There’s never anything wrong with sitting back and enjoying a plate of fire-roasted pork, watching topless dancers do their thing, and spending quality time with a handful of lovers. Or two handfuls. Devasla went up to the stage and joined in the dance, her breasts flailing about as she giggled and moved to the fast-paced music. She tried a grass skirt once, but they quickly burst into flames and vanished around her in a puff of smoke. This added to the excitement for some of the civilians, while more were confused about what was going with all the supposedly oddly dressed cosplayers. I’d been told that’s what they believed, anyway. Maybe they were simply more aware of monsters.

  When it became my turn to perform, I stood and instead went to the stage to hula dance with the others. It was all fun, until I did the fire thing and my clothes burnt off—maybe I got a little carried away. They chanted for me to keep dancing anyway, so I did, but brought up the shadow tendrils to cover my special area. It didn’t always work; flailing around like that was hard to conceal. But they all seemed to love it.

  It wasn’t until the sunlight had ended and evening began that Suiko came to my side and, after only a brief humored glance down, said, “It’s time.”

  I froze, wishing I had clothes, and instantly let the others know that we needed to send the civilians home. My team helped gather them up and sent them on their way.

  “How long?” I asked.

  “Any minute now.” Suiko rose in the sky above me, and I joined her. She looked my way and said, “I like this new look. Nude with fire and strange shadow tendrils. Kind of hot.”

  “No pun intended?”

  “You’re lucky I didn’t make a joke when asked how long, considering…”

  I glanced down at my exposed self, and chuckled. “I guess I should consider my word choices when nude.”

  “Only around less mature women than myself.”

  Moving on from joking, banter I never would’ve thought I’d see from Suiko when we first met, we both looked out at the ocean, the horizon, and the dark clouds above. To my relief, it still hadn’t started raining, but there was no doubt that it would. Even as I thought that, thunder rolled over the hills behind us, and lightning flashed. I half-expected to see Jalee next to me, as if she had caused the lightning. But no, she was on the ground, still looking up at me with her sister at her side.

  22

  As fate would have it, the slow pitter-patter of rain began exactly as the enemy arrived. There was simply a portal, opening similarly to an eye. Without a doubt, this was the enemy. The attack started immediately.

  As our assault on them began, they charged out, sending back a barrage of attacks as well. Flames, lightning, even bullets. We sent our protective monsters to the front line, putting up barriers and walls, counterattacks hitting their strikes midair and causing both to fizzle out.

  Then the hunter lady, Galeva, arrived on her platform, moving down toward us. Turrets shot holes through some of our allies, but I set my own drones to meet her. I motioned to my flyers and shouted out, “We take the air, but the rest handle these ones.”

  I moved first, my wings of fire shooting out behind me. With the sword in one hand, I felt like some sort of angel, like Michael himself come to smite down a demon. Jalee and Fiare were at my side a moment later, Suiko circling around me. Others moved up behind us, and after an initial barrage of attacks from both sides, Galeva with her white masking green lines held up a hand and shouted, “Halt!”

  “Where is this queen of yours?” I asked.

  Ignoring my question, low laughter emanated from the hunter. “What is this, boy? You’ve been learning new tricks while I was gone.”

  “I do what I can. Want to get closer and find out what exactly I’m capable of?”

  “Please don’t flirt with me, I find you revolting.”

  “Then what are we doing here? If not flirting, we should be fighting.”

  Again, she laughed, then held out her hands gesturing to the orders below. “What a fool I’d be to assume you might consider surrender. You don’t belong here. None of you do.”

  “Me more so than you,” I countered.

  “Not anymore. You sold your soul to the devils…” She motioned to Jalee and Fiare on each side of me and said, “And look, here they are now. Little devils, aren’t you on the wrong side?”

  “We don’t serve you anymore,” Jalee spat back at her.

  “After this day, nobody will,” Fiare added.

  “Well, then, let’s stop wasting time.”

