Chapter 11: Hunger

Dana flicked her wrist, causing the sword to unfold itself just in time to parry the first attack. Tasia had leapt across the balcony, easily clearing two deck chairs in the process, and the swords scattered sparks as one blade slid off the other.

“Where did you get that?” Tasia demanded. The knight was pressing hard, and if not for her recent feeding, Dana would have been easily toppled. The two of them clashed, and Dana twisted her blade, keeping them locked up.

“I’m just full of surprises,” she said, then shoved the knight backward. Dana readied her sword, hoping to keep the knight at bay for a few more minutes.

Tasia spun about and sliced through the air with her blade. Dana immediately recognized the intended strike and stepped to the side. The sword cut through where Dana had been standing, and Tasia let out a growl and switched to a horizontal swipe. Dana blocked with her blade, but she was shoved sideways by the impact of the blow.

“Looks like your surprises are running out.” Tasia unleashed an onslaught of blows, and with each one, Dana danced about, dodging out of the way. A risky counterattack was not necessary, all she needed to do was survive until Lily returned. “You’re fast, though, I’ll give you that.”

Dana grunted in response. Her offensive skills with a sword were non-existent. Even with enhanced speed and strength, Tasia was scoring tiny wounds along her arms and torso. They continued moving around the pool, and Dana kept turning her eyes to the sky, hoping to see Lily’s dark shadow descending.

“Even if you get past me, you do know he’ll kill you, right?” Tasia’s eyes were wild as she feinted to the left, then tried to stab Dana in the chest. “He is like a god.”

“You’re so much better than this. You know that he’s controlling you, right?” Though Dana had no reason to like Tasia, it sickened her that the knight was under Tristan’s thrall. When Daryl had blackmailed Dana, she had at least been able to think and speak for herself, to actually be something other than a complete slave. Was Tasia’s mind trapped right now, screaming to get out? Or had she been completely subverted? Maybe it would be worth it to try and reason with the inner Tasia, to help draw her out long enough that the others could help.

“How long are you just going to let him make you his bitch?” she asked, hoping that anger would be the most effective course.

Tasia did a weird shuffle with her feet, then hooked her foot in a deck chair and launched it at Dana. Dana brought up the sword to block it, but lost sight of the knight. It wasn’t until she felt Tasia’s blade pierce her through the gut that she realized that she had fucked up.

“How is this for doing something?” Tasia growled, then twisted the blade. The knight had crouched low to hide herself behind the projectile, then stood to her full height when she had run Dana through. There was a grim satisfaction in Tasia’s smile, and it occurred to Dana that the knight thought she had already won. It was time to press the dead girl advantage, but how?

What would Lily do? Now that she was run through, she wouldn’t be able to use the sword. She looked down to see if there was any way to pull herself free and noticed that Tasia’s left breast was completely exposed. It had popped free of her bikini top while they had been fighting, and the bright areola had become a jiggling target.

She knew what Lily would do.

“Your tit’s out.” Dana let go of her sword, balled her hand into a fist, and then drove it into Tasia’s breast as hard as she could. With any luck, this would get her the opening she needed, but she held nothing back. After all, there was no telling what it would take to bring Tasia down.

The bones in Dana’s hand and forearm snapped on impact, unable to stand up to both her enhanced strength and whatever magical aura protected Tasia. The knight grunted and looked as if she was going to be ill. When her legs buckled, Dana used the moment to push forward and lift Tasia, then tackle her into the pool.

The knight struggled to get out from under her, but a heavy weight now pressed down on both of them. Dana felt Tick Tock change shape, and wire limbs sank themselves into the bottom of the pool, pinning them both in place. Tasia kicked her feet, struggling to break free, then let out a bubbling scream of rage.

Dana held tight, knowing that it was only a matter of time. When Tasia finally went limp, Dana waited an extra thirty seconds and wasn’t surprised when the knight suddenly struggled anew, her attempt at subterfuge failing. When Tasia went limp a second time, Dana wondered how many minutes they had been beneath the water, then patted one of Tick Tock’s limbs to let the mimic know it was time to surface.

She dragged Tasia to the edge of the water, then shoved her up onto the concrete just as a dark shape dropped down from above. It was Cyrus and Lily. The mage fought free of Lily’s arms, then ran over.

