Episode Two: “Fire Salsa”
1.
Mandi wondered how long she could keep this up. She also wondered if it mattered; if the blaze surrounding her has already destroyed too much of the building she was in, it wouldn’t matter how quickly she beat down her enemy. Her incredible strength would not protect her from open flame, even if she could smash her fist straight through a person’s chest… or a demons.
Such a demon, the souce of this fire in fact, was circling her warily. The creature was tall and lithe, with blacked skin. Glowing orange viens crawled across its apparently nude form, giving it the impression of living black rock, etched with lines of lava. The creature’s blazing orange eyes narrowed and Mandi and she circled in return. Her aura and dust and sand whirled around her, but it wasn’t as strong as when she had started the fight.
Fifteen minutes ago, Mandi had just happened to see the creature break its way into the back door of this old apartment building. What it was after was a mystery; it seemed to be searching for something, but after a few moments, it began to wildly claw at the surrounding walls, setting fire to whatever it touched. As soon as people began to poor out into the hall to escape the blaze, it began to chase them, burning them with its fingers. The people it chased didn’t seem to see it, or if they did, all they saw was a swell of flame. Only Mandi seemed to notice that the true form of the demon; she still couldn’t get over the fact that she was only one of a handful that could actually see them as they were. She was, in fact, the only person she knew who could. And while this made it easier to keep people from panicking about monsters living in their midst, it made it harder to protect them from dangers they couldn’t recognize.
Mandi immediately chased after the creature, her aura rising around her. The creature had whirled at the last second, and Mandi’s fist had smashed through a wall. The creatuer clawed at her back, a feeling like red-hot knives across her skin. The cut hadn’t been deep and apparently the heat was enough to cataurize the wound. Her own powers would allow her to recover. But in the meantime, she needed to destroy the creature.
Said creature seemed to become focused entirely on her after that. Mandi had it chase her into a relatively empty common room, allowing people to escape unhindered via the fire escapes. The blaze had spread quickly, much quicker than a normal fire could have, and the rooms walls were already burning.
The next ten minutes had been a long, agonizing process of punching and dodging. The demon was quick enough that Mandi couldn’t land a direct punch. She had managed to clip the creature on the side or on a limb a few times, hard enough than its skin, apparently stonelike in form as well, chipped and broke. Every wound came with a gout of fire, and Mandi wondered if the demon didn’t actually have lava flowing in its veins.
For her part, Mandi had managed to dodge enough that she was only grazed by the creatures claws. But it seemed no matter how they made contact, whether it clawed her, or she struck it, she got burned the second they touched. She had hurt the creature, but doing so injured her as well. What’s more, the room was getting smokey. Mandi was beginning to cough, and her eyes started to sting. The demon’s movements seemed quicker now… it was getting harder to dodge. No… she was just getting slower. As she lunged for another strike, the demon easily dodged, then swatted her down with a backslap that was much stronger than it lithe form let on. Mandi hit the ground, the wind knocked out of her. She tried sucking in air, but it was too smokey to get a fresh breath. Mand braced herself for the killing blow as she struggled to breath, but it didn’t come. As she stumbled to her knees, she could see the demon circling her. It was toying with her now, knowing she was too weak to put up a fight for much longer. Mandi focused her power, trying to draw all of her strength into one powerful burst of energy. If she couldn’t kill the creature with the next blow, she was finished. She just hoped to god the creature would get overconfident, come too close, and not be able to dodge in time.
There weren’t many women in the Cyrene City Fire Department, but the few that were definitely pulled their weight. None more so than Sarah Candice, who did the collective work of three women if given the chance.
A short, but energetic woman, she was nothing short of tenacious, and a little bit reckless. She would storm into a blaze none of her crew would dare enter if someone was still trapped inside. Some said she was crazy, but in truth, she just testing her limits. A scrapper growing up, she could kick the ass of any woman or man that crossed her; now she tested herself against the elements. Some said she had an innate understanding of fire, could somehow sense, up the last possible second, when a blaze would be too much to handle. How else could she perform such daring acts time after time and come out alive? Some equated it to pure dumb luck. And Sarah?
Sarah didn’t give a shit about the details. For her, it came down to two things: 1) There was a goal to achieve: saving lives. 2) There was an enemy to outsmart and defeat: the fire. In a truly life and death struggle no single human could dish out, Sarah fought as a mere mortal against the wrath of the elements.
Now was no different. They thought they had gotten everyone out by now. Everyone who lived in the apartment, injured or not, had been cleared out before it got to be too much, and the crew had to pull back. But as the last family was pulled out, Sarah had heard one of the children screaming something about a monster. Sarah stiffen when she heard that. She had started to help with the hoses when the same kid started going into more detail: There had been a monster, and someone had been fighting. A woman who didn’t live there had been fighting it somewhere on the second floor. And she hadn’t gotten out yet.
