Page 100 of Elven Shadow

There were its pounding footsteps echoed down the stairwell behind her, louder and closer with each thud, and…

No. The thick, heavy thumps and toppling bumps sounded in the stairwell, but in front of her, not behind. They didn’t grow closer like a looming monster ready to rip her to shreds in her weakness, but farther away.

Had she already gotten rid of the homunculus here in the smoke with her? Why couldn’t she remember?

The second those thumps stopped, an immediate, stunned silence followed, making Rebecca wobble on her feet.

Where was all the conversation she’d just heard from the garage? Where was Shade?

What had shedone?

Rebecca muscled on, knowing only that she had to reach the bottom before she could even consider what to do next. Her throat now burned as if fileted open and set on fire. That could have been the smoke, but if it wasn’t?

Then she was worse off than she’d thought.

“Holy shit, did you see that? Tell me you’re seeing that.”

“What the hell?”

“Hold up… That’s a fucking arm!”

“And a head, right? No way that’s not supposed to be a head…”

“What is this shit?”

“There’s no blood…”

“What kind of sick joke is this? Throwing body parts down the stairs?”

Somehow at the last second, Rebecca’s mind put two and two together.

She still grasped her Bloodshadow staff in one hand despite hardly being able to feel it there anymore. That had to go.

With another searing cough, she released her darkest weapon in a flash of dark silver light she could barely see in all the smoke.

The smoke she’d created? Or was this something else?

What was she even doing on these stairs?

But at least the rest of the task force had made it to the garage and were still there.

As long as she wasn’t hallucinating the outburst of confusion and disgust rising from below.

Only a few more steps, now…

It had to be only a few more.

“All right, this shit just got way too weird,” someone else shouted. “And I’m not waiting any longer for a fucking explanation.”

“We’re still waiting to make sure everybody made it down here.” That sounded like Nyx.

“Oh yeah? Who else was stupid enough not to follow orders and get their ass down herebeforeeverything went completely to shit? If we’re missing someone, that’s their own damn—”

Rebecca stumbled violently forward when her foot hit the flat concrete of the bottom landing before she’d expected it.

Staggering to catch herself, she emerged from the enclosed stairwell, wrapped up in another attack of hacking coughs as a belch of roiling black smoke barreled out with her—like some enormous, fire-breathing beast had realized only too late that it had gobbled up the wrong fucking elf.

Her next step down kicked against something hard and heavy with only a little give. At first, she couldn’t see what it was against the black smoke everywhere.

---