  Without further ado, the green on her body burst forth, surrounding her in a circle and shooting out tendrils toward us. I felt a sudden urge to turn on my friends, and even saw a vision of it, with me striking out flames and sword and shadowy tendrils. I threw myself at the huntress, giving her everything I had. I was shooting around her as best I could with my fiery wings, shadow tendrils grabbing hold of her platform and blinking around as I thrust my sword. Her green bubble pulsated, expanding, and though the urge to attack my own grew stronger, I was not giving in. Every time the betrayal took hold, I focused on the spirit energy and leveraged my shadow tendrils closer for another strike. Each time I nearly landed a strike, her green light flickered, until finally, it vanished when I managed to kick her from the platform.

  She fell, shouting and reaching, until she landed on the hillside nearby. She turned to face me, and I saw her white mask was cracked in half. The green light fizzled around it; I knew it would heal itself shortly. Not if I acted fast enough.

  As I charged, I saw my team around me fighting. Devasla tearing through the enemy, Amabie pulling others into the water. Lightning bursts from Jalee, and all manner of strikes from these monsters that I hadn’t gotten to know yet. Shadow was working her magic darkness, while one of the enemy monsters had grown ten times his normal size and was bringing them quite a beating.

  I reached Galeva, swinging with my sword and sending a vibration out to cause her to stumble. She came back at me with two blades, but I had her where I wanted her. Foliage and vines wrapped around her body kept her pinned to the ground, so my next strike came unhindered. A crack of my shoe against her mask sounded, then it was gone. Her face stared back at me—a horrible, six-eyed beast. Two forked tongues shot out, long and dangerous. I moved to the left and brought up my sword, cleaving one of them off so she recoiled and shrieked in pain. Something caught me, and I was flung away from her, sent rolling across the grass. I needed to gain the advantage, to find a way to one-up her.

  Amabie was up in a wave, clashing with another water fighter. Seeing her gave me an idea. Instead of focusing on Galeva, I used my totems to have Jalee send a blast of lightning her way. As much as I hated controlling any of the ladies, this was faster, and I needed the distraction. My tendrils pushed me up and I used the fire wings to shoot myself forward until I was at the water’s edge. I leaped in, using my water power to propel myself until I came straight up through my sword, cleaving Amabie’s opponent in half.

  “We need to get the huntress in the water,” I shouted.

  “That shouldn’t be a problem,” she replied, and pointed past me. Where the huntress had been, now Devasla was raising hell—seemingly literally. Lava spewed forth, and Galeva was nowhere to be seen.

  “What…?” I started, then Galeva was there, plowing into me so we went spiraling. At first toward the water, then she adjusted our trajectory, sending us instead toward land, where two monsters stood, arms held out and creating an energy field between them. It had to be those two pulling us toward them, so I used my totems again, this time drawing Milrae’s attention toward them. She had been fighting a worm-like monster, but turned at my signal, slicing it in three before running over to help. Along the way, she snagged Koharu. The two made contact, breaking the monsters’ connection, and leaving Galeva and me to fall.

  We were over the edge of jagged rocks, at the point here water met land. No doubt, this would hurt. But as we approached, I pushed out with my shadow power and propelled us back toward the water.

  The huntress lunged to escape, but a wave crashed over both of us. She was pummeled against the rocks, while I drew my sword and let the water carry me into her.

  A sickening crunch sounded as the sword pierced her armor, the wave pulling us both back, so we tumbled over the rocks and fell into the ocean.

  She pushed herself up, snarling and letting loose with a string of alien expletives—and I caught a glimpse of the queen.

  But it wasn’t really her—only a screen projecting her, as if she was trying to call and we weren’t letting her through. Fine by me. I used my druid powers to command the seaweed to engulf Galeva, then stared into that disgusting face of hers as I dragged her into the water and used all the powers in my arsenal. The swipe of my sword was fast and heavy, her head quickly removed from her body. As before with the first hunter we’d encountered back at Big Bear, this fight was ended with a beheading.

