NIGHTWORLD

23: The Devil Inside

It began with a crawl. Zakhar's lab spun around Jaro, a dizzying blur he struggled to get hold of. At some point in the haze, he'd fallen to the ground. There was soreness in his chest, and as he pressed up from the floor he was relieved to look down and see his chest back in one piece. Faded lines of scarring still crossed over where Zakhar had cut him, but it was clear the rejuvenated vrykolakas had already gotten to work healing the incisions. 

“Jaroslav, calm yourself!" Zakhar ordered, but Jaro wasn't listening. A growl ripped from his throat as he clambered to his feet, stumbling through a tray and scattering a small arsenal of medical tools across the cold floor. Paws rushed to his skull, trying to contain the relentless pounding between his ears. “You are undergoing rapid physiological change, there will be some discomfort!" 

“Shut up! Shut the fuck up!" Jaro hissed. It felt as if his brain was too big for his skull, bursting out like a hatching chick. A foul acrid taste stuck his mouth together, but every time he tried to swallow it away there was a grinding like sandpaper down his throat. The teeth in his jaw felt too big for his mouth, sharp pain lancing up through his muzzle as they cut his gums and cheeks. 

They're dying down there, the longer you waste up here. Outside, another cannon volley shook the tower, unsettling dust from the rafters above.

At some point during the episode Jaro had fallen to his knees, and with trembling limbs, he gradually pushed himself back up, holding his paws out wide to steady himself as he began to take tiny steps forward. It was like moving through molasses, achingly slow. Everything hurt, but there was something more there too. A crackling of energy, an underlying tension coiled within his muscles. The parasite, spreading its roots through him, weakness building into strength. But now I'm in control. He hoped.

“The process is… untested," Zakhar muttered, circling. “Part arcane ritual, part scientific method. A brilliant melding of disciplines. Tell me, how do you feel?" 

“Like shit," Jaro snapped. The lab looked different to him. Crisper, as if every edge and seam was shining in the light. The change had affected his depth perception, opening up the room and making it feel stranger than before. He could see further, wider, take in more things at once. For a moment he realised he was focusing on three separate points simultaneously, and the sensation made his stomach turn. I'm one of them. Not a person anymore. A monster. Now he could hear the wind outside buffeting the tower, the crank of the gears below their feet, the flapping of the windmill vanes. He heard muffled voices, cries of pain, a slight moan of something half-alive wedged into one of Zakhar's many labs.

Rolling his neck as the pain began to recede, Jaro picked up his coat, tugging it on over his bare chest.

“Thinking about the sun?" Zakhar asked, following his gaze to the sunshine outside the laboratory windows. Jaro nodded, wincing slightly. Was it always so bright? “Indeed it was," Zakhar continued. “Beware your new enemy, you remember what happened to Belisarius." Another rumble rocked the square below. “Ashani won't stop. I will do what I can from here, but there is no time for you to learn our ways."

“I don't need your ways," Jaro said, turning his back on Zakhar and heading for the stairs. “I'll make my own."

“Jaroslav," the cobra called. “Do not let Ashani destroy my creation! You are the first of your kind, and there is so much to be learned."

As Jaro left the lab behind, Zakhar had already returned to his control panels, pulling levers and etching runes into a nearby podium. Jaro ignored it. If Zakhar wanted to stay up here and hide like a coward while Ashani destroyed his city, that was his problem.

The honour guards scattered before him like a school of frightened fish, looking on in horror as Jaro stalked the corridors, heading for the freight elevator. There has to be a faster way down.

The point turned out to be moot however, as Jaro reached the small lift balcony and found a great pit stretching out before him, the freight platform nowhere to be found. “Nothing's ever easy," he muttered, swinging the gate open and staring out over the edge. He could see it, far below, stuck on the ground floor. 

Glancing back, he saw a member of Zakhar's honour guard watching him by the levers, a concerned frown etched into his features. “Should I raise it… um, sir?" 

Jaro turned back to the open shaft. “How long will that take?" 

“Er…" Too long. 

Jaro went to suck in a breath, before quickly realising he didn't need to. He could simply stand, unbreathing, perfectly comfortable. 

He stared down into the void. Too far for a mortal to see with any hope of clarity, now he could make out every little detail on the platform below. “Things are different now," he whispered.

The guard gasped as Jaro stepped out, allowing his body to tip forward over the edge. The platform fell away as he plummeted down the shaft, wind banging against him as he shot towards the ground head-first. Before, the floors rushing by would have been a blur, a smear without details. Now, Jaro glanced across and saw he could make them out fine. The doors, the balconies, the tools on the trays behind each archway. No wonder vampires were such exceptional predators.

Ignoring the rushing levels, Jaro turned back. The floor was rushing up to greet him, swelling in size the closer he drew. Fifty metres. You're gonna hit it. Forty. Nothing more than a smear. Thirty. Who will save them then? 

