She smirked when the distinctive ring of their swords meeting cut through the air, and Kari turned slightly to her left. She remembered the aura and extended Zalkar’s grace outwards. She got a clear image of where Turillia was and what she was doing. She could sense the succubus’ lifeforce, the fact that she was thoroughly evil, and her frustration. In that moment, Kari recognized another difference between herself and Turillia: the succubus was not used to losing.
Kari was a phenomenal fighter, but she’d suffered her share of defeats—hundreds of them if she included sparring against Tumureldi—and she knew how to keep her presence of mind when a fight turned against her. Turillia was growing ever more frustrated. Was it because she couldn’t believe Kari was as good as she was, or because time was growing short and she wanted to get to Emma before anything else went wrong?
Turillia wasn’t aware that Kari could “see” her, and she tried to bait Kari with a wide, errant swing to get the demonhunter to turn the wrong way. Kari did so but brought her guard up on her exposed left side and hopped in toward the succubus. Turillia panicked just for a moment, and that was all Kari needed.
Kari kicked Turillia’s knee hard enough that the succubus’ leg buckled. She followed that up without hesitation by driving her fist—still holding the pommel of her scimitar—squarely across the succubus’ jaw. Turillia nearly lost consciousness; Kari could feel it through her projected aura. Seizing the opportunity, Kari dropped one of her blades and twisted Turillia’s wrist to force her to drop hers, and then she spun the succubus to the ground with that same grip. Turillia flopped into the mud limply and lost her second blade, and Kari straddled the succubus, who was still trying to get her wits about her.
She slammed her fist into Turillia’s jaw repeatedly, her blows knocking free teeth and spattering her fists and face with the succubus’ blood. Once satisfied Turillia was far from coherent, Kari at last reached up and wiped her eyes. Turillia’s face was a mess of mud, blood, and rain, her lips shredded where Kari had crushed them between fist and fang. The succubus’ eyes were barely open, rolled back as she tried to regain her wits, and her mouth worked aimlessly, blowing blood bubbles as she fought to breathe.
Kari turned the succubus over and then pulled her arms out behind her, and she used a technique Aeligos had taught her to dislocate both of the succubus’ shoulders.
Turillia screamed. “Stop, please stop,” she groaned in agony, barely audible over the rain. Her words were inarticulate because of her bloody mouth and newly missing teeth, but Kari could make out what she was saying well enough. “Just kill me and be done with it.”
“Kill you?” Kari repeated. “No, you won’t get out of this so easily.”
Eli had approached, and he drew up beside Kari, uncertain. “You’re not going to keep beating her, are you?”
Kari flashed him a sour look. She pulled the manacles from her cloak’s inner pocket. She clasped them firmly on Turillia’s wrists, and through her projected aura, she felt the magic-canceling power that emanated from them. They were still functional and would keep the succubus bound. “Change in plans: I’m taking her back to DarkWind,” Kari said.
She picked up her scimitar and sheathed it, then dug around in the mud for several moments. She rose and held her hand out to Eli. He opened his hand curiously, and his eyes widened when Kari dropped the succubus’ fangs in his cupped hands. “Here, go make yourself a necklace,” she said, then she glanced eastward. “Any sign of Sharyn or that black werewolf? And how’s Emma?”
“Emma’s hurt badly, but she seems to be stable. She didn’t even want Deirdre to touch her. No sign of Markus, Sharyn, or the werewolf, though,” Eli said as he scanned the square. He brushed his wet hair back from his face, then turned toward Emma. “Well, if you’re going to use the manacles on Turillia, how are you going to capture Emma?”
“Maybe we don’t have to,” Kari said. She began making her way to Emma but collapsed her aura; she didn’t want to come across as hostile. Once she drew close, the mallasti girl’s eyes came up and she held a hand toward Kari with the fingers splayed.
Emma was still bleeding, but she kept a hand clutched to the wound to try to stem the tide. Deirdre held her mace up, ready to bludgeon the mallasti should she unleash an arcane strike.
Kari motioned for everyone to stay calm. “I’m not going to hurt you,” she said to the mallasti. “Let us help you. I need to ask you some questions.”
“Stay back,” Emma gasped, her impassive demeanor replaced by panic. She was hurt badly, and Kari realized she was reacting almost like a trapped animal. “This one cannot allow herself to be captured. She does not wish to kill you, but she will if she must.”
Eli swore, and Kari whirled as she heard him slide across the mud. He’d been knocked away by the black werewolf, come back to make another attack on Turillia. Kari felt like she was moving in slow motion as she tried to get traction under her feet. The mud gave way and she slid to her knees, and Kari watched, helpless, as the werewolf picked up the disabled succubus in one massive, clawed hand.
“Don’t! She’s helpless; leave her be!”
The werewolf looked at Kari and snarled defiantly. Before Kari could get back to her feet, the beast tore out Turillia’s throat.
“No! You stupid, stupid beast!” Kari yelled at the creature. She drew her scimitars and stood, a growl escaping her.
The werewolf beheld Kari with bestial golden eyes and let out a savage growl of its own. Kari started to charge the creature but paused when lightning flashed. Her attention was drawn to the three golden rings in the werewolf’s left ear.
“Sharyn?” Kari blurted.
She received no response. The werewolf turned and ran to the wall, and then hopped onto and over it, out into the cold darkness.
22
Frustration
“Well, I’ll be damned,” Eli said as he rose. “I knew something was off about that girl, but I sure wasn’t expecting that.”
“Damnit,” Kari spat. She kept her eyes on the wall where Sharyn had jumped over but walked to Turillia’s body, motionless in the rain and mud. Kari turned the succubus over, but she was dead. Her head barely turned, most of her throat and neck torn away by the werewolf’s fangs. Kari lifted Turillia’s head and her eyes were wide and glazed over, no spark of life in their beautiful, alien depths. Kari closed the succubus’ eyes and unlocked the manacles.
She rose and whispered to Eli, “Tend to Emma and see if you can sneak these manacles on her. Turillia won’t be needing them anymore.”
“Where are you going?”
Kari didn’t answer. At that moment, she was nearly blinded by a single-minded desire to hunt Sharyn down and skin her. She was furious. Her entire plan had nearly been ruined by the meddling of a werewolf, a creature that was lucky to not be a target of Kari’s work. All along, Kari was worried the succubus would infiltrate her circle of allies, but it turned out a werewolf managed to do so. Sharyn had helped them, but killing Turillia when she was helpless had robbed Kari of valuable information. At the very least, she would see to it that Sharyn knew what she’d done.