>>58245686
>Lancing pain seared through your left arm.
>Your widened eyes couldn’t make out what it was.
>Just beneath your clavicle.
>It was so close.
>In the gray-black fur of your shoulder.
>A dark dagger.
>It pulled away, pulling a thin trail of blood with it that seemed to hover mid-air.
>Your grip weakened.
>Your left arm didn’t want to hold anything right then.
>The dark stiletto pulled back, and only then did you realize the source.
>The tail.
>The sharpened dirk it swirled around to keep balance.
>Your tail was far different.
>Full and bushy.
>For balance and betraying your emotions.
>This one was a knife-edge atop a thin, near furless stalk.
>A labored breath let you know Dare wasn’t out.
>You barely pushed yourself away in time.
>The bayoneted tail thrust where your eye was a moment ago.
>Rolling away, you pushed your thumb against the leaky wound.
>Blood wasn’t gushing.
>Raising your left arm, however, left you raw and shaky.
>The hellhound was worse.
>It panted for much-needed oxygen.
>It’s muzzle and nose were chafed and red.
>The discolored horns were stained a different gray where they crashed against the road.
>It righted itself to face you and let out a hoarse, gritty bark.
>You groaned.
>This thing would probably die before surrendering to you.
>The frustration almost blinded you.
>In the heat of combat, you’d barely noticed the change.
>Its aura was bruised.
>Like a cracked eggshell.
>Splintering ice barely containing what lurked beneath.
>The colors wobbled and ebbed, but it was there.
>It just needed a little push.
>Submission.
>Painful as it was, you opened your eyes.
>You weren’t sure if they were reddened and bloodshot.
>You hoped they were.
>The houndoom didn’t take kindly to your stare-down earlier.
>Now it faltered.
>For a moment, it broke eye contact.
>The fury in your eyes was unmistakable.
>For a second, it crouched a little lower.