Giving in to whatever felt right, Jaro threw his arms out, power surging in his chest and shooting up towards his shoulders. Just as he was about to smash into the ground, dark vaporous wings burst from shoulder blades, spreading like smoke and snapping him up as they caught the air. Jaro's body swung around vertically, spinning in place as a small plume of air burst beneath him, dropping into a crouch at the bottom of the elevator shaft. 

What the fuck was that? He pulled his arms in close, brushing them down for damage. The shadowy wings were gone, but the sense of it still hummed inside him. Vampire power was a whole world unto itself, they'd only seen the surface of their abilities scratched so far. Another piece of the puzzle, beginning to make sense. What else are they capable of?

It didn't matter. He pushed the questions away and left the elevator behind him, hurrying into the bottom floor of the tower. 

It was transformed, to say the least. Every door was up and open, with large stone barricades dropped down by the front gate. Cannons were set poking out between the ramparts, each one manned by a small team of soldiers. Orobos guards rushed this way and that, blowing horns and barking orders. Whatever Zakhar had done to secure their loyalty, it must have been big. They might not know why she's come, but they know if Ashani wins, they all lose.

Outside, the sun shone bright, blinding light gleaming off Ashani's heavy plated suit of armour. A row of cavalrymen tried to charge her, spears lowered as their horses barrelled across the Orobos square. The Daybreaker didn't flinch, rushing into the danger zone, spearheads glancing off her as she twisted forward, catching the middle horse in the chest and scooping it up with one arm before slamming it into the ground. Jaro heard the brief whinnying scream of terror, and a moment later it had burst like a grape upon the cobblestones. 

As the horsemen made to circle around the edge of the square, Ashani turned back towards the tower, stabbing her colossal greatsword into the ground point-first. Paying no mind to the cavalry at her back, she raised both arms towards the tower.

“This is the best thee can offer!?" She roared, her voice unnaturally amplified. 

“Hurry, quickly now!" Around Jaro, Zakhar's soldiers ran, hefting cannonballs and pushing gunpowder deep into the armaments. 

“Shoot this fucking thing!" Frankie cried, pointing out towards Ashani, Kadir firing his rifle out from behind her. Zakhar's men couldn't understand English, but the message was clear enough. 

Jaro stopped at the edge of the courtyard, staring down at the sunlight border before him. He was transformed, but unless Ashani came to them, there was no way to fight. We need to lure her in. 

“Jaro? Is that…?" He turned and found Kristian, the marten's eyes wide with horror. The doctor shook his head, blinking as if he couldn't believe it. “What did he do to you?"

There was no time to answer as Frankie's order was executed. Crying out in Wallachian, a fox lit the wick at the back of the frontmost cannon. There was a deafening boom as the shot was launched from the tube, the entire cannon rocking in its frame as smoke exploded in a huge puff.

The shot blew out into the square, moving almost in slow motion to Jaro's new grasp of speed. Leaving her sword where it stood, Ashani leapt towards them, plucking the ball out of the air and spinning in place like a discus thrower, carrying the cannonball's momentum with her before hurling it back towards the freight yard. 

“Get down!" The soldiers cried, diving aside as the ball smashed into their cannon, blowing it apart in a twisted heap of warped metal and wood. Jaro blinked through the haze, looking up just in time to see the Daybreaker flying at him, faster than any cannonball.

She collided head-on with a stone pillar near the large front doors, exploding through the brick without being slowed. Kristian and the rest of Team Two scattered, opening fire on the vampire as bullets bounced and pinged off her. What is that shit made of?

“Insects," Ashani growled, gauntleted claws splayed out by her side. “Pathetic creatures crawling into every aspect like maggots on a corpse. How we shall delight in thy punishment!"

Kadir dropped a flashbang at her feet, white light popping with an ear-piercing crack. Ashani covered her eyes as he rushed in, Frankie and Devna flanking around her side.

“Tricks!" Ashani cackled, seizing Kadir's rifle by the barrel and yanking it from his paws, kicking him away as she whirled, smacking Devna to the ground with the stolen gun. The snow leopard was sent rolling and Kadir flew in the opposite direction, slamming into a cabinet by the far wall, wood shattering around him. 

Jaro was finally shaken from his stupor. Do something. He was unarmed, but far from helpless. 

“Fucking cunt!" Frankie cried, stabbing her shotgun at the back of Ashani's head and squeezing the trigger. The slugs ricocheted off, but the vampire actually stumbled, momentarily caught by surprise. 

But a stumble wasn't a wound, and the Daybreaker turned on Frankie, claws splayed out. The armour. Get the armour off.

Before she could make mincemeat of the dingo, Jaro lunged at Ashani. The hyena was tall, and he leapt up on her back, clinging to the plates of Nightworld steel as he tried to tear at the straps. 

“Worm!" She cried out, stumbling slightly. “Is this all thou can muster?"

