Werepanther: Paranormal Hunter 2 Chapter 2

“Here, kitty kitty kitty…” one of the cultists mocked as he pulled out a dagger and beckoned for me to come closer. “I wanna make a nice fur coat outta you when this is all done.”

“A lot of confidence for a guy with no powers,” I growled as my blood began to surge through my veins like it was being pumped by a hydraulic press.

I knew I was in the right state of mind to turn right now, but I wasn’t sure if I should do it in front of Paul and Tony or not. Then again, if this moon dog thing was as dangerous as Janine made it sound, I might not have a choice.

“We don’t need powers,” the man in the red robe said with a smirk. “We got Tiangou, and he’s gonna--”

A loud gunshot echoed through the room of the lounge, and the cultists’ head exploded like one of Gallagher’s melons. Blood and brain matter splattered all over the floor as he wobbled to one side, collapsed onto his knees, and fell over, dead.

When I looked in the direction of the shot, I saw Paul standing there holding a fucking silver-plated Desert Eagle.

“Holy fuck!” I gasped. “Paul, you’re packing?”

“Course I’m packing,” the old man scoffed. “Have you seen what part of town this place is in?”

Instantly, Tiangou’s head twisted in the direction of Paul, and then the moon dog wasted no time in attacking. Tiangou let out a low, guttural snarl as he dashed toward the elderly man, who simply held up his pistol and closed one eye to aim.

“That’s not gonna do him any good,” I said before I took off toward the scene, but I called out to Ada over my shoulder. “I’ll help him, you two handle the cultists!”

“With pleasure, Carter,” Ada giggled.

Tiangou was only about twenty feet away from Paul, with his mouth open wide.

“Shitshitshitshit…” Paul grumbled as he held his aim. “Come on, ya bastard…”

Paul squeezed the trigger on his Desert Eagle, and a miniature fireball erupted from the muzzle as the gun recoiled in his hands. A bullet flew toward Tiangou, struck him in the side of the neck, and then--

It grazed right off his fur as if Paul had thrown a pebble against a tank.

The old man’s eyes opened wide as the color drained from his face, and he turned to run. Of course, “running” for a man of his age was not much more than a slight shuffle, and I knew it wasn’t going to be long before Tiangou tore him to pieces.

Thankfully, my superhuman agility helped me close the gap in a flash.

I timed my charge just right and turned my body to the left so my right shoulder was out in front of me. There was a loud thud as my body slammed into the side of the moon dog’s, and Tiangou let out a yelp as he was tossed across the room. Then, as I watched the dog tumble end-over-end, I realized I really didn’t have a choice.

I was gonna have to transform.

There was no way we stood a chance, otherwise.

So, I let the beast take over.

I felt a rush of adrenaline as my stomach boiled with white-hot rage, and I fell to my knees as pain shot through my appendages. My clothing tore at the seams as the muscles in my arms and legs started to stretch, and my teeth ached like a motherfucker as they grew out into deadly, dagger-line fangs. My ears elongated as my vision was covered with a yellow tint, and I could feel the hair on my body turning into thick, black fur. Finally, my hands and feet widened out into paws, and the transformation was complete.

Tiangou rolled back up onto all fours just as I finished mutating, and the dog’s mouth seemed to twist up into a half smile when he saw what I’d become. His pupil-less eyes narrowed, and he bared his dagger-like fangs as he brushed his front paws on the ground like a bull.

Typical. The dog thought he could take on the cat.

“Well?” I growled. “What are you waiting for?”

Tiangou let out a deep, haunting yowl, and then he ran at me with the speed of a gazelle.

I dashed forward, unsheathed my claws as I prepared to attack, and pounced at my target.

Tiangou’s fur sparkled with a silver glow, and then the moon hound’s body quickly moved to the right. A silver, ethereal silhouette trailed behind the dog as he dodged, and my paw slammed into the floor of the lounge.

There was a spray of vinyl and concrete as the impact of the blow created a small crater in the floor, but I didn’t have any time to waste, so I spun around and threw out my paw as I blindly attacked Tiangou.

The dog just slid away from the attack like it was thrown in slow motion, and before I could make another move, Tiangou jumped forward and opened his jaws wide.

