He drew his remaining dagger, settled into a familiar fighting position, and nodded. “I’m ready.”
At least the monster’s peculiar red glow meant he could see Vivienne and their opponent.
Even now, in this place of darkness where the early evening air tasted like death, Marius couldn’t help but smile. This was the kind of adventure he’d always dreamed of.
A Dark Siren Song
The shadow monster refused to die.
Vivienne was panting, and sweat ran in rivulets down her back. Her sword was slick with black blood that oozed from dozens of cuts littering the creature’s strange body. Ice streamed from the beast, coating the ground.
By all the laws that governed this land, it should’ve died long ago.
The prince had recovered his fallen dagger, and between the two of them, they’d fought well. The beast was blind in one eye, three of its four arms hung limply at its sides, and its scream had morphed into a never-ending wail that echoed through the darkness.
And yet, against all odds, it survived.
Beware.
The warning seemed almost mocking, now.
The monster moved with the speed of a vampire, swinging its remaining arm in Vivienne’s direction.
She spun on her heels, nearly slipping on the ice as she turned away from the creature. Her heart thundered.
How much longer could they keep doing this?
Marius shouted, “Look out!”
She jumped just in time to miss a swipe of those obsidian claws.
A laceration ran across Vivienne’s cheek from earlier, and there was an incessant throb in her right side where the creature had thrown her against a wall.
It didn’t matter. She’d take a dozen injuries if it meant the prince remained unharmed.
Her mind was entirely focused on her work.
Duck, spin, slash.
Shadows rippled around her sword.
The creature wailed and strode forward.
Isvana help her, but something needed to change.
“Viv!” the prince shouted.
She twirled just in time to see the monster leap towards Marius. It was little more than a blur of darkness.
A scream ripped from her chest as she threw herself in the creature’s path. A crimson eye locked onto her as she swung her sword and kicked. Her foot connected with the beast’s stomach, and it flew back from the impact, slamming into the wall.
The red ember in its chest flickered, a beacon summoning her forward.
She ran with vampiric speed and plunged her weapon into the monster’s heart. She shoved as hard as she could, pushing against bones that inexplicably existed.
The shadow monster’s shrieks reached decibels that she’d never thought possible, seeming to stretch for an eternity. And then, when she was beginning to believe the creature would never die, ice crawled from the wound. It crept over the monster’s body, encasing it in white.
Vivienne yanked her sword free moments before the entire creature was frozen in an icy casket.