Darkness Girl: Trickster God

Chapter Seventy: Putrid Flesh

Agony exploded through Regan's mind as sharp teeth sunk into her neck. Long fingers clamped down on her shoulders like a vice. The creature on her back was bony and heavy. Its breath on her cheek was like rancid air escaping from a bloated corpse. 

Regan yelled and gave a violent twist. The creature's teeth tore through her skin and scoured gashes in her neck as she threw it off. 

Black blood splattered the concrete. Half of the pale spider-like creature hit the ground with a hissing scream. Its back was a mess of torn meat and bone where the conjoined twin had been sliced away. Regan could see patches of exposed muscle moving in its back as its arms and legs scrabbled at the air like a cockroach on a hotplate. 

Regan stomped down heavily on the creature's neck. It twisted and tried to bite her, but she ground down against the side of its jaw. Strings of bloody saliva flecked her boot as it lashed its head from side to side, biting the air.  

Regan watched it thrash for a moment, then drove her sword through its temple. The creature's limbs went rigid as her blade skewered its brain. It twitched once, then let out a long gasp that sounded almost like a sigh. 

Regan kicked the corpse away and staggered back holding her neck. Her hand was slippery with blood. She could feel it running down the side of her shoulder and soaking into her top. 

'I didn't expect your friend to be walking around after I opened him up. That's a neat little trick.' 

Kessler watched her with dead eyes. 'You should have known I would come at you with new techniques. The rules of the game will never be the same twice.' 

Regan looked at the pale, naked corpse of the spider creature. Its mouth hung open in a silent shriek. Bony fingers curled like tree branches clawing at the air.'Is this the craft you bought with my betrayal? The ability to stitch together the dead? You got a raw deal. I never realised your loyalty was so cheap.' 

'You never wanted power. You don't have the imagination for it. It was an accident of birth that gave you your killing craft, and you've done nothing with it. Fate gave you diamonds, but you cast them back into the muck.' 

'With enough money, I could buy your craft. The alleys of this world are overflowing with people who struggle to stay on the same rung as vermin.' 

Kessler lifted her sword. The tip rose until it was pointed at Regan's chest. Behind it, Kessler's eyes were like a frozen lake. 'Your life was an insignificant part of the price I paid. I didn't pay it for rats.' 

Kessler pointed her sword to the side and peeled back her sleeve. Swollen, festering sores ran along the length of her forearm. Three palm sized gashes glistened in the firelight. Chunks of decaying meat were stitched into the wounds with thick black twine. One of them bristled with sharp spines that looked like coarse hair. 

'These creatures aren't just dolls. I've sacrificed pieces of myself to make them part of me. Their flesh is my flesh.' 

Regan looked at the series of lumps running up Kessler's arm. The skin was inflamed and red where the twine pulled at her flesh. The edges of the wounds had a greenish cast where they were already becoming infected. 

'It must have hurt,' Regan said. 'Having that rotten flesh sewn into you.' 

'It stripped my nerves like wires. Even now, the pain is beyond description. Your childish complaints about betrayal sound feeble in comparison.' 

'I'll try not to let it keep me up at night.' 

Kessler pulled her sleeve back into place. Regan saw her wince as the coarse material stuck to her wounds. 'The price of true power is always high.'