Without a second thought, Sarah snatched an axe from the truck and immediately dashed towards the building. A couple of the newbies yelled for her to come back, as did the chief. But she paid no mind. Slapping her oxygen mask over her face, she barreled into the front door and charged up the steps, nimbling leaping (as well as one could in the heavy gear) over every three steps. Over the roar of the fire, she thought she could faintly hear a woman screaming. She immediately took off after the sound.
Moments later, she saw something that made her freeze in her tracks. A tall, lithe creature, black skinned, with glowing orange viens calmly circled around a woman on her knees, who was coughing violently, trying to stand. What appeared to be dust seemed to hover around her body faintly, though Sarah couldn’t be sure. The creature crouched down slightly and reered back its hand. As it did so, its finger grazed the ceiling and Sarah could see a long scorched march left in its wake.
Almost on instinct, Sarah knew what was going on. At the very least, she knew the demon was the cause of the fire, and that the woman was in trouble. Sarah reered back and heaved her axe at the creature. It struck the creatures shoulder, and she could see it stagger. It whirled and its eyes blazed with yellow flames. Depsite having no real face aside form its eyes, it seemed to scream at her with silent rage. Sarah grit her teeth and stood her ground. The creature began to step towards her.
Just as Sarah tensed herself for a fight, an arm smashed right through the creature’s chest. The creature’s eyes went wide, and flames roared from its wounded. There was a scream of pain which disolved into bone rattling coughs as the arm quickly withdrew. The demon’s eyes flickered for a moment, then suddenly went out. Its glowing veins went dark. Then, it vanished, going form solid, to a shadowy sihlouete, then rapidly fading away. Sarah blinked in surprise. Them she noticed woman the creature had been fighting. She was on her knees, and was in the process of collapsing. Her arm was horribly burned from the knuckle to the bicep. Slash-like burns cut across her body. Sarah realized she was the one that had killed the creature.
Sarah run forward and caught her. “Its okay now, you killed it, I think,” said Sarah. The woman either couldn’t hear her or was too distracted by pain to care. Sarah threw her unburnt arm over her shoulder (noting that the fist was still burn, however), and hauled her up.
Sarah managed drag the woman down the stair, but as they reached the exit, a burning section of the wall collapsed in front of it. Sarah frowned. She looked aorund quickly. Nothing but burning debris everywhere. She looked at the woman, who seemed to be fighting to stay conscious. She seemed to realize there was no way out, either. Sarah sighed. “Looks like this is it for our heroes,” she said.
The woman looked at her through half-dead eyes. Suddenly, her whole body tensed, and Sarah could feel a force welling up around her. Dust and sand suddenly swirled around the woman, and Sarah gasped. The woman wrenched herself away from Sarah, ran towards one of the walls, and slammed her fist into it. Sarah gawked as the blow punched out a small section of concrete, leaving a spider-web crack around the dent. She reered back for another blow, but faltered, coughing. Sarah dashed up to her and caught her. The woman looked up at her apologetically, her breath ragged.
Sarah looked from her to the wall, and took note of her breathing; in hindsite, she must have inhaled enough smoke to kill her by now, but she was still hanging in their. However, the fire had eaten away most of the oxygen. Sarah took a deep breath and held it, then pulled off her mask and placed it over the woman’s face. Sarah winced at the intensity of the heat and how the smoke stung her eyes, but kept her gaze fixated on the woman.
The woman coughed violently again, but after a few gulps of air, her eyes snapped open, suddenly clear. Out of no where, dust and sand swirled into being around her, and Sarah could feel that sensation of force coming from the woman. The woman got to her feet, shoving the mask into Sarah hands. As Sarah slipped it back on, the woman reered back and the aura of dust and sand swirled more violently. With three solid punches, she had smashed a hole in the wall large enough for three. Suddenly, there was a rumbling sound, and the women looked up to see the ceiling above them began to fall. With a final burst of strength, the woman reached back, grabbed Sarah by the arm, then propelled them both through hole and out into the street with an enormous leap.
Sarah found herself flying across the parking lot of the building almost to the sidewalk. She saw the earth rise up to meet her and went limp, knowing she would break half the bones in her body anyway. But the woman hit the ground first, reached out her arms and caught Sarah cushioning the impact with her body, falling back and letting the two of them roll across the ground to kill their momentum. When they came to a stop, Sarah paused, then slowly got to her knees. She looked over to the woman.
