Kasadya Hellhound Twisted (29 page)

At first it covered its eyes, unable to take the sun, but recovered remarkably quickly and looked up at us. “Demon!” the hellhound in front of us growled in a female voice. Holy freaking crap, it’s a hellhound born! We all stepped back in unison, creating a lot of space between us and her; she looked just like the hellhound of the other night, except for her more female body and curves.

She held her ground and looked at us, those blood red eyes assessing
each of us in turn, until her eyes fell on Kali. “Demon!” she yelled, storming forward. Max and I went in first, trying to take her down, and with two swipes we were flying over the others. The others stormed forward with war cries. I landed against a tree, recomposing myself I was up on my feet going back to help the others.

I moved past Kali, who stood on the same spot I last saw her, her face masked with fear. Ben came flying over my head and I heard when he hit a tree. Nanini was flying just above her, shooting bombs. Arianna and Ryan were coming from her left and right. As I advanced, I saw Lotan and Caim getting up from the ground and advancing with me.

With a cry I tried to tackle her down, but she caught me mid-air and threw me, my back slamming into another tree. Holy freaking hell, she was strong. I looked up and watched as she jumped up and grabbed Nanini around her foot. Coming down, she turned around and threw Nanini straight into Seth who was jumping through the air to get to her. “Demon!” she yelled again, her eyes fixed on someone. I looked into her direction and saw that she was looking at Kali, who still stood frozen to the spot. Could she tell that Kali had a demon charm on her?

“Kali, I need you to shift away from here!” I yelled at her as I got up and stormed forward, Max at my side. In the corner of my eye I saw Kali shift out, and prepared for the hellhound in front of me.

She grasped Lada around her throat, and I grabbed that hand holding Lada. The hellhound looked at me, and head butted me with those horns of hers. Pain exploded around me and I let go, holding my face. A scream sounded next to me, it was Arianna. I looked up with a hazed view and saw her torso torn open.

“Kas, she is too strong!” Max yelled at me.

I recovered and stormed at her again, this time dropping my swords and drawing my daggers. When I reached her Max, Ryan, and Lotan were taking her on together, with her attention on them; I went down on my knees and skied through her legs, jamming my daggers into both her thighs. She roared with fury, and before I could clear her, she grabbed my hair and pulled me back.

With my back to her, I whipped out my wings and felt something pierce them. A scream exploded out of me. “Kas!” Max yelled. She turned me around, ripping my wings apart, and when I finally saw what the hell happened behind me, I registered that we were so dead. Her own bony wings were locked straight into mine. Holy hell, she used her bony wings to damage mine.
Pain shot into my wings and travelled down my back and spine.

Caim knocked her from the side, but she merely swatted him away like he was just a fly. “Oh my God! Max do something!” Lada yelled behind her, and I saw her get up and storm forward. The hellhound was just looking at me, no death blow followed. The others were kicking her, slicing at her legs and everything they had to give. But still she barely moved those eerie eyes locked onto me.

I struggled, my wings still stuck with hers. Okay, I would need to do something. I closed my eyes and reached for that part of me, that part that always answered when I felt that I needed it. I felt it wash over me; strengthening my muscles, forming me into that killing machine I knew lurked inside me. I opened up my eyes and gave her a head butt of my own.

She lost her hold on me and staggered backwards. Dropping to the ground, I moved forward. With a heavy kick to her torso I sent her flying backwards, landing on her back. “Together!” I yelled at the rest, and we all attacked her. I punched her face, trying to aim for her temple, but she moved so much I ended up breaking her nose. Blood sprayed over my face, and I reached for my forks intending to pin her down with them.

But just as my hands grabbed hold of one, we were all sent into the air, a furious roar sounding our flight. We landed together, and some on top of each other, dust kicking up around us. Dazed I looked up at her, and saw that she was even freaking bigger. That’s impossible! How the hell can she grow larger than what she already was?

She moved forward and stopped, her head turning to the cave. The others were still down trying to recompose themselves or get off each other. I followed her vision and my heart stopped dead. Kali just exited the cave, holding a bundle of something in her arms. She was standing there looking at us. I told her to shift away! I got up just as the hellhound roared, “Demon.”

She stormed forward and ran towards her. My eyes were on Kali, standing there looking at us. And then I saw a smile I have never seen Kali do before, just before she shifted out with the relics. Confused at what I had just seen, I ran smack into the hellhound, and she grabbed me around the neck, her thick arm enveloping me.

In a death choke, I strained my muscles to try and prevent my own neck from breaking. I looked up and saw Max flying through the air, his swords turned towards the hellhound holding me. He slammed them into her and she released me, grabbing at them while roaring. I crawled away from her catching my breath.
Crap that was close. Getting up I saw her punch Max with so much force he flew into the wall of the mountain and landed with a hard thud.

“Kas, we can’t win this one!” Caim yelled at me. I looked around trying to find a solution. She was way too strong for us, and leaving her wasn’t an option. She would hunt and she would kill, and then I would be in even more trouble. “We need to fetch Chax!” Arianna yelled. I knew she was right, but I couldn’t watch another hellhound die like that.

“No!” I roared at her. “We can subdue her!” Unfortunately, I had no idea how. I watched as the hellhound pulled the swords out of her and looked down at them. Oh my freaking soul, we just gave her weapons!

C
hapter 19

The hellhound swung the swords testing them out, and then looked up at us, now crowded together. “Now we go get Chax,” Seth breathed next to me. I so agreed with him on that one. Now that she was armed, she would be impossible to stop. She started walking towards us and we backed up, her eyes roamed over us, watching us and calculating at the same time. And then she vanished.

