12
FIGHTING TO THE DEATH, AND OTHER
WOMANLY PURSUITS
ALEXIS
Sprinting, I veered left down a narrow opening between buildings.
Titans were on my heels, and guns were clutched in my hands.
I should leap away, but then Augustus would be right that I needed men to
look after me.
These days, all I had was spite.
I’m a strong independent woman.
I jumped over rubble and skeletons. Stumbling, scraping against jagged bricks, I righted myself and ran faster down the alley.
The Titans screeched above, flapping gruesome wings.
Actually, I feel like men should be handling this.
“Move!” Nyx hissed with panic as her scales slid like she was looking up.
“Faster.”
I skidded out from the safety of the alley. Arms pumping, I headed straight for the sheltered walls of the Colosseum.
A boom echoed and the ground shook.
Both Titans slammed down into the grass park that surrounded the ancient structure, directly in front of my path.
Their tattered wings slowly folded in.
What a nice day to die.
Stumbling back, I raised my weapons.
They stalked forward in a slow approach. Fluffy Jr. barked, the sound loud and harsh, as he once again stood in front of me defensively.
I unclicked the safeties.
“You need to get out of here,” Nyx hissed. “Right now.”
I nodded in agreement.
A light flashed brightly and a camera clicked.
Both Titans stopped moving, their heads tilted to the side—they focused on something off to my left. In tandem, they opened their mouths, razor teeth glinting. Saliva oozed as they licked their mangled lips with long black tongues.
I mentally focused on leaping to a safe destination.
“Dom—”
Someone whimpered.
I turned my head, heart dropping—I’d missed them in my blind spot.
A group of a dozen elderly men and women were frozen with horror, seated at concrete chess tables set up in the grassy park. One of them lowered a camera.
The Titans were zeroed in on the people, their intentions clear.
“Leap away, Alexis!” Nyx shouted. “Go—save yourself while you still
can!”
I tipped my head back.
“Were the human casualties avoidable?” Persephone whispered in my ear.
I raised my guns and fired.
Bullets peppered the Titans’ flesh; they shrieked, but their attention remained locked on the group of people.
Arms wide, I jumped in front of the humans protectively.
“Pater noster, qui es in caelis,” someone cried out in Latin. Our Father, who art in Heaven.
The Titans prowled toward me, talons extended, mouths open.
Amen.
I raised both guns and kept firing.
Poppopopopopop.
Some bullets hit, some missed, but the monsters kept advancing, slow and steady. They were toying with their prey.
Ten feet away.
Poppopopopopop.
Five feet.
Poppopopopopop.
Two feet.
Poppop—Click. Click.
A ferocious growl echoed as Fluffy Jr. leapt forward, slamming into one of the Titans. The beast tried to shake him off, but my protector held on, his teeth locked around its throat.
It crumpled to the ground—Fluffy Jr. had ripped out its throat.
Jerkily, I reloaded both guns, raised my arms, and fired at the second screeching Titan.
In a blur of white fluff, Fluffy Jr. launched himself at the remaining Titan, but it was quicker, raising its forearm. He bit down on its arm.
I lowered my guns, unable to get a clear shot.
“Adveniat regnum tuum, fiat voluntas tua,” chanted frantically behind me.
Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done.
Sobs became wails.
“Genuine question,” Nyx hissed. “Are we trying to die? Because if not, we
should be running away right now!”
“I just need a plan,” I whispered.
Gritting my teeth, sweat burning my eyes, I bounced back and forth on my toes as the Titan spun, trying to dislodge my protector.
My thoughts raced desperately—a times x squared plus b times x plus c
equals zero.
New plan: never think again.
Reciting the quadratic equation was not helping anyone.
I threw my guns down because the weapons were barely doing anything.
Try visualizing your success—a dead Titan morphed into the triangular function graph of Collatz conjecture.
I grabbed the hilts of the long daggers strapped to my thighs—the pair Kharon had insisted I wear—and pulled them both free.
All I had was poisonous blood and an unhealthy amount of theoretical
math knowledge.
So be it.
I pointed both daggers at the Titan that was still on its feet, trying to shake off Fluffy Jr., and careening closer.
“Don’t you dare.” Nyx clicked her teeth. “Alexis, I have not raised you from a hatchling for you to throw it all away for some random humans.”
I bent my knees, weapons ready.
“Fine. You better survive.” Scales scraped—Nyx launched herself off my neck.
Bite marks bloomed across the Titan’s face as it spun, Fluffy Jr. gnawing on its arm.
