skinny love | solangelo

Don't Leave Me

~Will

"Shit, fuck, what the hell was that?" Nico lifted up his head. I lifted up my own.

"I don't know, babe. Do you wanna go check it out?"

"I mean, not really, but I'm not sure we really have a choice. This is, after all, what we were born to do."

"Doesn't mean I wanna go do it."

Nico sighed at me and sat up, pulling me up with him. I groaned and reluctantly set to putting my shoes back on.

Another scream was heard and a sound like an explosion accompanied. Nico and I exchanged looks, each mirroring the other's worried expression. We left the blanket and the basket there and ran towards the distressed noises.

We rounded the corner. We didn't know what the mortals saw but what we saw was a demon standing in the middle of the road. Rubble and fires were behind her; she was an ominous silhouette. She wasn't too large, but she was strong. A snakeskin was wrapped around her waist. She had the tail of a snake and blood dripped from her crimson lips.

We heard a woman weeping and at that moment, we both noticed the small body laying mangled on the ground, scarlet splattered around it. There was noticeable tears of skin and clothing. Nico looked like he was gonna puke. The explosion we heard was from a car the demon threw. We ducked as she picked up another.

We yelled at the civilians to run and all of them obeyed, even the mother sick with grief.

Nico pulled me back behind the corner. "That's Lamia. She's a child-eating demon."

"What?"

"She was once a queen of Libya, but she had an affair with Zeus and Hera got mad. So, Hera killed all her children out of envy and rage. Overcome with grief, she turned into a child-eating monster."

"So how do we defeat her?"

"It's just one demon. Can't we just stabby-stabby, slashy-slashy? Isn't that what we usually do?"

I flattened my mouth into a line, failing to find humor in a time like this. Nico pulled an impossibly large knife from his boot. I pulled at my necklace, the bow charm unconnecting and enlarging to a compound bow. The arrow charm did the same.

Nico tapped my shoulder silently. He raised two fingers to his eyes, turning them to Lamia. He made a bunch of finger motions and gestures that made no sense. I grabbed his hands to stop them. "I don't understand what you're saying. Let's just go kill her."

Nico rolled his eyes at me, and then gave me a peck on the cheek. "Stay with me, Sunshine."

"Would I ever desert you?"

"Never make promises you can't keep, babe." He ducked into a roll out to the center of the street, rising and charging the demon queen.

I followed suit, notching an arrow in record-time.

A growl sounded from Lamia, challenging, ready. Nico cut her off with a slash to her face, spilling ichor. She roared, golden liquid spraying the pavement.

I shot an arrow towards her chest, but she moved out of range at the last moment. I cursed and notched another.

Nico danced just out of her reach, never letting her touch him. My arrows bounced off her skin like they were tightly-knit scales. My fiancé's attempts were fruitless, as well. His knife didn't ever break the snake queen's flesh.

A lightbulb went off in my head. "Nico! Cover your ears!" He obeyed. I stuck two fingers into my mouth and whistled louder and higher than I've ever done. Lamia winced and became disoriented. I released another arrow in her confusion, this time right into her eye.