Clinging to her back, Jaro gave up on breaking the straps, instead aiming his fists down at her helmet and punching into it, hoping to buckle the metal. Ashani twisted in place, trying to grab up at him, but he slipped through her fingers each time. 

“Wait– Jaro?" Someone cried. 

“How is he up there?"

“–really him?"

“Don't shoot, don't hurt him!" Someone else. Their voices all blended together, and Jaro paid them no mind.

Ashani howled, lowering her claws and seizing him by the legs, pinning his body to hers. “Thou wishes to be a bug beneath me? So be it." 

Jaro had no time to react, he was fast, but she was faster – and more experienced. Ashani threw herself backwards, his stomach flipping as she dropped them down onto her back. They smashed into the stone floor, cracking it as the full weight of the vampire and her armour crushed Jaro against the ground.

Spitting blood, he tried to wrestle free but Ashani was already up. He tried to scramble away but she seized his shoulder, slamming him back into the tiny crater, rocking his senses with a vicious backhand slap. 

“What has the mad devil done to thee?" She mused, looming over him. Jaro tried to swipe towards her, but she caught his arm, instantly tugging him up into the air and slamming him back down on her other side, hard enough he felt something in his shoulder pop. 

The armour was on top of him again, a razor-edged knee pressing into his chest, the dark grates of Ashani's helm looming close, her flowing blue plume hanging low enough to brush Jaro's snout.

Digging her knee deep enough to draw dark blood, Ashani chuckled. “Witness it. Upon this ground thou art less than a pitiful morsel, quivering before my hunger. Plead not for mercy, interloper, for in my blood you shall find nothing but agony." 

“Don't… want… your mercy." Jaro wriggled beneath her weight, trying uselessly to force her up. Deep inside him, ribs cracked. “I'm not. Your. Fucking. Food." 

Echoing inside the metal frame, the Daybreaker cackled with laughter. 

“Not yet."

Gunfire pinged off her armour, but Ashani ignored it. Inside that thing she was fucking invincible. Jaro tried once more to rip free but she smashed his face in with a closed fist. Pain shot through his head, more removed than when he was mortal, but no less sharp. Still hurts. 

Through the daze, Jaro realised he was moving – being dragged across the bumpy ground like a sack of potatoes, Ashani's claw tight around his ankle. Panic gripped him as he realised where she was taking him. Out of the loading bay.

Into the sun. 

The panic came fast. His instincts screamed at him to stay away from the light, to keep out of the heat. “Stop! Shit– damn you!" He cried, trying to reach out, to grab hold of something, anything. Every time his fingers caught a groove, rubble came away instead, there was no slowing her. 

“Dracula does not need all of you." She hummed. “For the worm wished to live like the wolf, and it was made so. Dracul Reign." 

“No, no!" Jaro tried to kick, claw, anything, but the angle was all wrong, his head still fuzzy from the attack. Bullets fired, the team cried, and even some of Zakhar's soldiers tried to get in front of the Daybreaker, but she only batted them aside. 

Meanwhile, the line of sunlight drew closer and closer. White-hot and sharp like the edge of a guillotine. Jaro had seen Belisarius turn to ash in just a few moments, and he'd screamed the whole time. 

Deep in the tower, he heard a resonant pulse. A strangely rhythmic silence, like a deep hum passing through his body. A sound that couldn't be heard, but felt. 

“Take solace, worm," Ashani said, glancing back at him, light already touching her armour. “At least you might die like a wolf." 

She dragged him into the light. Jaro covered his eyes, crying out. Pain washed over him, hot, incredibly hot, burning deep into his bones and needling through his hide. Burning. He seized, trying to get the itching pain off, but it was no use. He was engulfed in flames. He was dying. All that. For nothing. 

Then, as quickly as it hit, it was gone. Even Ashani had stopped dragging him. 

Jaro opened his eyes to a dark, cloudy sky. Thunder exploded directly above them, ricocheting across the ceiling of the world as lightning lit the darkness. As he stared, mouth agape, rain began to fall. Softly at first, then hard, slamming down in thick sheets, swirling in the blood and dust of Ashani's war on Orobos.

The Daybreaker dropped his leg, seemingly without even realising it. 

“Zakhar," she breathed. “Tricks art all thou has. So be it." 

Jaro didn't hesitate, his body was knitting itself back together already. Ashani was strong, almost unstoppable. But he'd felt her fists, and he'd been in the sun, if only for a second. He knew it now for certain;

They can hurt. 

The Daybreaker turned on him. “And so, interloper–" she was cut off as Jaro launched himself from the ground, shadowy wings bursting from his shoulders and propelling him forward, slamming into her midsection and throwing them both backwards. Ashani snarled as they crashed through the fence to Zakhar's compound, metal twisting as the struts burst out across the cobblestones. 

