it was a fairy now since dragons were monosyllabic to the point of muteness. Especially when they were fighting.
“It’s the fear, isn’t it?” the darkhel speculated as it closed the distance between them and she could all too clearly see the dark pits of its eyes. “It’s made you incapable of speech.”
Emma ignored it, instead trying to focus all her energy on what she was doing. Every elemental creature had a kill spot. For dragons it was under the neck, for demons it was the spinal cord. For goblins it was the heart. Unfortunately Sir Francis, in his not-so-infinite wisdom, never bothered to mention a kill spot for fairies, and so she decided that she would start with the neck and go from there.
She licked her lips and tried to control her breathing as she waited for the darkhel to come closer. It took a couple more steps toward her, an evil grin on its face. Without hesitation, Emma lunged forward, driving her sword deep into the fleshy dark skin at the base of its neck. The vibration went racing back up her arm as the point of her sword bounced off it like a nickel on sidewalk and she felt herself reeling from the impact. She lunged again, this time harder, and let out a sigh of relief when she managed to pierce the surface and a gush of dark, fetid blood started oozing out. For a moment the darkhel reached up and touched the open wound before it grinned at her. Okay, so the neck wasn’t the kill spot.
Before she could regain her composure, the darkhel casually lifted one taloned hand and swiped it across her face. Emma managed to duck out of the way just in time. Then she drove her sword straight into its heart. She felt like she had struck iron and her muscles screamed in protest. Ignoring the pain, she pressed forward with all her might. The darkhel staggered back, which gave her time to regain her stance.
“Okay, no more Mr. Nice Guy,” the darkhel droned as it ignored the blood that was now flowing freely down its torso. Instead it came toward her with lightning speed and sent her sword flying from her hand. The weapon landed on the manicured grass with a thud and Emma felt herself go crashing to the ground. The skin across her brow immediately split open, and the blood started to trickle into her eye. She quickly wiped it away with the back of her hand before realizing that the darkhel was leaning over her. She only just managed to roll out of the way to save herself from having her windpipe slashed by its long talons.
She groggily started to raise herself up, but before she could, the darkhel again loomed over her, this time pinning her down with a heavy leather boot. The boot pressed into her chest and she struggled to catch her breath. Emma glanced up and found herself staring into dark eyes that were full of rage. She shut her own eyes and tried to wriggle her hand onto the hilt of her sword, but it was no good.
“Well, my small brothers didn’t really do you justice when they told me about your skills,” the darkhel hissed, its stinking breath sending goose bumps racing up and down Emma’s skin. “But still, I guess they were right about one thing. You’re only human and humans just break so . . . argh.”
Argh?
For a moment Emma blinked before realizing the creature had stiffened and raised its giant, corded hands up to its ears. Then she caught sight of Loni standing directly behind it with the subsonic blaster she’d just spent the last six months building. Tyler was next to her, clutching the thin rapier that he preferred, ready for action. As the darkhel continued to clutch at its ears, obviously trying to cut out the low-frequency noise that Loni’s invention was emitting, Emma had all the time she needed to roll away and flip back up to her feet just as the creature turned and raised a giant arm at the unsuspecting Loni.
“Run!” Emma screamed as she realized her friends didn’t have a clue about where the darkhel was attacking from. At the same time she reached down and grabbed her sword before thrusting it deep into the creature’s hamstring. The impact almost sent her reeling again, but she balanced herself and pulled the sword out. The darkhel seemed to sag as it spun back around