“What happened?” he asked.

“It got messy.” Dana grabbed the sword in her gut and pulled it free, then tossed it on the ground. She swayed a bit as her muscles regenerated and tightened. “She needs mouth to mouth right away. I had to drown her.”

Cyrus looked appalled, but Lily knelt next to Tasia and opened the knight’s mouth. She placed her lips on Tasia’s and blew, then tilted her head to the side as a trickle of water came out. She repeated the process a few more times, pausing to listen to Tasia’s lungs.

Tasia let out a groan of agony, then vomited up a bunch of water. She took a deep breath and shuddered, then turned her head to the side and whimpered.

“Will she be okay?” asked Cyrus.

“Should be. But look.” Lily lifted the shirt that Tasia had been wearing to reveal a deep purple bruise that extended back along Tasia’s rib cage. “I noticed it when I was listening to her heart. These ribs are very broken.”

“But how? It would take a tremendous amount of force to accomplish such a thing.” He looked at Dana, realization dawning on his face. “You did this?”

Dana held up her hand to reveal that some of her fingers had healed crooked. She rebroke them a couple of times until they straightened out, then flexed her hand. Something popped into place, and she nodded. “Yep, that was me.”

“Hmm.” He looked at Tasia. “Should we wait for her to wake up?”

“Oh, she’s out for the day. While I was giving her mouth to mouth, I stabbed her. We have no idea whether or not being knocked out will undo Tristan’s control.”

Cyrus let out a sigh of disappointment. “I guess it’s for the best, then. Let’s hide her somewhere so that nobody messes with her.” He pointed to a nearby door, then walked over and opened it. “This is just a towel room. We can lay her down in here. Can someone get her sword?”

“I’ve got it.” Dana picked up Tasia’s sword and then her own. She collapsed both of them and tossed them into Tick Tock’s waiting flaps while Lily and Cyrus tucked Tasia away in the towel room. Towel room was probably not the best name for it, as it was full of dishes and serving trays as well, but it did indeed have giant stacks of towels, which they used to make a bed for Tasia to keep her comfortable. She handed Tasia’s sword to Lily, who winced when it touched her flesh.

“I hate these things,” Lily muttered, then tossed it unceremoniously onto Tasia’s chest. “Are you still good to come with us, magic man? I’m sensing some doubts in you.”

“I’m still good.” Cyrus sounded confident, but Dana could smell a shift in his body odor. Was it stress, or something else? “Was just really hoping to have our heavy hitter.”

“You’ve got your heavy hitter right here.” Lily flexed her arms, then backed out of the door. “Let’s go fuck some shit up.”

“Your language is abhorrent,” muttered Cyrus, but he followed.

They moved into the bedroom and did a quick check for any more magic wards. Cyrus declared the room clear, then took point as they moved down the stairs and into the upper hall. Lily stopped the group and snuck ahead, her skin tone changing to match the walls around them.

“We didn’t have a chance against her, did we?” whispered Cyrus.

“You have no idea.” They waited for a couple of minutes, and Lily came back, a smug look on her face.

“Looks like they’re just a skeleton crew. Only a couple of them at the bottom of the stairs. Figure if we can get down there, I can put them out.”

Cyrus pulled a pair of wands out of his pocket, then pulled something else out and handed it to Dana. It was a glass marble with a smoky liquid inside.

“What is this?” Dana held the marble up to inspect it.

“Smokescreen. Use it in case we need a quick getaway.” He put a wand in each hand and then looked at Lily. “You lead the way. I’ll silence any activity we come across.”

“Such a gentleman.” Lily led them to the stairwell. They stayed crouched while moving, which kept them from being seen from the next floor down.

As they crept along the upper landing, Dana couldn’t help but wonder if Tristan was hidden behind one of the many doors they passed. Still, the men downstairs needed to be taken care of before they could address the issue. While they moved, Cyrus kept waving one of his wands about. It wasn’t until the third time he did it that Dana saw the shimmering wave of magic that followed behind it. They were now moving without a sound, as if the volume of their little adventure had been muted.

Once at the top of the stairs, Lily took a peek over the railing and then held up three fingers.