I tossed out my front paws and caught the bastard as he struck me, and the sheer weight of the dog knocked me flat on my ass. I used the moon hound’s own momentum against him as I rolled backward and slammed my feet into his stomach, and then I kicked him off me as hard as I could.

Tiangou whimpered as he flew through the air and then came to a crashing halt against a nearby table, which splintered under his weight.

Fuck, this thing was fast. And strong.

No wonder the OLG brought him along to kill me.

“What. The. Fuck?” Paul asked from behind me in a terrified tone.

“It’s me, Paul,” I said to the elderly man as I glanced in his direction. “It’s Carter. I’ll explain everything later, but for now you need to get to safety.”

“I ain’t going nowhere.” Paul shook his head. “You hired me to be part of your security team, and these no-good bastards are trying to wreck the place.”

“Paul, this thing will kill you. Pretty easily. No offense.”

Just then, the moon dog jumped back to its feet, and its fur instantly began to glow with the silver shimmer. Then it zipped across the floor as a streak of silver light trailed behind it, and the next thing I knew, the monster’s jaw was right up on me.

I instinctively tossed out my left arm, and Tiangou’s teeth snapped down into my flesh with a wet squelch. White-hot pain shot through my muscles as the dog began to shake his head back and forth violently, and blood splurted out from the incisions.

The dog’s bite may have hurt like a bitch, but at least he hadn’t hit anything vital. More importantly, he couldn’t run away while he was attached to my arm.

Which meant I had him right where I wanted him.

I unsheathed the claws in my right paw and then stabbed them straight into Tiangou’s side. There was a spray of crimson mist when I pierced his flesh, and then another when I dragged them downward to tear the fucker open.

Tiangou snarled as he let go of my arm and fell back to the floor, where he promptly dashed away with a stream of silver. The dog disappeared around my body, so I instinctively tried to jump to the right before he could attack me from behind.

And thank god I did, because the bastard’s teeth sank right into my damn shoulder.

I let out a roar of pain as Tiangou’s canines pierced through my flesh, and then he began to twist and jerk around like a gator doing a death roll.

I had to think fast, or else I was gonna loose my fucking left arm.

I quickly crouched down, pushed my legs into the floor as hard as I could, and jumped backward into the air. Gravity took over from there, and my massive body fell onto the ground with a powerful thud.

Tiangou yelped when I pinned him between my back and the floor, and he let go of my shoulder in an instant.

I rolled away from the moon hound, and a second later, I heard his teeth clamp shut as he grabbed nothing but air.

Fuck. Even when I went on the offensive, I had to play defense.

I rolled over onto all fours just in time to see a streak of silver headed my way again. I tossed out my hands in an attempt to block the deadly creature, but he was way too fast. The fucker’s jaws clamped shut around my left arm, and I let out a growl of pain as his four massive teeth punctured my flesh.

I roared with anger as I stood up and began to shake my arm violently, but Tiangou was dug in there pretty damn tight, and he wasn’t letting go.

“Poor kitty,” one of the cultists taunted from across the room. “Looks like the real alpha animal is gonna win out, huh?”

Fuck you, dude.

I raised my arm above my head and then proceeded to slam Tiangou into the floor three straight times. Each time, the impact left a crater bigger than the last, but the moon hound still refused to let go.

In fact, the bastard decided to go on the offensive.

I lifted the dog a fourth time, and he held out his own paws beneath him and began to glow with a silver shimmer. Then, when I thrust my arm downward and slammed him into the floor of the club, he caught himself and pushed back against my strength.

The lanky fucker was way stronger than he looked. His four legs wobbled as they held their position, but they didn’t give out under the pressure of my attack. Then Tiangou started to whip his head back and forth like a puppy with a chew toy.

Even though I was stronger than the dog, I didn’t dare try to resist. Sure, I would have been able to pull my arm away from him, but his teeth were so deep in my arm that I didn’t know just how much of my flesh, muscle, and bone would go with him.

I was yanked off my feet and slammed violently into the ground. A small jolt of pain shot through my back as I landed, and then another ran through my arm as Tiangou snarled and shook his head like a rabid hyena. My body was pulled along with the moon hound’s motions, and thanks to his super-speed, I was moving so fast that my vision was completely blurred.

