Dream Kill

Dream Kill
  HARLYN SAGE
  We charged in faster than Becca could bolt. We dropped on the earth at every side she could possibly turn to hinder any chance of escape. At least that was the initial plan.
  But when we approached, I quickly remembered her cunning ways. I armed myself with the ivory knife that I swiped from Lorcan in that same minute and while the rest of our group fell to circle her, I struck at her arm, slashing her as speedily as I could.
  Three hits on her right arm were followed by an audible pained wince from her. The knife buzzed with heat under my fingertips but I ignored it focusing solely on Becca.
  She protested out loud, her usually calm countenance growing frantic as her eyes landed on me. “What the,” Becca thrust her arm out as if to summon something but all that rushed out was the passing air.
  With a grin, I lifted my knee and thrusted it at her gut before swinging my fist at her face to knock her right out.
  “Harlyn!“ Ethan protested rushing to stop me but Becca had already fallen out cold on the floor.
  “Well that was certainly anti-climactic,” Khalid whistled.
  “What did you do that for? She could have hurt you badly!“ Ethan grabbed my arm to collect the ivory knife out of my palm and the heat was gone. I could feel some of my senses dulling after.
  “We keep forgetting to not underestimate her. Surrounding her to gauge what she can do at first seemed like a good idea ten minutes ago but I could tell she was going to escape us,” I simply explained.
  “Why didn't you say something?“ He sighed before pinching his nose.
  “Would you have let me charge at her myself knowing what she could do?“ I searched his eyes with a pointed look as he evaded my gaze. That was my answer. He wouldn't have.
  “That's why but it doesn't matter now, she's...“ My words fell flat before they left my mouth as I felt dizzy. My knees buckled up and before I knew it, I was falling.
  Ethan caught me while asking repeatedly, what was wrong with me. It was then that I realized it. My hand was burning badly. I held out my right hand, the one I'd held the knife in minutes ago, and just as I thought, a cut bled out the skin of my palm.
  I must have cut myself grabbing the knife in the heat of the moment.
  “Shit, Harlyn, come on,” Ethan was quick to lift me in his arms. “Everyone inside the cave! Abel, Caleb, guard the entrance. Lorcan do tie up the Melbringer, and ensure to use that knife on her again.” He ordered, his words echoing loudly in my ears.
  The sensation was odd. It felt like my strength was being sucked dry into somewhere and I was losing the vigor to live. Everything felt bleak, my purpose was escaping me, and I couldn't remember what exactly I was fighting for.
  “It's just a cut, Why is she so weakened by it?“ Ethan cursed as he lightly tapped my face. His touch felt absent as I slowly slipped out of consciousness.
  “Forgive me for now mentioning,” Lorcan stepped forward with a tied Becca hanging on his shoulders. “The more powerful the sorceress, the more the blade tries to take away.“
  I heard the word take away just as my vision dipped fully into nothing. My head fell against Ethan’s chest or perhaps it was the cave wall. I couldn’t tell anymore.
  My wolf howled once inside my skull, a distant rumbling echo before she went quiet like a breath held too long. With that, I felt nothing but the time passing in silence.
  When I finally managed to open my eyes again, I was flat on my back. The cave ceiling was gone, visibly replaced by a stretch of black overhead and it was black so thick it looked bruised by darkness.
  My chest rose and fell with growing panic. The air felt wrong in my lungs. It was too thick and too stale. It felt like what I'd once imagined being buried alive entailed.
  I forced my torso upright, pressing my hand on the damp stone to lean on. I half expected to see Ethan or Khalid hovering over me and ready with some half-muttered lecture yet no one was in sight.
  There was not a single breath of life I could hear or see, no flicker of sunlight, nor guards at the mouth of the cave. There was only the sort of silence that crawled wrongly at the back of your neck.
  Out of the blue, a shuffle of feet approached from behind me. I tasted the bloodlust without meaning to and before I could fully think, I pivoted. I lifted my hand with my claws halfway out by the time she slammed into me.
  I was knocked back, on my feet by Becca or to put it plainly a version of her shaped peculiarly. She didn't resemble the human we cornered outside. She appeared blurred around the edges like someone had peeled her out of a page, doused her in onyx ink, and shoved her inside my skull.
  Her previously auburn hair swung loose and tangled in hues of charcoal. Her eyes burned white and eerie on her pale contorted face. She stood barefoot with dirty toes brushing the stone. Her usual glamour of nonchalance was absent and so was the careless arrogance sewn into her eyes.
