Page 33 of Ragnar

“They hurt for fun. We return energies.” Kan mutters, taking Kil’s side as usual. Pride fills me at how good that sentence was. I’m slowly corrupting them, talking about matching energies constantly.

“In English we call that ‘giving them a taste of their own medicine’. If you make sure no Gersils get near me, I don’t care what you do.” Kil grins at my words, pleased by my support.

“Quiet.” Ragnar growls, gaining all our attention. In an instant their playfulness is gone and in its place is predatory awareness. Their sails raise one at a time, snouts raised to scent the air.

We are close to the edge of town, the derelict stores familiar. A flashback of our first night in town hits me hard, the shredded Naga and the fear that Ragnar would leave me when the venom took effect. The store in question is up ahead, a marker for the edge of Stepsville.

The twins move away from us, circling in a large arc. Talnag takes the rear, letting Ragnar lead the way. It is a formation we have fallen into a few times over the last few days. Always after the males caught a scent trail. I want so badly to ask what they smell or see but I know that it would only hurt our cause if danger were near. My nature is constantly rearing its ugly head, my inability to let others take the lead, and yet it gets easier with every passing day. I know I can trust Ragnar with my life, and to some extent the others.

“Naga.” Kil hisses quietly. My internal panic reaches new heights. The snake men have been trailing us for days. Each trail we have taken has reeked of their scents, their attempts to find us growing until it was only a matter of time before we crossed paths. Still, an inner part of me had hoped to avoid them altogether.

“Protect her at all costs.” Ragnar snarls, making me nervous. That nervousness only intensifies when a Naga slithers out of the rubble of a nearby gas station, cutting us off from the only road out of town.

“There you are. We didn’t want to misssssss youuuuuu.” The snake hisses, giving me the creeps. He is far too human-like in his upper half. Human features are easily distinguishable on his face, as is his human torso. It makes the snake half of him that much more jarring. His yellow eyes snare my own, and I give a shiver of fear at the hatred there.

“Move aside.” Ragnar snarls, turning so that the sail on his head blocks me from the enemy’s view. Creepy, drawn-out laughter is overly loud in the silence surrounding us.

“You are in our territory.” The Naga responds, his words clipped.

“Either stand down, or I kill you.” I can feel the tension in my mate’s shoulders, his need for violence rising at the challenge the Naga presents.

“Like you killed my ssssibling?” He questions and I can feel my shoulders slump. A part of me I wasn’t aware of had been hoping it was simply a chance encounter.

“More are approaching. We must make our escape or risk a fight.” Talnag hisses, the urgency in his voice startling. As if his words snapped what control the twins had, they both jump into action. In a violent, bloody, and short-lived battle, the Naga is dealt with. Their violence is brutal, and only shredded pieces remain. My eyes widen, nearly popping out of my face, at the speed that the twins murder the snake man.

Ragnar is less shocked, jumping forward into a full out run. The others fall back into formation, though I don’t look too closely at Kil and Kan, the gore covering their scales threatens to curdle my stomach. The meager breakfast of canned beans that I scarfed down earlier is barely holding on as it is. Violent hissing breaks out, coming from all directions. It brings me back to reality and I grab onto Ragnar’s spikes tightly, squeaking in fear when he suddenly shifts direction.

Sneaking a look around us, I watch in horror as Nagas pour out of every available crevice, making a beeline for our small pack. Talnag and the twins spread out. At first it appears that the snake men mean to run along beside us, herding us almost out of town. Then all hell breaks loose and the first one attacks.

Kan and Kil face it together, dispatching it quickly before facing the next one. Talnag takes up point, mowing down any that get in our way. Ragnar, to his credit, dodges anything and everything that tries to grab at him, but it is a losing battle. A whole army of the snakes keep coming until our hope to run away is smashed altogether and we are left no other option than to fight.