I snarled as I blindly lashed out with my right set of claws, and Tiangou yelped when I slashed them across his side. The second time I stabbed my claws into the bastard, five small splurts of blood sprayed out and covered my paw with warm, oozing liquid.

That’s when Tiangou seemed to change his direction.

The moon hound stopped shaking me back and forth, surrounded himself with a shimmer of silver magic, and then started to run backward.

With me still in his grasp.

I let out a guttural growl as my arm was pulled up above my head, and then my body began to drag across the floor at the speed of light. I could see nothing but blurs around me as we moved, and the pain in my arm had now turned from sharp twangs to a full-on burning ache. I could feel blood smearing across my back as I moved, but I wasn’t sure if it was mine or his.

Finally, Tiangou halted his momentum, and the next thing I knew the fucker twisted his head and threw me into the air.

Thankfully, the full-wall bar shelf broke my fall.

I heard the glass of the mirrored shelf shatter into a million pieces when I slammed into it, and I felt several tiny shards slice across my furry flesh. I bounced off the concrete behind the mirror and then slammed into the bar, whose cheaply-built particleboard and drywall construct shattered beneath my weight.

As I sprang back to my feet, I got a brief glimpse of the chaos around me.

It looked like Paul had finally heeded my warning and ran away, because I couldn’t find the old man anywhere, and Janine was crouched over by Tony, who still appeared to be unconscious. The Changeling woman’s hands were aglow with a shimmer of her luck magic as she inspected the man and tried to hide from the OLG cultists.

Maybe she wasn’t close enough or something, because I really didn’t feel like Janine’s magic was working so far.

Then there was Ada, who was still near the entrance of Cincy’s Jewel and single-handedly taking on the cultists on her own. Corpses of red-cloaked men were strewn around the floor as the succubus tumbled, ducked, and cartwheeled around the few who were still living, and I watched as Ada slashed open one of the fucker’s throats with her nails and basked in the spray of crimson that covered her face. Then the succubus zipped upward on her leathery wings, twisted around, and roundhouse kicked another OLG member in the face while still in the air.

Maybe all of Janine’s luck was going to Ada and not me.

But I didn’t have much time to think because Tiangou was on me in an instant.

I crouched down and sprung up into the sky as the moon hound charged at me, and I felt a gust of wind as he passed harmlessly below my feet. I lashed out blindly with my left foot, and there was a wet crack as it struck something fleshy.

Tiangou yelped as he fell to the ground and slid up against the wall, and I used the opportunity to attack.

I lunged for the moon hound and took a swipe at him, straight down, with my claws, but he zipped away in a streak of silver, which I watched dart around the room and over toward Ada.

“Fuck,” I grumbled to myself as I took off in that direction.

Ada might have been cutting through the cultists like they were cardboard, but Tiangou was another story. If I didn’t get over there quickly, she was gonna be torn to shreds.

However, Tiangou didn’t stop by the succubus.

Instead, he dashed around the perimeter of the battle and, as he did so, the surviving members of the OLG held out their glowing silver hands. Much to my surprise, the magic around the cultists’ hands shot out in several small, shiny tendrils and connected themselves with Tiangou’s body. The moon dog passed by them in an instant, but once he’d absorbed all the magic, I noticed something different about him.

Tiangou was running nearly ten times faster now.

My jaw hit the floor. That motherfucker just got a power boost from the magic of the OLG members.

But if that was the case, there was a very simple solution for gaining the upper hand.

I had to help Ada kill all the cultists first.

Now, that was a mission I could get behind.

I watched Tiangou streak around the room until he finally turned and headed in my direction. I tried to simply jump over the silver hound again, but this time he was way too fast, and I completely mistimed the jump. I felt the dog’s snout slam into my ankles as I launched into the air, and the impact knocked my fucking legs out from underneath me and sent me face-first into the ground.

There was a mighty crash as I hit the carpeted floor of the lounge, and a wave of pain spread across my face as the world went black. Warm blood oozed out from my nostrils as I slowly pulled myself back to my feet, and the numbness in my nose told me it was probably dislocated, if not broken.

