Rose seized him with more bonds of darkness and cracked him hard against the floor. Melt lay there, unmoving, either unconscious or dead. Malcolm slowly pulled himself to his feet, aware that the shadow spryte’s attention was now fully on him.
She’s having an episode. She isn’t herself…
“Rose…” he said. “Enough…”
If she recognized him in her current state, she gave no sign of it. Rose surged toward him, bringing her tendrils down in an overhead attack, like the stinger of a scorpion. Malcolm threw himself to the side with the wind, and then leapt into the air, pushing himself into a brief burst of flight.
He landed behind Rose, but she was already moving, grabbing him with her shadows and preparing to tear him limb from limb. Malcolm did something that he doubted she’d been expecting. Using he wind, he pushed himself closer to her, until their bodies were in direct contact. Rose’s eyes went wide, but she didn’t pull back.
“It’s okay,” he said, cupping her cheek. “It’s me.”
He leaned in and kissed her. Rose let out a surprisingly squeal, her entire body humming with the power of her shadows. She kissed him back, and Malcolm felt her regaining control, slowly reeling the darkness in.
And then, pain exploded through Malcolm’s entire body. He looked down, and saw a hole in his stomach.
CHAPTER 31
“Traitor!” screamed Melt. “You’ll both die!”
Malcolm looked at him as he fell to the ground. Melt held his favorite knife in his hand, with both the long blade and the brass knuckle hilt dripping with Malcolm’s blood. He’d stabbed Malcolm through the back, punching all the way through his abdomen on the other side. It was more painful than anything Malcolm had ever experienced.
He hit the ground hard, his vision wavering from the intensity of the wound. He was glad Tapestry had given him her power, but if past experiences were anything to go on, it would take him at least a few moments to begin healing.
Rose was back in the throes of darkness. She let out a demonic screech and hurled herself at Melt, who swung his knife in a desperate attempt to ward her off. Shadows moved on all sides of him, slapping and punching like a ring of aggressors around a single opponent.
“You betrayed us!” screamed Melt. “You’ve killed us both!”
Melt used his powers liberally, his body dissolving and reforming so rapidly that he seemed to have no clear shape at all. He was shouting and growling, as much animal as man. He was angry, but it was more than just that.
He’s got to be feeling the body load, at this point. Damn it… why did he have to stab me?
“This is how destruction and death goes unchecked in the world!” screamed Melt. “Wind Runner, I’m going to torture you once I’m done with this cunt! I’m going to make you fucking suffer you fucking bastard.”
Malcolm coughed, tasting blood in his mouth.
“Hope you don’t… kiss your mother with that…”
He coughed again, unable to get the last word out.
Rose had forced Melt into the corner. Her tendrils were attacking like whips now, striking out at him and ripping through clothing and flesh. Melt dodged using his power, but Rose used walls of shadow to keep him from escaping.
“You’re worse than the monsters, you fucking traitor,” said Melt, raving deliriously. “At least I know where I stand with them! Wind Runner, you fucking piece of shit, snake motherfucker!”
Rose lashed out again, and Melt let out a high-pitched scream.
“No!” shouted Melt, desperation entering his tone. “I… won’t… die!”
He charged forward, completely giving himself over to his powers. Melt shifted, still keeping the shape of a man, as his body slowly took on a red, gelatinous color. His flesh vibrated with each movement, like a disturbed plate of gelatin.
“Stop…” coughed Malcolm. “Rose… Melt! This… no!”
He sensed what was about to happen, and could do nothing to stop it. Rose stabbed her shadow tendrils forward into Melt. He expanded outward, his body shifting and creating holes to let them pass through harmlessly. Malcolm could see his eyes flicker and then begin to glow bright white.
Melt let out a roar. The glow of his eyes intensified, and suddenly his entire body compacted into a sphere of red goo the size of a basketball. He gave off bright, white light and quivered with power for a moment, and then exploded outward into a spray of red ooze.
Rose fell backward, making a surprised noise as she landed on her butt. Malcolm pulled himself up to a sitting position, trying to keep his hands over the still bleeding wound in his stomach and back.
Melt was slowly reforming in the aisle that cut through the center of the pews. Except, he was no longer the Melt that Malcolm had known. Melt’s face and head appeared first, and it only took a single look at the shape of Melt’s skull, and the color of his eyes, to see the difference.
He just turned. Melt… has become a demon.
“Rose,” said Malcolm, his voice weak.
Rose was barely in control, and she staggered over to Malcolm with odd motions, like she was fighting to keep from doing something else. She bent down on one knee next to him. Malcolm quickly leaned in and kissed her again, hoping the blood on his lips wasn’t too much of a turnoff.
She breathed a sigh of relief, and the spider web of shadows on her face rescinded.
“Thanks,” she said. “Your friend… I think he’s changed.”
Melt was still in the process of rebuilding his body, going slower than he usually took to reform. Malcolm had no desire to wait around and see what happened when he finished.
“We have to go,” he said. “Rose… will you come with me?”
She frowned.
“Malcolm…”
“Back to my apartment, not to the other champions,” He coughed again. “We don’t have time. Rose, come on!”
Malcolm groaned as he staggered to his feet. Rose was there with an arm underneath him in an instant. The two of them hurried out of the church. Behind them, Melt began to let out a wet, sucking laugh.
“That’s his truck,” Malcolm said, nodding to their ride. “He left the keys… under the seat.”
The two of them got inside. Rose found the keys, started it up, and took off speeding down the street away from the church. It was a tense, silent drive back to Malcolm’s apartment. He was worried that if he said anything, he’d scare Rose away, like a bird perched next to him on a park bench.
They parked Melt’s truck on the street and Rose helped into his apartment. Malcolm collapsed on the couch and breathed a sigh of relief. He pulled his shirt open, examining the rapidly forming scab closing the hole in his stomach.
“I see you borrowed the blonde champion’s power again,” said Rose.
Malcolm smiled at her.
“Don’t tell me you’re going to get weird about Tapestry just because we’re mortal enemies now?”
Rose laughed.
“No, I’m still not the jealous type,” said Rose. “Even under duress. Your champion friend might be, though.”
“Jealousy… wouldn’t be the half of it,” said Malcolm. “You saw how Melt reacted to the idea of me betraying the Champion Authority…”
Melt is a demon now. I don’t even know how to react to that.
“She’s going to find out eventually,” said Rose.
“I know,” he said. “…I’ve been trying to push Tapestry away. Keep her at a distance so that it doesn’t completely destroy her ability to trust other people. But it’s like, the more I try, the better she gets at sneaking through my emotional defenses.”
“She is a woman,” says Rose, taking a seat next to him. “It makes sense.”
Malcolm smiled at her. He reached over and set a hand on her shoulder.