Cyrus nodded, and the three of them began their descent. Cyrus moved ahead of Lily and Dana followed. Lily raised an eyebrow when Dana made eye contact, so she assumed the succubus was up to something.

At the bottom, the last few stairs widened dramatically, giving them a full view of the entryway. There was still some camera equipment remaining nearby, and one of the guards sat on it, his eyes down the main entryway. The other two were moving along the corridors on the sides. When one of them turned and saw them, he raised his gun.

Lily was already vaulting over the railing as Cyrus sent a blue wave of energy across the room that knocked the first guard off his feet. The guard on the boxes spun to face them, but took a stinger to the neck, and fell limp on the floor.

The third guard tried to flee down a hallway, but Lily grabbed one of the camera cases and launched it. It hit the guy in the back of the head, which sent him sprawling face first on the ground.

“See? Easy pea—” Lily’s words were cut off by the sound of doors opening above them. Dana looked up to see that all of the doors they had passed were open now, and men with assault rifles came storming out, weapons pointed downstairs. Cyrus sent out a wave of purple energy with the wand in his offhand, and it was only while watching the energy expand in a dome that Dana saw the security cameras up above that had been hidden from view.

“Fuck!” Lily grabbed Dana with her hands and Cyrus with her tail, then threw them both down one of the corridors as the men opened fire. Dana slid along the floor, her eyes wide as Lily was gunned down in a hail of bullets. The succubus spread her wings, her features distorting into something truly horrific before launching herself up and out of sight. The gunfire itself sounded like popping corn, and the first scream of agony was more like a sigh.

“This way!” Cyrus grabbed her by the arm and led her to a nearby door. It was locked, but he muttered something under his breath and the door popped open, revealing a service stairwell.

“We can’t just leave her,” Dana told him.

“Yes, we can. She’ll survive, one way or another, but you and I will not. They’ll kill me and keep you to figure out why you won’t die. It only gets worse from there.” They came to the bottom of the stairs, and Cyrus now led them down a long hallway. “We mapped this out before we got here, I know a safe—”

The stairwell door opened behind them, and two men with guns appeared and opened fire. Dana took one in the chest and let out an oomph of surprise, and Cyrus ducked into a nearby door. He leaned around the corner and fired a blast from each wand, his eyes wide when he leaned back.

“There are more coming,” he mouthed, then pulled something out of his pocket and tossed it in the hall. There was a bubbling sound, and Dana watched as a large gelatinous mass expanded in the hallway. Bullets slammed into it, and Cyrus helped Dana stand.

Through the blob, there were now at least six men coming. Were they the same ones from above? Or were these different ones? It didn’t matter, because as they turned the corner, they both slid to a stop as the door at the other end of the hall opened up, and four men emerged, their weapons ready.

“Lux!” Cyrus summoned up a blue shield of energy that deflected the first volley, then turned around and opened a nearby door. It was a large store room, and Cyrus slammed the door behind them as a pair of bullets tore a hole through the metal.

Dana grabbed a nearby shelving unit and slid it in front of the door, then pulled Cyrus away. Bullets coming through the door were destroying everything inside, and when they got to the back of the room, the door was blown open by what must have been a grenade.

“Down!” Cyrus pushed Dana against the wall, between a pair of shelves filled with laundry soap and cleaner. He summoned his blue shield again, and it flashed with every impact. Dana saw that the bullets weren’t being stopped, but deflected, and she made herself small, hoping that they wouldn’t hit her.

Cyrus dropped his wand and started digging around his pockets when a flashbang went off right in front of him. The mage covered his face with his hands and his shield wavered with his concentration. The light was bright, but the flashbang sounded like a brief fart.

“Concentrate fire!” Someone shouted as if from a mile away, and the barrage increased. Cyrus was crouched low, his face pulled into a grimace, and the whole thing was ridiculous. The gunfire was muted even here, and despite the fact that Cyrus could potentially die, it sounded like a kid’s video game, the volume turned as low as possible.

Trying to figure out what to do, Dana spotted an electrical panel on the wall across from them. Gritting her teeth, she threw the smoke-filled marble across the room and then ran out into the open. Smoke filled the small space, and she managed to get her hands on the main switch before bullets ripped through her body. If she could turn the power off, maybe Cyrus could get back on his feet and do something other than play turtle on the floor.

