Stolen Ch. 03

"Stop saying oops!" screamed Bale.

I jumped. I had been certain Emmet had drug Bale away. My head jerked towards them before I could stop myself. The pair was still standing in the same spot they had been when I had turned to face the first monster. The thing lunged at me the moment my head partly turned. In a moment of panic, I gestured at it with my left hand and poured everything inside me into striking it.

The force hit the monster with a loud thump and the beast seemed to compress slightly as if hitting a wall face first. Its body flew back, rolling and tumbling in a flailing ball straight down the market and into then through a stone stall. The snapping sound of bone mingled with the crunch and crumble of rock as it continued to hurtle through the bazaar.

Sweat poured down my face as I bent over with my hands on my knees. The drain from that hurried, panicked strike felt far worse than the first kinetic attack. I was panting and my heart was thumping in my chest, both from the strain and fear. Turning to Emmet and Bale, I felt a new rush of anger swell up inside me.

"I told you to go!"

Succubi screamed in pain in the market and it jerked my attention from them. They had just stared at me, more in shock than anything. The rage growing inside was quickly turning into fear. They were going to die if they stayed here. So was I for that matter.

I looked at the downed lilim in the market in front of us. She was looking up in confusion and blood pulsed from the holes torn in her wings. I made a hooking motion with a hand and pulled with my arm while focusing on her. Her body slid across the masonry to my feet and she cried out in fear.

Grabbing the lilim, I pulled her to her feet and pushed her into Bale. Bale instinctively wrapped her arms around the bleeding succubus, holding her up. I pushed at her and Emmet, this time following them towards the exit.

They needed to get out. I needed to get out. If I was going to use magic like an artillery piece, I needed to move my dumb ass off the front lines and into cover. The many abandoned stalls provided too much cover for the monsters to flank or surprise me. I wanted lots of clear space between them and me.

Movement from my right pulled my attention. Another beast was passing between the market stalls and was carrying something in its withered human arms. I urgently shoved at the staggering trio and turned towards it. This time, I focused on a dropped dagger and gestured at the monster. With another crack of air, the blade impacted the thing's neck and a small short explosion of red sprayed the stands. The ruptured bulk of the thing collapsed on its side and shuddered.

It had been dragging a lilim who was desperately scrambling to her feet. Her wings were gone. Two huge bloody gashes marked her back and seeped blood. She was crying as she ran to the exit, hunched forward in pain.

Her wings had been torn off. It dawned on me then, that the monsters were shedim. Shedim were in the city. I doubted a shedim would care that we were human; we would share the same fate as any captured succubus.

I followed behind Emmet, Bale and the injured succubus in their arms. My head was constantly twitching around, looking for and dreading seeing another beast. I couldn't remember the last time I had been so tired. A part of me wanted to lay down for a few moments and rest.

We cleared the last few stalls in the bazaar to find the exit full of succubi in black leather armor. Members of the watch hurried forward and half guided, half-pulled stragglers still fleeing past their ranks. I paused and half turned as the girls dragged the lilim to the safety of the guard.

I couldn't see any sign of the wingless succubus and as I looked around for her another shedim trotted into view. It didn't pause when it spotted the massed group in armor, its loping gait turned into an all-out run at the guard. I jerked in surprise then looked around, there was plenty of debris for me to use as a projectile. My eyes fell on a small jar of some pickled substance.

Pulling at the power in me, I gestured at the charging creature while focusing on the jar. It shot forward with a bang and impacted the thing in its head. There was the crunching sound of broken glass before it exploded in a sharp short report. The headless monster continued charging for a few steps before collapsing in a heap.

I fell backward onto my butt, too tired to stand. Black dots filled my vision and I struggled to breathe. Sweat filled my eyes as I tried to blink away the spots blocking my view. My neck felt too weak to support my head and it slumped forward. It took much more power to infuse a pickle jar with explosive energy than a rock.

A strong pair of arms wrapped themselves around my waist and lifted me into the air. The spots filling my eyes kept me from seeing what was going on, but it felt like I was being carried to the exit. I couldn't feel much besides tired. There was a ringing in my ears that made my heartbeats sound like massive bass drums.

The arms set me down and I could feel the hard rough surface of stone on my back. I slid down the wall until I was sitting. Sound was distorted then quickly became understandable. The dots faded from my vision and I was looking up into Nenny's worried silver eyes. She had asked me something but I hadn't understood it at all.

