“Bargain?”

There was a moment of utter disbelief, then through repressive grunts, she started feebly chuckling at me.

“You offer nothing of value to me,” she said, her laughter ceasing almost at once. “You expect me… to listen? I don’t need this, leave me be or kill me. Pick one so that I don’t have to listen to your grating voice any longer.”

Ria whistled. So much hostility on the verge of death, even I was somewhat amazed.

Luckily for me, I already expected her wholehearted uncooperative-ness, she can tell me to get lost all she wants, I wasn’t going anywhere. Besides, it’s not like she could either.

“You need help with your sister,” I said. “What kind of help, I can’t say for sure… but you were fighting her. I get the feeling you’re not looking to kill her but just to make sure, do you want her dead?”

“I want you dead.”

Okay then… so much for being civilized.

‘We can help you. I know you don’t have a lot of time. That sun comes up, you go to sleep, no telling what will happen next, right? Ria’s a phoenix… fire is a valuable asset here, Adalia shrank away from it. All I’m asking is that you release Ash. You do that, then I can convince her to help you too, and then you could - “

“Stop.”

A demand uttered so simply, yet spoken with such intensity that I felt compelled to comply with it. I had thought given her weakened state, I was able to take control and steer the discussion where I wanted it. The one with all the cards in his hand.

How wrong I was. Amelia was already sitting up, already healing, already fine. The swelling, the scars, gone. Like they were never there in the first place.

“You want to bargain?” She said, speaking without struggle. “You can’t. You won’t. Not on your terms.”

Her eyes then shifted over to something over my shoulder. Curiosity went ahead and got the better of me and I turned to follow her gaze. The moment I did, I froze.

The glistening tip of a sword was pointed directly in-between my eyes. The wielder smelled of burnt flesh and singed clothes. How, where, when… those questions were all thrown out the shattered windows of the building as I took in the sight of Ash again, ready once more to deliver the killing blow, as she had so many times before.

Ria, who was supposed to be watching over me, had her hands cupped over her mouth with the most dumbfounded look on her face.

“I didn’t even see her…” she said breathlessly.

Amelia spoke again, the same tone, the same intensity. “Back away.”

When Ash lowered her sword and retreated a few steps back, that’s when it clicked. How aloof she seemed even at the face of death, how Ash had suddenly snuck up on us beneath our notice… Illusion magic… this Matriarch... I was never the one Amelia was telling to stop. The cards were never in my hand.

Unsurprisingly, with such a turn of events, I wasn’t feeling as daring as before anymore. Every nerve, every muscle in my body started twitching, between fight or flight, it chose flight, yet I had to see this through. I might never get this chance again.

“You haven’t killed me yet,” I said, treading my words on the side of caution. “I’m guessing you understand you won't be able to do this by yourself. You need Ria for this.”

“If not for her, human...” Amelia said ominously, the scowl in her expression turning towards Ria. “If not for her…”

Ria for her part did not do much to diffuse the tension.

“Please, excuse the human,” she said, straining a smile. “He’s just a bit grumpy that you made his girlfriend break his leg.”

A smile that wasn’t returned by either of us. Amelia set her sights back onto me.

“Your phoenix and your elf, with the two of them I believe subduing Adalia will be possible.”

“What? Subdue her?” interjected Ria. “From a frenzy that severe? It’ll be an easier time just getting rid of her. Do you honestly think you can revert her back? It’s not possible.”

“It’s possible!” Amelia’s voice echoed in the air, her glare like daggers. “If she speaks out of line again, the elf will suffer for it. Order her to be quiet.”

I placed a finger against my lips while looking at Ria. She got the message loud and clear, waving her arms in submission, resigning herself to the nearest column in the vicinity to lean onto.

After shooting another warning glare in Ria’s direction, Amelia finally continued.

“My sister hasn’t feasted for more than a century. Not since Kronocia’s destruction. Not since Terestra’s disappearance. Matriarchs can last decades without a single drop of human blood. Animals, rodents… it is not conventional, but it is doable. But abstaining for this long without actual human blood - without Terestra… my sister… it is unprecedented, I do not know the extent of her frenzied state, normally this far in, there would be no turning back from it… normally, that is.”

I hung onto her every word. “What are you proposing then?”

“As I’ve said, help me subdue my sister. As much as it pains me to ask, I am getting more desperate as the seconds go by. I know it is possible to turn her back. Terestra… Terestra is here, I know she is. We’ve been searching. Years and years… I just need to find her, bring her to Adalia. She can… I know she’ll be able to do something, bring her back.”

That inflection at the end there, that little bit of uncertainty I’ve heard. I know I knew next to nothing about Kronocia or Terestra… but even her plan, to me, had me raising doubts.

