Fifty-Seven Dianna

The sky was gleaming a thick orange by the time we made it back to the pier. Samkiel jumped out first and then reached down to lift me from the boat. We raced toward the city, crackling flames spreading from one tavern to the next as people flooded the streets.

“Nismera?” I asked.

Samkiel shook his head, his face grim. “No, they are screaming about monsters.”

Splintered pieces of wood burst into the air. We darted forward while everyone scrambled past us in the opposite direction. One building split, then another further down, a massive beast charging through them like they were made of paper.

“How many monsters are there?” I asked. A familiar aching screech resonated through the air, and I knew it wasn’t many but one. One giant, creepy, crawling bug. “The murrak.”

Samkiel slipped his rings on his fingers, his eyes burning silver. His armor flowed over his skin, covering him from head to toe.

“Sami,” I placed my hand on his arm, “what if she shows?”

He didn’t even glance at me. “It’s heading toward the lower part of town where the families are. Sleeping families.”

“Children,” I finished for him.

“I need you to help me block it from the lower part of the city. I have to save as many as I can. Give me a head start, but whatever you do, do not engage with it.” The lower part of his helmet flowed away from his lips and jaw. He cupped the back of my head and pulled me close, kissing me deeply. “Be careful.”

I licked my lips and nodded. Samkiel took off at a run, and I shifted and lunged for the sky.

FLAMES BURST FROM MY THROAT AS I CIRCLED HIGH ABOVE, MY WINGS beating in powerful sweeps. From my aerial view, I could see the path the murrak had taken in its hunt for food. It had demolished the town where the businesses were. Thank the gods, most of the citizens preferred to be home at this time of night.

I spat a controlled fireball, blocking it from the end of town where Samkiel was working. I glanced toward his small silver figure. He was going door to door, ushering families out of their homes and toward the safety of the tree line.

I swept lower, scorching another line through town, trying to contain the murrak. A screech, loud and damning, filled the air, and I knew the beast had figured out what Samkiel was doing. It doubled its efforts to get to him but kept running into my fire. It reared up and roared a challenge into the sky.

Great, now I was on a bug’s hit list.

I cut through the rising smoke, scouring the ground below, but I didn’t see the creature. I turned to make another pass. Fuck, had I lost it? A splash caught my ear, and I flew that way. My eyes widened when I saw the murrak burst through the water at the village’s edge. Fuck, it had gone to the water to avoid my flames. I pivoted and tucked my wings in tight, diving toward the ground. My form shifted, and I landed in a squat. The smoke was thick here, the wind swirling it in eddies along the shore.

Screams rang through the air as the murrak made it to the village. I sprinted, pieces of stone crunching beneath my shoes. The murrak moved through the homes Samkiel hadn’t reached. As people ran outside, it grabbed one woman and held her to its face, its pinchers opening. She screamed and went rigid, a clear translucent form of herself parting from her body and falling into the creature’s jaws.

The murrak fed and tossed her body to the side. It rolled to a stop, her eyes white and unseeing, her skin ashen. Oh, gods. It didn’t eat meat. It ate souls.

“Come on, we have to move now,” I heard Samkiel say, but so did the murrak. It lifted its antennae and turned toward him.

Samkiel was bent, completely unaware of the creature looking at him as he lifted a man and his family out of the rubble. If the murrak could smile, it did so as it focused on him. Those hundred legs shot out, racing toward him. I had only a second to think about what to do, a second to save the one person I couldn’t live without, so I reacted.

I sprinted forward, forcing myself to go faster, my legs burning with the effort. Samkiel looked up as the family near him ran. He saw me, then looked to his side as the murrak charged. My palms hit him square in the chest, sending him flying through the wall of the neighboring house, and the murrak grabbed me.