The Everborn - Nicholas Grabowsky [138]
And with that, she hurled herself forward and into Michael and then Bel Geddes, her tenebrous hands seizing both their throats and snapping their necks with a dual swift flick of her wrists. The bodies slumped lifeless to the grass, each alongside the opposing halves of the first friend to go.
Salvatia’s eyes locked onto Andrew’s as she commenced to lurk toward him in a stalking glide, every inch nearer drawing the maniacal grin on her face into a grimace of mounting satisfaction. She spoke again as she closed in to him, speaking not to Andrew but to the boy-stranger at the edge of the blacktop. “Simon...you suppose I stand a chance at taking the young Everborn’s life myself? You have to admit I’ve earned straight A’s in slaying everyone else tonight, yes, in that I’ve excelled with...with flying colors. Impressive, to be capable of doing that with the mere power of a Dreg’s presence. So can I slay an Everborn? Let’s see....”
Andrew, still strewn upon his back, elbowed himself away from the beast in terrified angst. His body slid easily across the grass as he fought for the effort to escape her...until he plowed himself directly into Ralston. Ralston hadn’t fled, but remained a few feet behind him all along. Fear and panic had swept him off his feet and the cap from his head and he was sprawled out upon the grass just as Andrew was. Ralston was numb with shock and could not move...horrified, all he could do was stare.
Suddenly Salvatia’s mad glare faltered as her attentions were drawn to Ralston and her expression lapsed into an intensely quizzical fixation as soon as she laid eyes on him. She abruptly ceased her advance and studied him, dumbfounded.
There came a profound silence like a blanket cast over a flame to smother the mayhem and Andrew took the opportunity to pitch a glance over his shoulder at Ralston, then beyond him.
The figure of the boy at the edge of the blacktop was no longer there.
Then came a new voice, Bari's voice this time, inarguably and clear as a newborn’s first cloudless sunrise, emerging from the silence and from every direction, addressing Salvatia. “You hadn’t expected there to be two of them, did you, you venerable monstrosity. You only expected one. Mine. But lo and behold, there is another Everborn, isn’t there? I was waiting for you, Salvatia. Let it be known to you...you can’t fuck with me!”
Andrew turned.
Salvatia turned.
Bari had materialized before the metal merry-go-round, hovering ever closer with all the confidence of a veteran saint confronting an expert sinner, her orange eyes transfixed upon Salvatia. The two mythic beasts now faced each other, Salvatia now poised for mortal combat. Bari’s eyes charged with readiness, as she closed in further, her body and the wispy air currents where her legs should be were cool and relaxed. The breeze of post-witching hour had grown into icy torrents, capturing the long black hair from both their heads and if the beings were any closer to each other Andrew was certain their hairs would interlock.
Without warning and as a fevered last-chance effort, Salvatia reverted to Andrew and lunged at him, her claws slashing the air, jagged stalactites and stalagmites of teeth protruding from the gaping cave of her mouth.
Another being stepped into her path just then, between Salvatia and Andrew, and at first Andrew assumed it was Bari teleporting herself to protect him.
But Bari remained where she was, in the direction of the merry-go-round.
This being was another Watchmaid.
By Andrew’s point of view, the backside of this Watchmaid could’ve been mistaken for Bari’s any day. This Watchmaid was adorned with lengthy, thick black hair as well, the same length as the other two. But skin gleamed and glistened with a brass-like coppertone complexion in an exact likeness to Bari’s, though the body of this one was smaller, more petite.
Salvatia aborted her lunge and Andrew