Claimed By Zodiacs

Chapter 32

# Aria Fireheart

The traps were already laid. The alarms were already set. I stretched my limbs, perched on the branches like a cat.

I made a mental check with my to-do list. * Traps? Check. Alarms? Check. Weapons? * I patted my sheaths and holsters. * Check. Net? * I turned around for a knapsack that wasn't there.

"Where--" The mental image of a knapsack dangling on a tree branch as I sat on the roots flashed. "Oh sh't."

I must have left it in a hurry to escape Michael's gaze.

"Damn you," I addressed Michael who wasn't there. "How am I supposed to catch demons now?"

There was sudden crash followed by a sharp cry of pain. The trap had sprung and based from the cry, it was a woman. At last, someone was stupid enough to  get caught.

I stretched my limbs, loving the sound of her crisp curses. It sounded loud even in this distance. I should end her. The ruckus would cause the remaining corrupted to retreat deeper inside the Woods. I just laid there instead, leaning back the trunk. With eyes half-closed, I watched as the corrupted swarm towards the sound in excited jeers and hoots.

I followed the crowd with my eyes, unsettled. * Why would the corrupted cheer for  their own kind being trapped? * I pushed myself up, dread swirling my insides. With a nimble motion, I jumped towards the nearest branch, almost sliding down the wet bark.

"Ah. Damn." My hand gripped on the bark, determined not to fall. I took a few steps backwards, running before the jump. I landed onto the next branch, quite shocked at the speed of my limbs. Or how I struck balance.

"Hot damn!" I did it again. And again. And again, still getting amazed at the result. "I love this body!"

It was short-lived though. The amazement was replaced by panic. The net I sprung didn't contain a single corrupted, nor a demon. It contained a screaming dark-haired elfling in scouting gear.

How I knew that? She was steaming inside the iron net and only one race burns with iron.

Fay.

The corrupted around her cheered, one of them pierced her with a stake, earning a scream from her. They screamed for blood. She screamed for a way out.

I must do something. Assessing the situation, I cursed inwardly. I'm overpowered 20 to 1, not counting the elfling in the net. She's deadweight anyway.

Without further ado, I jumped out of the branch, swung myself between the corrupted and the lady. I landed between them in steam and smoke.

"Hello boys," I greeted, recognizing their familiar faces. "Miss me?"

They're the same group that hunted me for a week now. I wiped out a third of them on their first try. The scouting troops did the rest for me.

They backed down at the sight of me, backing away from the heat and steam.

"HEEEEELP!" The elfling above me screamed.

I resisted the urge to roll my eyes and brandished my daggers instead. It burned with flames of blue and white. I threw both weapons at different directions, one towards the net, the other towards the corrupted at the front lines. The net behind me tore noisily followed by a loud thud. The corrupted in front fell on his knees, bloodied hands on the base of his throat where my dagger had stuck. I didn't dare break eye contact, just watched till the gasping corrupted fell face first to the ground.

"Who's next?"

At that, they scampered like flies, almost pushing each other on the way out. Two of my other traps sprang, catching one each. The rest had fled deeper towards the woods, where I couldn't follow.