“Shit,” I slurred as I spat out a mouthful of blood.

Janine’s eyes locked with mine from across the room, and she gasped when she saw how bad I was looking. Then the Changeling stood up from her crouch, raised her glowing hands toward me, and began to run in my direction.

“Hold on, Carter!” Janine yelled as she ran.

“Janine, no!” I called back. “You’re gonna get yourself killed.”

“You should listen to the pussycat,” one of the cultists said as he stepped over and threw his arm around Janine’s neck. “Khonsu doesn’t have a particular fondness for Changelings, either.”

The cultist held Janine tightly as he placed his dagger up to her throat, and my stomach twisted in a knot as I watched the redhead struggle to break free.

However, that feeling of fear and helplessness quickly turned into one of pure, unbridled rage, and my vision went red as I darted toward the cultist.

Before I got there, Tiangou slammed into my right side and sent me down onto the ground, but I just rolled for a few seconds before I flipped up onto all fours and launched myself toward Janine and the cultist.

Just then, Tiangou ran past the cultist from behind. The sudden gust of wind was strong enough to make the man stumble, which left him completely stunned for a split second.

A split second was all I needed.

Janine reached up, pushed the knife away from her throat, and then ducked down as quickly as she could.

The cultist regained his composure in an instant, but then his eyes widened when he saw the six foot tall panther headed his way. He stuck out his dagger in a feeble attempt at defense, but he may as well have been holding a butter knife.

My arms were way longer, so my paw hit his face long before his dagger got anywhere close to my skin. The fucker screamed as my claws stabbed into his skull, and then I used my momentum to push him backward. His head exploded into a spray of blood, brain matter, and bone under my paw when it hit the concrete, and his body twitched for a second or two before it went limp.

“You alright?” I asked as I turned to Janine.

“Better now,” the Changeling said with a frown. “Thank goodness for my luck magic, right?”

I started to say something back, but then I noticed Tiangou was on his way around.

“Get down!” I said as I shoved Janine out of the way and then jumped back.

Not half a millisecond later, the snarling streak of death dashed through the spot where we’d just been standing. Pain shot through my wounded arm as I caught myself, but at least we were still alive.

“Carter--” Janine began, but I cut her off.

“It’s the cultists,” I said. “Tiangou gets his power from the cultists. If we want to stand a chance against this fucker, we have to kill all of them first.”

“I’m not leaving your side.” Janine shook her head. “I saw how you were getting pummeled without my lucky magic to help you.”

“It had nothing to do with luck,” I said. “It has everything to do with cutting off his source of power!”

Tiangou shot back toward me, and all I could do was blindly throw out my fist and hope the blow landed. I felt my paw strike flesh as the hound yelped, and then Tiangou’s body went tumbling across the floor.

“See?” Janine said as we both turned and headed for Ada and the cultists. “You never would have timed that right normally.”

Maybe she was right, but I wasn’t gonna give her the satisfaction of acknowledging it.

“Ada!” I said as I watched the succubus disembowel one of the cultists. “We have to kill all of these guys, or else they’re just gonna keep recharging Speedy Gonzales over there.”

“What do you think I’m doing?” Ada asked as she dodged the blast of a moon beam.

“You’re toying with them,” I answered. “Like a cat with its food.”

“Fine…” The dark-haired woman shrugged. “If you insist, love.”

Ada threw her right hand forward, extended her index and middle fingers, and plunged them straight into a cultist’s eye sockets. The OLG member screamed as his eyes were squished into jelly, but Ada quickly shut him up by stabbing the claw of her thumb into the roof of his mouth. The succubus then gave his head a hard yank, and a giant chunk of his fucking skull tore through his skin with a spray of gore.

The cultist gurgled as his tongue flopped around, exposed, and he stumbled forward a few steps before he collapsed onto the ground, dead.

Ada instantly flipped backwards, caught another one of the red-robed bastards with her foot, and slammed him face-first into the ground. Then, while he was still down, she stabbed the point of her stiletto shoe through the back of his skull.

Yep. She was definitely toying with them.

They weren’t going to get the same sort of mercy from me.