The moment she pulled the main breaker, there was a loud pop as a bullet hit her in the ear and passed through to the other side of her skull. She fell to the floor, her thoughts spinning out of control as darkness flooded in.

Tick Tock watched as Dana-human fell to the ground, some of her insides now on her outside. Humans were fragile creatures, and the fact that they even had an inside was kind of silly. Still, most of the creatures in this plane of existence were confined to the rules of spacetime, so Tick Tock couldn’t fault Dana-human for her frailty.

Spacetime had always been an interesting concept to Tick Tock, as it would be to other members of its kind, if they could ever evolve beyond the constant hunger and desire for survival. Temporally, mimics could only move forward through time, though they could alter the rate at which time passed. For instance, when Tick Tock had been tossed into storage by Emily, it was a simple manner of moving in fast-forward until a chance to escape arrived. Upon returning home, the mimic had been disappointed to discover that the new Caretaker had lacked the necessary spark to fix Tick Tock’s broken gears.

However, the Dana-human had radiated light like the sun, drawing the mimic immediately out from hiding. Many times while being fixed, Tick Tock had frozen time just to bask in her radiance, to allow itself a rare moment of joy. Such a being was extremely rare, and the mimic had come across only one other.

Once fixed, Tick Tock had been able to freely manipulate space as well. What the Dana-human saw as shapeshifting was nothing more than Tick Tock Folding spacetime like a paper airplane, or an origami swan.

Tick Tock’s true form could never manifest completely in a four-dimensional space, for it simply wouldn’t fit. It would be like trying to squeeze a sphere into a piece of paper without flattening it. Ever since leaving the house to help the Dana-human come to life again and regain her spark, Tick Tock had often frozen time or run it in fast forward. When Dana spoke, the mimic was always there to listen, often thinking for hours or days about her words and the best way to help.

Right now, she was falling over, and Tick Tock had frozen the moment to think. There were so many things going on, it was hard to categorize them, but the mimic had all the time it would need.

If the Cyrus-morsel were to die, then it was likely that the Dana-human would be taken. The human-morsels down the hall were the primary problem, but how best to address them? Tick Tock wondered how to best Fold the space around it to assist them both. Perhaps it could Fold itself into a table, or even a metal slab? The bullets the men fired would likely damage its ability to Fold, and Dana-human was no longer able to fix any damage done. So maybe that wasn’t the best move.

Sitting in the dark, a new possibility occurred to Tick Tock. The only thing that prevented the mimic from Folding space was the act of being observed, a truly frustrating attribute at times. Sure, Tick Tock could plan ahead and secrete razor-sharp limbs along its current form, but it wasn’t the same as being free to swim through spacetime freely, Folding itself into different forms and shapes.

In a single moment, Tick Tock spent hours contemplating the best course of action. There didn’t seem to be a single Fold that would accomplish protecting Dana-human from the morsels in the hall. Once all options had been weighed, Tick Tock decided to do something new.

Tick Tock Unfolded. The process was similar to Folding, but was far more exhausting because it forced the mimic to pull the entirety of its body into only three dimensions. This typically had the result of unleashing blinding terror on whatever creature saw it, but that didn’t concern the mimic in the slightest.

Concealed by smoke and hidden in the dark, Tick Tock Unfolded itself, forcing its mass into the three-dimensional space of the storage room.

Through the brief bursts of gunfire, the muffled screams of the human-morsels could be heard as Tick Tock moved along the hallway with a plethora of limbs, scaled, hairy and otherwise. Making sure to dodge the center line of fire, Tick Tock was able to grab the closest human-morsel and toss him inside of a space that most likely resembled a mouth, or some hideous maw. It was so hard to tell or care about what the morsels were seeing.

Once inside the space, Tick Tock Folded the morsel into a tiny ball and then tucked it away in a sub-space where the protein could be digested. This resulted in a high-pressure spray of blood and tissue that soaked the room.

Cries of alarm became shrieks of terror as the mimic tore its way through the remaining morsels, spraying blood and gore everywhere. In between muzzle flashes, the mimic changed shapes, and the universe fought to define it, but Tick Tock was determined to protect the Dana-human. It owed its life to her, and would ensure that she regained her spark once again, even if it had to exhaust itself to do so.

