The next thing I know, I’m enveloped in Lincoln’s arms. A thin coating of igni swirls around us both. I’m exhausted, but I can still breathe, move, and look around. And from what I can see? Everything else is in bad shape.
The Chapel is quiet once more. The battle is over. Armageddon and all his demons are gone. Unfortunately, Lady Daria remains and she hasn’t wasted any time. All my wedding guests are frozen in place again, except for Lincoln and me. Even my father and Lucas—who were protected before—are now frozen solid by Lady Daria’s spell. And honestly? If Lincoln hadn’t pulled me against him so quickly, I think the igni would have skipped him too.
As I watch in horror, Lady Daria becomes encased in red light once more. She’s changing shape. This time, she transforms into a gooey and red version of herself. The sight reminds me of a Lady Daria-shaped gummy bear. It’s enough to make me sick to my stomach, but I can’t deny that it’s clever. With her new gooey body, Lady Daria simply oozes her way out of the cage, leaving Aldred behind.
Lady Daria’s taken the shape of a trafero demon. These are in the same demonic class as the limus, who are big gooey monsters, too. Only trafero are far more dangerous. While a limus needs to consume you whole in order to kill you, a trafero has a lot more options when it comes to fighting, mostly because their gooey skin is covered in acid. And while the igni can protect us from Lady Daria’s freezing spell, I’m not sure what they can do when it comes to acidic stuff.
I worry my lower lip with my teeth. Actually, I’m pretty sure we’re in deep trouble.
Lincoln and I still stand just by the foot of the stage, in the same cleared out area where we’d only recently been caged by Armageddon. I give another order to my igni. “Keep us protected and tethered, little ones.”
Their voices giggle and growl in reply. Still, they maintain the shield that sits right above our skin. A short tether appears on the floor beside us. That’s a good start. Unfortunately, there aren’t a lot of igni to go around yet, so the shield and tether look pretty thin. Even so, that should change with time. It depends how long it takes my little ones to move all the demons to Hell. As more igni become available, they’ll heed my last message and come back to help.
Lincoln and I move apart and get into a battle stance. My guy ignites his baculum into a long sword while my tail arches over my shoulder.
We’re ready for anything.
While still in her gummy form, the Lady Daria glares at Lincoln and me. “That was my chance to impress Armageddon. My opportunity to regain his favor. And you ruined it.”
I roll my eyes. “I didn’t see you changing into gooey-girl during the battle. You easily could’ve slipped out and gotten some brownie points in. I’d say you ruined your own chances.”
Lady Daria whips out her arms. And when I say whips out, I mean that her gooey and semi-transparent limbs actually stretch off the stage. One hand reaches for Lincoln; the other goes toward me. The slimy appendage reaches right for my face.
“Move, boy!” My tail heeds the call, arching before me in a pinwheel motion. With a slurping noise, it takes off Lady Daria’s gooey hand at the wrist. Beside me, Lincoln makes the same movement with his long sword, cutting off Lady Daria’s other hand.
Lady Daria howls in pain. “How dare you?”
“How dare we what?” I ask. “Defend ourselves?” Meanwhile, her hands start oozing their way back to Lady Daria. She’ll be whole again in a matter of seconds. What a crybaby.
Another flare of red light encompasses Lady Daria as she changes shape once more. This time, she becomes a giant wasp demon, what’s called an ictus. Only in this case, her wasp shape has a hunch of exoskeleton on one side. It’s totally weird. The extra weight on her shoulders will make it harder for Lady Daria to fly. You’d think she’d choose a more sleek form. Not that I’m complaining.
Wasp-Daria flutters her massive wings and lifts off the stage. She holds her bulbous head high as her long body droops beneath her, ending in a massive stinger that drips with green poison. I grin.
Bring it on.
Wasp-Daria swoops at Lincoln first. My guy turns his baculum into a javelin made of white flame, which he chucks at Wasp-Daria’s belly. It slams into her exoskeleton and leaves a burn mark but nothing more serious than that.
Fine. All the more for me to kill.
After that, Wasp-Daria rounds on me. Her insect head holds bulbous eyes and a slit for a mouth, the latter of which winds into an evil smile. She’s so pumped about her bad self. Whatever.