One of the cultists tried to hit me with a blast of silver magic, but I rolled out of the way before it could make an impact. Instead, the beam of deadly magic struck the ceiling of Cincy’s Jewel, where it tore off several chunks of blaster and wood.

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw that Janine had her hands extended towards the battle. One of them was pointed at Tiangou, while the other was aimed at the ceiling.

She was trying to give me a bit of a lucky advantage.

The debris fell onto the ground right in front of Tiangou’s path, and the moon hound wasn’t able to stop himself in time. He crashed through the rubble and sent it flying through the air, while he himself tumbled across the ground like a ragdoll.

Thank you, Janine.

The cultist deactivated his magic spell as he twisted around and slashed at me with his dagger, but I simply caught his hand mid-strike, and I couldn’t help but smile as the unmistakable look of fear spread across his face. His entire body tensed up as his eyes grew as large as saucers, and his sniveling little mouth fell open to say something.

He didn’t get to say it.

I opened my mouth wide, lurched forward, and sunk my teeth into his head. My upper row went right through the crest of his skull with a wet pop, while my bottom jaw stabbed into his face right underneath his nose. I tasted the irony flavor of the bastard’s blood as it gushed out around my teeth, and he screamed as he tried to pull away from my grasp.

I clenched my jaw muscles shut, and there was a sickly squelch as the man’s head exploded in my mouth. I spat out his viscera as he collapsed onto his knees, and then I pounced on the next closest target.

I struck another OLG fucker in the chest, knocked him flat on his back, and then put my paws together like a club as I raised them over my head.

“No!” the man begged. “P-Please!”

I slammed my paws into his sternum, and the sheer might of my blow crumbled his chest as if it were made of wet paper. A splash of crimson sprayed into the air as his torso caved in, and I couldn’t help but shudder when his internal organs squished up between the slits of my paws like playdoh.

Then my ears picked up rapidly-approaching footfalls on my right, so I quickly twisted around to face Tiangou.

The streak of a moon dog launched itself at me, and this time it appeared luck wasn’t on my side. The beast sank its jaws into my left shoulder, and I yowled with pain as I twisted around from the impact of the blow.

Tiangou released his grip on my flesh and then dashed away before I had a chance to strike. A few more beams of silver moon magic blasted over and engulfed his figure, though now there were only three cultists left to siphon from.

I heard a scream, and I turned to see Ada nonchalantly walking away from a cultist who was bleeding profusely. Blood sprayed out from underneath the poor guy’s arms, and he did his best to apply pressure to the wounds as they slowly splurted his life force out onto his robe.

“Axillary arteries,” Ada said with a smirk. “What a fun way to kill someone!”

Suddenly, a blast of moon magic slammed into Ada from behind, and the impact sent her rolling across the ground. The cultist turned to Janine and let loose another blast, but the redhead was able to duck out of the way before it hit her.

“Hey, fuckface…” Paul’s voice snarled. “Why don’t you pick on somebody your own size and leave the young lady alone?”

The old man stepped out from behind a pile of rubble with his pistol drawn, and he raised it up in the direction of the cultist.

“Stupid mortal,” the OLG member said with a click of his tongue, and then he took a shot at Paul.

The old man squeezed the trigger on his Desert Eagle, and there was a large muzzle flare as the bullet was propelled out of the barrel. Unfortunately, Paul also took the blast of silver magic right to the chest, and he flew off his feet and back onto the pile of rubble.

But his own shot rang true.

There was a spray of blood as the bullet tore through the cultist’s chest, and he clutched the gaping hole in his torso as he doubled over and let out a gurgle. The cultists coughed up a mouthful of blood before he took a few long, labored breaths, and then he wobbled around and collapsed on the ground.

“Paul!” Janine gasped as she ran over to the fallen booth attendant.

And then there was one.

As I looked over at the final cultists, I could hear his heart pounding in his chest. He was shaking as he clutched his dagger in a white-knuckle grip, and he kept taking slow steps back toward the door.

Oh, no. I wasn’t going to let this guy get away now, after he and his friends had marched into this place and tried to kill us.

The only way he was leaving here was in a body bag.

“Come on, Tiangou…” the cultist muttered as he looked around for the moon hound.

