The minute Amaya formed, she flung fire at the Jorõgumo, but the spider woman reacted with lightning speed, throwing herself sideways and out from under the range of the flames. They chased her, eagerly crawling across the floor toward her, but already she was dissolving, her face and torso becoming little more than wisps that trailed behind the rest of her body as she continued to run from Amaya's flames.
"Fuck," I said, and regained full form. "Amaya, grab her legs!"
A rope of fire lashed out instantly, whipping around what remained of the Jorõgumo's limbs. She screamed and stumbled, crashing to the floor and finding form again.
Only her form was spider rather than human this time, and she was big and black, with skin that writhed and pulsated. I did not want to know what was causing that movement. I really didn't.
The Jorõgumo lunged at me, her fangs bared and as thick as my arm. I yelped and jumped backward, but my calves clipped the edge of the coffee table and I tipped ass over the top of it. I landed awkwardly, but had barely rolled onto my back when Amaya screamed a warning. I looked up to see a hairy black leg coming straight at me. I swore, swung my sword, and steel met flesh with a clang that sounded oddly like a death knell. Not mine, I hoped. Amaya's screaming was fierce as her steel bit deep into one of the fleshier parts of the Jorõgumo's leg, and blood flew. As did little black objects.
It was my worst fear come to life. There were baby spiders under her skin.
Somehow I kept a lid on the utter horror that crawled through me and rolled out from under her leg.
"Azriel!" I screamed, wrenching Amaya free as I jumped upright. "I need some damn help here!"
Already here.
His mind voice was sharp, distracted, and I risked a glance across the other side of the room as I continued to back away from the Jorõgumo. A second creature had appeared, only this one was made up of thousands of little tiny bodies that writhed and moved and hissed and yet acted as one deadly enemy. Azriel attacked the mass with Valdis's steel and flame, moving so fast, he was little more than a blur. But for every part of the mass they destroyed, others just crawled in and resumed the attack.
Fuck, fuck, fuck!
Mom Jorõgumo lunged at me again, liquid dripping from her fangs. I ducked away from her attack and smashed Amaya across her fangs. One went flying but the other remained. Liquid splashed across my clothes, stinking to high heaven and stinging where it hit flesh. Hoping like crazy the stuff had to be injected to actually work, I batted away another attack, then leapt high, twisted in midair, and came down on the middle part of her body, right behind her eyes. Amaya screamed again, the sound echoing across the room as well as in my head.
Don't kill, I ordered her fiercely. Just blind and bind.
Then I swung her with all the strength I had. Her steel bit into the bitch's eyes just as the Jorõgumo flung herself at the wall. We hit hard, and breath whooshed from my body. Not satisfied with merely winding me, the Jorõgumo hissed and writhed, and I fell, ending up on the floor underneath her. One foot scraped my leg, cutting deep, and a scream rolled up my throat. I bit down on it and crawled out from underneath her, barely avoiding several strikes of fang and leg. A hand grabbed me and dragged me upright.
"Amaya!" Azriel said. "Flame and ensnare. Now!"