The Equalizer: You Better Watch Out

Part 4 - when out on the lawn there arose such a clatter

I dropped feet first. Six stories up and falling fast. Mr. Gravity was a finicky bitch who'd turn on me in a heartbeat.

Speaking of which...

If you have more intel on this loathsome sonofabitch, speak now or forever hold your peace.

The Mark didn't answer me.

Suit yourself, princess.

Five floors up.

There had to be some really fucked up reason the Mark kept Cain from going mano ã mano with Goat Boy. If I used the First Blade on Krampus would that bounce back on me like some half-assed voodoo doll? If I cut him, would I cut myself? That kind of freaky crap would really flip the script on this job.

Four.

Lines crawled underneath the snow toward the house. A lot of snow kicked up into the air. All the fugs would reach ground zero at the same time.

And when they did...hello bug zapper.

Three floors.

My eyes went black. I filled my right hand with the First Blade.

The ground came up fast.

Things went south even faster.

The fugs stopped. Heads popped up out of the snow. Krampus turned and looked up at me.

Sonofabitch!

Goat Boy grinned at me, toothy and yellow.

"There you are, little wolf! We missed you!" He raised his left arm up and crooked one long nasty looking finger at me. The chains hissed and rattled. They slid from around his waist and shot up into the air towards me.

I was screwed. Couldn't get out of the way in time. The snake chains wrapped around my legs. A thick sheet of ice covered my legs from ankles to knees. The fangs shredded my jeans and bit into my skin, right down to the bone.

The Mark roared full blast underneath my skin. I should have bled out but I didn't.

The chains yanked me down ten feet.

My mojo and the Mark flared up all around me. The hooks pushed out and my skin healed up. The ice cracked. It exploded into a cloud of splinters in the air around me. So did the chains.

Fat lot of good that did me: for every one I got rid of sixty more took their place. Didn't have many options at that point. I sure in the hell wasn't going to leave. Couldn't zap the snake chains, either. That red glow would tip them off that I charged the house. I couldn't screw up the bug zapper.

I pushed them all away and 'ported out.

The element of surprise was blown now. And my frenemies Mr. Gravity and his buddy the laws of physics weren't having it. Like it or not (and I don't) objects in motion tend to stay in motion. I couldn't stop my fall. All I could do was bend it. I came back on an angle ten feet away from Goat Boy. The only good part about that was his back was to me. My good luck didn't last long. The minions ducked back underneath the snow and made a beeline for me.

Goat Boy turned just as I lunged at him.

He grabbed at me and I left. When I came back I was behind him again. Backstabbing him was a dick move. Ask me if I care.

A quick flick of my wrist and the First Blade cut deep into his hamstrings. Dark green blood splattered onto the snow.

Krampus threw back his head and howled at the night sky. So did the minions. Music to my ears.