They tumbled out into the square in a great knotted ball, slamming into the ground in a violent mess of trading blows. “Be gone!" Ashani roared, throwing Jaro off herself in one powerful motion. He soared for only a second, back snapping against what was left of the square's fountain, throwing him to the ground.

“Insects, nothing more than insects," Ashani muttered. 

Pushing to his feet, Jaro wiped blood from his lips, rolling his shoulder as his body knit back together. Water streamed down them, dripping along the curves and rivets of Ashani's armour, and soaking Jaro's pelt. After the intense burning of the sunlight, the bone-chilling downpour was a welcome relief. Zakhar's not entirely useless then. 

Reaching out, Ashani tore her greatsword from its place in the ground, hefting it in one claw, armour clanking in the wet.

Jaro tensed his fingers, readying himself for the onslaught to continue. The bodies from the earlier skirmish surrounded them, diced and crushed, little more than pulpy red smears mixing with the rain.

Around the square, more of Zakhar's men prepared themselves. They stood firm at the edges, spears lowered. Citizen soldiers, ready to die protecting their home. Before Orobos, he never would have believed it.

“Thou is beginning to intrigue me," Ashani said, circling Jaro. “Perhaps I can see why Romulus has become so taken with thee. How long it has been, since such tenacity graced my blade… thou is one of us now, I see it… but I wonder, does it know the worst part of eternity?" 

“Mistaking it for invincibility?" Jaro cried. Outside his peripheral vision, he saw movement, the members of Team Two spreading out across the square. You're not in this alone. 

Ashani laughed again, the sound grating on his ears. “Bravado won't do you much good now, welp. Look around us! A dirge of weakness, a plague of effortless chores again and again, thousands of them falling beneath me with none to stand a challenge! Nay. The true agony of eternity…" She stopped, lowering her sword so the tip dinged on the cobblestones. “... is the absolute boredom of it." 

She lunged at him, faster and harder now, but Jaro was ready. The greatsword swung for his legs and he hopped it, kicking forward and springing up Ashani's chest. Her free claw swiped at his fur, his tail narrowly slipping through the metal fingers. Jaro grabbed hold of her helm, shadowy wings bursting out his back and thrusting upwards, adding to his weight as he dragged her back over, slamming her into the ground. Ashani rolled, snarling, scrambling up.

“Steal our gifts?" She roared. “You don't deserve them!" 

She stabbed at him and he batted the sword aside, slamming his fist down at her wrist, aiming for the joints, any weak points he could think of. She goes towards the greatest threat, right into the storm. Ashani's elbow cracked his jaw, he tore at her helm, avoided another slash, had a chunk of flesh ripped from his neck. Black blood sprayed across them both, mud smeared over her once-gleaming armour. 

Jaro tried to get away but she was too fast, launching herself at him, free claw catching him by the chest. She roared as her powerful legs pushed down, and Jaro felt his feet lift off the ground as they flew across the courtyard at break-neck speed, colliding with the side of a building and blowing through the wall, the living room, and then out the other side. Jaro's head was shoved down, stones scraping along his face as Ashani grated him against the street. 

They slid to a halt and Jaro kicked out at her legs, his foot bending a dent into the armour. He rolled back, springing to his feet and artfully dodging Ashani's thrusts, the point of her greatsword skewering the air he'd occupied only moments earlier. It felt good to move like this. He felt powerful. 

“You're fat and slow, Ashani," he called back. “Out of practice!" 

Hissing, she slashed widely at him, a stumbling move, inopportune. Jaro ducked the blade, throwing himself up as it sliced overhead. His shoulder bounced off the metal and threw her off-balance, allowing him to get in close. Energy pulsed in his muscles and he punched into her gothic chest-piece as hard as he could, as many times as he could. Each blow resounded deeply, like beating a steel drum. The force of the strikes kept Ashani on the backfoot, as Jaro hit again and again, black blood prints embedded on her metal plate as the skin and fur on his knuckles began to shred. 

She tried to side-step but Jaro was on her like glue, pushed in too close for the sword to be useful, weaving around her swipes like a boxer. 

“I won't!" Strike. “Let you!" Strike. “Hurt them!" Power lancing through his arm, he delivered a swift uppercut to her helmet, denting the grated mask as Ashani was rocked backwards in place, finally dropping her massive sword. Jaro didn't hesitate, snatching her by the arm and dashing forward, roaring with effort as he heaved her massive weight over his shoulder, her body growing light as he released.

Ashani flew from his grip like a bolt from a ballista. A grey blur blowing through the buildings back towards the square, wind rushing through Jaro's ears as he sprung to follow through. 

Bouncing in the streets, Ashani slid to a stop upright near the decimated fountain, pushing rigidly to her feet. She rolled her faceless head. 

“A flicker of defiance!" She cried out, as if speaking to an audience. “But we are eternity itself! The night made manifest, the empire of sin! Thou could not stop me with all the buildings in the world!" 

