I blinked, at first thinking he was talking to me, then realizing he was talking to the reporters about me. My jaw ticked and then I laughed. Because it was beyond ridiculous.
Except that Theseus was a performer, and he knew the game we played far better than I did. One of the Stymphalian girls swept into view, hovering in the air above Theseus. He flicked his sword tip in my direction, and a multitude of metal feathers shot at me. There was no way I’d be able to dodge them all. I tried, though. I threw myself to the side, missing all but two.
They hit me in the hip and right near the oil damage in my thigh. There was no stopping the snake in me this time. She roared up through me, smoke curling around my body as the shift took me.
I blinked and was looking down at the reporters from twenty feet above. My body coiled and twisted as I tried to protect the spots where I’d been hurt. Apparently another monster could do damage to me, as I’d feared, because the feather burrowed under my skin, digging hard as though it actively sought its way into my flesh.
I let out a long, low rumbling hiss and snaked my head toward Theseus. Which happened to be toward the crowd too. I figured it out at the last second and reared back. I flicked my tail around and smacked him in the side with it, sending him flying away from the crowd. The screech of two birds snapped my head up. Beth and Sandy streaked toward me, claws outstretched. I bared my fangs but at the last second ducked, dodging them both.
“Drakaina, come to your death!” Theseus beckoned. I twisted around, my scales glittering in the bright lights. I had no words for him in this form, but someone else did.
Ernie flew up by my head, huffing and puffing. “You have to stop the girls first. Without them, he has nothing. Remo is dealing with the vampires; he’ll keep them off you.”
I nodded. But I didn’t really know what to do. Theseus held back, and I realized Ernie was right. He was waiting for Beth and Sandy to do the work for him. Just like Achilles with his Bull Boys.
I sucked my coils in around me into a tight ball, hiding my injuries. The open wounds were an invitation I didn’t need to give.
One of the girls swept past my face and shook her head. Sandy, then. I bobbed my head toward Theseus, begging Sandy with my eyes. Help me. Help me stop him.
I could only hope she still had her own mind, that unlike the others she wasn’t completely lost under the influence of Theseus.
Slowly she came around in a circle and flew beside me. Our eyes locked. She was close enough that, with a single swipe of her claws, she could blind me if she chose. With a wild screech, she flicked her wings . . . at Theseus. I wanted to cheer. Sandy was with me.
Theseus leapt out of the way of the metallic feathers, barely dodging them. Then again, she’d thrown only two.
From behind us came Beth, screaming. She slammed into Sandy, and they spun through the air, gold and silver glittering under the bright lights in flashes like camera bulbs going off.
Good enough. They would keep each other busy. I opened my mouth and hissed at Theseus.
Ernie floated close by. “You have no choice. Your venom will do the trick; just do it fast.”
He was right, I knew it, and I hated it. I shot forward, mouth open. Thinking it would be that easy. More the fool was I for that.
Theseus bolted out of my way and straight back toward the crowd. They fell back from him, but not fast enough. He grabbed a young man with gangly legs and a long, narrow face. He pulled the youth around in front of his body, using him as a shield.
“Now what will you do, monster?” He grinned at me from around the kid.
I pulled back, lowering myself so my jaw was on the ground. Theseus held his sword pointed at me, his other arm around the youth’s neck. “What’s your name, boy?”
“James.”
“Well, James, have you ever seen the inside of a snake?” Theseus laughed the question. The crowd pulled back farther, a rumble going through them. Theseus glanced at them, and I slithered forward again while his eyes were averted. I had an idea of what I was going to do; I just didn’t know if it would work. If I could pull it off and still save the boy.
“You think I should not protect myself? That one of your lives is not worth my own?”
His words told me all I needed to know. Ernie was right; Theseus could be killed by me and my venom, or he wouldn’t have run. I stared at him, watching sweat curl down one side of his face. I had to be patient, to wait for his confidence to override his common sense.
Theseus glanced over his shoulder at the crowd and opened his mouth. This was my chance.
I shot forward, my mouth clamped shut, as I drove my head between James and Theseus. I shoved Theseus to one side of my body and blocked him from James and the rest of the crowd.
“You think you’re so smart,” he snarled.
I had only one answer for him. I reared up, pulling more of my body into the air than ever before. I almost doubled my height as I reared above him.
“Monster!” He pointed his weapon at me. “Do your worst. Good will prevail.”
I dropped from the sky, my mouth open, eyes closed. I didn’t want to see this happen.
Theseus jammed his sword into my mouth as I tried to close it on him. He dug it in, encouraged by my own momentum, digging the blade into the soft palate. I ripped away from him and writhed on the ground, the pain in my mouth blinding me.
Screams rent the air around me, and I tried to still my thrashing.
“Stymphalian bird, pin her,” Theseus bellowed. “And for all that you hold dear, do not let go.”
A set of claws settled above my head, and a weight held me down. Beth. Had she killed Sandy? My heart clenched at the thought . . . they were best friends. How could she have turned on Sandy?
I rolled my eyes to stare up at Beth. She bent and tried to peck my eyes out. I bucked and writhed and managed to throw her off balance, knocking her with one of my coils. She fell to the side and scrambled up, and I snapped at her, desperate to keep her away, to keep my eyes intact.
Except I underestimated my lunge . . . or maybe my Drakaina knew exactly the distance between us. My fangs buried deep into her flesh, cutting through the metal feathers that covered her like they were made of tinfoil. I jerked away as fast as I could, but even I knew it was too late.
Theseus laughed. “You should finish her off, but you won’t. It would make my life easier, one less monster to deal with in the end. So let me do it for you.” He flicked his sword hand at Beth’s bird form as casually as if he were waving to her.