Lily made sure she was standing properly, paws squared to take on the weight of Finn has she felt his hand on her shoulders. It was easy to take on his weight for the moment he needed to steady himself. Relieving that he could stand up and that Veles hadn’t managed to get his claws into him.

Veles’s jaws snapped in the air, a deafening cracking sound as he missed each time, his hands were clawing rapidly, trying to slash any of the three creatures that were attached to him. A furious shriek sounded from him as Callisto secured his maw around the back of his knee in tandem with Alma throwing himself towards him. That let buckled and the knee crashed to the ground, splintering the bone and the floorboards.

His head was thrashing from side to side, attempting to bear down on Alma when he heard Finn’s voice and his neck snapped to look directly at him. Beady little eyes bore into Finntello, his arms froze and he allowed the attacks on him to continue. Even as Lily began charging towards him to join the fray, Veles’s eyes remained trained on Finntello as he raised his hands up above his head, clutching onto the lantern.

In that moment, Callisto thought they had him. That he was giving up now that Finntello was holding his livelihood hostage. A thrill began to run through him, tightening his hold. Then Veles pulsed with power, the flesh beneath his paws and mouth writhed and Veles escapsed his grasp. In a panic, Callisto scrambled after him, flailing in the progress as he watched the god brute force his way out of their grips. Smashing his arms into the soft body of Alma, a firm strike, Xevon was harder. He ignored the onslaught and began his approach on Finn.

Lily stopped in her tracks and tensed up her muscles, a deep snarl echoing from her throat. Fur puffed up as she prepared to throw her weight into him. In a blink of an eye, Lily found herself flying across the room and a blooming pain in her ribs and spine screamed. Her good eye scrunched closed as her heavy weight was thrown into the nearby wall, breaking the plaster and wood panels.

The sound her body made as it crashed into the wall was ear splitting. She remained laying on her side, flanks heaving and didn’t get back up to chase after Veles as he ran towards Finn.

Callisto managed to regain his balance as the crashing of Lily into the wall echoed around the room, his head lifted quickly and darted between looking at where she was heaving for breath and where Finntello was throwing the lantern to the ground. With a cacophony of sound, the lantern smashed into the ground and splintered. In tandem, Veles’s eyes burned with fury, his jaws opening in a screech half mingled with pain. The god’s movements were slightly more jagged, clunky as he arched an arm to swipe out towards Finntello.

Callisto turned and looked over towards Alma and lashed his tail behind him as he took the few short bounds over towards her, ducking his head under one of her arms to help her regain her footing. He spared her one glance before his gaze settled on The flared wings of Finntello, the muscles of his shoulder tensing as he waited for the sound of flesh ripping to greet his ears.

Lily’s flanks were rising and falling in rapid, short breaths. The pain was electrifying, running from her shoulder and all the way down to her hips, as though every bone had been broken. At the sound of the lantern smashing, her good eye peeled open, glazed with agony as it tried to peer over to where she knew Finntello was standing.

Fear lifted in her like a tsunami prepared to crash down upon her as she saw Veles meeting Finn, he had no one nearby to help. In a panic, she tried to lift herself up from the floor and her muscles screamed with the effort. Forcing herself up onto her paws, using the wall as support, Lily leaned against it for a second before attempting to stumble her way towards Finntello. Her head was low and her limbs were shaking.

Veles’s eyes shone with a wicked joy as he felt his speared hand penetrate deep into Finn’s chest and twisted, the flesh and viscera beneath ruined. It wasn’t until a moment after that the god felt the inkling of pain begin to flourish in his own chest and he looked down at himself. Blinking in surprise as he saw the black dagger that the human had drove into his form.

For a long moment, Veles stood there staring down at where he was bleeding blackened blood, watching it seep onto Finn’s hand as the human crumpled into his chest. Eventually, his legs gave out from beneath him as the initially small sensation began to flood his system in a feeling that he had rarely experienced. Fear and pain permeated his flesh as the energy left him and Veles tipped backwards with a loud bang against the floor, Finntello still firmly in place on his bladed hand.

Lily’s terrified roar merged into a human cry as she felt her already broken bones reshape themselves back to her usual form, her legs unsteady as she came crashing down to the floorboards beside the pair. Her good eye quickly began bleary as she felt tears welling up and falling down from the corner of her eye. She could hardly see, the combination of crying and the wound to the other eye making it near impossible.