Then she exploded.

Jaro froze as the flames swallowed her up, the vampire armour leaping from the smoke, automatic gunfire joining the cacophony as she spun in place, searching for who was attacking her. The others, Jaro realised, swallowing. He wasn't alone. 

A tracer round from Devna's rifle cut a stark line through the darkness, black ichor popping from Ashani's mask as she growled with pain, a gauntlet pressed to the helm. 

“Ants, ANTS!" She bellowed, shaking herself. “Little ants with their little claws, nipping at a wolf!" 

“Jaro!" He spun to see Kristian huddled down nearby. “Take it!" He tossed a small automatic pistol through the air, and Jaro snatched it, turning back just in time to see Ashani at him again. He braced himself as she hit him with the force of a train, beating him against the building wall, blood filling his mouth as she headbutted him. 

“Worthless distractions, nothing more," she hissed. “Thou is the one I seek, stop dying and fight me!" 

Jaro opened his eyes as the great vaporous wings burst from her shoulders, beating down with a whoosh. His organs lurched as they were dragged into the sky, Ashani seizing his chest with one claw, the other mercilessly beating his face to a pulp. It was all he could do to keep conscious, the freezing snowy wind biting at his ears.

It took a moment to realise that the vampire had stopped hitting him, in fact, she was screaming at him. Straining, Jaro leaned in. 

“Fight me!" 

“Wha–"

Their ascent slowed to a crawl, the two of them hanging in the air a moment, Ashani's wings splayed wide. 

She tutted. “Perhaps I was mistaken. Thou would use our gifts like a child dressed as his father. Another worm, nothing more." 

Before Jaro could speak, Ashani twisted in the air, punching him clean in the chest – towards the ground. 

Jaro fell. Spinning wildly in place, wind rocking him back and forth, trying desperately to seize on that feeling, that instinct. How did she make the wings come out? Come on, come on. The ground was coming up faster, filled with tiny people, all staring up, hoping he'd save them. Why not!? Before it had just happened. He closed his eyes, and hit the ground. 

Dust filled the air like a mushroom cloud, what felt like every part of Jaro's body shattering under the strain. A soft gurgle bubbled up somewhere within him.  She's right, you can't compete with them, you're just pretending.

An echo sounded through the ground as Ashani slammed back into the square, her wings already vanishing into smoke behind her. Through swollen, bleary eyes, Jaro watched her rise to her full height. So much we don't know. She walked towards him, claws dancing eagerly. She's going to fucking eat you, and there's nothing you can do. 

He rolled over with a groan, less than half his muscles actually obeying. His body was too far gone to run, so he tried to crawl from the pit, arms flailing, anything to get away. Bullets bounced harmlessly off Ashani's shoulder, and she ignored them, her focus only for him. Jaro's body tried to knit itself back together, but the process was achingly slow, and without more blood to keep it fuelled he doubted it would get any faster. 

She was practically inches from reaching Jaro when a huge shape crashed into her, knocking them both aside.

The fuck is it now? Jaro blinked as he saw the newcomer wrapping around her with his body, a ripple of muscular black and gold scales, a cobra hood shuddering with rage. 

“Zakhar," Jaro rasped, spitting blood. Struggling to break free, Ashani screamed with fury, lifting Zakhar on her hips before power-bombing him through a wagon, shattering it into a million pieces. 

“Thou would seek to overthrow our Emperor?" She snapped, slashing him open with her claws. 

“He is weak, as are you!" Zakhar cried back from the ground, contorting around the blows as best he could. “I won't let you destroy my creation!" His tail whipped out at her, knocking her back as he rushed to his feet.

“Thy art is pretence and quackery!" The Daybreaker reached behind her waist, drawing two wicked short knives. “I never trusted thee, but still I expected better!" 

Lunging, Ashani sunk her blades into Zakhar's chest, the snake hissing and squirming. “Dracula's whore!" His claws locked onto her wrists, slowly inching the knives out of his scale-clad flesh. “You have no idea the knowledge you put at risk!"

“Piss on thou knowledge." 

Spasming viciously, Jaro kept crawling away, his joints finally beginning to move as his body's sinews laced his arms and legs back into place. Too slow. Looking up, he saw Ashani and Zakhar trading blows, the snake held his own but it was clear he was no match for the Daybreaker's relentless brutality. She moved with incredible power, slashing and cutting down, practically hacking the snake to pieces. Zakhar danced, twisting around her, striking out, gently and patiently prodding for any chink in her armour to exploit. He did well, but even with his quick glances Jaro saw that the thin lacerations were starting to pile up.

Get up. He couldn't. If you don't get up. They all die. Behind him, Zakhar was taking too many blows. He wasn't a fighter, not like her. You've let too many down for this to be the thing that gets you. He closed his eyes and saw Kristian and Kadir, the others with them. I'm not strong enough. I'm just not. He was slipping away, spiralling out into nothingness. All his past failures assaulted him, this was just another on a long list. Boz, the Legion, Hungary, his father, Cujac, Isla, Fyodor. Now this. She's going to break you. She already has.