  All I could see was pure, sharp fury that perfectly matched the kind burning between my chest. I gritted my teeth at the sight of her ready to dig my nails into her rotting skin.
  “You filthy little mistake,” she rasped first, her voice rattling like dry leaves and glass pebbles in my ears. She was not happy to see me yet she stood so sure and safe.
  Where was everybody else?
  I snorted in mockery before rolling my shoulders loose. “That’s new. You usually skip the warmup and go right for the smug monologue.”
  Her fingers flexed. Cracked knuckles and split nails followed. “Do you even know what you cost me?”
  “No,” I answered plainly bending my knees as I leaned forward. “And I don’t care.”
  Her mouth twisted into a snarl as if her lips were trying to hold themselves civil. In the same split second, she raised one hand. In response Shadows crawled up her wrist, licking the air around her limb like snakes tasting for blood.
  The floor shifted beneath my soles, bending their steady nature from stone to something else. I could feel my legs sinking half an inch into slick mud that wasn’t there seconds ago. So, I braced my feet.
  “You’re in my head,” I spoke out. It wasn't a question, it was an obvious truth finally settling on my tongue.
  It would explain why no one else was in the eerie cave. Ethan would never leave me alone with her which meant she had snuck into my head.
  “Correct,” she affirmed with a purr but the word cracked halfway out. Her rage kept distorting her control. “You made it easy when you slit your own palm on that knife. You opened a door and I happily stepped in.”
  Despite her weakness, she managed that? Becca really couldn't be underestimated.
  She flicked her fingers and the thin pieces of the shadows shot at my ribs whip-fast. I hastily twisted right but to my dismay, one grazed my shoulder, leaving the spot to burn like acid.
  I winced countering with a slash of my claws. They met nothing but a hiss of mist and Becca's whisper in my ear: Weak.
  With growing agitation, I barked at her “Come on then.“ My voice hit the void and rebounded back at me so audibly that the caves shook. “All this power and you still can’t hold me down? I may be weaker but you're certainly more pathetic.”
  Becca’s eyes gleamed white-hot in the dark pulling my attention to my right where she lunged from. A rush of heated force slammed into my sternum, knocking me backward.
  My spine cracked against something solid. The more I tried to identify it, the more it evaded me. Was it a tree trunk? A pillar? The shape shifted behind me before I could tell.
  She stalked forward with her bare feet silent and her hair drifting with the faux wind.
  “You think you’re stronger because you fight back?” she spat first. “Being made wrong doesn't make you better in any way.”
  I spat liquid I guessed was blood at my feet, tasting a faint copper and the aftertaste of ice. Something told me I wasn't just experiencing my pain in the dreamscape.
  “Funny. You say that but you’re here whining like an abandoned mutt because you can't kill me.” I swung out my claws, catching her forearm. For a heartbeat it felt real, the wag her skin split and shadows hissed out of the wound. What it meant was I could hurt her too.
  Becca reeled back, hissing at me as she held her arm to herself. “I've had enough of you!!” she bellowed, striking at me with enough speed to give me whiplash. Her palm hit straight for my neck.
  I ducked just right in time. I rammed my shoulder into her gut, and we both hit the shifting ground.
  “You’re a leech on the world, Harlyn,” she croaked. “A living lie that will soon eat everything away at us.”
  I flexed my hand to show my claws. “You’re the one standing here in my head wasting breath. Who’s the real parasite?”
  She came at me again but this time, it didn't matter. I was faster, my energy slowly returning as I caught her by the throat mid-swing.
  We slammed back into the wall with her back pressed against the stone surface.
  Her teeth snapped at my cheek. So in return, I smashed my forehead into hers making sure that bone met bone. She squealed in surprise first then laughed in a mocking manner.
  “You really believe you can best me through brute force?” she harshly remarked through broken teeth. “Look at the extent of my power, lupomancer.  This place is mine. I shape it. I swallow it. Without me, it'll break along with your mind.“
  With a glance around, I could immediately tell she was right as I watched the cave bleed away in patches. Whatever dreamspace she conjured up pulsed like a wound. The pressure clawed at my chest trying to press me down, trying to squeeze the fight out of me.
  “Go ahead,” I growled, tightening my grip on her throat as I called her bluff. “Let it. You’ll choke on me first.”