Eyes narrowed, my fingers tingled. Closer.
The Titan turned as it struggled, its front wide open.
I leapt forward, stabbing both daggers into its blackened chest cavity. It
shrieked and staggered.
I’m doing it!
I’m actually amazing at fighting!
A terrible slicing sensation exploded down my back—the Titan used its
free arm to shred my spine.
There was no resistance.
I screamed.
Never mind, I’m not doing it.
“Alexis!” Nyx called.
Everything went fuzzy, the world blurring at the edges as I loosened my
grip.
The monster spun.
All pain cut out, as if a switch had been flipped.
Eyes closing, I drifted into the peaceful dark, calm settling over my limbs.
“ALEXIS!” Nyx yelled.
My eyes shot open.
I was barely holding on to my daggers, bloody grip slipping and fingers burning, as the Titan stumbled, trying to shake all three of us off, its face purple as Nyx strangled it.
Repositioning my hold, I dug the knives deeper into its chest.
Fluffy Jr. growled louder, gnawing on its right arm, which was now
partially hanging off below the elbow.
Good doggie.
Engaging my triceps, I hoisted my weight up, pushing on the hilts of my daggers for leverage—crunch—the blades ripped down from chest to navel.
Inky blood drenched my front as black organs unraveled between us.
My blood pooled with it.
Fresh pain exploded in my chest as I engaged my powers.
The Titan let out a strangled screech, talons falling away from my ruined back. Foam dribbled from its lips as it convulsed.
Mozart played the piano, fingers dancing, head flung back, eyes closed in ecstasy.
The monster careened backward into the grass—Fluffy Jr. and I fell forward with it.
In the grass, Fluffy Jr. went for its throat. I raised my daggers high, ruined back screaming in protest, as I slammed them down. Black gore sprayed as I stabbed again and again.
Pausing, I wiped blood from my face with my forearm.
The Titan was lifeless beneath me, a mangled mess of stab wounds. Its right arm was hanging at an angle, face swollen and covered in snake bites, mouth dripping with foam.
With shaking hands, I groped at my belt, fingers still tingling.
The pain in my back was slowly becoming a fire. The titanium cuffs wouldn’t unlatch. Tears streamed down my face, and it was getting harder to
see as I fumbled with the cuffs.
Crunch.
Fluffy Jr. growled as he got to his feet beside me.
A few feet away, the other Titan’s head snapped back into place. It sat up, an empty ravaged cavity where its throat used to be.
No. No. No.
The Titan stood tall, blotting out the sky.
Wings unfurled wide.
I dropped the stupid cuffs and tried to stagger to my feet, groaning as my back throbbed with pain.
There was a split second—a flash of wings—darkness exploded.
Air whooshed and my stomach dropped, there was a horrible pressure on my arms, a fresh burning sensation streaked down my spine.
The Titan had slammed into me.
Two taloned hands were wrapped around my biceps. Its monstrous face hovered in front of mine as it held me up—and I realized we were shooting
straight up into the air.
I screamed.
The Titan opened its mouth, emitting a raspy whistling noise as the muscles in its ruined neck contracted.
Fluffy Jr.’s barks grew distant. Nyx was down there with him, still
wrapped around the fallen Titan.
My hair whipped against my face.
Mangled black wings whooshed as they pumped and we rushed past the top of the Colosseum, hurtling toward gray clouds.
I looked down, head lolling from the force.
People were crowded on the side of the street across from the park, peering up as if they’d all come out to watch me fight a Titan. Multiple cameras were pointed up at me.
The crowd became little dots as we flew higher.
My ears popped as the pressure and temperature plummeted.
The Titan squeezed its hands together, crushing me. There was no way to move, no way to infect it with my blood.
I wheezed as black spots filled my vision. Charlie, Helen, and Ceres were
waiting for me to return to the villa.
The bowl of the Colosseum grew smaller.
There was nothing left. Last time I’d been trapped, I had the option to leap.
Now there was nothing to do but— Wait. Could I?
My gut told me no, my injuries were too severe.
The Titan squeezed harder and my bones creaked as I screamed louder.
You’re dead anyway.
I focused on the concrete chess table in the middle of the park.
Might as well.
“Domus,” I shouted.
Everything went black.
We slammed down into the empty table—taloned hands released me and concrete broke beneath us.
Smoke was everywhere. Pain. The Colosseum once again towered above.
Chess pieces dug into my hands as I crawled blindly through the smoke.
Coughing and slipping on blood, unimaginable agony scoured my spine.
