The Atlantian System: Creation

Leta didn’t think; she just acted on the first stupid idea that came to mind: lifting her foot and kicking the underside of its jaw as hard as she could.

The attack was surprisingly effective and seemed to surprise the monster and Leta when she realized the creature didn’t burn hot to the touch. Instead, it was freezing, her toes feeling like she’d stepped in snow inside her sneakers.

She pushed that revelation to the back of her head and hit again.

And again.

And again, as the monster recovered from its initial surprise and tried to get back to killing her, an uncharacteristic bravado fueled by that inner rage bubbled to the surface when she was in danger.

“Bad.”

Kick.

“Dog.”

Kick.

“No.”

Kick.

“Biscuits!”

With a yelp, it lost its footing as they drove under the soft glow from the neon light above, its body going intangible and slipping away before she could grab the crossbow, sliding towards her and taking aim.

Koa had found a very touristy stretch of street just north of Fira, bathed in bright light from restaurant signs and street lamps. Shadows were chased away, and the Hound’s hand began to fall behind and lose ground due to the lack of shadows around.

Its glowing eyes persisted and continued to stalk after them, the unblinking stare following them as tourists milled on the side streets unsuspectingly.

“Get ready to shoot! We’re about to get back on the roadway.” Koa warned them as the light of eateries and tourist traps tapered off to vacation homes and rental properties up ahead.

A far-off flash of atmospheric lightning heralded a coming storm, the pulsating light outlining bulbous clouds that seemed to be following the Hell Hound that perused them.

It was like moving from one world to the next as they transitioned from the hustle and drunken revelry of couples on vacation, unaware of the monsters lurking literally among them, to the intermittent darkness between lamp light as a creature from nightmares coalesced seemingly out of thin air with the low echo of a clap of thunder in its wake.

Leta kept the crossbow steady as they took a sharp corner, taking a deep breath in and then pulling the trigger as she exhaled, her shot making a hit to the side of the creature’s extended throat but not a killing blow.

It tripped over itself and cried out in pain before falling under the light and evaporating to continue the chase once whole again in the darkness.

“Dammit!” She growled, “Screw it.”

Dropping the crossbow to the truck bed, she raised her hands as snaps of electricity played on her fingertips.

“Don’t!” Koa shouted in alarm, eyes wide as his head whipped back to scream at her through the center window, “The truck bed is metal! You set that off, and no matter if you hit or miss, you take out the truck and probably your friend there too!” “That might be an improvement.” Vigo dry heaved over the side of the truck as his bloodshot eyes stared back at the Hell Hound chasing them.

“Shit…” She flexed her hands as the tiny lightning bolts faded away, looking around for inspiration as to what to do next when Vigo moaned, “Can he stop the car soon? I’m going to be sick again.”

A light bulb went off in her head, and Leta nearly face-palmed at the realization she hadn’t been using all of her talents.

“Hey, Koa!” She crawled back to shout at him through the center window, “Is there any stretch of road without overhead lights on the way to this rendezvous point?”

“What?!”

“Can you get us someplace where it can’t go intangible?”

“Why would we do that!? In the light, it can’t kill us!”

“Yeah, and we can’t kill it. I’m not sure what kind of help you have waiting for us at the end of this car ride, but I have a feeling we’re still going to be in a world of hurt with the Loupgarou and a goddamn Minotaur in the mix. I can contain this thing, but I need it to be whole. Trust me, please!”

Koa took a deep breath, taking a moment to think before his face twisted in the universal expression of ‘I’m about to do something stupid, and I’m going to regret it.’

Pulling the walkie-talkie out of the cup holder, he pulled the truck left onto a more intimate road and called into the transmitter, “Al! We’re making a slight detour. ETA remains unchanged.”

“Negative, Masters! Stick to the plan.”

“Our new friend here says she can take out the Hound but needs it to keep its form. If we can kill it, should we?”

“Ah lad… Aye. You get a shot, and you take it.” Al grumbled from the other end as if the acknowledgment was being squeezed out of him, “But if that hunk of metal’s remotely late, let’s just say your next three months of training are going to be creative.”

“Shite. Aye, sir.” He swallowed, only sparing Leta a sharp look, “This better be worth it.”

The road they traveled was lined with immaculate vacation rentals to their right, and the left was an empty space of exceedingly expensive land that slopped downward to the sea below. The waning moon, barely visible through thin wisps of clouds, was now entirely covered by the oncoming storm, which turned the ocean into a void of nothingness peppered only by the resilient lights of far-off ships.

As the homes grew further apart, she could feel the temperature cool and goose flesh her skin as she reloaded her crossbow.

Shadows swallowed one more house light, and then, the Hound picked up speed as if in celebration of chasing prey in its element.

Without hesitation, Leta turned back to the monster, held it at the ready, and pulled from that well of power inside to gather it in her belly.

Focusing on the creature’s eyes and holding its gaze, she took a deep breath and shouted a single command.

“Freeze!”

[The Host has used persuasion. Persuasion successful.]

The Hound’s eyes went wide and seemed to take up all of its skull as its muscles locked in place, its momentum pushing it forward to smash snout first into the pavement as it toppled end over end like a toy thrown from a speeding car.

“I got it!” Leta whooped, slamming her hand on the side of the truck bed to get Koa’s attention, “Hey! It’s down.”

He turned his head to look behind them and saw a motionless mass of darkness illuminated by the house lights behind them.

Leta was right.

It wasn’t getting back up to chase them.

Even from this distance, he could see the embers of pupils in its coal eyes moving in its skull as the creature struggled to move, only to find that it couldn’t.

“Holy… what did you do?” he stared at the creature, still in shock, his mouth lax as if he was so surprised his muscles couldn’t be bothered to keep his lips together.

“I… told it to freeze.”

“And it did, just like that?” He shook his head skeptically as he hit the brakes and quickly rummaged for something in his duffle bag.

“Um, yeah. Just like that.”

“That is suspiciously convenient, my dear. Duck your head, please.”

“Duck my-what the fuck!?” Leta shrieked as she turned around to see the muzzle of a hunting rifle poking through the center window of the truck. She dropped to the floor at the sight of the gun and covered her head with her hands as the crack of the weapon was smothered by the rumble of oncoming thunder. She felt the bed of the truck vibrate with the force of the shot, and then she heard the Hound give a single vibrating shriek of pain that skittered down the road like a rock skipping over a frozen lake.

The embers of the creature’s eyes burned bright as if in shock of its coming death before they darkened and went out as it died.

Leta slowly poked her head up from where she was crouched to see the shadows that comprised its body evaporating one final time as motes of darkness floated on the wind like ash from a fire before looking back at Koa with a stunned look.

“The hell is wrong with you?!” She shrieked at him, but he didn’t seem phased by her outburst at all.

“I fear you’ll have much to answer for when all this is over.” Koa sighed as he did something with the rifle -maybe flipping the safety on, she didn’t know - and set it down in the passenger’s seat.

“Why?” Her eyes narrowed, instinctively on the defensive with his statement, “I haven’t done anything.”

He ignored her question for the moment to put the car into drive and hit the gas, Leta holding tight as the truck lurched forward.