rather, she was standing outside it when my gaze first located her. An instant later, two figures in plated vests charged from around the side of the nearest building.
Sorsha’s voice cut off at her friend’s shriek. She propelled herself forward as fast as her mortal feet would carry her.
I reached the attackers even more swiftly. Leaping from the shadows at the last second, I plowed my fist straight into the nearest miscreant’s throat.
The man fell with a sputter of blood, but the other attacker hauled Sorsha’s friend through the doorway next to him. Sorsha and I charged after them—and two more Company combatants rushed in after us, the first raising a gun and the other flicking one of those whips of light that made my entire being twitch with discomfort.
A thick, meaty scent filled my nose. We’d barreled into a butcher shop. I managed to kick the gun from the one man’s hand with a snap of the bones in his wrist. Then I raced after the man who’d grabbed Vivi, who was now hauling her through another doorway at the back.
Sorsha and I burst into a room of hanging carcasses, vibrant red and pink etched with paler lines of fat. The smell rolled over us in a thick wave, but Sorsha didn’t hesitate even as she coughed. She launched herself straight at her friend’s captor.
My first instinct was to hurl myself after her and take the fellow down for her, but I forced myself to stop and quite literally have her back instead. I ripped a thigh off one of the cow carcasses and slammed it into the man who’d come in behind us before he could slash either of us with that unnerving whip.
The strategy worked out well enough, as Sorsha clearly had her side of the battle under control. She dodged to the side at the last second and heaved an entire carcass into Vivi’s attacker, pummeling him in the head with the raw meat.
The man grunted and teetered; Vivi tore free with a yelp. When the man lunged after her, his hand jerking upward with a pistol in its grasp, Sorsha tackled him.
Sparks shot up. The waft of heat she’d conjured browned the carcasses above them, turning the raw meat stink into barbeque.
Our attacker with the whip hadn’t been dissuaded yet. He flung the arc of light toward me, and I dove under it, ramming into his legs. As he toppled, I threw myself around both the weapon and the venomous plates of his armor. I rammed the beef thigh into his mouth hard enough to puncture the back of his throat.
“Eat that, villain,” I said, and swiveled around to discover that Sorsha had managed to bury her foe under three of the heavy carcasses. The cords they’d been hanging from dangled with blackened ends where they’d been burnt through.
She caught my eye, and I found myself smiling at her, a rare sense of elation filling my chest. I hadn’t enjoyed combat in eons. But this… this had been good. What a battle was meant to be: comrades conquering evil side by side. Protecting each other wasn’t all it came down to. I had to give my companions room to be the warriors they were capable of becoming too.
Perhaps I could make sure this war was won the right way after all.
Vivi was braced against the far wall, breathing hard, her sleek white outfit now streaked with blood. “Sorsha?” she said tentatively, her eyes wide.
The lady held out her hand. “Come on, Vivi. We’re getting you out of here.”
22
Sorsha
“Well, this is… something, all right,” Vivi said, taking in the walls in the low-ceilinged living space, which looked—and smelled—like they were pasted with dried algae. From her face, I suspected she was resisting the urge to wrinkle her nose.
Gisele pranced around the room, which otherwise held an odd collection of rattan furniture with cotton cushions that at least appeared to be cozy. The unicorn shifter’s perky voice gave no sign that she’d noticed Vivi’s hesitance. “Kaiso said we could drop in and use the place any time. He’s got houseboats all over the world, so he’s not here that much.”
“A big fan of water living, huh?” I adjusted my balance as the floor rocked under us with the shifting currents of the river.
“It makes sense. He’s a kappa, after all.”
Vivi’s eyebrows shot up. “Um, are you totally sure he won’t be back while I’m staying here?” Temperaments really varied even across shadowkind of the same sort, but