Fluffy Jr. launched himself at the Titan as it rose beside me.
With unfocused vision, I pushed up to my feet.
The elderly gaped, huddled together in a tight circle.
“Get out of here!” I couldn’t hear my voice over the ringing in my left ear.
The humans remained frozen, crouched with fear around an elderly woman
with short spiky white hair. “Lucia,” they cried out as they touched her red- covered skin. Blood.
There was a long slash across her chest. A chunk of concrete had sliced her.
“Were the human casualties avoidable?” Persephone held my shoulders as she screamed in my face.
I collapsed to my knees next to Lucia. Leaning over, I desperately gathered pieces of her ripped shirt and pressed them against her wound.
My chest ached with pain as I tried to staunch the bleeding.
She said something, but I couldn’t hear it.
I couldn’t see anything; panic, desperation, and exhaustion beat against me. I pressed tingling fingers against her chest like it could save her.
The group sobbed and chanted in Latin.
Screeeeeeeech.
The hairs on the back of my neck stood on end. Choking on remorse, I shouted, “Put pressure on the wound,” as I pushed myself to my feet and
staggered away.
It’s my fault.
I had to protect the rest of them.
Stumbling, I turned toward where Fluffy Jr. was still attacking the first Titan. It was all a blur.
“Salvator!” an old man cried out in Latin behind me. Savior.
Knees buckling, I leaned over and puked, unable to handle the agony coursing through me.
The second Titan rose from the ruined table.
I wiped bile from my bloody lips.
You survived the crucible. This is nothing.
The first Titan let out a hideous screech and violently flung Fluffy Jr. off— he yelped as he rolled across the lawn toward me in a blur of white, then he stood up on all fours by my side.
Nyx hissed weakly from somewhere nearby.
Hunched over, I reached into my pocket. Bits of mangled metal filled my hand as I pulled out what was Augustus’s pager—it was completely crushed.
I dropped the pieces onto the grass.
There was nothing left to do.
Both Titans stood taller, their bones crunching back into place.
Blindly, I grabbed at the extra holster Kharon had given me—I pulled out a
Spartan gun with my left hand and a hunting dagger with my right.
Nyx slithered up and around my shoulders.
The Titans stalked toward us.
Acceptance washed over. I couldn’t go far, but I could still try.
“Domus,” I screamed, pushing my right leg out so that Fluffy Jr. was touching it, as I was stretched into a million little pieces.
I blinked—we’d leapt across the lawn.
Thirty feet away, the Titans ran into each other in a blur of talons as they swiped at where we’d stood a second before.
Squinting, I fired.
Pop. Pop. Pop. Pop. Pop.
The Titans turned with confusion, black blood spraying as bullets hit them —they zeroed in on where I stood.
Wings unfurling, they leaned forward to fly at me but stumbled and looked back—their appendages were torn with bullet holes. Shaking their heads with frustration, the Titans hobbled forward at a rapid clip.
Well, this has been fun.
The pain in my back was unbearable; the ringing in my ear was now a
high-pitched wail.
Might as well go out with a bang.
The Titans lunged for me at the same time—I pressed my leg against Fluffy Jr. and focused on a spot across the grassy park, one hundred feet
away.
“DOMUS!”
The world shattered in agonizing darkness.
Crack.
I landed with my knees in the grass, a moan gurgling from my throat.
Fluffy Jr. whined and sniffed at my face as bile dripped from my lips.
The Titans shrieked.
I was only fifty feet away, not as far as I’d hoped.
Everything was on fire.
Nyx screamed something in my ear, but I couldn’t hear her.
Mentally, I designed my grave—nothing tacky, just a mausoleum with a small crypt and a ten-foot bust of my face. Here lies the introverted pervert who had two husbands.
Chuckling madly, blood sputtering from my lips, I dug tingling fingers into the lawn and heaved.
Standing was an act of God, and I bellowed as I staggered up to my feet.
I’d lost my gun in the leap—the dagger was still clenched in my fist.
The Titans screeched and hobbled toward me.
My old friends.
I opened my arms wide (I’d lost my mind).
Come to dance?
My protector bond flared inside my chest, exploding with power.
Fluffy Jr. leapt forward. Midair his body expanded, legs and neck lengthening, lumps on his spine protruding—this time when he collided with a Titan, he threw the monster backward with his size.
Did Fluffy Jr. just … I blinked in shock.
The second Titan swiped its talons at my face. Whoosh. I leaned my head
back on instinct.