The woman’s eyes fluttered open and affixed on Sarah’s. Sarah’s breath caught. Despite the wounds on her body, the woman’s gaze was strong; at least it was for a moment. It was long enough for the woman to half-heartedly grin and whisper “Thanks for the save”, before she passed out.
As Sarah’s crew ran over to check on her once they figured out where she was, Sarah couldn’t get the image of the fight out of her mind… nor that of the woman herself. Even in her condition, the woman struck Sarah as stunning. Sarah shook her head at the thought. What was more important was what the woman had done… if Sarah guess right, she had for all intents and purposes saved the the residents of the apartment. She had fought the thing that had started the fire; she hadn’t just seen it, she had fought it and killed it. Sarah made sure to know where the woman was going to be treated. Whoever this woman was, she had answers Sarah had been looking for, for at least the past month.
2.
“Amanda Zola. She’s in room 357. Her recovery is truly remarkable; her burns are half-way healed already. We’ve not seen anything like it.”
Sarah thanked the nurse and headed toward the room. She felt a little awkward; she didn’t know the woman. What was she supposed to say? Sarah wanted desperately to ask her about the fight, about her powers. But should she just barge in and start firing off questions? Sarah wondered, half-healed or not, whether it was wise for her to be bothering this woman, Amanda Zola. She had been in the hospital for only two days; even if she could recover that fast (and Sarah knew from experience that severe burns took a long time to recover from, if you ever did), there was no way Amanda would be up to any sort of talk.
Sarah came upon the door. She took a slightly shaky breath and put her hand on the knob. Sarah wondered, too, why she was so nervous. Despite the strength she had displayed, Amanda hadn’t struck her as intimidating. So why did Sarah feel giddy? She almost felt like she was back in high school, about to ask a crush out on a date. Sarah took another breath and collected herself with a nod. She opened the door gently, not wanting to disturb any potential sleepers. Amanda Zola looked up from the magazine she had been reading as the door opened. She smiled softly at Sarah as the woman stepped in.
“How do you do,” said Sarah. She gave a slight bow. “My name is Sarah Candice. I work as a fireman in the inner city.”
Amanda bowed her head slightly in return. “How do you do. You can call me Mandi.” Sarah looked Mandi over. She had bandages wrapped around her hands, torso, legs and arm, giving her a partially mumified look. Her face was free of blemish, though, and Sarah was struck by her firm gaze and gentle smile. “Can I help you with something, Miss Candice?”
“I… uh… well… call me Sarah.” Sarah ran a hand through her hair and sat down. “I’m sorry to intrude on you like this but… well… oh, let me get to the point: I was the person trying to help you against that monster. You saved me from it, then from the burning rubble of the building.”
Sarah looked at Mandi, expecting a shocked reaction, or a look that said “you’re crazy”. Instead, Mandi just gazed back calmly, a pleasant smile still lingering on her face. “I know,” said Mandi. “You saved me as much as I saved you, though. I should be thanking you as well.”
“I didn’t do much,” said Sarah, feeling a little sheepish. “I just… I just gave you some air.”
“You distracted the demon long enough for me to strike the final blow,” said Mandi. “I was hoping I could distract it somehow, but didn’t have a way. A few more moments, and it would have killed me. You had very good timing.”
“I’m surprised you remember any of that,” said Sarah. “You were half-unconscious the whole time.”
Mandi shrugged. “It was fuzzy at first, but I remembered everything bit by bit, like a dream you forget upon waking. What surprises me, though, is that you saw the demon.” Sarah looked back, an expectant look in her eyes. Mandi looked intensely at Sarah. After a moment, Sarah felt her cheeks color slightly. Mandi’s gaze was just too much. Sarah mentally scolded herself. She had just gotten here; all she really knew about the woman was her name. Why was she getting butterflies in her stomach?
“Sarah?” said Mandi. Sarah glanced back at her.
“Y-yes?”
“You’re not… you aren’t an Elemental Key Bearer, are you?”
Sarah blinked. Well, that was something she didn’t expect. “A… what now?”
Mandi closed her eyes and sighed. “I didn’t think so,” said Mandi. “Of course not. Else you would have revealed some kind of power yourself.”
“Power?” said Sarah. She thought for a second. “Does this… Elemental Key have something to do with your strength?”
Mandi opened her eyes and smiled thinly. She nodded. “The reason I have such strength is because I possess a special… lets call it an artifact, though I dont know if it has a true physical form. Its called an Elemental Key; I don’t know how many there are, but I presume they each have some kind of elemental theme; for example, I have the Elemental Key of Earth, which gives me my super human strength.”
“Is that also why you can see the monsters?” said Sarah.