“Crap, where did she go!” I yelled, my heart slamming into my ribs. I only hope that she didn’t just shift out of Exsilium. Chaos from her path of destruction flashed briefly in my mind. Dear Lord Almighty, hundreds would die if not thousands.

Earth was crawling with demons, and she was going straight for them. How did this day turn out so bad, and where the hell was Kali!
Crap, I hope she went to a safe place and doesn’t even think about coming back here. That’s if the female didn’t go looking for her in Exsilium. Oh double crap, that would be so bad.

I felt the air move behind me and knew the answer before I even had to look. I ducked and rolled, jumping back up again. The others must have felt it too because they were all standing away from her, except for Ryan. His eyes were facing forward, looking at no one, and I watched as she held the swords next to her. Blood dripping from them, shocked I looked back at Ryan to see his head sliding off his body and falling to the ground.

Without thinking, I rushed forward and attacked her, our swords clashing into each other’s. Someone was screaming their head off around me, but I couldn’t help it. Now I had to kill her. Heartache crashed over me, and I stumbled on a rock. I was smacked into the rock, my back hitting it at an awkward angle. I heard more than felt the awful noise with the impact, like a twig being snapped behind me. I fell to the ground. Only when I tried to get back up again did I realize that sound was my back breaking.

“
No
!” a male voice roared and I looked up to see the full power of that roar. It was Max yelling, and transforming into the very thing that just killed our friend. His wings spread open, and with his head hanging back, he stretched his arms wide. Slowly he grew in size, the bones in his wings piercing the skin. His horns grew to almost reach above his head, and his wings spread wider and more open. Bringing his head down, he stood still for a moment.  He opened his eyes, and looked at her. Blood red eyes met blood red eyes, and I knew that this day just got worse.

Nanini moved towards the female hellhound. “Stop! Stay back!” I yelled at her and she stopped, looking at me in confusion. “Max is born!” I yelled again. She shifted out of there so fast she slammed into the rock she shifted to, ending up on her knees. The others also retreated, and so we all stood watching the two borns standing off against each other. Max was bigger than the female, but for some reason I knew she was older … much older.

Max was moving his muscles, rolling his shoulders, but his eyes remained on her. His swords were moving through the air as he untwined his new form to find the right footing to accommodate the increase of mass and muscles. I looked at the female; she stood ready and waiting for him. Her eyes spoke of many battles won long before this one; she might be smaller, but she was more lethal. Oh my God, they were going to kill each other. “Max, please don’t!” I yelled at him. But he didn’t even look at me. Calm him; I have to put calm emotions into him.

I closed my eyes and tried to generate a calm feeling, but I was failing epically. Instead of generating a calm emotion to feed him, I received both their emotions into me. I felt anger, fury, death, heartache, and fear … but most of all hatred. I sucked in a breath, the overload of their emotions draining my own strength.
In horror I watched as the two engaged each other. They stormed forward, deafening roars coming from both of them, and when they met the sound was sickening. Bones met bones as their wings hit each other. Blood sprayed everywhere as they sliced at each other.

Max sliced off a piece of her wing, the female roaring from pain, and that pain shot straight into me. I cried out, as if it were my wing just sliced. She sliced at his leg, almost cutting it clean off. Again his pain slammed into me. Unable to move I
was mere feet away from them, their fighting coming straight at me. “Kas!” Nanini yelled from the other side. Looking up, with the new pain slicing through me from a wound to the female’s torso, I watched as Nanini and Ben flew up in the air throwing light bombs the size of busses at them. Each bomb that hit them had me crying out from the pain.

Someone grabbed me and dragged me away from the fight, which now was joined by my remaining team except for Seth. I screamed when I was placed on the ground a few feet away, Seth’s face coming into view. “Kas, look at me! Is it your back?” he asked in concern.

“I … I feel their … pain,” I stuttered. He looked at me confused and just then Lotan got a hit on Max’s wing and I yelled out again, the pain running down my own back.

“Stop!” Seth yelled at the others, they backed off slowly, their eyes wild with the fight. “Kas is receiving their pain!”

Lada shifted over to me. “Kas, are you okay?” she asked, concern and fear mixed in her voice. The female ripped a horn off Max, his pain again slamming into me. I felt liquid run down my head, and over my eye, Lada’s face going into shock. “She is connected to them,” I heard her say but screamed again when the female was cut open over her stomach.

“We need to stop them now!” Seth yelled.

“Calm them,” I spoke softly, bearing the new pain.

Lada looked at me questioningly and then turned around, yelling at Nanini, “Nanini and Arianna, try and charm Max. Caim, you and Ben try the female,” she ordered. She looked back at Seth. “Get Chax here now!” she yelled at him.

Lotan came to join us, trying to pick me up but it was too much, I had pain all over me. I watched as Nanini and Arianna fought Max away from the female, then as Caim and Ben pushed the female away from Max. Then astoundingly Nanini dived for Max while throwing a huge bomb at him. At the precise moment the bomb hit him and sent him back, she kicked him to take him to the ground.

Ben saw what she did and now did the same to the female, Caim joining him with the kick. Nanini jumped on Max’s neck, her legs wrapping around it. She rolled to the side making sure he only looked at her. Caim was on the female, using daggers to pin her down. “Godzilla, I swear if you don’t stop now, I am going to rip off your neck!” Nanini yelled at him, and for a brief second he stopped and looked at her. By the heaven above …