Prophecy: Tome of Skin

2. Float Like a Butterfly

With the arrival of the new opponents, there seemed very little time to waste. Toby was the first to rush forward, pushing Austin further behind himself as he headed straight for the woman who had called herself Angel. Angel did not seem deterred by his approach, and shifted accordingly in preparation for his assault, waiting for it with glee. Lorelei immediately flanked her companion, and found that her action was mirrored by a slender man who matched her approach as he took up the same position behind his leader.

"Go, Frank!" Angel commanded to him as Toby finally reached her. In response the man, Frank, sprang high into the air and flipped over them, landing in perfect poise in front of Lorelei before swinging on her. Toby did not look over his shoulder to see if she would need help, confident that she could handle her adversary. Instead he could feel the fire in his palms and grabbed at his own enemy, ready to set her ablaze, only to find that she caught both his hands in hers. She did not catch fire as he had expected, instead he could feel the cool of her touch on him, and there was a low squealing sound that erupted between their embrace, accompanied by a steady flow of steam.

"Not that easy," it was with a giddy laugh that she goaded Toby and brought her knee up between his legs, causing him to fall away with a series of pained noises. Immediately Myrna stepped in then, throwing a few of her own magical projectiles to aid her friend. It was effortless for Angel to twirl out of the way, and when she was clear she turned to look at the boy who stood at the back of her ensemble. He was very much a boy in the sense that he looked like he had yet to reach adulthood, and still he seemed unafraid to be called on, "you're up, Corbin."

In her distraction, Angel did not see Toby's fist coming at her, and she stumbled back as it connected with a satisfying crack. Lorelei was not as satisfied, spending most of her energy avoiding the onslaught of her opponent, Frank. She had always prided herself on being an excellent combatant-she had bested Toby in their first encounter, after all, and had yet to find an opponent she could not beat. But Frank challenged that, and she found herself overwhelmed as he kept coming at her, blocking every one of her moves with ease and adding in some unavoidable ones of his own.

Myrna found that to be the case with Corbin too, and though he was much younger than her he seemed to have a mastery over the arcane that she was envious of. He proved himself to be a warlock when he had summoned his grimoire, but it seemed to be more for aesthetic than anything else, as he did not rely on it in combat with her, just holding it there while he berated her with a barrage of spells. Like Lorelei, she was focused on deflecting them and keeping up her warding in an attempt to gain some ground that would allow her to employ a few attacks of her own.

"Fire and ice, beginning and end." With one hand Angel moved her head back and forth, not letting the hit that Toby had gotten in affect her any. Instead she continued on with her boasting, throwing a couple icy blasts in his direction lazily.

"What the hell are you talking about? How do you know who we are?" Toby met her shots with fireballs of his own, a wave of vapor exploding when the attacks collided. It was clear that she knew who each one of them was somehow, and already he could see that she was not like the other demons that they had been fighting. She was stronger.

"You're so weak, Warren!" She chided him, knowing that he was incapable of understanding. "Look at you, I thought we would come here and find a good fight, and all I find is some half-assed excuse for a hero. You have been given the world and you squander it, how could anyone think that it was supposed to be you?"

"Now you're just talking bullshit," Toby indeed did not understand what she was getting at, and this time when he came at her he did not rely on his flames, using the weight of his body to slam into her.