Mandi shook her head. “I already had that gift. Apparently, few people do. Until I met you, I was the only one I knew of. However, its becuase of this ability that I was given the Elemental Key.” Mandi sighed again. “That’s why I thoguht maybe you had one, too. Its only been three weeks since I recieved it, but its already been quite a task fighting these creatures.”
“How many of them are there, actually?” said Sarah.
“Tons,” said Mandi, shaking her head. “I don’t know exactly, but they are everywhere now. I don’t know how many of them are actually dangerous. Thankfully, not too many seem openly hostile.”
“Even still… creatures like the fire monster,” said Sarah. Her face turned serious as the possibilities careened through her mind. “Can you imagine if more of them, or more like them, suddenly started wreaking havoc? Man…” Sarah formed a fist. “That’s scary. I’ve been seeing these things now and then for the past month. I wasn’t sure what I was seeing at first, but even when I finally did realize what I was seeing… these demons… well, there wasn’t anythig I could do about it. Fighting that one fire demon… all I was good for was a moments distraction.”
Sarah looked at Mandi. “And you’re all alone. Just you against all of them. How did you get that Key? And if there are more…”
Mandi looked mildly stunned. “You wish to possess one? I’ve only recently obtained mine, and I can already tell its going to be a hard burden to carry.”
Sarah smirked. “I’m a fireman. Before that, I did some police training. Before that, I was beating down bullies in my neighborhood left and right. If you do know where I can get this Elemental Key, tell me. If these demons are a potential problem… I want to be there to stop them.”
Mandi smiled, and Sarah, suddenly self-conscious about her bravado (another rare thing for her) laughed a little nervously. “Ah… I’m being a bit… this is silly. I’m not even sure if I’m what we’re talking about is real, here.”
Mandi shook her head. “Perhaps soon… well… maybe I had best not say anything. If the person who gave me the Key thinks you’re worthy of it, then you could be getting a visit shortly. I don’t wish anyone else to throw themselves into such danger… but I’m going to be honest; I can see that I’m going to desperately need the help.”
Sarah blinked. “Ah… right. Well… I should get going. I hope you feel better soon.” Sarah pulled out a piece of paper and handed it to Mandi. “Call me when you get released. We should talk some more about this.”
Mandi nodded and smiled again. “At the rate I’ve been healing, looks like that could be in another few days.”
Sarah smiled back. “I look forward to it.”
3.
Lo and behold, Mandi was indeed released a few days later, much to astonishment of the doctors. They infact insisted on keeping her in the hospital a few more days to administer some tests. Mandi refused, and when they started to imply that the decision wasn’t up to her, she made a call to Sarah.
Sarah, who had stopped by to check on her every day since, was more than happy to use her “influence” to get Mandi out of their post haste, all for the price of a Saturday night dinner. Mandi inwardly sighed as she agreed to this condition. Mandi was happy to have someone she could talk to about this strange job of hers… but she wondered how much Sarah was interested in the job as opposed to… her.
The “date” itself went on normally enough. Dinner and a movie, after which the two women engaged in some idle chat. They hit it off better than Mandi expected. Sarah was a pretty likeable person, if a little aggressive. She did most of the talking, most about what being a frieman was like. Mandi didn’t have very many exciting tales to talk about, not including the past month or so. But, Sarah didn’t actually question her about the Elemental Keys or the monster, much to her surprise. She had expected Sarah to bombard her with the subject all night. It got to the point that Mandi herself started to bring it up, but Sarah shook her head with a slight smile.
“I don’t want this monster business to be our only common ground,” said Sarah. “I’d just like to be your friend, first.”
Mandi smiled at that, but caught the tiny twinkle in Sarah’s eye. She couldn’t help but notice how Sarah had been giving her sidelong glances most of the night. Mandi felt a little self-conscious by it, but tried not to let it bother her. Mandi had a pretty good idea what it meant… but at this point she didn’t know Sarah enough to know if bringing it up might insult her. So, she just let it slide.
The sun was still up, so they decided to take a short walk in the park. They had been silent for a few minutes, but then, they came up to the playground and ball field where Mandi’s first succfle with the demons had occured. Mandi turned to Sarah. “You know, this is the first place I fought them.”
Sarah perked up a bit. “Really? What were they doing here?”
“Harassing some high school kids and a little girl,” said Mandi. She laughed a little. “Actually, they high school kids saved me first… I had stopped what I thought were a couple of little boys harrassing a girl. They turned out to be goblins or something. Anyway, they ganged up on me, but then the girl ran off and got her brother, and he and his whole ball team showed up to scare them off. The next day, though, they showed up again, with some big ogre. By then, though, the Dreammaster had given me my powers. It was pretty surreal… I was standing there, totally shell shocked, but then, I just sorta ‘powered up’ and fought the beast.”
