4 of us surround the house, 2 take the ground floor, 2 take the first floor, 2 on the second, 1 in the attic, and 1 on the roof. I'm in the attic, of course, and find Divinya sprawled on the ground in a circle of white.
"You didn't think I'd have sigils up? Always be cautious in an unfamiliar territory. Anyway, it's nice to see you here, Veleta," I smile and crouch down. "How you doing down there?"
She snarls and jumps up, knocking me back. I melt into the floor and drop from the ceiling. While she's still confused, I kick her out of the already broken window.
"If we're gonna fight we might as well take it outside. I don't want you messing up my room," I shrug.
"Thanks for that, Lara, because out here I can fly," Divinya winks and rises into the air.
Nalin, who is guarding this side of the house, comes to help me. Celeste, who is on the roof, wants to help, but I tell her to stay up there for look-out.
"One of you guys on the second floor, guard the attic. One on the first, check for humans," I message everyone.
"You're not the only one who can fly," I remind Divinya. Nalin and I grow wings and Divinya shoots up into the air, and we follow her.
"I've never tried Angelis flesh, Lara. Have you?" Nalin asks.
"No, but I'm eager to try," I reply. "What a soul to have, huh, Will?"
We lunge at her and she dodges us easily, simultaneously pushing us with the air.
"Too slow," she taunts.
I transform into an eagle and dive at her. She traps me in a little air bubble, pressing tighter and tighter. It's a struggle for her to keep it up and Nalin notices. He morphs into a giant snake and chokes her. Free of her bubble, I claw at her neck with my talons. She cries out as they slice open her jugular vein and part of her carotid artery. She lashes out at me with a strong gust of wind. She draws a healing sigil on her neck and it closes up. She tears Nalin away from her and thrusts him to the ground.
I transform into a dragon and snake around Divinya, breathing fire on her in a constant beam of amber. She pushes the air and slams me to the ground instantly, simultaneously healing up the burns inflicted by my flames. Man she's a tough one to kill.
"You've killed a lot in your time, huh?" Divinya remarks.
I change into Lara and shrug. "Quite a lot."
It's my job to distract her while Nalin strikes.
"Met a lot of Angelis?" she asks, returning to the ground.
I tilt my head, remembering. "A few, not much."
"I've imprisoned and killed..." She thinks. "Ooh, maybe several... hundred Demons? I've lost count."
Nalin shifts his form to a lion's and creeps up behind Divinya. Without a sound, he leaps up and bites down on her head.
Well, he was supposed to. Divinya thrusts a pulse of wind at him with her fist, a second before contact.
"You think you can sneak up on me?" She throws her head back and laughs manically. "Impossible! Do you want to know what my affinity is? Do you want to know what I can do? What this eye-patch is for? Well I'll show you."
She rips her eye-patch off to reveal a blue eye with a black pentagram surrounded in sigils. It disappears, reappears on her arm then returns to her eye socket.
"Nice affinity," I nod.
"That's not all I've got. I've got much more, plus my natural talents. You can't defeat me. Even if you are Akane Zahaya, it doesn't matter." She shakes her head and grins.
"You're crazy - must be the blood loss. Sorry about the talons, those things are so sharp; I should really file them down."
She ignores my comment. "Yes, I know who you are and why you're here. You had a bit of a technical problem, isn't that right?"
"Did you...?"
"Yes, I created those robots."
"No, that's not what I'm asking." I shake my head. "Have you done something to your hair? It looks different to when I saw you last."
I cock my head, examining her hair.
"Ugh!" she says in what I can't decide is pain or disgust. "You are such a little-!"
I'm starting to think she's in pain as she clutches her stomach with one hand and her head with the other, but for what reason could she possibly be hurt? "You're not keeping up a good fight. I'll let you rest and come back for you later." She ties her eye-patch back on.
"Okay, see you tomorrow!" I wave her goodbye and she rolls her eyes before warping out.
"Okay...?" Nalin drags out as he gets up.
"That was odd," I comment.
He nods. "So Zadynia built the robots, huh?"
"Apparently so. I wonder how long they've been setting this up and who else is involved." I tilt my head and think.
"What do you mean 'who else'?"
The rest of the pack joins us after reviewing the information in their heads.
"Well, you know how Angelis are; slow progress and no action," I remind them. "So if they devised this plan, then who, or what, brought it to life?"
"That," Blaire says, "is a good question."
The air shifts as someone joins us. "That's an excellent question, Lara. Or should I say, Aki?"
I know who it is before they've even uttered two syllables. A smile plays at my lips as I turn around to face Liam. Grins break onto both our faces as we hug and kiss.
"Mi hermana," he smiles.
"Mi hermano," I grin.
"¡Mi Dios! How long is this going to take?"
We turn to see Scar rolling her eyes at us, hands on hips.
"Alicia, you're looking..." He's grasping for words. "...well."
"I look dull and boring, just say it," she snaps.
Misty zips up, an urgent look in her eyes.
"Everything alright, Ivory?" Nalin asks.
"I've got good news, bad news and other news," she reports.
"Good news?" I enquire.
"Humans are taken care of."
"Other news?"
"Rogue Angelis live in the area."
"What?!"
"That's not all."
"Bad news?"
"There are rogue Demons too."
