesel’s strike.
Woah! That was too close!
He snarled, shaking his head and running his claws along the cobblestones, as if to say, “That was pure luck, little mouse.” Then he disappeared again.
I calmed myself and listened for his next move. I knew I couldn’t continue surviving off defensive strategies for much longer, though. I needed to be able to land a blow as well.
There! He's behind me!
I used my hind legs to jump into the air as he reappeared right under me. I extended my claws out and scratched a gash clean across the center of his face.
He growled like a rabid dog, his own blood cascading down his face. Some even got into his eyes, tinting them a sinister red. He disappeared again, but this time I didn't hear anything.
I looked around in a panic before feeling a sharp pain against my side.
Before I could register what had happened, my body was rolling over the rough and debris-covered street, only coming to a stop when I slammed into the side of a burning building.
The pain in my body begged me to give up, to just stay down and admit defeat. It was agonizingly persuasive, but I managed to bring myself to my feet. As hunched over and off balance as I was, I was able to make myself look up to see Diesel approaching me slowly.
He knew I wasn't capable of dodging another one of his attacks in the state I was in.
He smiled as he bared his teeth at me.
My vision became blurry, and I glanced down at my aching side to see that there was a huge hole right under my ribs.
He tore right through me…
I looked back up at him, intending to meet my fate head-on.
Even if this is how I die, at least I won't go out cowering or begging.
My wolf faded away, and I was left shaking on the cold cobblestone street, even as fires blazed behind me.
Diesel shifted back to his human form as well. “What a shame. I thought with how talented you were that you might have put up more of a fight.”
He reached forward with his claws extended toward my throat, but before he could reach me, a cloud of red smoke surrounded him.
At first, I thought it was from the fire, but upon closer inspection, I realized the smoke had magical properties.
It surrounded Diesel, rushing into his nose and mouth like river currents with nowhere else to go.
Diesel fell to his knees, and I looked on curiously, knowing that I wasn't responsible. Still, Diesel looked at me as if I was.
“What did you—? ” he began to say, but before he could finish, he fell forward, unconscious and unmoving on impact.
Then two arms wrapped around me and helped me to my feet.
I stumbled weakly, but the solid arms held onto me.
My eyes rose slowly, wanting to see who had just saved my life with a speed and strength that should have been impossible…
I gasped as I gazed up at a masked face, immediately recognizing the eyes peering down at me from behind it.
“It's you.”