Sarah smiled. “Can I see it?”
Mandi galnced over to her. “See what?”
“Your power up,” said Sarah. “I havent’ seen it since we met.”
Mandi shrugged, giving a nervous giggle. “All right… heh, this feels kinda silly, actually… usually, when I go to fight something, I just do it like an after thought. I’ve never done it without the immediate need.” Mandi closed her eyes and tensed; then, she formed fists with her hands and grit her teeth. This was actually a little hard to pull off without the anticipation of a fight. Then, swirls of dust and sand rose up around her, with the faint sound of falling sand. Mandi opened her eyes and smiled at Sarah.
Sarah’s own eyes had gone a little wide. “Wow,” she said. “Its like your suddenly made out of dust or something… like a sandy ghost…” She stepped forward and cautiously reached out to touch the swirling dirt. She touched the aura, quickly withdrawing her hand as though it might cut her, then reached through it to touch Mandi’s shoulder. Sarah cocked an eyebrow.
“Huh… its like it’s not even there,” said Sarah.
Mandi nodded with a thoughful expression. “I think its some kind of illusion, actually.” She dropped the aura with a slight sigh. Sarah watched the dust and sand drift out of existance, falling to the ground. She let her eyes trail up from Mandi’s feet, and lazily drift up her body to her face. She smiled at Mandi’s mildly uneasy expression.
“I won’t bite, Mandi,” she said softly. She drank in Mandi’s image. In the setting sun, the taller woman’s fair skin and blond hair took on a firey shade.
Mandi swallowed. She herself was suddenly taken with how Sarah looked in the dying sunlight. Her own slightly darker skin glowed wonderfully, while her long black hair took on the reddish highlights of the dusk, giving the impression of streaks of dying embers. Suddenly, Mandi found herself feeling slightly giddy. Mandi felt her cheeks color and hoped Sarah would merely think it was a trick of the light.
“Uh… Sarah… we should get back… to the car,” said Mandi.
Sarah leaned a little closer. “In a moment,” she said. “I really had a lot of fun tonight, Mandi.” She noticed Mandi looking uneasy, but the blush didn’t escape her. Sarah smiled slyly. “Well… I just wanted you to know that.” She leaned even closer, tilting her head towards Mandi’s, until they were a few inches apart. Sarah stopped her advance and waited for Mandi’s reaction. Mandi seemed practically paralyzed; Sarah wasn’t entirely sure what to make of it. She had a pretty good idea that Mandi had noticed her interest, but she hadn’t said anything all night. Most women would have shot her down by now, or at least brought it up. Sarah gazed into Mandi’s eyes and kept waiting. Mandi wasn’t leaning any closer; but she wasn’t backing away either.
Mandi, on the other hand, found two little voices bickering in her head again, something that hadn’t happened very often for a while.
She is totally coming on to you! her inner child said. What are you gunna do? Come on, kiss her! I dare you!
Now, hold on, said her adult side. That’s a woman you got clinging to you. You know that don’t you? Are you going to kiss another woman?
Oh, what’s wrong with that? said the inner child. Its not like we ever got anywhere with the boys.
I just want to make sure we know what we’re getting into here, shot back the adult side. This is hardly conventional. And any way, this is just the first date. Wait… oh, god, this was a date, wasn’t it?
You didn’t notice? said the child.
Well, I just thought she wanted to be friends, said the adult. All right, okay, we need some space to think this over.
Aw, come on, go for it! said the child.
This isn’t an idle thing! said the adult. There are consequences which must be considered!
However, before her argument with herself could be concluded, Mandi was snapped out of her thoughts as Sarah sighed and pulled away. “I guess that was a little too forward of me, huh?” she said, a very slight tinge of guilt lining her words. She looked up and gave Mandi a warm smile. “But hey… you didn’t run away.”
Mandi shook her head slightly, her face flushed. “I… I’m sorry, I… um… I’m not used to…”
Sarah laughed. Mandi gave her a flat look. “What?”
“Wow, you suddenly sound so nervous,” said Sarah. “Did I hit a nerve?”
Mandi frowned. “Please don’t,” she said.
Sarah stopped and gave her a curious look.
Mandi sighed and lowered her head. “The truth is, I have a hard time making friends. I’m too shy, and, well, my life just isn’t exciting. Aside from this demon stuff, anyway, but I have to more or less keep that secret, or everyone will think I’m just nuts.”
