Lineage of Zeal, Book One: Rosemary

Chapter Twenty-seven: Prodigal Son

Varulv settled lower over his front paws, keeping his eyes on the blade leveled with his line of sight. "You know, that sword of yours won't do you any good," he growled. "I could chomp right through it, shatter it into useless pieces of shiny black jewelry."

Rosemary said nothing and kept her sword as steady as she could manage, focused on the giant wolf-like beast before her. She couldn't help the occasional waver caused by the spikes of pain that shot through her body from the wounds to her abdomen, but she ignored it as best she could. What she needed was a distraction, something to draw the attention of her assailant. As she was now, wounded with her back to a fatal fall, she knew there was no feasible way for her to come out of this encounter alive.

"See how you shake and tremble before me!" Varulv said with a thick laugh that sounded more like he was coughing up a hairball. "As well you should. You're looking at the ultimate hunter. One rake of these paws will be the end of you!"

"Then why do you hesitate, oh great hunter," Rosemary said, her eyes narrowed over the length of her blade.

Varulv pawed the tile beneath him, keeping eye contact with Rosemary as he did. "A great hunter waits for the perfect moment to strike."

"Noooo!" The drawn out, languishing lament came from the stairwell. "Vargas, Lord Vargas, tell me that's not your true form! Tell me that's power granted by the Creator! Tell me you're not the very thing you taught me to despise!"

Rosemary glanced away to see Firenzie sprawled on the floor, beating on Daniel's chest, but she immediately regretted giving in to the impulse. No sooner had she looked away than Varulv pounced on her, chomping at her throat, but his jaw clamped down over the breadth of Rosemary's sword, locking his jaw open. His primary means of attack barred, Varulv bared down on Rosemary until her back slammed against the broken remains of the pillar that had saved her life, snarling and swatting at her with his forepaws while she resisted his attempts to wrest her sword from her hands with the wild tossing of his neck.

"Courtney, Lavender, Leviticus, I don't care, somebody get over here!" Rosemary shouted, the teeth and her sword that held them at bay inching ever closer to her face with each passing moment. Then she dropped to a knee, her right thigh gouged by a lucky swipe from Varulv. "Creator, somebody get your ass over here!"

From under the beast, Rosemary saw Courtney kneel next to Leviticus and speak to him. Lavender, however, didn't look as bad as Rosemary expected. Her angelic raiment was torn and rough in places, but she looked peculiarly whole otherwise. Lavender glanced in Rosemary's direction, then back at Kiyohime. She took a step from Kiyohime, and another, then looked back again. Kiyohime made no move against her.

Lavender ran toward Rosemary, gaining speed before she leapt into the air, wings spread and scythe prepared to strike. From above, Lavender dove at Varulv and slashed him across the back. As she did so, Rosemary slipped under Varulv and planted her left boot squarely in the beast's narrow stomach, flipping him into the pillar behind her, the impact of Varulv's body enough to crumble it completely.

But the beast did not fall, and he still held fast to Rosemary's black crystal blade.

"You all are beginning to annoy me," Varulv growled past the weapon in his mouth as both he and Rosemary stood. "It's about time I ended this, starting with the gnat!"

"Lavender, move!" Rosemary shouted to the angel hovering high in the dome above her, but her voice was lost in the sonorous shattering of her sword. She looked back down to see that she held little more than the haft and the base of her blade, and beyond that, Varulv crouched low, his eyes lost in the dome above.

Rosemary swung what was left of her blade at the beast, but he leapt before the broken weapon connected. Looking up, Rosemary was relieved to see that Varulv had missed Lavender by a wide margin, but that relief turned to dread as Varulv reached the top of the dome. Instead of impacting, he twisted himself mid-jump so that he landed on the curve of the dome on all fours. And then he launched himself once more.