Right on cue, there was a glint of silver out of the corner of my right eye. Tiangou was still running faster than a jackrabbit on crack, but he’d slowed down exponentially. He was a blur as he moved across the floor of the lounge, though I could now clearly make out his outline and gait as he ran.

His powers were waning quickly, and soon he wouldn’t have any way to recharge at all.

I turned to face Tiangou and then narrowed my eyes as I watched him approach. Rabid foam dripped down out of the hound’s mouth and trailed behind him as he dashed forward, and even though his eyes had no pupils, my sixth sense told me he was locked onto me like a laser.

Then Tiangou sprang into the air and opened his deadly maw, so I threw out my right paw and attempted to grab the fucker. Maybe I’d timed it perfectly, or maybe Janine’s luck had rubbed off on me. Either way, my claws stabbed into the moon hound’s flesh, and I dug them in as far as they could go.

I relaxed my legs and allowed Tiangou’s momentum to spin me around like a top, and once I’d made a full rotation, I sheathed my claws once more and sent the moon hound flying through the air.

Right toward the last remaining cultist.

He turned to run, but it was too late. Tiangou’s body slammed into him from behind, and they both hit the ground. The moon hound simply rolled away and jumped back onto his feet, but the cultist laid there and screamed in agony as he grasped at his lower back.

“What’s the matter?” I asked as I took a fighting stance. “Cat got your tongue?”

“Fuck you, Bastard of Baast,” the cultist spat through his wails. “I think you broke my fucking legs.”

“That’s not the only thing I’m going to be breaking,” I said, and then I ran toward the two remaining enemies.

Tiangou charged at me with pure rage in his white eyes, though he was running at about the speed of a cheetah at this point.

In my werepanther form, I could easily match the agility of a cheetah, so I ran forward as fast as my legs would take me until I met the ugly moon hound in the middle. The dog jumped up and tried to bite me as I approached, but I was quick to slash my claws across his face and send him to the ground.

Then, while he was down, I went for the final cultist.

The red-robed bastard was feebly trying to crawl away as I pounced on him. I aimed my body so the entirety of my weight was put on his injured legs, and they practically splintered beneath my feet when I landed on him. He let out a blood-curdling scream as his legs contorted into unnatural angles, but I silenced him quickly.

I unsheathed my claws, stabbed them into the side of the cultist’s head, and lifted it up so it was slightly off the ground. Then I gave it a sharp, violent jerk to the right, and there was a wet snap as his noggin was bent at a ninety degree angle. Blood sprayed up into the air as the tip of his spine was exposed to the light, and then the fucker went limp.

Now, it was just us and Tiangou.

The moon hound let out a whimper as it tried to put weight on one of its injured paws, but then it just snarled and tilted its head when it saw me watching.

I stomped my right foot into the ground, threw out my hands to the side, and roared so loud that the entirety of Cincy’s Jewel trembled from the sound.

Tiangou let out an equally loud howl in response, and then he lowered his head and made an array of snarls that made my skin crawl.

“Carter, wait…” Janine said from somewhere behind me. “What if he is a prisoner to the Order of the Lunar God?”

“He’s trying to kill us, Janine,” I sighed.

“But you can talk to animals, can’t you?” the redhead asked. “He’s an animal, right? Why don’t you try and ask him to walk away?”

“Pretty sure the eardrum-shattering roar did that,” Paul grumbled from where he was sitting up in a pile of rubble. “I swear I’m gonna need hearing aids after this is all said and done.”

It was worth a shot. As much as this thing was pissing me off, I didn’t want to just kill it if there wasn’t a need to, so I loosened up my body language and tilted my head to the side.

“Tiangou?” I asked. “I am not your enemy. Those men who forced you to do their bidding are all dead now, so you don’t have to do this any more. If you walk away right now, I promise I won’t follow.’

The moon hound quirked his head as his eyes opened wider, almost as if he was surprised I was talking to him like a living creature and not some sort of horrific beast.

You can understand me? Tiangou asked telepathically.

“Yes!” I said with a gasp. “Tiangou, we don’t have to fight any more. All these men are dead… You don’t have to serve the Order of the Lunar God any more.”