Sarah put a hand on her shoudler and gave it a sympathetic squeeze. “Hey, I’m sorry, I wasn’t laughing at you, I just… I’m a little giggly right now… I act pretty bold about things, but I always get so nervous doing this… you know I feel like I’m one of maybe five lesbians in this whole city? And that the other four have already hooked up together? Most of the women I try and see, they just don’t get the hint, and well, I just wish that… god, I’m rambling…”
Mandi gave a nervous smile. “So, I was right… you were checking me out all night,” she said. Sarah nodded and the two looked each other in the eyes intently. Suddenly, the awkwardness of the moment was too much and the two broke down into giggles.
“I… I’m sorry… I guess I’m jsut desperate,” said Sarah. “I swear, I’ll never think of you that way again.”
“Really?” said Mandi.
“Sure!” said Sarah. She then made a show of having her fingers crossed, which made them both laugh again.
“Uh… listen, Sarah, its not that I… I just…” Mandi struggled for the words. Taking a breath, she said. “I’m going to be honest, I’m not sure how I feel on it. I never actually gave these sorts of things much thought. I never went out with anyone in High School or College, despite my few friends pressuring me about it. I guess I looked at guys, but they didn’t interest me any more than girls. I appreciated women’s company alot, but I never thought of it in that way. So, I guess what I’m saying is… its never been brought up, so I’m not sure how to react.”
Sarah had a hopeful glint in her eye. “Um… so… would you like to try it?”
Mandi shifted uncomfortably. “Uh… well… I’m not making excuses, Sarah, but my side job is pretty dangerous.”
“My real job is pretty dangerous,” said Sarah.
Mandi thought about that. “Yeah,” she said. “Well… I don’t want to get your hopes up if it turns out I’m not…”
Sarah shook her head. “Look, Mandi, I will never make you do something you don’t want to… and if I ever go too far, please stop me. But even if we just become friends, at least I can say I tried.”
Mandi frowned. “If we try it and it doesn’t work, it could be too bittersweet for us to work out as just friends.”
Sarah shrugged. “I’m desperate enough to take that chance.” She laughed a bit. “Look, we can just start this simple… go out on dates for a while and see how well we get along. Maybe after some time, we can explore possibilities, but for now, lets not even think about that. It’ll be like when we were younger, huh? Except without the over-raging hormones to make us do something stupid too soon.”
Mandi giggled at the thought. “Alright,” she said. She looked around, and noticed how dark it had gotten. “Hey… we should be getting back, though. I live fairly close to here, but I can walk you to your car.”
“I’ll give you a ride straight to your place,” said Sarah. They started walking side by side. Sarah glanced at Mandi. “Wanna hold hands?”
Mandi blinked, giving Sarah a sidelong glance. Sarah just waited expectantly. Mandi’s inner child said, Go for it! She waited for her adult side to make a rebuttal, and was slightly surprise when it said, What the hell? Just don’t let it get carried away. Mandi smiled at Sarah, saying, “Okay… we’ll stick with that for a start.” She reached over and grasped Sarah’s hand. Sarah flushed suddenly and giggled, making Mandi feel a little sheepish.
As they walked towards Sarah’s car, they took a slightly different, but shorter path than they had arrived from, which passed by a thick group of trees. Mandi, distracted by Sarah’s presence, and Sarah, unfamiliar with the park, didn’t notice the strange stone statue partially hidden by the trunks until they had already passed it. Suddenly, Mandi blinked and whilred back, letting Sarah’s hand go.
“Mandi?” said Sarah, her own senses becomnig very alert. “What is it? Is it a demon?”
Mandi squinted at the stone statue. It resembled a thickly built, humanoid, with a long lizard-like tail, curved horns, and large bat wings: a gargoyle. Mandi knew they had never been here before. As she looked closer, the sun finally set, leaving the park illuminated only by the street lights which lined the park’s walkways. In the artificial light, Mandi could see the gargoyles grey, stony color fade into a dark green. It eyes suddenly opened, revealing glowing yellow eyes. Mandi stumbled back.
“Sarah! Run for it!”
Sarah stood her ground, pulling a gun out of her pocket. It was a small semi-automatic pistol enough to deal with a common thug. Of course, this was no common thug. The gargoyle took a look at the two women, then growled, stepping menacingly out of the shadows.
“Will it attack?” said Sarah.
“I don’t know, I’ve never fought one of these,” she said. “But some demons just like to posture and scare people away.”
The gargoyle grunted, with a mildly irritated tone. “Get lost, humans,” it growled.
“Get lost yourself, demon,” said Sarah.
The gargoyle narrowed its eyes. “You want to try my patience, wench?” said the beast. “I am hungry and would be more than happy to give human flesh a taste.”
“What have you been feasting on, then?” said Mandi.
“Little beasts… squirrels, rabbits… what does it matter? You shouldn’t even be here after sunset,” said the gargoyle.
