Knights of the Grey City

Chapter 33 - PATROL

"Let's stay close together—but not too close," Huang said.

The Firedrake's head swivelled around. "Um, I think I caught a glimpse of more demons when I was on my way here."

Huang flapped back up into the air. "...Yup, I'm sensing three more approaching. Two in the ground and one in the air."

I felt calm, though my instincts were still warning me against the Firedrake. I stepped into the nearest shadow, crouching low to the ground and dimming the glow from my eyes. Soon, my sense warned me of the approaching demons.

They were darting through the alleyways like shadows, sharp and swift. They slowed somewhat as they neared, snapping at each other, then crept into view.

These ones were kind of wolf-like: skeletal with round eyes, sharp claws, and horns. They had long, reptilian tails decorated with spikes. They hadn't yet seen me in the shadows. I felt the Leviathan's focus sharpen and prepared to strike.

"I got this," Katie declared suddenly, swooping down in front of me.

I reeled back in surprise. She let loose with a blast of flame, which they dodged, running past on either side of her.

One of the wolves came at me, and I welcomed it, leaping to meet its attack. It was about half my height. It slid past my swipe to snap at my neck, and I twisted around it, landing a second attack on its side.

The demon didn't look all that sturdy to me, but it barely staggered, and I was used to a hit like that doing some real damage. I growled and backed up, looking for a better opening.

"They're tougher than usual. Watch it," I said.

Katie wheeled up above me with the second wolf clutched in her talons. "Probably not this tough." She tossed the wolf up into the air, breathed a stream of fire all over it, then let it plummet back down to the earth.

"Careful," said Huang, "There's still—Oof!" From my vantage point, all I saw was something dark and very fast shoot down from the sky and tackle Huang into another street.

The wolf I was facing rushed me again, and I had to bring my attention back to my situation.

The wolf Katie had slam dunked rolled back onto its feet and joined the first, both of them now approaching me. I growled softly, wondering what it would take to kill these things. The second one looked a little singed and had a limp, so I decided to take the weaker one out first. I pounced, hoping to catch it off guard and tackle it with my full weight.

It ducked away, and I only managed to leave a slash across its chest. It was made of a dark hide that looked thinly stretched over its bones, but attacking it was like clawing a marble statue. I left some narrow marks but didn't seem to hurt it very much.

"Joshua, are you good?" Katie called.

"Go help him. Steer clear of me, I can take care of the wolves," I said. So, these things weren't going to be sliced and diced that easily. New plan: crush them into dust.

The wolves were circling me, keeping me pinned against the nearest wall. One darted forward and managed to land a bite on my shoulder before I shook it off, and when I went to chase it, both of them backed up out of my range, still circling.

This was really starting to piss me off. I snarled at them again, daring them to come closer. They were just a touch faster than me, working in tandem to keep me off-balance. We'd never seen demons work together like this before—first the swarm, and now this pack hunting.

Time to do something unexpected.

I dashed forward as if to strike again. When they backed up, I veered to the nearest streetlight. The Grey City had old-fashioned, iron streetlights topped with what looked like gas-burning lanterns. Their height was about at my eye level. I leaned over and dug my jaws into the base of the streetlight, breaking it off with a twist. The dim, yellow glow of the lanterns flickered out.