The source screamed at Lynn to run. To escape.
There were still no flares in the sky.
Lynn said the only thing she could.
“No.”
“Pity,” he said, “I think you’d enjoy it. Or learn to enjoy it, at the very least.” His eyes glinted once again against the background lights. “I think I shall have to teach you anyway,” his voice dropped low, barely loud enough for Lynn to hear, “teaching you will be good practice for the future.”
Lynn blinked, but did not have time to process what he said.
Zagan launched himself forwards. His wings beat and he lifted off the ground. Long streaks of fire rose from the ground as his feet skimmed over the surface of the street.
During his conversation with himself, Lynn had not been idle. Every second he talked was a second of preparing lightning. It wasn’t as powerful as the first blow that had knocked his bull form across the street.
It was a close second.
Lynn released the lightning, straight at him.
Just before crashing into him, the lightning swerved. It passed just between his body and his wing. A building in the distance behind him received the bolt instead.
Her eyes went wide.
It took a moment for her brain to reboot. He didn’t slow in the slightest.
She dived out of the way at the last second. Lynn rolled along the ground, away from the trail of green fire. The hard ground opened up more skin as her exposed stomach scraped against the asphalt. Her habit further descended into tatters.
“What is the difference,” a silver voice said from just behind her, “between ‘lightning hitting me’ and ‘lightning not hitting me’ hmm?”
Lynn turned and fired another bolt. Like the first, it curved and struck the second story of a building.
“I’ll tell you,” he said with a grin.
From this distance, Lynn could see his incisors were far longer than normal. They brought up memories of vampires.
Without waiting for him to continue, Lynn fired jets of her holy flame. White fire rose up and spread over his body.
No screams echoed through the night air. No writhing or turning to ash.
The source insisted that her fire wouldn’t work. The flames ceased coming from her hands and Lynn saw that the source spoke the truth. Just once, she wouldn’t mind it being wrong.
Zagan stood just a few steps away. Not a lick of flame touched him. It spread over and around him, burning on the streets and buildings.
He stood, brushing a finger against his long goatee.
That infernal grin flashed on his face again. “Are you quite finished? I’ll tell you the answer. It is the word ‘not.’ That answer also works for ‘burned’ versus ‘not burned’ in case you were wondering.” He looked off to one side, smiling more at himself than anything. “I think I’m a natural at this teaching thing.”
A white flare rose high in the sky behind Zagan just as he finished speaking. The sign from her sisters.
Immediately, Lynn attempted to teleport. She felt the magic build up for the few seconds it took and then…
nothing.
It all vanished. Unsuppressed fear gripped her as the connection to the source vanished.
“Nope, sorry.” He held up a long nailed finger and shook it as if admonishing a child. “‘Not’ going to escape now, are you?”
The nails on his fingers dug into her throat as he lifted her into the air.
No lightning, no fire, no connection, no source. Lynn reached for her wand. She could cast, though far less effectively. It would be sufficient for teleporting out.
Zagan gripped her arm and squeezed. “No escaping,” he said. “You still have much to learn.”
Lynn clamped her mouth shut. He would
“That is a good look on you,” he said. “Gets me tingly in all the right places.” He leaned forward. A long and flat tongue slipped out of his mouth. It ran from her chin to her forehead, passing over the cut on her cheek.
A trail of slime was left in its wake. It tingled against her face but burned in her cut.
Lynn paid it no heed. She tried to continue her glare with one eye shut.
A white flash at his shoulder on the arm he held her with distracted both of them.
Lynn pinched her other eye shut to preserve as much vision as she could. She fell to the ground a second after.
When she reopened her eyes, Zagan had taken a step back, though his arm was still gripping her throat. Lynn tore the detached arm and flung it to the ground. She scrambled backwards at the same time, placing distance between herself and Zagan.
A black ring formed around the devil king’s throat. It spun around, picking up speed with every second.
Zagan did not look concerned. “Really?” he said, “I’ve survived decapitation before.”
That seemed to be the wrong thing to say. The ring split in two and formed rings that crisscrossed around his head. Spheres flew in from behind him and formed more rings to trap his head in a sort of cage.