“N-no…" He grunted, hauling himself across the ground, through the bodies left from Ashani's wake. Give in. He wouldn't. Just die. The parasite had tried to control him before, but he was running the show now. So much pain and remorse. So many disappointments. He cried out so loud his throat burned, slamming a paw into the ground with each word, tears brimming in his eyes. “I! Will not! Fail them!" Never again. 

Jaro's searching paw came down on an intact corpse. This is what you are now, a creature feeding on carrion. He dragged it closer, wincing as he sunk his teeth into its neck, rending the flesh as lukewarm blood filled his mouth. It tasted awful, acrid and stale, but already he felt new energy pushing through him and healing his limbs. 

Lifting his head up, gun in one paw, Jaro climbed to his feet and leapt forward again. The wings exploded from his back and he launched himself up in a wide arc, flying overhead as Ashani was distracted by Zakhar. She buried one of the blades in the fold of his hood, the other cutting down and quickly opening up a gash in his face – this was how vampires fought, where mortals needed one chance to open up an enemy, they kept attacking again and again, wearing down the opponent's resistance until they were too weak to keep fighting back. It was savage, and fast. 

Jaro reached his apex, hanging in the air a half-second before coming down, steering himself towards Ashani and slamming onto her back, holding fast as she was sent stumbling to the side. His free paw grabbed the seam of her armour where back-plate met neck-plate, bracing two feet against her shoulders. 

“I have killed far worse than thee!" Ashani cried, trying to swipe up at him. Jaro dodged, squeezing the trigger of his gun, trying to unload it between the seams, anything to hurt her a little more. He was rewarded with sprays of black blood stinging his eyes. 

Another sniper shot blew through Ashani's knee and she stumbled, one claw finding Jaro's arm as she dragged him overhead, hurling him into Zakhar. 

The Dreamless pushed Jaro away and the three stood, falling into a rhythm. Ashani came in, slashing with her remaining dagger, while Zakhar danced and crushed, and Jaro tried to do what he could, his gun's clip already running low. 

She ebbed and they flowed, trading attacks and constantly hissing and snarling at one another. No grace, only fury. There was a certain calm in the mindless assault, and Jaro felt a sour reality beginning to form. He watched Ashani laughing as she cut Zakhar, suddenly understanding her. This is exciting for you, isn't it? He's right. All these years have left you lifeless, but the yearning remains. You need to make her vulnerable. She wants it too. She wants to be afraid, to feel alive again. If it was fear she wanted, Jaro would give it to her.

“The armour!" Jaro cried to the snake. “Break her armour!" 

“My armour is my body!" Ashani bellowed. “There is nothing more inside but steel!"

Jaro dodged another swipe, reaching up and seizing her forearm with both of his own. He dragged it away, while Zakhar wrapped himself around her other, pinning her in place. 

Grunting with effort, Ashani strained against them both, almost breaking free. 

“Thou! Cannot!" She huffed. 

“How long have you been inside that, Ashani?" Zakhar hissed. “I knew you before that armour, when you were still the Malice of Taren! What is even left of you in there?" 

“Nothing! Nothing but fury and pain!" She snarled back. “Come taste it!" 

“You're just another of his attack dogs!" 

“I shall burn this city, Zakhar," Ashani promised, voice like ice. “And the interloper. I will eat your heart, and I will drag every one of thou worthless companions before our Emperor and I… agh… will not let them die! I shall bleed them white, again and again and again!" 

Jaro twisted deeper and until he heard a crack. Broken bones were a small inconvenience to her, but he'd take anything they could get. I won't let you. I won't fail them. Not again. Muscles burning, he wedged the barrel of his pistol into Ashani's fractured elbow, pulling the trigger and emptying the last of the clip. 

Gore sprayed and she howled, fifteen rounds exploding through the thin skin and sinew of her joints. Bullets from the rest of Team Two peppered against her back, and Ashani roared as Jaro dropped his gun, stabbing his claw into the mess of her elbow and pulling. 

A wet shucking sound came as Ashani's forearm was separated from her elbow, Jaro instantly hurling it off into the darkness. 

“Bastards!" She cried.

Ignoring Zakhar wrapped around her other arm, Ashani raised one leg and kicked Jaro clean in the stomach. The blow sunk deep, slamming him backwards as he bounced away. 

“I always despised you!" She screamed, lifting Zakhar off the ground before slamming him back into the stones. “Weak! Pathetic! Weakness!" Pinning the snake down, Ashani squeezed her claw through his neck, razor-sharp fingers puncturing through the hood. 

“You're a slave to your desires, Ashani! Little more than a rabid dog!" He hissed back. 

