Page 35 of Magic Pussy

Hell, yeah. She could bleed. That meant she could be killed. Artemis looked stunned, like it was the first time she'd seen her own blood in ages. Michelle took the opportunity to throw some golden magic balls at her.

The goddess hissed, her eyes going from Michelle to him, assessing the situation, calculating.

Then she turned away from them, pulling the bow from her back, nocking an arrow, and aiming at the altar.

Luke wasn't the most worldly shifter, but he'd read enough legends about the goddess to know a few things. Like the fact that her bow always, always hit its target.

Before he could do anything, she drew it back and shot at Rain.

Sunlight

It was the end. If she died, all was lost for him. They might not have bonded, but she was his, his soul. How does one survive without part of his soul? He wasn't Voldemort, dammit!

Luke watched in horror as his world was about to shatter.

Until the goddess’ arrow shattered into a billion particles of gold.

It had hit a very solid form that had placed itself between Rain and death. Luke didn't know who was more shocked; him, Rain, the followers, or Artemis, as they watched Michelle smirk down at the goddess.

"Sorry, girl. I swear I get it, she definitely makes me want to murder her from time to time. But it still happens to be my sister you're trying to kill. Plus, you're kinda evil, so we don't exactly want you to stick around."

The goddess watched her with more curiosity than anger. "You're alive. My arrow should have at least hit you."

Michelle shrugged. "I don't enter fights I can't win. As you have that whole eternal youth thing going for you, I figured I'd make it even."

The goddess tilted her head. "It has been an age since mortal creatures have managed to make themselves immortal. Since the time of my forefathers. And somehow, you've accomplished it. You will do well to stand aside. Powers like yours are valued among us. If you give up now, you shall live. I give you my word."

Her voice was so seductive, soft and sweet. Almost anyone would have fallen for it. Almost.

"Thanks, but no thanks. If you want to destroy the anchor, you'll have to go through me...in the next minute," Michelle smirked, pointing to the sky.

No wonder that she'd arrived late, delaying the ceremony. The sun was rising on the horizon. Just a few minutes, a few precious instants, and the nightmare would be over. The evil goddess would go back to where she came from.

Luke had half expected her to shoot another arrow, but she discarded her bow, dropping it on the ground, before pulling a curved cutlass from the side of her leather belt.

She sneered. "As you wish."

Th goddess ran toward her at the speed of light. Each of her moves had been calculated, perfectly coordinated. She was a master in the art of violence. One minute? She could kill any mortal in seconds.

Any mortal.

Although shifters had keener eyes than most humans, Luke couldn't see the movements clearly at that speed. A few feet away from Michelle, Artemis was stopped on her course, tripped by Charles.

Holy fuck, Luke had forgotten all about the vampire. He might not be fond of his kind, but right then, he could seriously have kissed the man, and given him permission to call him kitten until the end of time.

Artemis gracefully caught her balance and landed in a crouch. She shifted her weight to stand back in the perfect position to pounce, baring her teeth not unlike a cat. Although she could seem so refined when she wanted to, the goddess was brutal, almost animalistic now.

She jumped incredibly fast, her knees folded, and landed on Charles' shoulders. Her legs curled around his neck and twisted to snap it. She might have managed if Michelle hadn't seen it coming. A long ivy vine reinforced with magic, wrapped around her feet. It wasn't strong enough to keep her in place for a long time, but she gave Charles the fraction of an instant he needed to disentangle himself from the deadly grip.

Luke had managed to get to his feet by now. He stood next to Michelle, blocking the path to Rain. She was still kept immobile by the anchoring spell, but he could tell that as the sun rose in the sky, it was waning, giving her strength.

Luke was in awe. Everything had been calculated down to the second. Michelle had known that they didn’t have a hope in hell to vanquish the goddess, or even to just keep her busy for longer than a few instants, so she’d arrived late, started close to dawn, and got a secret weapon to wait in the sidelines until the right moment.

They could win this.

They had to.

Luke joined the melee, claws and fangs out, clawing at the goddess as Charles punched her, and Michelle used her spells on her.

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