A circle forms, with Ragnar at the center. The twins and Talnag do their best to keep snakes from getting to me. Guilt and fear intertwine in my mind until I can’t just sit still and watch my males get murdered. My hand goes to my pistol. Most of the monsters we have encountered were bulletproof, Nagas not so much. Their upper torso is bare of the hard scales that protect their lower half.

For the first time since I set out, I confidently grab my pistol from its holster, drawing just in time to see a Naga with black tail scales lunge over a grappling Kan. Ragnar is preoccupied with a blue Naga at his front.

Without flinching, I shoot it between the eyes. It falls to the ground, disappearing in the pile of wriggling bodies. My heart is beating out of my chest and my arms feel heavy, not having discharged a firearm since I quit the force.

The Nagas do not care about my lack of practice. They keep coming and I am forced to keep shooting, aiming for any human-like head that I can. In between shots, I scan our small group. My heart leaps into my throat with fear when I see too many wounds leaking green blood. My mate is injured gravely, his snout and legs riddled with scratches and bite marks.

Naga venom leaks from a few of those wounds, an alarming amount. Flashbacks of having to nurse him back to health make me foolish, distracting me. A snake is upon me before I can swing my gun around.

A scream is torn from me, my body thrown from my mate’s back. It is a big drop and I hit the ground hard. The Naga follows me down, adding his own weight to our fall. It feels like I am being crushed by a car. Claws tear into my skin, shredding my arms as he holds me down. Feebly I fight, gasping to regain the air that was knocked from me.

“Reggie!” Ragnar snarls, forgetting the Naga he was grappling with in an attempt to get to me. Tails wrap around his legs, knocking them from underneath him. He goes down hard, snapping his teeth at anything he can reach. Screams of pain and gore fill the air as he severs their bodies in half, possessed by the spirit of his inner beast. The light in his eyes changes with his rage. His roar shakes the ground and a few of the snakes pause, fear entering their gazes.

To his credit, the Naga above me only grins, the evil light in his eyes only growing as he looks down at me. A truly ballsy bitch who has death on his mind. My death. His tail curls around my legs, holding me in place as he raises up.

Turning my head, I try to find where my pistol landed, nearly crying when I see it just out of my reach. The Naga gives a nasty laugh when he sees where my line of sight is aimed. Raising one hand, his claws extend, lengthening until they look like daggers. My blood drips from their tips, falling onto my chest.

“You die, because they died.” He snarls, spittle hitting me in the face. I gag, trying to turn away from him, the smell of rot and decay too much for me. He hisses angrily before shoving me back to the ground, holding me down with a hand against my chest. Raising his other hand once more, he moves to strike.

A flash of blue-gray fur slashes from the side, hitting the Naga with a flurry of tiny snarls. Floofy is tiny, but he is fierce. His teeth latch onto the snake’s shoulder, his weight sending them both tumbling to the side. Cursing loudly in a language that I do not understand, they grapple for a moment.

Heart in my throat, I take his distraction as my chance. Rolling to the side and up to my knees, I reach for my only line of defense. My hand is on my pistol and I am turning just as the Naga pries Floofy from his skin. A scream bubbles up when the when grips Floofy with both hands, digging his claws into my little pet’s sides. Floofy’s cry of pain makes anger bubble in my veins. Bringing my pistol up, I walk towards the snake with a confidence I don’t feel.

“Hey bitch!” I shout, grinning maniacally when the snake man looks up, his yellow eyes wide with shock. The boom of the gun is loud, but it feels so damn good. Satisfaction fills me when it’s now dead body drops like a sack of rocks, releasing Floofy. Tears track down my face when I see him stay where he lands, his sides rising and falling rapidly with his pained whimpers.

I barely reach his side when another Naga lunges for us. This time I do not hesitate to scoop up Floofy and back up, flush with the nearest building. Like it is my lifeline I keep my gun out in front of me. With one shot I drop this one as fast as I have the rest, my eyes burning with the effort to follow the super-humanly fast aliens and their movements. Floofy snuggles deeper into my side, holding onto me with his little claws.

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