  Milrae plunged into the water at my side, ready for a battle. At seeing what I’d done, she gave me a big thumbs up with her claw, then motioned back to the surface. I took the head with me, and a second later we had surfaced. I saw why she wanted me up there—flames, lava, bodies, and chaos. This wasn’t looking good. My premonition of death returned, and I propelled myself up and out of the water, shouting, “Enough!”

  As if that wasn’t enough, I heaved Galeva’s severed head at the giant monster, so it bounced off of the fucker’s skull and landed at the feet of several others.

  Flying up to hover over them, at the giant’s eye level, I demanded, “Is this who you follow? A hunter who would see you treated as cattle?”

  “As what?” the giant said, voice deep and gravelly.

  “Ignore that. Like shit. Am I right?” Turning and dismissing my sword to show I wasn’t a threat, I beseeched the crowd. “End this, join us. Fuck all this fighting bullshit!”

  “Fuck that, we love fighting,” the giant said, swiping at me as if I were a pesky fly.

  Ascending out of his reach, I said, “We can fight others! Their queen, she’s out there, right? We find her, we fight her! But not your own kind.”

  “You’re not our own kind,” he countered.

  The others, I noticed, were silent, nobody fighting. Figuring that at least had to mean something, I lowered myself down to a hillside between Jalee and Fiare. Kinara stood a few paces ahead, crouched and ready for more action.

  “I wasn’t born one of you, but I’ve come to love many of your kind,” I said. “And to that end, I would hope you all would accept me as if I, too, were a monster.”

  Mumbling rose from the monsters. Before any could answer, though, a sharp pain hit my head, and I fell to the ground on my hands and knees. A vision of Lizzy came, screaming, of the queen there, transparent but there, a hand held out over her suffering form, chanting the name, “Akame.”

  “What’s… happening?” I asked Suiko, hoping she would know.

  “I can answer that,” another voice came, and I turned to see Jericho emerging from a portal behind me. Through the portal, I could see the witches, and arched an eyebrow.

  “Can you?”

  He nodded, then waved to Amabie where she stood on the water. “Thank you. Couldn’t have made it without your help.” Then back to me, he added, “A dark force has taken over your mansion, and it’s expanding. Something is in there, threatening to destroy the whole compound. It’ll be night soon, but not yet.”

  The rain started pounding, another crack of lightning sending a flash through the sky.

  “Meaning, your gargoyles are at risk,” I said, catching on. He was right, this had to be dealt with immediately. Turning back to the monsters, I said, “You can stay here and fight, or… decide to give that up right now.”

  Images of the queen pulling at Lizzy’s spiritual energy, as if extracting Akame from her, hit me, and I cringed.

  “Ferris?” Jalee asked.

  I held up a hand to show I was fine, then continued, “I know where the queen is, and with the tech we can take from this place, I believe we’ll not only defeat her, but be able to end all of this once and for all. You will have the options to find a new home with us, or return to your world.”

  “But you have to decide right now!” Ahlaksiz added, already walking over to me. She turned and indicated a point on the ground. “In the next thirty seconds, you can cross that point. After that, anyone on the side beyond is an enemy and will be dealt with accordingly.”

  This taking charge shit was hot! I watched, impressed, then watched many of the monsters coming over.

  “What’s the plan?” I asked Fiare.

  “Some of us will gather STP supplies and follow you,” she said.

  “Others will finish the fight,” Jalee added, hands in fists.

  “Great,” I replied, eyeing Jericho.

  He stepped forward, staff raised, and said, “TIME!”

  Only the giant and a harpy-looking lady replied. Both looked at each other, and the harpy started to move as if to come to our side, but the giant grabbed her and bit into her neck, sending blood spraying. Before we could react, the head was detached, and the giant was laughing, bracing for more of a fight.

  “Fuck this guy,” Jericho said, and blasted him. Seconds later, all that remained was green grass strewn with bloody chunks of giant flesh and pools of blood. Judging by the expressions of horror on the other monsters, they were impressed. Or… horrified. Either way, they weren’t likely to betray us anytime soon.

  “Good call,” I said, feeling a bit sick. “Everyone, get to action! We have a war to finish.”