Her hands flew to Finn, knelt down and bending herself to try and see him properly. “Finn!” She called out, trying to see where he was hurt. If he was alright, what damage had he taken? All the joy of being free of Veles was torn away by the site of Finntello’s limp body laying over the god.

The agony of her injuries was forgotten as a new rush of adrenaline overtook her body, but she had no one to take her anger out on, Veles was gone. Frustration as her own lack of usefulness as she couldn’t even see where he was hurt. Her head flicked up to look over at Alma, lips parted in a soft cry, silently begging for her help. For some kind of magic cure that would make Finn pop right back up and start making terrible jokes again.

Lily’s trembling hands hovering in front of herself as Alma came over, she watched as best she could, her throat was dry and it felt like she couldn’t swallow. She hadn’t been quick enough, she should have gotten to him faster, she shouldn’t have run away from him. The beginnings of a panic attack were brewing inside of her as she followed Alma on unsteady feet towards the bed. Her bones screamed in pain, fractures still there despite the bones reforming. Lily could feel the small crunches of bone against bone with each movement.

The young woman sunk down to her knees by the edge of the bed, a still shaking hand moved to sit on Finn’s shoulder. He should’ve leapt up and loudly complained about her cold hands, but he didn’t move. Leaning her torso against the edge of the bed, her head rested face down against his arm. Hair that was clotted with blood, both her own and Veles’s, hung down around her like a veil.

Callisto stood stiff, still dripping blood as he watched the scene play out before him. His muscles felt old and frayed, guilt about dragging these people back here began to flicker through his mind. He should have come back alone for Xevon, they would have–

Xevon.

His head flung to the side as he tried to locate him, he wasn’t there. With a short hiss of pain, Callisto rose to his feet and pressed against the wound in his side with bared teeth. He went down. He could hear him.

Frustration clawed at him as he realised he couldn’t just float through and follow him. Instead, Callisto made for the employee stairwell, half falling through the door and down the narrow steps.

He staggered out into the hallway below, panting, a cold sweat fresh across his entire body. His skin clammy and pale.

“Xevon!” He called out, voice cracking with desperation. “Xevon, he’s gone! He’s dead!” Callisto’s voice was almost a sob as he shouted. If Veles was gone, then Xevon would be okay, right? That’s how it would happen, they’d be fine. They’d go home and Xevon would be free from this place and if he so decided, based upon what Callisto had interrupted, free from Callisto as well. All that mattered was that the remaining four of them got out of here alive.

Callisto’s eyes widened as he heard the sharp sob that echoed down the hall. He splayed one bloodied hand out to hold himself up right, the other still firmly pressed into his side. He began to panic as he realised that Xevon was in fact not back to normal, that and he couldn’t remember what Alma had told him to do. The fight had knocked his brain around, forming enough of a thought to walk was hard enough.

“Xevon! Where are you?!” He continued to call out, almost stumbling over his own feet and falling to the floor. A flash of a memory and he snapped his head up.

“Xevon Romano!” Callisto begged to whatever benevolent gods that existed, his voice tremouring. “Xevon Romano!” He repeated. There was something about his full name, Alma had said that. What came next, he wasn’t sure.

–

Lily’s head lifted ever so slightly as she heard Alma’s voice, though she couldn’t see her. The vision on that side of her body was ruined. There was nothing but black there, the swelling had taken hold of her flesh under the bloodied gashes and the eye was forced closed.

That didn’t stop the small, strangled sob that ripped from her throat as she listened to the older woman. Her hand on his shoulder moved down to his bicep and gripped the muscle there, willing him to react but nothing came. This wasn’t supposed to happen. Not to him.

Lily made no effort to make her mourning pretty, she grimaced through the tears that welled and spilled over onto the fabric of the quilt. Her head falling back down, her forehead pressing against his wrist.

She had somehow managed to find people that cared for her, people that gave a damn. Just as quickly as she had found them, one had been torn away and slaughtered. She told him not to pull any stupid moves. Why didn’t he wait for one of them to help? At the thought a particularly pained cry came from Lily’s trembling torso, the grip on his arm tightened.