LITMIR.BIZ

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often in the blink of an eye, she twisted and spun and struck, one second human, another cobra, sometimes a creature melding both. Her spine did things that should be impossible without crippling herself and her limbs were quadruple-jointed so attacks came from unbelievable angles and she could slip through even the strongest, bone-breaking locks and holds.

      But she couldn’t defeat them. She stepped back as Parvati and Ash merged their fighting into a single, seamless, blazing blitzkrieg.

      Ash, panting and sweaty, stood beside Parvati as she shook the urumi, ready for another attack.

      “You can’t win,” Ash said. “Put down your weapon and let’s just talk. That’s all.” He bent down, opening his hand. “Look, I’ll go first.” He rested the katar on the floor. “See?”

      Rani smiled crookedly. “Stupid.”

      The tulwar flashed at Ash’s unprotected neck. She transformed, her arm stretching out an extra metre. Ash didn’t even flinch before Parvati barged him out of the way. The blade sliced along her back and Ash heard the skin and muscle rip open. Blood splashed the wall. She was hurt.

      The front door crashed open downstairs.

      Then Ash heard the cackling howl. Jackie had come to the party.

      “Get Parvati out of here,” he said to Ashoka. “Now.”

      How many were there? Did it matter? He could barely hold Rani at bay. She smiled and it was an ugly thing; the moon-shadow made her look gaunt and turned her face into a death mask.

      The house echoed with the beat of boots. They were going to be trapped. Ashoka helped Parvati up while Ash stood between them and Rani. But the cobra girl wasn’t interested in attacking, she was just waiting for reinforcements.

      Ashoka’s gaze darted from one end of the corridor to the other. “They’re coming up the staircase. There’s no way out.”

      Ash nudged them back, his attention never wavering from Rani or her two swords, which she twirled in slow, supple circles. “The skylight.”

      “How am I going to get up there?” asked Ashoka in a panic.

      “Just think!” He really was useless. “Climb on that table.”

      Ashoka muttered something and knocked a vase off a small coffee table. He dragged it into the spot right under the skylight.

      The howling rose in pitch and the air quivered with Jackie’s giggling delight, accompanied by a chorus of other snarling beasts and who knew what else.

      The glass shattered. He dared not take his eyes off Rani, but heard Ashoka huff and puff as he clambered up on the table, which creaked ominously. What a bloody farce. The lump of lard was going to break the table. Ash would have been out and gone by now. “Any time today would be good.”

      “I’m doing my best!”

      Ash grunted again and then the roof creaked as a weight rested upon it. Ashoka was up.

      Just at that moment Jackie appeared. Her mane shook with excitement and her face was a hideous amalgam of human and jackal, a long snout dominating it and each fang dripping with spittle. Her amber eyes shone hungrily.

      Parvati groaned as she slithered up on to the roof, Ashoka pulling her from above. “Come on, Ash.”

      “You get going. I’ll catch up once I’ve dealt with this lot.” Wow, that sounded almost confident.

      Four more men ran up behind Jackie, pausing on the stairs. A couple of heavy-shouldered dog-demons – thick necks and blunt noses and small feral eyes. Two more rats, each carrying a pistol, those old-fashioned flintlock things with wide barrels.

      “Come on, Ash,” urged Parvati.

      He glanced up.

      She stretched out towards him, sweat covering her face and her scales shimmering nervously. A trickle of blood ran down her arm, dripping from her fingers. “Come on!”

      Ash looked up at her, then, reaching into his shirt, he slapped the notebook into her hand. “Go!”

      And then she was gone, and Ash charged.

      His attack took Rani by surprise. She ducked his swipe but not his knee as it slammed into her belly. Ash tripped over her foot, but rolled past and then was swamped by the musky stench of Jackie’s fur. The jackal rakshasa screamed as she sank her claws into his shoulder.

      Ash tried to heave his katar into the monster’s face, but someone grabbed his arm. He roared and kicked as bodies flew at him, weighing him down by sheer numbers. A bullet whistled and more glass smashed.

      Once he’d have carved through this lot in seconds. Once, when he’d been a master of death. Now he took punches and blows and couldn’t see for the blood in his eyes.

      Winning didn’t matter. Ash headbutted one of the beasts. He just needed to keep them busy.

      Feet scurried above him, one light and graceful, the other lumbering and uneven. Parvati and Ashoka were getting away.

      A fist came out of the bundle and almost took his head off. Ash braced himself, wobbled, then one more dog charged him and they all – Ash, Jackie, the rest – collapsed into a scrum. With Ash at the bottom.

      Blood dripped from his cut lip and his shoulder ached from Jackie’s claws digging into the meat.

      Buried under a pile of demons, Ash couldn’t move. His face was pressed against the floor and all he could see were feet.

      A dainty toe pushed against his cheek. “So you’re the Kali-aastra?” said Rani.

      “At your service.”

      The toe dug hard into the soft flesh under his eye. “I was expecting more – given the way Savage talks about you.”

      “Yeah, Savage is my number-one fan.”

      “Get him up.”

      They held him by the arms, legs and waist. They weren’t taking any risks. Jackie gripped his neck from behind, controlling him like a puppet so he had to face Rani.

      She looked so much like Parvati. The scars and the white, blind left eye had surprised him, but these details were superficial, meaningless. This was Parvati. How could they be enemies?

      Rani slapped him hard. “Don’t look at me like that.”

      He wasn’t going to have any teeth left soon. “Just being friendly.”

      “We are not friends. Savage told me all about you. How you want to destroy the rakshasa nation.”

      “Some of my best friends are rakshasas.”

      Rani glanced at the skylight, then spat. “That girl, Parvati? A traitor to her people. Can she do what I do? Not any more. She has allowed her human side to make her weak. She refuses to acknowledge what she is. A demon. The daughter of Ravana.”

      Was that it? Rani had embraced her supernatural heritage. All these things she could do, change in an eye-blink, fight so far beyond human ability, all because she had full access to her demonic powers, powers Parvati had been denying herself.

      Now it seemed obvious. Parvati held back. She’d done it for so long it had become natural.

      What other sacrifices had Parvati made to try to be human?

      Ash followed Rani’s gaze to the broken skylight. “At least they got away.”

      Rani laughed. The sound could have cut stone. This was how a demon queen should laugh: without pity or joy. It was as cruel as winter. “There is an English saying about out of a frying pan and into a fire, yes? I prefer from the fangs of a cobra into the jaws of a crocodile.”

      Crocodile? What did she mean?

      There had been a crocodile. Along with Jackie and a vulture demon he’d been one of Savage’s henchmen. But he’d died. Ash

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