Lazarus emerged from the demolished basement doorway and into the darkened dining room. Unimpeded by the dim lighting, Lazarus continued to drag the Sullivan family by their ankles until they were well into the living room. Lazarus let go of them and dropped them to the floor. Vikta and Andrea reeled in pain from their injuries, but Echo remained still, breathing lightly in his unconscious state.

Andrea cringed in pain as she observed her surroundings with bleary eyes. Rolling over on her side, she was still winded from the torturous encounter with the Skera. There were no soldiers in the house, only Lazarus. The house was a complete disaster. The floor was littered with glass, wooden splinters, and rain. All the windows had been blown apart by the pressure of the storm. The front door being kicked open by Lazarus had caused the house to become unstable due to the wind. The rain was able to rush in through the open doorway and windows, drenching everything in stabbing cold water. No pieces of the front door remained except for a few large fragments attached to the hinges of the door frame by only a few screws.

The housed creaked like a wooden sail in the torrent of wind. Rain swept in through the front door and windows, drenching everyone in the cold stinging rain. The shower of rain was coming in sideways and at such a high speed, that it felt as though a thousand ants were biting and stinging with every single moment that passed by. The entire house moved in motion with the mighty wind and deafeningly groaned as the walls were pushed back and forth. It would not be long before the house is finally ripped apart in the intense hurricane. A few large splinters lay next to Andrea’s head, and her eyes lit up as she snapped her attention back to the Skera. Lazarus was now lifting the hood of his cape over his horned head and remained with his back turned to the family.

Vikta attempted to prop himself up on his elbows but dropped onto his back and cursed under his breath. His face scrunched up in pain whenever he tried to move his left leg. Vikta tested his ankle by moving it in a circle a few times before huffing out a sigh. Turning over to lay on his side, Vikta sees Andrea watching Lazarus with hate and contempt. She looked worried and terrified, but also incredibly annoyed. As the moments passed, Andrea seemed to look as if she was going to burst into a vicious outrage. Vikta’s expression grew worried as he watched his wife become more furious as time passed.

Looking over his shoulder, Lazarus noticed the sour expression on Andrea’s face and a smile began to creep across his toothy snout. Lazarus chuckled with a couple of clicks as he turned around and stomped on Vikta’s already busted left ankle, breaking it with ease. Vikta screeched in agony as Lazarus viciously placed all his weight down on the ankle and dug his massive claws into a chunk of flesh on the back of his leg.

Bones crunched as Lazarus leaned over and put his elbow down on his double-jointed knees to bend down further and say, “Don’t go running off. I still have some questions for you. I hope that you will finally behave yourselves without any weapons to cause trouble.”

Andrea remained still as she growled through gritted teeth, “What’s your problem, Skera? Haven’t you done enough damage already?”

Lazarus smiles, “It’s not me who has the problem, my dear. You two don’t know when to give up. Don’t make me hobble you too. It would be a shame to break you so soon before the real fun begins. Please refrain from doing something that will get you killed. We need you alive, after all.”

The wind is roaring so loud now that it is nearly impossible to hear Lazarus crack his dark-humored jokes. His cape flaps over his shoulder and above him as the gale whips through the house and past the massive Skera. Vikta continued to yell in pain as Lazarus stood up and released his claws from Vikta’s leg. Lazarus swiftly turned away and walked over to the front door. Pointing with a large clawed hand through the dark doorway and then pointing it again over his shoulder, it looked as if he was silently giving orders to soldiers who were stationed outside. The wind, rain, and darkness outside the front doorway gave no indication that someone was there until lightning broke the sky once again and dozens of dark-suited bodies could be seen trudging through the muddy front yard. They would soon be reaching the house and coming inside, but the thick mud and raging wind slowed them down.

As Vikta was still tending to his broken ankle and Lazarus was distracted with giving silent orders to his soldiers, Andrea propped herself up on her elbow and with some extra effort, sat up on her knees. Facing towards Lazarus, closing her eyes, and sitting back on her ankles, Andrea began to steady her breathing. Placing her hands flat on her knees, and breathing in through the nose and out through her mouth, she began to meditate on the spot amongst the broken glass, fragments of wood, and water. Over a period of a few seconds, Andrea had stabilized her heavy breathing to slow deep breaths.

Keeping her eyes closed, Andrea reached down to the floor and began slowly wiping her palms on the soaked ground. The water seemed to stick to her skin as she moved her hands gently across the ground. After a few moments, the water had impossibly engulfed her hand, and a thin surface of water flowed across the back of her hands. Finding large splinters of wood on the floor with her fingertips, she grasps one in each hand. Holding the splintered wood with her thumbs upwards and the spiked end of the splinter facing downwards, she readied herself for an excruciating experience. Lifting both hands from the ground, the water then flowed down to the wrist and over the pieces of the wood, conforming to their rough shape.

Suddenly clenching her hands tightly around the deadly splinters, the water solidified into white ice and hardened instantly around Andrea’s fists. Andrea silently held back a yelp of pain and bit her lip, which drew blood. The small droplet flowed down her face but solidified into a red droplet of ice on her chin. As Andrea tried to hold back tears, it looked as if she was now wielding two daggers made of ice, formed from the water and splinters on the floor. Andrea finally opened her eyes and began to smile a toothy grin.

Slowly getting up, as to not make a sound, Andrea moved with flow and form that was almost too perfect. Placing her right foot behind and her left foot forwards, Andrea took up an offensive kickboxer’s stance, pointing the daggers of ice directly towards the front door where Lazarus was standing.

An unseen soldier yells out from the front yard as dozens of bright flashlights turn on to spotlight the dangerous woman, “Sir! Look out behind you! She has a weapon! DON’T MOVE A FUCKING MUSCLE! DROP THE WEAPONS! I SAID FUCKING DROP IT OR I’LL DROP YOU, BITCH!”

Silhouetted by the bright light, and without turning his body, Lazarus looked over his shoulder at the mother defending her family. His confident grin disappeared and was replaced with astonishment at the sight of the ice daggers, “Unaugmented magic!? But how?”

Andrea smirked, and without moving a muscle, the tips of the ice daggers shone with the brilliance of a star. The rain continued to sweep in through the door past Lazarus, undeterred by the imposing figure blocking the droplets. Without warning, the droplets began to change direction as they passed the doorway and headed straight for the tip of the daggers. Soon, even the droplets of water coming in through all the windows were also redirected towards Andrea. None of the droplets were able to hit the ground. The water upon the ground began to crawl up her legs, along her body, and to the tip of the daggers, where they then disappeared into the blinding light.

Lazarus stood there in awe at the raw magic pouring from Andrea and into the daggers. Keeping his weapons sheathed, he grips his sword with one hand and the grip of the pistol with the other, readying himself for a fight. Before he could turn around to face her and attack, he was too late to figure out what she was doing. Multiple shock slugs flew past Lazarus from the front yard. Bullets of ice lashed out from the blinding light of the daggers and towards the slugs. The ice that came from Andrea’s defensive spell deflected the shock slugs away at odd angles to strike the ceiling, walls, or another part of the house. The particles of ice drifting through the air, created from smashing into the shock slugs with kinetic energy, eventually made their way back into the light of the daggers.

Lazarus finally recognized what she was doing, but too late. Lazarus turned and bellowed one final order to his soldiers before they perished in a maelstrom of pure magic, “GET DOWN NOW! TAKE COVER!”