  23

  Stepping back into the compound, I was stricken by how the darkness and holes in the walls reminded me of when we’d come back to find Lizzy that first time. Combined with the orange glow of sunset, it was truly creepy.

  “Psst!” Arturo said, calling out from the hedge of the next building over. Other monsters crouched with him, along with Steph and Megha. Several more peeked out from the windows above.

  I quickly jogged over. “Everyone’s safe?”

  He shook his head. “Greg and Yuki…”

  “They’re still in there?” I turned, horrified.

  “And the baby,” Steph added. “We tried to go in, even Jericho, but this magic, it’s too strong.”

  I guffawed. There was no way Jericho couldn’t make it, but I could. Right. But when another wave of visions showing Lizzy in pain hit me, I was reminded this case was different. It wasn’t about who was the most powerful overall, but who had the right kind of power. My connection via Akame had to be the key.

  “Everyone, stay back,” I said, then turned and charged in.

  The building seemed to convulse as I entered, and I felt a shift, as if Suiko and Basty were both thrown from me. Indeed, my attempt to reach out to them was met with silence.

  Shadows moved along the wall like snakes, slithering, trying to escape, as I charged up the stairs to find Lizzy. The closer I got, the stronger my connection with Lizzy became, along with the pain the queen was imparting on her. Akame was being torn out from her, but now that I was here, I could feel Lizzy resisting. Through me, she was able to hold out. Our bond was all that helped her resist.

  Attempting to spot them, I was reminded that Lizzy wasn’t a monster. Akame was, but she was all over the place, so the glow was everywhere.

  “Akame!” I shouted, trying to reach into my connection with her. No response came, other than a twinge of panic, then a pulsing within as Lizzy and I became one. Our minds connected, and she told me to run, to save myself.

  “I can’t hold out,” she said.

  “You don’t have to,” I countered. “Not by yourself. I’m on my way.”

  To my relief, our connection gave me an exact ping on her location. Advancing, I remembered to search for the others, too. A light glow showed ahead, though my connection to Lizzy showed this wasn’t her. Maybe Yuki? I leaped up the stairs two at a time, then froze in place as I turned to see a face in the darkness halfway up the stairs. It was Randi!

  “Ferris!” Randi called, held in place by those shadows. When I turned to her, her hand moved, something glinting there. “Take it!”

  I had no idea what she was trying to give me, but I reached out. Shadows pulled her back, but since I was connected to Akame as well, I used that. The shadows pushed me to her, and even as she was yanked away and the darkness consumed her, I had the item.

  She was gone, darkness swirling around me, and somewhere in there, a baby was crying. I stared at the glimmering object in my hand as its sharp edge cut into my skin. A piece of a mirror?

  What did it do? I stared at it, even using my spirit sight, but nothing stood out as special about it.

  The baby.

  Its cries echoed from the walls and I spun, searching. No sign of them, but Lizzy and the queen weren’t far. If I could stop the queen, the others would be safe. I had to believe it.

  The queen’s power pulled at me, her mind reaching into mine, telling me to come over. My first thought was to hold the mirror shard up to her, hoping it would trap her within or something like that. Nothing happened. She laughed, and I felt her influence growing. No, no, no, I thought, trying to resist, but feeling helpless.

  Then Lizzy and I were somewhere else, standing in the middle of a stream as water went by our feet. She grasped my hand and looked at it as if unsure our connection was real. Hell, I didn’t know if any of this was!

  “Where are we?” she asked.

  “Somewhere we don’t belong,” I replied, head swiveling to look for answers. But all I saw was the sunlight glistening on wet tree leaves and grass. This wasn’t right. Our fate wasn’t to lose, and I wasn’t about to let this bitch separate me from the rest of the women I loved.

  I wasn’t the type to surrender. Who was I? Not the same guy I’d been back when this journey started, that was for damn sure. A thought hit me.

  “The mirror!” I shouted, and was back in that room with the darkness. Instead of showing the queen the mirror, I turned it back on myself to see my own reflection.