“They’re late,” the elemental leader complained.
“Why are you looking at me?” replied the crimson vampire leader. “We have nothing to do with the werewolves.” He turned up his proud vampire nose. It was the sort of nose you’d see on a magazine cover, or on the face of a prince. The vampire looked at the other shifters. “Where are your brethren?”
“Brethren?” the shifter leader said, offended. “We’re not werewolves either.”
“They’re tigers,” said a witch with a high-pitched voice. She plugged her nose. “You can tell from the smell.”
The tiger shifter glared at the witch. “Watch yourself, little girl.” He plucked the strap of her stretchy sport overalls. “You wouldn’t want to end up dangling from that tree over there.”
A vampire rolled his eyes. “Oh, how original. A leather-bound meathead shifter making threats.” He yawned loudly.
“You’re sure one to point fingers, you walking stereotype,” a shifter retorted. “He indicated the vampire’s outfit and hair. “All that’s missing are the fangs.”
The vampire flashed him a pearly-white smile. “You really want to see my fangs?”
“Please, no. I just ate,” an elemental said.
The mercenaries all began talking at once, exchanging insults. This behavior was actually quite common between different supernatural groups. Even on a good day, they didn’t play well together. On a bad day, they were one insult away from open warfare. The human mercenaries just watched them in silence.
“How much longer must we be kept waiting?” a female witch complained. “When will our mystery clients present themselves?”
A shifter put on a big smile. “What’s the matter, pumpkin? Scared out here on the big, bad plains?”
The witch looked at him for a moment, disgust crinkling her brow. “No, pumpkin. I just want to get paid and move on to more profitable ventures.” Her lips curled. “But if the howls of the wilds frighten you, curl up over here at my heels. I could use a pet kitty.”
The shifter growled at her.
She clicked her tongue. “Temper, temper, pussycat.”
Somewhere far out on the Black Plains, a monster howled. The mercenaries grew quiet, listening to see if there would be a followup—and if it was moving closer. When no other monster made itself heard, one of the elementals looked around, shivering.
“This place sits on unholy land,” he said.
“I hate to break it to you, but all of the plains of monsters are unholy lands,” said a vampire in crimson. “If the prospect of being eaten by a ten-foot hairy beast disturbs you, you’d best seek out a different line of work. A nice cushy desk job perhaps.” He sneered. “I hear accountants are in high demand in the city.”
“It’s not just the monsters,” the elemental told him. “The wilds are haunted by vengeful ghosts and spirits, the tormented souls of the people who died hundreds of years ago when monsters overran the Earth, when our world was torn apart by the war between heaven and hell.”
“This place is particularly unholy,” agreed another elemental. “Everything feels off. The elements are all out of whack here. They’re all mixed and muddled, interfering with our spells.”
“The sooner this business is settled, the sooner we can get out of here,” the first elemental declared, sounding anxious.
“If this place bothers you so much, you go on ahead,” a shifter told her. “We’ll send your money along to you.” He grinned.
She rolled her eyes. “Do I look like an idiot?”
“Is that a serious question?” a witch asked.
“What you and your elementals look like are superstitious, scared little girls,” said a female vampire mercenary in maroon.
“Look at that manic twitch in her eye,” a male elemental said to his teammates. “It looks like she’s been sampling the local cuisine too much.”
In other words, drinking the blood of monsters. It wasn’t an advisable diet, even for vampires. Monster blood was unbalanced, unhinged—just like the monsters. It also tended to be incredibly poisonous.
“I’ll open up your throat and sample you if you don’t stop running your mouth,” the female vampire shot back.
The elementals all snickered.
The vampire rushed toward them. She didn’t make it far. The vampire maroon leader stepped into her path and punched her so hard that she flew twenty feet and crashed into the boulders. She got to her feet dizzily, her steps unbalanced.
“You’re embarrassing yourself,” the maroon vampire leader snapped. “And worse yet, you’re embarrassing me. Talk to them again, and I’ll feed you to the monsters.”
The vampire nodded, silent and solemn.
“Charming folks,” I commented to Bella and Calli.
“Indeed,” Calli agreed. “So how about while they’re waiting for their buyers to arrive, we steal their prisoners out from beneath their bickering noses?”
I smiled. “Nothing would please me more.”
“How are we supposed to get to the prisoners?” Bella asked. “The mercenaries aren’t taking their eyes off of them.”
“Don’t worry,” I told her. “I have a plan.”
Creepy smoke and fog floated across the rocky valley to a soundtrack of eerie howls and tortured moans. Dry leaves whistled over the low creak of aged wood.
Bella had really outdone herself this time. She’d created these visual and sound effects with a creative mixture of potions. She was setting the mood. Now it was our job to seal the deal.
A series of wet splats—raw flesh against water—clapped across the ground, and a grotesque zombie emerged from the fog. It was Calli. I’d cast a shifting spell on her to change her from human to monster. I’d taken a lot of creative liberty with her appearance, and the end result was positively disgusting. Loose, discolored skin melted off her face and arms like wax from a candle. Pus oozed from the lacerations that covered her torso. As she walked, she left behind a long line of bloody footprints. All in all, Calli looked like a moaning, oozing, slopping piece of melted and torn flesh.
As soon as they saw her, the superstitious elementals froze. Their fear was thick in the air. I drew on my siren magic to grow the elementals’ panic, feeding it back on itself. Their anxiety spread, infecting the other mercenaries. They all looked at one another—then they ran for their lives.
But we couldn’t let them get away. We needed answers. I split the earth beneath their feet. Half of the mercenaries managed to sidestep the pits, but the rest of them tumbled in, unable to catch themselves. Green vines shot out of the ground, coiling around their bodies.
As Bella continued the special effects to embellish the deception, Calli moved to block the remaining mercenaries. If her grotesque appearance didn’t stop them, a bullet to the leg did.
While Calli and Bella dealt with the mercenaries, I made my way to the prisoners. A few brave mercenaries still guarded them. Unsurprisingly, it was the group of human mercenaries who’d been too professional to join in the insult tournament earlier. They were too shrewd to scare so easily.
Silent and unseen, I snuck up on them and knocked them out with my magic. Most humans had zero magic resistance, so I almost felt bad about doing it. But then I reminded myself that they were working for someone who kidnapped teenagers, and my guilt evaporated.
I hurried over to the prisoners and snapped their restraints. They watched me with wide eyes, completely terrified.
“Don’t worry,” Carmen told her fellow prisoners. “Leda is a soldier in the Legion of Angels, and she’s here to save us all.”