Dangerous Diabolical: Book 1 (Iridescent) ✔️

6.3

One from the group had drawn close. He had no eyes, mouth stuck open in an endless scream. Each hand was missing digits but still manipulated the air into heating fire. My new clothes now harboured tiny fires that I patted out halfheartedly.

Grahame made his entrance.

Markus whistled appreciatively as the vamp exploded through the fire-wielding opponent in front of me with a squelch. He paused to scowl at me, holding the two arms at arm's length, not a speck of rotten flesh on him.

Behind me, I heard the crunching of metal as Markus hoisted a car. It flew overhead, smashing into another attacker. The car alarm activated angrily.

"Bullseye!" I complimented him. It took me a moment to realise that his shaking was laughing, his voice had become so deep he now operated at a rumble.

"Need a hand?" He asked Grahame, pointing at the extra limbs he'd acquired. The vamp dropped them and sped off to the other side of the car park,

I couldn't hide my grin. Markus was the new coolest person I knew, sorry Grahame.

Rot wafted over the wind. "Behind!" I shouted. The remaining humanoid and the first wolf I'd injured came close and started buffeting him with magical waves and bites. He staggered, the wolf's broken teeth having little effect on his stony hide. Ripping free the closest tree, he used it as a bat to catch both figures and send them flying in a puff of twigs.

With both gentlemen handling the corpses I decided it was time to make my retreat.

"Willow?" I called, looking for her. She was nowhere to be seen. Where was she? Immediate panic set in, the rush of adrenaline flooding as I tried to recall if I'd seen her leave after going back into Members Only.

Without another thought I ran into the club, the bitter smell of rot had already seeped into the surfaces. A scream cut into the room.

"Willow!" I cried, shooting through the club towards her.

Furniture was in disarray, and she was huddled against the corner, her coat shredded. The figure before her raised its arm, almost double the size of its transformed human body. Like the lycanthrope from the store, now dead, its reanimated body didn't seem to process magical energy correctly. Its transformation was a mess, the spine not fitting back into the smaller body and jutting out. Bowels hadn't sealed back into the flesh and trailed behind, its legs mismatched sizes threw an uneven gait.

I wouldn't get there in time.

Pulling air in, filling my lungs, I roared.

Glass burst, the ground trembled, and Willow clutched at her ears trying to back further away. The ground began to crack and the rotting figure stumbled, finally moving its hand away from threatening the fae girl. Leaping across the room, I smashed a foot into its back, grabbing the top of its spine sinews.

Like the wolves, I'd expected the body to slam into the ground, so when my leg went straight through the body, we fell awkwardly together.

Squealing, I tried to dislodge myself, immediately detecting the crawling maggots investigating the new supply. "Gross!" The empty sockets fixed on me, and magic around it shimmered, arms rapidly growing larger in preparation to squish me. Gritting teeth, I pulled at its spine, snapping it with a crack and attempting to squirm my leg free.

With a last wrench, and defining squelch my leg escaped. I liked rolling in body parts, but not with maggots keeping me company. The living corpse seemed to recognise that I wasn't going to keep still, this time lunging towards Willow.

"Oh no you don't!" Pushing magic into my hands, they ignited, charring the bones I held. Launching it like a javelin, it held the shape long enough to lodge through the thing's cheek and distract it enough for me to envelope its waist with both my arms, pushing the fire through my joints.