Dahlia

  In the time it took Carmen to run off after the others, three more Imms had joined their companions at the destroyed gate to Redmond Compound, leaving six for me to distract until the remaining humans could escape.

  They chatted amongst themselves as though they were having a conversation at a local bar—not at all like they were in the midst of laying ruin to a human city. They were happy—pleased with the death and suffering they’d caused tonight.

  Goddamned Imms.

  With a deep breath, I tightened my cloth mask over the bottom half of my face, pulled at my hood to cover the rest of my face, and drew one of my thin swords from the sheath on my back.

  With a second deep breath, I steadied myself. I was probably staring death in the face, but it didn't seem so bad if it meant Carmen and the others survived.

  Starting forward on slow, quiet steps, I approached the main gate, which now lay in ruins on the ground. How they’d torn it down, I didn’t know. I hadn’t even heard it happen over the noise of destruction coming from the eastern side of Firen—noise that had erupted in the time it took me to clear Carmen's building.

  With all the noise, the Imms didn’t notice my approach at first, but when they did, one of the men stepped forward to address me. The man, pale-skinned Imm with thick, curling black horns on his head, taunted through his Reaper mask, “Oh look, another human wishes to stand up to us. How terrifying.”

  The group laughed in unison as the pale Imm took several steps forward—torch in hand.

  With chuckles on his lips and confident strides, he stepped over the broken gate and into the courtyard with a confidence that made me eager to wipe the smirk I knew he wore behind that mask, right off his face.

  Without hesitating, I took advantage of his overconfidence and closed the remaining distance between us in a single leap. With two hands, I brought my sword down onto the Imm’s head—splitting it open between the horns and spraying the stone ground with his blood before he could lift a finger to defend himself. It took every bit of strength I could muster to break through his thick skull with the iron blade, and the strike made my hands burn with the impact.

  As I pulled my sword free of his head—a task that again required my full strength—I couldn’t help but think that the Reaper would be proud.

  I’d caught this Imm entirely by surprise.

  The man collapsed to the ground loudly with a heavy thud that reverberated throughout the courtyard behind me. Unlike the last time I’d killed, this time I felt no guilt. These Imms had intruded on my city tonight, and they posed a threat to Carmen—to everyone I had left to care about. Tonight was about survival, and I couldn’t afford to hold back.

  The torch he’d held in his hand rolled away and continued to burn for several moments before the flames died out with a hiss. Silence hung in the air as the Imms watched the fall of their companion in surprised horror, their wide eyes visible through their masks.

  Unable to help myself, I twirled my sword around in my hand and called out in a mocking voice, “Poor Imm—taken down by a human. That must be embarrassing."

  I stepped forward eagerly.

  "Who’s next? Who else wants their blood spilled on the streets of my city tonight?” I added, in a low, dangerous voice, “Who else wants to test my fury tonight?”

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  Spurred on by my taunting, the other Imms sprang into action, some growling furiously as they rushed towards me—relying on emotion over reason.

  That was a mistake.

  The first—a thin woman with rough, shimmering scales on her jawline—had no time to react as I pulled my knife out from where it was hidden at my hip and threw it with all my strength, relying on the Sight as my guide. The knife lodged into the woman’s neck—she collapsed to the ground, choking on her own blood as she clawed at the injury to her throat.

  I didn’t know much about Imm healing, but I did know she was out of the fight—at least for now.

  There was no time to celebrate her fall, however, because at that moment, another Imm launched himself at me. Relying on my Sight to predict his movement, I ducked under his sword and narrowly knelt down under his outstretched claws before driving my sword up into his ribs.

  With my Sight as a guide, it was too easy to find his heart, ending his life without any hope of recovery.

  But before I could remove my sword from his ribs, yet another Imm man attacked—this time with a large hammer meant for breaking skulls. I barely ducked out of the way in time, rolling to the side before jumping to my feet and sprinting out the main gate in the hopes of drawing the remaining three Imms away from the school.

  All I could do now was run.

  I couldn’t keep up with these Imms in a fight forever. I had caught the first three off guard, but I no longer had surprise on my side. They’d underestimated me before, but now they knew I was dangerous. Most Imms were stronger and far more experienced than I was, with Imm stamina, too. I had to assume they were all trained warriors. In truth, even if they weren’t warriors, without my Sight and training, I would be dead already.

  And now, I was down to a single sword and my evemant dagger.

  The sound of three sets of footsteps behind me encouraged me onward. I skirted around the edge of the compound's fence and down the long road where it ended in the same small, forested park where the Predictors had been burying their victims.

  At this time of night, it was dark and sinister—the perfect place to catch these Imms off-guard. Relying on my Sight, I leapt into the trees and shrubbery with a nimble ease as the Imms trampled through the undergrowth—alerting every creature in the forest to their presence.

  My heart raced in anticipation of the fight to come. I imagined my bones breaking under the force of the Imm man’s hammer or my limbs ripping from my body in the way my father had once described to me as a girl to frighten me.

  I took deep breaths to steady myself as we approached the fence to the burial ground. There was a good chance I wouldn’t survive the next fight, but I needed to stay focused if I was to have any hope of winning.

  Just as I prepared myself to confront the Imms, the sound of a pained cry behind me stopped me in my tracks. I turned, sword ready to take on whatever threat I now faced, but there was no one behind me—even the sound of trampling through the underbrush was gone. Instead, just beyond a thick copse of trees, I heard a shout and then another cry of pain—this one unmistakably female.

  Something had stopped the Imms before I could.

  Standing alone in the darkness of the forest, I tried not to imagine what kind of creature could stop three Imms in their tracks. I simply prayed it was an ally—someone who wouldn’t harm me too. But I didn’t have many allies. There were only a handful of people in my life who could stand up to the Imms.

  No. There was a good chance this was the King's soldiers, and if someone like Bennett had seen me tonight, my life could still be in danger.

  With hands shaking from adrenaline and fear, I raised my sword and crept back into the menacing darkness of the trees ahead—listening carefully for the sounds of a struggle nearby—but I heard nothing but the wind in the trees and the distant sounds of destruction, muted by the forest.

  As I approached the copse of trees, the sight of a lone figure—like me, dressed head to toe in black—made me stiffen. In a half-circle around him, the Imms lay dead in pools of their own blood. One Imm’s body still twitched, though his head was no longer atop his shoulders. Disgusted by the sight, I didn't bother to look at the others.

  The lone figure stood between the intruders and me as if he'd stood between us to protect me.

  And I was certain that was exactly what he had done.

  The now familiar figure stood resolute with his back to me, chest heaving as he caught his breath as if he'd run at full speed for miles to catch up to us.

  As if sensing my presence, the Reaper called out over his shoulder at me, “Still a coward, I see, Dahlia."

  Relief settled in my bones. Again, the Reaper had protected me. And with him here, I knew I would be safe.