“We were just leaving,” said Mandi.
“Hey! We’re just leaving him?” said Sarah.
“If he promises to leave people and the pets alone, then yes,” said Mandi. “Not everyone of these things is a trouble maker.”
“Are you so sure?” said Sarah.
The gargoyle, who had been starting to walk off, turned. “What are you blathering about? Leave before you try the limits of my patience.”
“Three weeks ago, I saw one of you… it might have been you,” said Sarah. “It was just for a moment, but as I was riding in the back of the fire engine, I looked up and saw something like you… it was carrying a human skull.”
“Wasn’t me,” said the gargoyle. “I haven’t strayed much beyond this park. Its peaceful here. Why would I leave?”
“I’m just asking… are you sure you haven’t samplde a person, once or twice?” said Sarah.
Mandi looked at her helplessly. “Shut up, Sarah!” she said. “We’re going.”
The gargoyle suddenly leaped and landed a few feet in front of the women. He leaned in close to Sarah. “I haven’t eaten any humans, but I’m about two seconds from changing that… unless you care to apologize?”
“Maybe, I was hasty,” said Sarah. She put her hands on her hips, obviously not intimited. “On the one hand you don’t have evidence to disprove me… but on the other hand I have no proof either. So, I’ll give you the benefit of the doubt. Sorry.”
“I don’t think you mean it,” said the gargoyle.
Sarah narrowed her eyes. “I’m sorry okay? I don’t think I need to say anything else.”
The gargoyle growled.
Mandi pulled Sarah back, and her aura swirled into existance. The gargoyle grunted in shock and stumbled back. “That’s enough,” said Mandi. “My friend is a little hasty… she likes to get into fights sometimes.”
“Hey, I got this handled, Mandi!” Sarah said.
“Cut it out, or I’m not dating you again,” said Mandi. Sarah looked horror struck.
“Please, just leave us be, and we won’t bother you,” said Mandi.
The gargoyle narrowed his eyes. “You’re the one the others have been talking about,” said the creature. “The woman with the strength of a giant…” The gargoyle’s eyes blazed and it roared. “You murdered my clanmate, you little bitch!”
Mandi blinked. “What?!”
The gargoyle took a swing at Mandi, who reached back, grabbed Sarah, and leaped back several yards. The gargoyles sharp claws clipped her shoulder, and she sucked in a breath. The gargoyle was already dashing at them fast as a cheetah as they landed. Sarah reached around Mandi and aimed her gun. She had time for a single shot, which missed, before the gargoyle barreled into Mandi, slamming her into the dirt. As it went, the gargoyle swung its tail at Sarah, who hit the concrete pavement with a sickening thud.
“Sarah!” yelled Mandi.
“Oh, I’ll take care of her, soon, you little human bitch!” hissed the gargoyle. Mandi moved to slam her knee into the creature’s stomach, but the gargoyle twisted its surprisingly thin waist and dodged it, then slammed Mandi’s head into the ground with a head butt. Mandi saw stars, an was reminded that while she was tough, its was only because she had super strength… she wasn’t invulnerable.
“Three weeks ago, you killed an ogre in this very park,” said the gargoyle. “He was my clanmate… my friend from back in our realm. We watched out for one another.” The gargoyle stood, picking Mandi up by the wounded shoulder, then slamming her into the ground again.
“Ugh… he… I killed him because he was going to kill some boys… who had saved me…” she gasped as pain tried to rob her voice.
“He was helping those wretched goblins because he owed them for a debt,” said the gargoyle. “And he wasn’t going to kill them, just break a few bones.”
“But those goblins were…” gasped Mandi.
“I took care of them already,” said the gargoyle with a satisfied grunt. He pressed Mandi’s face into the dirt, and started slapping her back hard with his tail, striking her again and again with a rapid whipping motion. “Stupid little runts. However, it is the way of us demons to exchange favors, whether we particularly like them or not. And it is the way of us demons to watch out for our clanmates.”
“Its the way of us humans, too, demon,” said a voice. The gargoyle stopped his beating and turned his head to look at Sarah. His eyes went wide.
“Sarah?” Mandi, barely conscious, nonetheless stared in shock as Sarah stood, hands on hips, her body wreathed in flames.
“I’m sorry you lost your friend,” said Sarah. “But I can’t forgive bullies.”
“You… what are you two supposed to be, anyway?” muttered the gargoyle. He stepped off Mandi, who was in no condition to get up now, and crouched low, ready to pounce on Sarah.
“Look, I’ll chalk it up to several incidents of people being in the wrong place at the wrong time,” said Sarah. “But your clanmate should have known those goblins were just scum… why would he even agree to beat up on the human kids as repayment for a favor?”
