She was struggling to stand as Magda jabbed her tail wildly into the air. Magda kept wiping away the blood, but she couldn’t keep her eyes open for more than a second. “I’ll find you,” she growled. “Even if I can’t see you, I will find you.” She moved closer to Ruby, who was beginning to convulse from the poison. It was attacking her nervous system. The more hits Ruby sustained, the less control she would have.
Darren shoved his hand against Cyn’s chest, sending a current like those shock paddles. He fell back but had enough mind to kick Darren as he did so. The man’s head hit the corner of a table, and he slumped to the floor. The bubble disappeared.
Ruby was on her feet, wobbling as she evaded the tail with the pointed black stinger. If Magda sank the tip into Ruby’s heart, it would all be over. Every time she moved, Magda followed. The sound of Ruby’s tail sliding over the floor was giving her opponent the audio clues she needed to track her.
“Pick up your tail,” Cyn hissed, drawing Magda toward him and away from Ruby.
Ruby pulled up her tail, narrowed her beautiful, fiery eyes at Magda, and whacked her with it. The Citrine Dragon fell to the floor but bounded to her feet.
Another bubble orb flew past Cyn, missing him but enveloping Ruby. Darren’s voice was strained but loud: “I’ll hold her ’til you get there.”
Ruby struggled against the confines of the bubble as Magda limped over. Her tail twitched like a cat’s, readying for its fatal task. Cyn knocked her back with a wall of smoke, and he heard her choking and gasping. The room filled with it as he let it expand. Ruby was protected in the bubble, but her expression held fear as she watched.
“It’s just me,” he told her as he used his senses to track the Deuce. The scent of Darren’s blood filled the air, inciting his Dragon to bloodlust.
Go for it.
Cyn could make out Darren’s outline. The man was trying to wave the smoke away, but it was thick. Cyn took Darren by the throat. His scream was cut short as blood spurted from his neck. His hands fell slack, and his dead body hit the floor. Cyn cleared the air in one long Breath. Magda was feeling along the floor, only a few feet from Ruby, who was now free of the bubble. Magda squinted through her blood, seeing her dead husband and then Cyn.
“Bastard!” she screamed, but instead of rushing at him, she took off toward the open doorway. She paused there though, and Cyn moved in front of Ruby. Now human, bloody, and stooped over, Magda smiled eerily as she flipped a switch that was high up on the wall and ran out of sight. No lights went out.
“Get out!” Cyn said, snatching up his clothing in one hand and Ruby’s arm in the other. They shot through the doorway seconds before the building exploded. The force threw them several yards away, where they landed in the grass, naked and human.
He checked Ruby, relieved to see that she was stunned and bruised, but all right.
She pointed at the fiery building. “That thing we found, the one that’s messing up the Deus Vis.”
“Gone.”
He shoved the shirt at her as she got to her feet. He slid into his pants, and they pushed their way through the hedges into the yard next door. The sounds of alarmed voices filled the air, and Cyn pulled Ruby out of view just as someone came running out of the house. Her body slammed into his, and he held her fast for a moment, soaking in the feel of her. Once the people ran out of view, she jerked away.
Smoke billowed into the air, filling it with the acrid scent of chemicals. They kept close to the hedges and made their way to the street. Sirens signaled coming police vehicles.
Cyn assessed her, his shirt coming down to her upper thigh. “Stay here in the shadow of the hedges. You’re not indecent, but you’d definitely attract attention. I’ll bring the car up, and you can jump in.”
Pink light streaked across the sky now. He crossed the street, probably looking like a man sneaking out of his married lover’s house, and got into his car. A quick U-turn, and Ruby stepped into the car. Cyn turned down a side road just as two cop cars raced past.
She held her body stiff, shoulders straight. “They tried to kill me. They were our friends, and they were going to kill me just to protect his project.” She stared straight ahead, her eyes vacant. “She blew up the lab. Just…blew it up, probably to destroy the evidence. She was hoping we’d be gone, too. Maybe she was the supportive dutiful wife, trying to protect her husband’s reputation. Not to mention her own.”
“Maybe.” Cyn let Ruby talk it out.
“Mr. Smith is dead. It’s over.” A tremor vibrated in her voice. “No more d-demons. Or t-tulpas. Just Magda. I can handle her.”