Jaro stood, organs throbbing, already moving back to the fray. When does it fucking end? 

“You could be free of it!" Zakhar cried, Ashani screaming down at him. “You could focus, and control, rediscover what remains of you! I can save you! I can save us all!"

“I don't want saving!" Ashani snarled back. She dug a foot into his chest, ripping back viciously. Jaro tried to stop her but he was too slow, it was over in an instant. Zakhar tried to hold on but it was no use, dark ichor bursting as his head was torn from his shoulders. 

Jaro stopped in place, staring in stunned silence, as the Daybreaker raised the cobra's severed head into the air, blood dripping down onto her helm. 

“Another cockroach silenced!" She said, dropping the head. Already Zakhar's body was slowly turning to ash, burning up in the rain. 

Ashani and Jaro stared at one another. He was beaten and bruised, and she was still in her armour, missing only one arm. It felt like nothing. 

Clanking, she raised her good claw up to point right at him. 

“Still fighting, welp?"

“I won't stop," Jaro spat back. He felt like he should be panting, he was exhausted. “Dracula can't have them, and neither can you."

“Let go, interloper, of the waning hopes of some grand awakening." She lowered her arm, staring down at the blackened spot where Zakhar used to be. “Our kind is cursed. To be eternal is to die a death of a thousand days. That is what Zakhar could never understand. As the nights stretch on, all grasp of meaning is washed away… like tears in rain. He thought to save us from our thirst, but the truth is that there is nothing but thirst. We are no gods, we're devils. Cursed to bitterness, and there is no cure for that but acceptance." Reaching up, Ashani unbuckled the clasps at her helm one at a time, pulling it off by the plume and dropping it to one side. “There is nobody in this world who can stop me. No force I cannot break. No warrior I cannot kill." 

The hyena stared at Jaro with determination, her red eyes laser-focused.  

“What do you want, Ashani?" He cried out, shifting in place. 

The hyena stared up at the rain. “I am bored, interloper. What I want is to feel – if only for a moment – something else. Zakhar was a disappointment, always has been. And thou, I am not sure. So come." She lowered her square head, rolling her shoulders back. “Show me the devil inside you." 

Ashani didn't wait. Jaro tried to brace but she fell upon him like a tidal wave, the loss of one arm seeming to make no difference. She punched holes in him, cracking the ground and drawing blood. Jaro did his best to dodge the kicks and swipes of her claw, but she was a machine, a dizzying haze of pain and metal. Jaro caught her fist in both claws, buckling beneath her strength, but Ashani only grinned with her milk-white fangs, smashing her head forward and blinding him. 

“Jaro!" The others cried, watching in horror as she continued.

“Kadir, do something!"

“Fucking what?!" She grabbed Jaro's face, shoving him to the ground. 

“Dev, shoot her already!" He rolled away, kicking at her legs and bouncing off. 

“I cannot hit her without hitting him!" 

Get back. Jaro begged silently. Run.

“Dost thou think I need both arms to rip you apart?" She cackled, smashing an elbow across his face, fangs sticking into his shoulder. Jaro tore himself free with a pained cry, his vision tinted red. 

“She'll kill him, fucking do something!"

“Zakhar's men! You, move to the cannons! Be ready!" 

A few more cries and the soldiers joined the fray, but to Ashani it may as well have been a breeze nipping at her ears. They swarmed in close, stabbing at her head with the silver tipped spears. She plucked them from the air like cherries from a tree, snapping the shafts, eating the men, crushing their skulls with one squeeze of a gauntlet. Thunder rippled overhead, the rain redoubling its intensity. 

Jaro wiped gore from his eyes, watching the Daybreaker move.

Batting away the last of the soldiers, Ashani whirled on him, grinning. “Almost difficult." 

“No. No!" He screamed. “I'm not your fucking challenge!"

She swiped at his legs, but Jaro jumped it, slamming his fists into her face, digging his claws where he could. Blood sprayed as he ripped out chunks of Ashani's face, but the vampire didn't care, laughing as they went, a chilling hollow sound. It felt like they'd been at it for hours, a never ending cycle of repetition. Jaro didn't need to breathe anymore, but he was still exhausted. 

“Can you taste it?" She asked, driving her knee up into his chin, teeth cracking as Jaro's jaw slammed shut. “Deep in your throat, the certainty?"

She buried a fist in his gut, folding Jaro around her. Feet sliding against the slick cobbles, Jaro flinched as her spiked claws stabbed into him, tearing into his stomach. 

“I…" he coughed a mouthful of blood. 

Ashani raised him up like a skewer, letting the ichor and gore drip down on herself. 

And you could slip away. She stared up at him. To die a death of a thousand days. Ashani grinned, Jaro felt himself letting go, almost out of strength. Letting go of the waning hopes of sanity. Losing his mind, losing his life.

“There it is." She whispered, leaning in close. Jaro kicked his legs in empty air. He couldn't move. Ashani's fangs gleamed. “The bitter taste of clarity." 

