The Gifts of Fate

Chapter 14

The faint thwip, thwip, thwip of gunshots hit the opposite wall. The sniper's continuous fire shredded the contents of the room, but with the curtains billowing continuously, the shots missed their mark.

Regardless, Shilpy kept her head down. Tears fell from her eyes as destruction rained down upon them. Curled up in a ball, she could only see at floor level, which gave her an excellent view of the bag with the Star of fate waited for her. The sword of Ponos was leaning against the wall near the bedroom. She had to get out with both.

Before she could make her move, something hard smashed against the apartment door. It fell open. Two women, each wearing black jeans and tops, stood at the doorstep with guns raised. Each pistol had been fitted with a silencer. Both women advanced into the room and pointed their weapons at Dusk and Hond.

Black shapes streaked across the walls, roof, and floor. Before either woman could fire, the shadows descended on them. The woman to the left lifted into the air, gurgling and clutching at her neck. Two more dark shapes pulled at her shadow and both her arms shot outwards until she was spread-eagled. Her eyes bulged in terror. Her gun fired, but the bullet only hit the roof.

In a tumble of limbs, she was thrown backward and down the stairs. A half a dozen dark shapes chased after.

Meanwhile, the girl to the right's foot was ripped from beneath her and she fell to the ground. The invisible forces slammed her body against the door frame, threw her into the roof, and smashed her back against the kitchen counter. She shrieked with pain until her head struck the wooden frame with a sickening thud.

Dazed, and covered in blood the malevolent force dragged her across the room by each leg. Then each grabbed a limb and pulled.

The room filled with screaming, barking, growling, snarling and Hond laughing. Finally, another thwip sounded and blood splattered against the wall. The screaming stopped. The opposing forces pulled and twisted the woman's body at various angles, but the life had left her eyes. She was just meat now.

With a wave of his hand, Hond sent all the shadow monsters streaming across the roof and walls of our homes and out the door, where they disappeared down the stairs.

Resisting the urge to vomit, Shilpy crawled over glass until her hand found the Sword of Ponos. The bag with the Star in it was in clear view of the balcony door, and the sniper on the opposite building.

Every instinct told her that going after the Star was suicide. Yet, she found herself crawling toward it. She'd only moved a meter when invisible teeth bit into her left arm and pulled hard. Shilpy cried out but managed to hang onto the sword. A cold chill spread through her body. She's thought that they'd all gone down the stairs, but obviously, she'd been wrong. One of the shadow dogs had her.

Wildly she swung the sword at it, and the sound from the shadows changed from a growl to a whimpering shriek. The teeth biting her arm disappeared.

She'd hurt it.

Thwip, thwip, thwip. More bullets flew overhead.

Shilpy eyed the nearest shadows. Something darted toward her. She swung the blade, and the monster dissolved into fine ash. She crawled toward the bag with the Star.

"Drop it!" Hond was crouched down in the kitchen pointing the gun that killed Anderson at Shilpy's head. Before he could fire, a new barrage of bullets shred through the living room and hit the kitchen bench and wall.

Hond fell back leaning hard against the wall, and when he darted forward again he was firing out the balcony. Dusk, still pinned next to the doorway, curled into a ball to avoid bullets coming from both directions.