“It was an easy pay back,” said the gargoyle. “And while we don’t particulary care to get involved with humans… we don’t particular care if they get hurt.”
“Well… I’d say you’ve gotten your revenge, yes?” said Sarah. She motioned to Mandi, who was struggling to get up. “You’ve beaten her up enough… she didn’t know she was going to kill your clanmate… she was just looking out for her own kind. So, lets let this go… or I’m going to have to make you pay.”
The gargoyle sneered. He suddenly whipped his tail around and slammed Mandi in the back with it, pushing her into the dirt once more. Mandi gasped and floundered in the dirt, the wind knocked out of her.
Sarah’s flaming aura flared bightly, and her face contorted with rage. “I gave you your chance, you ugly piece of shit,” she hissed. She immediately dashed forward and swung at the gargoyle. The creature dodged, then swatted her with his tail. Sarah found herself flying through the air. She managed to go limp and roll onto the ground, landing safely. Springing to her feet, she started running back to the gargoyle.
The gargoyle, though was snarling with pain, holding its tail, which was black and smoking where it had struck Sarah. “You burned me, you little bitch!” It hissed. Sarah swung another blow at it, but the gargoyle leaped high, then dropped onto Sarah like a stone.
Sarha barely twisted around to avoid its huge claws skewering her. But the creatures bulk still struck her and she hit the ground hard; she felt a rib crack. The gargoyle, though, roared as though he had just fallen into a bond fire. Gasping in pain, Sarah lashed out and struck the creature with her fist, leaving a charred mark as the gargoyle stumbled off of her. Gasping in pain, it looked around for a place to run to. Then, its eyes caught a glint of metal on the ground. It stumbled over to Sarah’s gun.
Sarah struggled to her feet, glancing back at Mandi. Mandi had rolled over and was breathing heavily. She opened her eyes and smiled painfully at Sarah. “Thanks for the save,” she gasped. “Give me a few seconds… I think I can…”
Sarah grinned, gritting her teeth through the pain in her side, so her smile looked almost feral. “Relax… I got this.” She turned just as the gargoyle leveled the gun at her. Sarah froze. She looked close and saw that, though it was too tiny for the creatures massive hand to hold comfortably, it had managed to hook a claw into the trigger slot. Sarah narrowed her eyes.
“Touching you is like touching a fire beast…” the gargoyle gasped. “I don’t know how you came upon such power… but I’m willing to bet, no matter how hot you get, there’s no way you could vaporize a bullet before it killed you.”
“Think you could hit me from all the way over there?” said Sarah. There was a good fifty feet of distance between them, and it wasn’t the easiest gun to be accurate with.
“I’ve had some practice with projectile weapons in my relm,” said the gargoyle. “If this thing is as effective as I think it is… well, how about I just show you?” He pulled the trigger.
Sarah had to admit, the shot would have been dead on… if she hadn’t made sure the safety was on before she discarded it. The gargoyle looked taken aback, wondering why it wasn’t working. In the moment of distraction, Sarah put both hands together and thrust them forward. A powerful jet of intense flame shot from her hands and enveloped the creature. It roared with pain and stumbled onto the ground. Sarah concentrated on only her target and forced more flame from her hands. The screaming creature burned to ash in mere seconds… but as Sarah intended, not a single blade of grass had been burned. Sarah watched the ash of the creature as it slowly stirred in the breeze, then suddenly vanished into thin air.
Breathing a sigh of relief, she hissed as her rib throbbed. She walked over to Mandi, her flaming aura dying down. Mandi was sitting up, looking at Sarah with mild awe. She winced as Sarah helped her up.
“Anything broken?” asked Sarah.
“A couple ribs and my pride,” said Mandi. “How did you… when did…?”
“While I was unconscious, that Dreammaster guy gave me the Elemental Key of Fire,” said Sarah. She frowned. “Man, I wanted to clobber that thing by hand, but… it was just too fast.”
“Tell me about it,” said Mandi. She winced. “Well, I don’t think this will be anything I can’t fix with a days rest.”
“You think I’ll heal fast now, too?” said Sarah.
“The Dreammaster did mention it was a common power of the Keys when I asked him about it later on,” said Mandi.
The two women looked at each other. Sarah smirked. “I think we look even sexier all roughed up like this,” she said with a laugh. She winced. “Uh… I know we’ve only had one date, but… could I maybe crash at your place? I don’t think I’m gunna make it to mine.”
Mandi grinned, and took Sarah’s hand. “Come on… lets get over there before anything else tries to jump us.” The two briskly headed back to Mandi’s apartment, where much cleaning up, bandaging, and sleep was to be had.
END.
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