The world slowed. Jaro blinked, staring down at her piercing red eyes. He felt it. Like a single point, shining through the decomposing threads of his sanity. Clarity. Realisation.

You did everything you could. All those failures. They aren't your fault.

Ashani wasn't his fault.

But she was his responsibility.

Jaro blinked again. There was nothing he could do to stop her. But he didn't cause her to be here. Like you didn't cause your father to get hurt. Like you didn't cause what happened to Cujac. Things happened. Like this, happening to him now. All his life Jaro had felt helpless to the world, sure in the knowledge that he was a victim of it, and no matter what he tried it only made things worse. But that wasn't true. There was resolution in suffering. You can only do what you can, and the rest is up to fate.

He'd been living in the past, but that was over. There was no future, no history, only this moment. Right now.

Accept the things you cannot change. And act on the ones you can. 

“You're a force of nature," Jaro spat, struggling to eke the words out of his mangled mouth. “Like… you said. A devil."

Ashani jolted her arm, fingers splitting through Jaro's back.

“But you're right." He reached down, grabbing hold of her armour with both paws. “So am I." 

Her face changed, but too late. Jaro dragged himself deeper, her arm spearing further through him. The pain was excruciating, but he'd been through worse. Thoughts of what she'd do to Team Two if he failed filled his mind, spurring him onwards.

“More?"! The Daybreaker sneered, glancing at her arm – nearly elbow-deep through his midsection.

“I don't care… how much you hurt me… or what I have to become," Jaro spat. “But you cannot have them!"

He squeezed at the joint, twisting his grip. There was a sickening crunch as bones shattered, and Ashani's claw went limp inside him. Jaro swiped down, his claws slicing through the last remnants of meat and severing the forearm. He fell to the ground, ripping Ashani's missing arm from his gut and discarding it, pain radiating through him. It hurt, but it was distant and far away, like a wound on someone else.

Ashani snarled, now missing both arms below the elbow. Jaro heard a shunk as Kadir fired a grenade launcher, and Jaro skipped back just in time for it to collide with the Daybreaker, exploding in a ball of heat and flames. He went in after her. Stay on the offensive, you learned it from her. Pushing into the smoke and chaos, Jaro moved smoothly, gliding into the motions as power snapped within his limbs, punching again and again at Ashani's chest, aiming for the warped edges. She stumbled, dazed, as sniper shots pinged overhead, machine gun fire chewing the ground at her feet, tiny distractions pulling her attention from pillar to post. She tried to bite down at Jaro, but he dodged the gnashing teeth, sliding between her legs and pulling them along with him. 

The Daybreaker tripped, crashing down on one knee. Jaro rose up behind her, seizing the back of her plate and punching as hard as he could into the back of her skull, bone gave way into something soft and she lurched forward, spitting and gurgling. 

“Stop! Cease!" Mumbled complaints Jaro was deaf to.

“You destroyed Cujac!" He said, stepping past her and heaving her by her ears, banging her face into the ground like a hammer to a nail. “The cause of so much death!" She tried to push herself up, but with both her arms missing there was little leverage to gain. 

“You wanted a devil! You wanted to be afraid!" Jaro stomped on the back of her head again, crushing it deeper, refusing to allow her a moment of rest and yanking her back up to her knees, forcing her to stare up at Zakhar's tower. 

“How does it feel?" He whispered in her ear. “To finally be the helpless one?" A quick shunt warped her armour, that effort the very last bit of strain it could take. Metal cried out as the intricate plate grew terminal, the intricate plates suddenly struggling to fit so seamlessly together. Jaro found an open gap and tugged, screaming through his teeth from the effort. 

“Ssssstoop!" Ashani demanded, her head half-stove in. 

With a final cry Jaro tore her chestplate clean off, exposing her naked torso, the fur long withered away. Her eyes zeroed in on the loading dock of Zakhar's tower, body going stiff as she saw the rest of Team Two braced there by one of the cannon.

“And there it is," Jaro said, holding her by the shoulders. “The bitter taste of clarity."

“Worms. All of thee." 

The cannon fired. The back of Ashani's armour was blown away, along with everything in her chest. The vampire stuttered, then collapsed forward in a smouldering heap, her skin already turning to ash in the rain.

Jaro stared, not quite ready to believe it was over. He took one step back, foot snagging on a corpse as he toppled over backwards, falling on his ass. 

Kristian's face appeared in his vision, staring down. “Jaro? Are you alright, can you hear me?" 

He nodded slow. “She's… dead, right?" 

The marten glanced back, nodding. “You did it." 

Kadir was there too, barking orders. He spared a glance for Jaro. “What the fuck did you do?"

Jaro closed his eyes. 

And you could slip away. Die a death of a thousand days. 

He was one of them now. There was no going back. A vampire. A monster. A devil.