Once out in the hallway, it made sure to devour the morsels before they could don their magic glasses, green things that would allow them to see in a different wavelength of light. By the time it Folded its last morsel, it slumped to the floor exhausted. Though its mind could stretch a single moment into an eternity, its body still required the passage of actual time to digest what it had consumed. It would save just a little bit of energy in case Dana-human needed it. Once Folded back into the shape of a backpack in the middle of the blood-soaked hallway, Tick Tock waited for her.

The mimic wouldn’t have to wait long. After all, time was relative.

As soon as Lily reached the upstairs landing, she grabbed one of the nearby mercenaries and used him as a shield, holding him up with her tail as she moved toward the men closest to her. The bullets that tore through her were painful, and she wondered if they had been tipped with silver or even blessed. The men held back to avoid shooting their comrade, and she took advantage of the moment by leaning around the gasping man.

“Don’t stop shooting on his account. I intend to kill all of you.” Realizing that her voice was muffled and they might not hear her, she reached a clawed hand around the man’s throat and tore it open, hoping they would get the point.

The hallway erupted in quiet gunfire once more, and she threw the dead man and danced about the room, slashing and ripping. Her body became hot as hellfire surrounded her, summoned by her anger, and she tore her way through the men, pausing on occasion to sting a couple and knock them out.

Someone threw a flash bang, and she snatched it up and bit into it. It exploded in her face, and she laughed maniacally, spreading her wings wide to cast an eerie shadow. The lights suddenly went out, but Lily had no trouble seeing in the dark.

“To Hell with all of you!” She tore her way through them, dodging gunfire and whipping her tail about to sting them. If given the chance, she would come back and eat every last one of them, but time was of the essence. She forced her way through a pair of men blocking the doorway and kicked one hard enough that his head snapped sideways on his body. The other drew a pistol, which she snatched out of his hands while stabbing him with her tail.

“Oh, why didn’t I think of this?” She picked up the man and the pistol and moved back into the hallway. While using him as her meatshield, she picked off two of the others with the pistol, then plucked another flashbang from the man’s belt and tossed it into a trio of mercs at the top of the stairs. They ran out of the blast radius so she threw her meatshield after them, smashing into them, knocking one of them to the ground. Pistol empty, Lily scooped up a nearby assault rifle and strode purposefully forward.

She fired several rounds at the retreating men, knocking down one. The other fled across the main hall and ducked through one of the side rooms on the main floor. Expecting to find herself under attack again, she stopped and picked up an extra gun. If a group of men stormed out, she could put a few down from a distance.

Other than the groans of the dying, there were no sounds to be heard in the main lobby. She paused just long enough to put a bullet in the head of a merc who was trying to aim his pistol at her. It seemed a shame to ruin so many perfectly good meals, but she was on a time crunch.

The lights flickered back on up above, and she frowned. So much for the advantage of night vision. She walked down a few steps, keeping her senses alert for another ambush. She took a few more tentative steps down the stairs and waited.

Several moments passed.

Suddenly, the door of a side room burst open. Tristan stormed out, bare-ass naked except for the pendant around his neck. His skin was a deep red, and from her vantage point on the stairs, she could see the open door to a sauna on the far wall of the room.

“You’ve got to be fucking kidding me!” he roared, and Lily opened fire. She didn’t know if guns would even work on him, and was disappointed to see many of the rounds bounce off his flesh. However, a couple did pierce his skin, but the rounds were still visible, meaning they only just broke the skin.

“Where the fuck is everybody?” he demanded, then turned around, spying one of his men hiding behind a pillar. “Get out here, you coward, or I’ll eat your whole goddamn family!”

The remaining merc fled.

Feeling smug, Lily hopped over the railing and tossed her guns to the side. “Looks like your friends are gone. You’ve got quite the mess to clean up.”

“I’m about to make an even bigger one.” His features rippled, and his jaw stretched wide. “What makes you think that you’ll be able to handle me now?”

“Because she has help.” Cyrus staggered out of the hallway, his feet and arms covered in blood. In one hand was a wand, but he held a silver dagger in the other. The dagger was humming with holy energy, and Lily took a step away from it out of instinct.