Too vague, too many variables… but if it was to save Ash… I kept my mouth shut, for now, still with perked ears.

“Phoenix fire to trap her, blind her… slow her momentum. The elf, her strength is something to behold, even for one of her kind, she will restraint her, obstruct her if necessary. I’m not… I’ve sustained too many injuries, I will not be operating to my fullest potential, but I’m confident I’ll be able to incapacitate her, so long as everything goes according to plan.”

From the corner of my vision, I saw Ria roll her eyes and shake her head. It seems we both thought that her plan was dubious at best. Whether or not Amelia herself was aware of it… it's likely desperation could be clouding her judgment.

“You do as I say, and if the phoenix does as you say… the plan works, my sister lives - I will release the elf. I will let you all go. You will never hear from us again, I promise you.”

Ria and I shared a glance, though nothing was said between us, we both had this mutual understanding that whatever outcome it may be… it’s highly likely it wouldn’t be playing in our favor.

Amelia must have sensed our unease, for her tone suddenly went grim again.

“Anything wrong happens,” she said, “Anything not as intended. My sister winds up dead. I will kill you, I will kill your phoenix - the elf… I will not hesitate. Are we clear?”

Her stare was a piercing one. The type that wouldn’t let you think things through, the type that wanted an answer instantly. I just said the first thing that came to mind.

“This would be a whole lot easier if you just let Ash go now.”

She didn’t like that.

“The phoenix is already at your command. Giving you free rein of two powerful beings against my weakened state does not really fill me with much confidence,” she said.

“You don’t trust me.”

“Trust?!” She bared her fangs at me. “After everything? You expect trust?”

“And you? Everything you did to me, all the pain you put me through, just water under the bridge now, is it? I shouldn’t even be here trying to talk to you, but I am. I’m risking myself here, trusting you despite everything, the least you could do is give me the same treatment.”

A profound silence filled the air. I realized too late that I might have pushed too far this time. Ria’s nervous shuffling only further affirmed that assumption but by then it was too late to take it all back. All that was left was to see how she would react.

“Fine,” she simply said.

I braced for an outburst, I expected her to last out at me at any moment. She didn’t. She remained sitting where she was, not a flicker on her expression. Was I in the clear?

Yes, I was… yet it was only because my eyes weren’t the ones meeting hers. Her gaze hovered right above my shoulder, staring straight at the person that had been standing behind me all this time. Ash wasn’t in the clear.

“Elf,” Amelia began before I could say anything. “Take your sword and slice your throat open.”

Ria was the first to act, breaking into a sprint just as I have finished turning myself towards Ash. The blade was already hovering inches above her throat. Never a word, never a sound, closer she brought the blade to herself, faster than anybody could reach.

I tried, I ran, made it two steps before I came crashing to the ground in an aching mess.

Everything remained the same, why does everything remain the same? Why couldn’t I do anything? Why can’t I just save her?

“Okay!” I heard the panic in my voice, the helplessness. “I’ll do it, we’ll do it! Just stop it! Tell her to - “

Her sword fell. Her body fell. A clatter, a thud, an echo swiftly snuffed in the deathly quiet. I didn’t want it to be real, I wanted to reach out and feel that she wasn’t really there, lying lifeless before my eyes, that she wasn’t really dead.

Let it be a dream. I wanted it so badly to be a dream. And perhaps, as I took a closer look, it might just be.

Blood did not pool over her body. No wound, no slit, her throat remained untouched. Ash didn’t cut herself. So why was she…?

“She’s asleep,” said Ria, kneeling over Ash’s unconscious body, wearing an expression of utter confusion. “But how?”

Even Amelia, as much as I loathed her at the moment, I couldn’t help but note the astonishment in her voice.

“What is this?”

That’s when I caught it. A strong whiff of something familiar - the arousing scent of someone unmistakable. It wasn’t just my imagination, judging by the way recognition filled Ria’s face, she must have picked up on it too.

A trail of red vapor began seeping out of Ash. Every pore, every patch of exposed skin, drifted a stream of red, shapeless at first, then it slowly started to take solid form.

The form of a woman.

Gleaming red eyes, long flowing locks of hazel brown leveling at waist-side. The smell only kept intensifying as the last wisp of smoke dissipated into the outline of a slender figure.

Had it not been for the sharp, pointed horns protruding out the top of her head, and the long, narrow tail whipping and curling, slithering along the vivacious curves of her legs, I'd have recognized her much sooner.

But there was just no mistaking that stern no-nonsense expression of hers.

Irene, looking as devilish as ever, had finally arrived.

Better late than never I guess.