Carpathian 20 - Dark Slayer

get eaten alive. Come! She held out her arms and the wolves leapt over the mass of furry bodies and merged with her back.
    Ivory continued to wade through the bats, running toward the small group, fighting to keep from being overpowered. The group refused to just dissolve and abandon Gary, their human friend. It would be nearly impossible to protect him from the air.
    â€œGet the prince off the ground,― Ivory yelled above the din to Gregori. “The attack will come from under the ground. This is a diversion.―
    Falcon jerked Gary off the ground, no questions asked, as Mikhail rose as well. The hordes of bats went crazy, flying at them with renewed frenzy.
    â€œI lost sight of Xavier’s fragments,― Gregori warned.
    â€œThey’re probably in the bats.―
    Ivory thrust one of her light guns into Sara’s hands. “You have to sever them right at the neck or they really go psycho on you.― She pulled a strange-looking object, much like a grenade, from a loop on her belt, readying herself.

    â€œHave you seen these mutations before?― Gregori asked, continuing to use the thin whip of lightning to incinerate the bats.
    â€œI study everything the mage does,― Ivory answered.
    â€œThere is a portal close. I must find it and close it or they will continue replicating. It is in the ground, not in a cave.―
    â€œYou’ve seen these creatures before?― Mikhail asked.
    Ivory nodded, her gaze scanning the ground. It was rippling beneath them, undulating, like a wave in the sea. “They get away from Xavier sometimes and they would be a huge threat this close to the village. They are major carnivores and attack in a group.― She gripped the disc in her hand tighter as she saw dirt bubble up from the ground.
    Gregori and Falcon were in constant motion, slamming white-hot energy through the mass with strike after strike. Mikhail slammed his fist hard, punching through one flying at Gary’s face. All of the Carpathians and Gary had numerous bite marks and scratches from the continual assault.
    â€œGive me one of those weapons,― Razvan said. “You are not going alone.―
    Ivory frowned, her eyes still scanning the ground. “Going inside their lair is worse than the worm. Stay here and help guard the prince.―

    Now the ground bubbled ominously. Various sections sank several inches.
    â€œIvory.― He waited until she glanced up to read the determination on his face. Razvan was not a man to back down.
    â€œGive me a weapon.―
    She tensed, seeing the ground shift in the sunken areas. One hand flicked to her waist and she tossed Razvan a duplicate of her grenade as she jumped, feet first, into the center of the spot where the sinking ground was the most active. Razvan followed her beneath the ground, shifting to vapor to go through the layers of dirt. The grenade shifted with his body, becoming nothing but molecules, telling him it was another of her homemade natural weapons. It had been oval-shaped and bumpy, not at all smooth.
    A stench rose, a combination of fetid rotting meat, dead carcasses and sulfur. His stomach lurched, but he didn’t hesitate to follow her deeper into the tube. Bats rose from beneath and he had to resist the urge to strike out at them as he dropped onto the rockier ledges where the colony dwelled.
    He kept his mind firmly in hers, following her exact movements.
    She was a warrior, well versed in the ways of Xavier, determined to defeat him and the mutations he set loose on the world. He had firmly joined her war, and what better way to learn than from the expert.

    He couldn’t help but admire her complete concentration and single-minded, no-nonsense purpose. There was no wasted talk, no wasted movements. Ivory was all business, flooding him with information as they dropped to the floor of the lair.
    The rock surrounding them was dotted with dark holes, the floor covered in bones, fur; old and new blood splattered the rocks and soaked the floor, pooling in thick puddles and hiding in crevices.
    This is a slaughterhouse.
    Once they escape Xavier’s command, they start this behavior, swarming and reproducing, killing everything around them. They’ll pick the bones from a horse clean in minutes.
    I saw Xavier’s first experiments. He fed them human and mage alike . Razvan tried not to remember the sounds of those dying in