“I’m surprised to see you. But no matter.” Tristan popped his knuckles and tilted his head back and forth. The Dragon Seed swung from side to side, glowing with a sickly aura. “Let’s dance.”

Cyrus charged forward, then brought up his wand in defense when Tristan sent out a blast of dragon’s fire. The summoned shield of light looked as if it was melting, and Lily jumped into the flames, her wings spread wide behind her.

“You’d better have a plan,” she yelled over the roar of the flames.

“This!” He held up the dagger. It had silver and pearl inlays throughout the handle, and she recognized the holy script engraved in the blade. “It was for you, but it’s time to improvise.”

“Where’s Dana?”

Cyrus shook his head and pulled something new out of his pocket. “Move!”

Lily leapt to the side as Cyrus threw something into the flames. A gelatinous mass appeared in mid-air and exploded, coating the walls in flaming goo. Tristan coughed, and Lily saw that some of the gunk had hit him in the face. Wasting no time, she ran toward him and leapt into the air, tilting her body backward so that her tail could swing about.

In midair, the stinger of her tail became a spiked club that swung up into Tristan’s exposed scrotum. The impact caused Lily to lose her balance mid-air and crash to the ground. When she rolled over, she saw that Tristan’s face was now a deep purple as he clutched at his testicles.

Cyrus ran in with the dagger and planted it in Tristan’s chest. The dagger didn’t seem to do anything but further piss off the dragon, who let out a roar that shook the windows.

Tristan grabbed Cyrus by the shoulders and lifted him into the air before slamming him into the ground. Once free of the mage, he hunched over and clutched his nuts some more.

“Gonna ... fucking ... kill you,” he muttered through deep breaths, then ripped the dagger out.

“I’d like to see you—” Lily let out a gasp when the dagger struck her in the chest. Tristan had moved so quickly that she hadn’t even seen him throw it. Her body went numb as she fell to the floor, pinned in place by the artifact planted in her bosom. Pain radiated through her body as a beam of light came through the ceiling, pinning her in place with holy magic. In the distance, she could hear a choir of angelic voices singing, and she realized that she couldn’t flee. Whatever this object was, it had pinned her onto this plane of existence, filling her with dread.

Tristan let out a wet cough and started moving toward her with murder in his eyes.

Dana was in her garage, an angle grinder held tight in her hands as she used it to trim her motorcycle’s fender back into a smooth line. Sparks danced along the fender’s edge, illuminating the dark corners of the room.

“What’cha workin’ on, Sparks?” Alex stepped out of the shadows, her bare feet silent on the concrete.

“Just fixing up the bike.” Dana turned her head while taking off her safety glasses. “What are you doing here? Aren’t you supposed to be dead?”

“That’s a laugh.” Alex pulled up a nearby chair and spun it around to sit on it backward. “You’re the only dead girl here.”

“I’m not dead, though, I’m...” Dana coughed, and something small and shiny fell out of her mouth and landed on the floor. She bent over and picked it up to inspect it. It was a bullet, covered in her blood. There was a sudden pressure in her head, just behind her eyes, and the room became blurry.

“Relax, Sparks, you’re gonna make it. Just close your eyes for a second.”

Dana obeyed, then let out a groan as the pressure intensified some more. “What’s happening?” she asked.

“The human brain is a complicated thing, and it takes time to rebuild. That’s the funny thing about your situation. You may be dead, but your body still fights so hard to live.”

“That’s because ... I ... want to live.”

“I want you to live, too, Sparks. But you know it’s never gonna be the way it used to be, right?” She could feel Alex’s hand on hers, squeezing tightly. “You’re not the same person you were when you were alive, and that’s okay. This new person is pretty cool, too.”

“Alex, what are you—” the pain vanished, and Dana blew a chunk of metal out of her left nostril, which pinged off the floor. When she opened her eyes, she was in the utility room of the Black Palace, but Alex still stood before her. A gnawing pain filled her belly, and she groaned when she stood. Why did she hurt so bad? Why was the room so smoky?

“Looks like you’re out of fuel, Sparks.” Alex walked across the utility room and passed through the wall.