Page 37 of Eboenia

I stepped away from the tree. “Bring your ass out here!” I shouted.

Through the mist, five figures appeared, surrounding me. When they came into focus, I realized they were all nymphs—three females and two males. “You gotta be shitting me,” I mumbled.

The nymph in the middle, who looked more like a cracked-out fairy than the others, smirked. Her skin was pale, cheekbones sharp, face pierced with silver rings. She licked her lips at me. “Let’s take it easy on the pretty thing. She’s not a real warrior, she’s Clover’s shadow,” she taunted.

One of the male nymphs grabbed my ass, squeezing it like he owned it. “She’s so plump… so filling,” he laughed, voice scraping my nerves. I swung my sword, slicing the bastard in half. It happened so fast, he was still laughing as his body hit the ground, split open.

“Get her!” the ringleader screamed.

They charged. Six-inch rose thorns shot from my body, stabbing into them and pumping toxin to slow them down. The closest one, I grabbed her by her thin braid, kicked her knee in until she dropped, then sliced her head clean off.

“MY SISTERRRR!” the ringleader shrieked, barreling into me with a thorn stuck in her eye. She clawed at me, nails digging in as we tumbled into a bush. She bit me, tearing a chunk out of my arm. I bit her back, ripping her lip off, then jabbed my nail into her eye socket. War taught me how to take pain, and the poisonous bite marks she left didn’t burn or throb—I just took it. My wand shifted into a sledgehammer. I cocked it back and smashed it against her skull, knocking her off me.

The others lunged. I swung my sledgehammer, shattering the jaw of a female nymph. She dropped face-first, and I brought the hammer down again, splattering her skull like a watermelon.

“Talk shit now. I’m in whose shadow?” I yelled at the ringleader, watching her writhe on the ground. The other two, one male and one female, circled me.

“Kill herrrr!” the ringleader screamed.

I shot off the ground, grabbing the female by her bony chest and dragging her into the air with me. Blood gushed as I ripped out her nipple ring. She yanked my hair and spat a glob of burning spit into my eyes. We fought in the air like two eagles fighting over prey. Her talons locked around my leg. I elbowed her, digging my nails into her scalp and peeling it back, exposing tree lice crawling beneath her skin. The male nymph fired an arrow at me; I dove, ducking it, and it pierced the nymph’s nose, killing her instantly. I let her go—her body crashed into a tree and exploded into dust.

But the nymph’s venom was already working, paralyzing my wing and sending me crashing down. As I fell, tree branches tore at my skin, stabbing and scratching at me before I slammed into the ground, my head cracking against a rock.

Growls echoed nearby. Dizzy and bleeding, I sat up, blood pouring from my head. I could make out a troll gnawing on the flesh of a Hex13 member. This one was smaller than the one War attacked, but when she stood up, I realized she was pregnant.

“The bodies just keep coming,” she said, grinning with blood-stained teeth as she lumbered toward me. War’s panther appeared out of nowhere, lunging for her neck. The troll screamed as the panther ripped into her. I clutched my head, trying to steady myself.

“There she goes! Get her!” a voice shouted.

“You gotta be shitting me,” I muttered.

I forced myself up, standing my ground as my wand shifted back into a sword. The male nymph stalked toward me, grinning with broken teeth, the ringleader behind him. “There’s no way in hell she’s still alive!” she said, voice shaking with rage.

“Y’all can’t kill me, bitch!” I spat, hocking up a glob of green phlegm.

The male nymph limped toward me, nails dripping blood. Suddenly, a warlock sailed overhead on a hoverboard, hurling a spiked chain ball of blue flame at the nymph. His screams echoed through the forest as he burned alive.

“You will not get away with killing my family!” the last nymph screamed. She flew at me, but adrenaline pumped through my veins, healing my wounds and dulling the pain. Irammed my horns into her, slamming her against a tree like a bull. Electricity shot through her, making her convulse and kick. I pulled away—she was stuck, eyes bulging, body twitching.

“I gotta admit, you know how to piss a bitch off,” I laughed.

I sliced her head off with my sword. Her body kept convulsing. I picked up her head, blood spilling from her eye sockets. “Killing is fun after all. If I’d known it’d relieve stress, I would’ve started sooner,” I told her.

“You… still aren’t… Clover,” she gasped.

I blew fairy dust in her face, cold as ice. Her head froze, turning into a white crystalline ball. When it shrank, I pressed it onto my sword’s handle, where it molded itself into the design. “I’ll keep you in spirit so you can watch me be better than her,” I giggled.

I stepped out of the shrubs. The pregnant troll was on her back, stomach split open. A few feet away, War’s panther was chewing through her baby’s sack, tearing the baby out.

“Help meee!” she pleaded, reaching for me.

I put her out of her misery, climbing onto her chest and decapitating her. Even monsters don’t deserve to watch their child become panther food.

“You did good, turned your pain into fuel, just like I taught you,” a voice rumbled behind me.

I spun around—War stepped out of the fog, bare-chested and smeared in blood. “You’ve been watching me?”

“From the second you dropped out of the damn sky,” he said, eyes scanning me up and down.

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