The tango, a classic.
I took the opening, stabbing my dagger deep into the Titan’s ruined chest with both my hands. Nyx lunged.
Grinning, I leaned into the sick embrace, bleeding all over the monster.
Die, bitch.
A fresh wave of throbbing agony filled my sternum.
The Titan collapsed onto the grass beneath me, foam once again on its lips.
It convulsed violently, arms flailing—I yanked back as a talon swiped in slow motion, but I was too late.
Agony exploded, warmth gushing down my neck.
A mangled ear fell to the grass, one that should have been attached to me.
The Titan convulsed again, its taloned hand slicing through my fallen ear,
cutting it to ruin.
I guess I didn’t really need it anyway.
The Titan stilled.
A few feet away, a now oversized Fluffy Jr. growled savagely as he rolled, still fighting the other monster.
Zap-zap-zap. Electric shock waves pulsed through my marriage bond with increased intensity, like it was keeping my heart beating.
I gasped weakly, half lying on top of the still Titan.
Snap. Crunch. Bones shifted beneath me as it came back to life.
I stared blankly down at it. Fine, you win.
The Titan bucked.
I tumbled off, sprawling brokenly in the gore-covered grass. A conspiracy of ravens flew past. How fitting.
Government drones were the last thing I’d ever see. I smiled weakly as emotions bubbled in my chest.
Nyx slithered over and flicked her tongue against my cheek. I tried to raise my hand and feel her scales, one last time, but I couldn’t find the strength to move. I turned my head, resting my cheek against her face.
“I … love … you,” I whispered between gasps. I love you, Fluffy Jr., Charlie, Helen, Drex, and maybe— A whistling sound cut off my potentially disturbing revelation.
Pops, grunts, shouts, and slaps echoed.
It took a second to decipher the blur of bronze skin.
Augustus stood over the Titan.
His black and white hair was undone, blowing behind him—he strangled the Titan with one hand wrapped around a metal chain, and fired a gun with his other, pumping its chest full of bullets.
Has ambidexterity always been so hot?
Splattered with black, teeth bared, crimson dripping from his eyes,
Augustus looked positively feral.
Maybe it was the blood loss.
Maybe it was the pain.
Maybe it was the fact that Augustus was disturbingly capable of eliminating evil.
But suddenly, I couldn’t understand how I’d ever thought I was asexual.
The chain was attached to Augustus’s hip, the end tied around a third wingless Titan—it was trussed up with a tag stabbed through its bottom lip, and he was using the middle part of that metal chain to choke the Titan that
had been attacking me.
Whatever this is, I’m into it.
Augustus holstered the gun, buried two knives into the Titan’s eyes, then resumed firing from point-blank range.
A hand grabbed my face, turning me away from the carnage.
Kharon tipped my chin to the side and froze, staring at what felt like a hole in the side of my skull.
Oh yeah, my ear’s on the ground somewhere, chopped into tiny pieces.
His eyes hardened into chips of unyielding ice. Kharon reached for his holster and raised up a wickedly sharp dagger.
Wait … He sliced the blade clean through his left ear.
Someone screamed silently in horror.
It was me.
With a determined expression, Kharon pulled a small box out of his cargo
pants.
A needle and thread glinted.
Augustus came back into view as he stalked across the lawn.
His gun was raised high as he fired at the last Titans. Poco perched on his shoulder with narrowed eyes—his fluffy raccoon arm was raised, pointing at
the Titans, his thumb flexing rapidly.
Wait, is that a finger gun?
Kharon leaned down and blocked my view as he brought the needle and thread up to the left side of my face.
I tried to speak, but I couldn’t; I tried to tell him with my eyes not to do it.
Kharon bent closer, his jaw clenching with resolve as he sewed his appendage onto the side of my head.
“Per angusta ad augusta, carissimus,” he whispered.
Through trials to triumph, my dear.
Augustus appeared and Kharon leaned back to give him space. They patted my pockets until they pulled out two tags engraved with Hercules.
A single droplet fell from the sky, splattering across the golden name.
Augustus leaned down.
He pressed a gentle kiss to my forehead. I couldn’t feel a thing, yet my skin tingled where his lips brushed. He smelled like gunpowder, lightning,
and sin.
Poco patted my cheek.
As they pulled away, the heavens opened up and rain drenched the world.
Kharon resumed sewing.
I was alive when I should be dead.
The Roman Colosseum loomed above, an ancient reminder—this was Sparta, and for better or worse, we were the gods of this new dark age.
