Mystic Vice - Hunter's Moon

"Sweetheart as soon as they change, they're monsters. No more human than the animals they turn into to. And once they do that, they're only good for two things: huntin' and stuffin'," he gloated, snickering. Idiot was giving me everything I needed.

"You're sick! Do you have any -Ardente Luce!"

A torrent of flame flashed from my wand and homed in directly on its target, Blackwell's gun. The flame washed over the pistol, burning Blackwell's hand. With a surprised shout, he tossed the gun to the side and quickly pulled out a hunting knife the length of my forearm.

I stood my ground and tried to fire off another spell, but he was just too damn quick for me. He came at me in a bull rush, knife held at the waist and I rolled, narrowly avoiding getting skewered.

"Ahh!" I screamed as the blade cut a gash down the underside of my arm. Blood stained my dress, but I couldn't see how deep the cut was. Blackwell leapt on me, trying to force the knife into my chest. I growled in frustration, using all my strength to push his arms away. He snarled at me, his face contorted with rage as the knife slowly plunged closer and closer to my vitals.

This was it. I couldn't keep this up for very much longer. My arm was screaming in pain and Blackwell had the advantage. I couldn't fight him forever, but I could still put up a fight.

Above me, a figure appeared on the roof of the building, silent as a winter's night, terrible as a crashing storm.

Jin!

With a snarl that could have frightened the dead, Jin leaped down and tore Blackwell off me, hurling him into the side of a generator. He hit the machine with a heavy smack and quickly scrambled up, knife in hand, spoiling for a fight.

I got up on shaky legs and stared down Blackwell. Beside me, Jin was issuing a long, continuous snarl, his hair bristling all over. He flexed his clawed hands in anticipation, ready to end this.

"Last chance to turn yourself in Blackwell," I said, knowing his answer.

"Eat it, you fat bitch!"

Heh.

"Sick 'em."

Jin dashed forward, a grey blur moving through the gloom. He collided with Blackwell and sank his teeth deep into his thigh. Blackwell cried out in pain and fury and drove the knife deep into Jin's shoulder. Jin howled in pain and quickly jumped off, trying to tear the knife from his shoulder.

"Enjoy that beastie," jeered Blackwell.

"Enjoy this asshole!Fulmini Lancia!" I cried.

Electricity arched from the nearby generator to my wand, lighting up the night, then careened straight at Blackwell. There was a deafening thunderclap as the blast hit him directly in the chest. His body contorted unnaturally as all of his muscles seized up. I don't know how many volts I poured into the guys, but I didn't care. I was ending this now!

The lightning faded and Blackwell laid on the ground, smoke rising from his singed clothes. I ran to Jin. He was curled up in a ball, desperately trying to pull the knife out of his back. When I got near him, he gave me a quick warning snarl and snapped his jaws, but I pressed on.

"Shh, shh. It's ok. I'm going to take it out," I assured him. He cowed and turned his back towards me, showing me the knife. I grabbed hold of it and pulled it out with all my might. Jin let out a sharp yelp of pain and I dropped the massive silver blade on the ground.

"It'll be ok. You're fine now, you're safe," I cooed, rubbing his muzzle. I turned towards Blackwell, pulling my cuffs out of my bag, when I saw the circle open beneath his body. A humanoid figure with curling horns rose to waist height and wrapped its arms around him.

"No!" I shouted, but it was too late. The figure pulled Blackwell down into the circle and both of them disappeared before the word was out of my lungs.

He got away. Dammit.

Jin stalked over on all fours and nuzzled my arm, trying to console me as I had consoled him all night. It helped, but I still felt defeated.

"Victoria! Victoria!" called a voice. It was Hector. He had come after all.

"Get out of here, Jin," I said to him, looking down.

He cocked his head, confused.

"After tonight, I think you've more than paid your price. Get out of here, I never found you."

He nuzzled my cheek once and leapt away, disappearing to I don't know where into the cool dark night.

"Here!" I called and a moment later, Hector turned up around the corner looking ragged, one leg bandaged and bleeding.

"You ok?!" he asked, checking every nook and crevice he could see. His eyes stopped on the ruined generator.

"Blackwell's gone," I said, suddenly tired and in pain. A lot of it.

"What happened?" he asked, flabbergasted.

"C'mon. I'll tell you on the way back," I said, walking towards the street. He took one more look at the generator then caught up to me.

"Some night, huh?" he chuckled.

"You don't know the half of it."