The moon hound shook his head and let out a strange, almost laugh-like sound.

I will serve Khonsu until my dying breath, Bastard of Baast, Tiangou said. A dying breath that will come long after I’ve torn out your throat.

Then the beast snarled as he dashed forward and bared his teeth.

Welp, at least I tried.

The moon hound snapped at my leg, but I was able to sidestep the attack before it did any major damage. I instantly tossed out my lower right paw and kicked the fucker in the side, right where I’d sliced him open earlier. Tiangou yelped as he fell to the ground, but then he jumped out of the way as I tried to stomp him.

The moon hound banked around and latched onto my left leg, which sent me down on one knee. I hissed as white-hot pain shot through my lower body, but then I was yanked back and forced onto my stomach.

Tiangou started to tear at my skin and shake his head violently, so I used my free leg to kick him in the face. My first two kicks didn’t seem to be doing much, but on the third try, the moon hound yelped and let go.

I flipped backward, landed on all fours, and then propelled myself forward.

I tackled Tiangou to the ground, and we both tumbled across the floor of Cincy’s Jewel as we bit, slashed, and clawed at each other. Finally, I was able to get both feet against his belly, so I launched him up into the air.

“I’ve got him!” Ada declared as she flew across the room.

The succubus slashed her claws across the falling moon hound, and there was a spray of crimson liquid as he snarled.

However, Tiangou was still alive.

He twisted his body around so his head was facing me, and then he opened his mouth to expose his razor-sharp canines.

Die, Bastard of Baast! he growled as he plummeted toward me.

I sprang out of the way of the moon hound as he landed and tried to take a bite out of me, but he landed on all fours and instantly dashed forward with murderous intent in his eyes.

I was ready for him.

I unsheathed the claws on my right hand before I slammed them into the bastard’s snout. He let out a howl of pain as the five curved daggers punctured his flesh, but we weren’t done yet. I stabbed my left-hand set of claws into his lower jaw and then promptly began to pull my arms in opposite directions.

The moon hound growled and spat as he tried to pull out of my grip, but my claws were deeply embedded into his body. He slashed at my stomach with the claws on his front feet, but I was so jacked up on adrenaline that I didn’t even feel them as they tore into me.

There was the wet, squishing sound of tearing flesh as the edges of Tiangou’s mouth began to spread apart and gush blood like a flowing river. Then I gave both sides one final heave, and the moon hound yelped as the two halves of his head were bent back at ninety-degree angles with a loud squelch.

The moon hound let out a gurgling sound as I let go of his head, which slumped forward and dumped a gallon of blood onto the floor. Tiangou tried to move forward, but he didn’t get far before he collapsed over on his side. His broken snout continued to gurgle as he tried to suck in a breath, though all that happened was a wet, panicked whistle. Tiangou must have gone into shock, because his body started to tremble, and he tried to move his head back and forth before he realized both halves were only hanging on by a thread.

Finally, the moon hound went limp, and the shimmer faded from his silver fur.

He was dead.

“Holy fuck,” I said as I turned back to face my friends. “That was too close for comfort. Are you alright?”

“Never better,” Paul grumbled as he shuffled over, with his arm draped around Janine’s shoulder weakly.

“What about Tony?” I asked. “He’s been out since this whole fight began.”

“No, he hasn’t,” Paul scoffed. “I’m pretty sure he’s just playin’ dead. Go over there and give him and kick, and I bet he wakes right up.”

“Perhaps I’ll shove one of those daggers up his ass,” Ada suggested. “That would for sure tell us if he’s--”

“Hey, guys!” Tony’s voice declared as he sprang to his feet. “What’d I miss? Ohhhhhhh, what are all these bodies doing here? Why is there a giant human panther in our--”

“Enough with the facade, kid,” Paul said. “We know you heard the whole thing.”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Tony argued, but his eyes darted around nervously. “I, uh--”

Tony went silent when he saw the stone-cold look Paul shot him, and then he lowered his head and pursed his lips.

“Okay, kid,” Paul said as he turned to look at me. “You know what we’re gonna ask. What the fuck is going on here?”

Honestly, I wish I knew.

But I owed it to them to at least try and explain.