"What? I didn't hear you," I weakly asked her and slumped against the wall.

"Are you okay?"

"Tired," I replied.

She looked relieved and straightened up. Turning she walked back to the group of the watch positioned at the entrance to the old market. I could now hear and see the sounds of fighting. Other shedim were attacking the black armored guard. The watch was facing the creatures in groups of twos and threes. One of their group would draw the thing's attention while the others would strike at it. Their short sword blades would glow in a deep blue with each attack.

Other members of the watch formed a loose line at the exit, blades at the ready and watched. Some darted forward to distract a monster if it knocked down a succubus. Others rushed forward to pull a straggling lilim to safety. The injured they rushed to an area set up as a triage with added guard.

It looked like the succubi were winning. I watched monster after monster drop to the tactics used by the watch. Then more shedim arrived in a trotting wave. Dozens of the long creatures wove their way out of the market stalls towards the waiting guard.

Bracing myself against the wall, I pushed myself to my feet. I was too tired to launch any more strikes but I was a catalyst. I was supposed to be a battery supercharger for sex demons. I had no idea how to infuse a succubus with power but it had to be easier than flinging improvised missiles around.

I lurched forward on unsteady legs and went to Nenny. She was snapping orders to the guard when I stopped next to her. Not pausing as she spoke, she glanced curiously at me, before returning her focus to her subordinates. I waited until she was done; the members of the watch saluted her with a fist across the chest and strode off.

Nenny turned back to me, about to speak, when I placed a hand on her shoulder. I pushed the faded power inside me into her. I wasn't really sure what I was doing but it seemed like the right thing to do. My knees gave out and I sagged down onto my butt again as a new wave of weariness swept through me.

She screamed in surprise, the sound twisting into delight and then a battle cry. I looked up from the ground and it appeared to me that she was wreathed in a silvery aura. She smiled in delight at me then charged forward towards the oncoming fiends. The twisted creatures in front of her burst into flames. I could follow the flows of power coming out of her as she struck at the monsters.

She was much better at using magic than me. It also looked like she had gone insane by charging at those creatures by herself. She leapt up into the air and soared with powerful flaps of her wings, aided by magic. Laughing, she rained down balls of white fire onto them. The flames clung to the creatures and consumed them even as they tried to roll to extinguish the blaze.

"Too much," said a dark blue-haired succubus. She was clad in the black leather cuirass of the watch. Something tickled my memory but I was too tired to chase the thought down.

"Huh?"

She looked down at me in concern, "You poured too much power into her. It's made her stupid."

"Oh," I replied after a moment. Nenny definitely was acting like a teenager on a power fantasy. Foolishly rushing out solo to meet a charging horde of monsters with no support or help was a great way to end up dead.

I struggled to my feet and fought off the sudden rush of block dots that filled my vision. Even though it took less power to charge her up than to launch the explosive pickle jar it had still drained me. I couldn't do that too many more times and remain awake.

"It's the first time I've done that," I said defensively to blue hair. "I'm having to make shit up as I go along because there's no one around to show me how to do things. You won't let us into the library to do any research to figure things out on our own so what do you expect?"

The blue-haired succubus waited patiently through my rant. "True," she said. "It's still too much. Try a third as much in the future."

I was grumpy so I did the reasonable thing. I reached out, grabbed her shoulder, and pushed my fading magical power into her. Taking her advice, I only used around a third as much as I used on Nenny. The result was the same. She screamed out while throwing her head back and drew her sword. The lilim gave me a wide wild smile then launched herself into the sky, magic fueling her flight.

The two flying succubus rained down identical balls of white fire on the milling mass of monsters. The creatures broke and started to run. They didn't run away but charged the exit of the market, heading towards the watch and the injured.

I didn't fall on my butt that time. Instead, I leaned over with my arms braced on my knees and saw how Nenny and blue hair made the fireballs they peppered the creatures with. It looked far more efficient than my improvised missiles.

Straightening up, I looked around and nearby a pair of the guard were watching me with wide eyes. I gave them the most charming smile my panting sweat-soaked and exhausted self could muster. Shambling, I unsteadily approached them. They exchanged a worried glance before I smacked my hands down on their shoulders. I was suddenly annoyed that they were taller than me.

Pushing, I shoved the remaining power within me into them. They reacted the same way Nenny and the blue haired guard had. Heads back, they let out battle cries then leapt into the air towards the charging mass of burning fiends.

I saw that much before passing out.

***