And Ruin Followed Behind Her

Chapter 15-1

Chapter 15

The cultist’s dying screams echoed in my skull as I watched an actual dragon saunter across Mystery Spot Park and onto main street. The sheriff’s deputies fired their pistols in vain at Aziolith, who stomped his meaty claws onto their cars on his way down the street toward the outskirts of town. His wings casually smashed into buildings along his path.

Honestly, Aziolith didn’t seem angry at the many people trying to kill him. If anything, he looked bored with all the attention. I often felt that way walking through town, but then I wasn’t a dragon, and when I walked people didn’t try to kill me. At least not until the last couple of days.

I finally reached Dad’s hanging tree on the edge of the park and saw my mother cowering behind it. In front of me, the monsters of Hell sliced through police officers like deli meat. One day ago, I would have cowered in fear like my mother, but now I was a different person, literally baptized in blood.

“Mama!” I shouted. “We have to go!”

“What is happening here, baby?” Mama grabbed my hand.

I pulled her to her feet. “This is Hell on Earth, Mama.”

“How? Why?”

“It’s a long story,” I said, wrapping my arm around her waist with my free hand. “The short version: You are a pixie. I am a pixie. Cultists wanted to open a portal to Hell, so they needed our blood. They succeeded, and now we have to deal with it.”

I pulled a pinch of pixie dust from my bag. Concentrate, I told myself. See where you want to go in your mind’s eye.

I took a deep breath, and then another, but the sounds of bullets ringing through the air and monsters howling made it impossible to think, which meant I couldn’t teleport. If I couldn’t teleport, then I would just have to walk. I propped Mama up on my shoulder and headed toward the edge of the park. “Don’t look back, Mama. Just keep walking forward.”

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