Controlling her sword, she sent it to kill the girl and Léandre.
Léandre stepped in front of the girl before beginning to recite a strange formula in ancient languages.
Yumiel could feel the air suddenly grow heavier, listening to the man's strange incantation.
« Aesh'kar lun'reth varuun toren'haal vorn. »
His hands began to ignite, grabbing Yumiel's sword and melting it, liquefying the blade as it turned back into blood and dripped onto the ground. Yumiel watched the scene, shocked, then excited.
« Pyrokinesis? No, you did some kind of incantation, so rather magic? Fascinating. I never would've believed magic existed. Can you tell me how you did that—can I do it too? »
Opening her senses just in case, she noticed that the other three were visibly, extremely shocked by what Léandre had just done, showing he had never revealed his power to them.
« A filthy monster like you will never be able to do this. Now die! Aesh'rul lun'reth suun'vaar aesh'vorth toren'haal vorn. »
The flames on his hands turned into two fireballs that he launched straight at Yumiel, which she dodged with disconcerting ease, landing against the wall… which was now starting to catch fire.
Yumiel tried to reproduce Léandre's first formula: « Ash'karu lun'rat varoon terren'haall vorr'naa », but nothing happened.
« Your pronunciation is horrible, Yumiel— or rather, monster. »
The building was beginning to burn in large swaths. The fire was spreading through nearly the entire attic; it was only a matter of time before the attic turned to ashes along with the house.
The girl behind Léandre fled, running out of the attic. For Théo and his sister it was more complicated—they were trapped in the flames. Yumiel jumped into the fire, grabbing Théo in one hand and his sister in the other, running to the attic window before leaping out with them.
In a torrent of flames, the house slowly began to vanish, collapsing in on itself. Yumiel's burns were already beginning to heal.
« How can a fire spread that fast? » said Théo.
« Magic! Those weird incantations that create magic must have something to do with it. »
Théo's sister wanted to speak, but Yumiel resumed the hunt, leaving to track down her new prey.
Circling around the house, she quickly found them. He had escaped through the back door, running across the yard trying to reach the other side of the street.
Yumiel hadn't recovered any blood from the house, so she could only create two daggers and a sword, which she sent toward Léandre.
« ELISE, RUN! I'LL HOLD HER OFF! Aesh'kar lun'reth varuun toren'haal vorn. »
His hands transformed into flames as he tried to seize Yumiel's daggers. But Yumiel made them whirl around him, attacking from his blind spots.
Léandre was being slashed by the daggers, unable to grab them to burn them. The sword stayed back, ready to stab or slice him the moment an opening appeared.
« Is that really all you're capable of? You disappoint me, Léandre, don't you have any other tricks? Because at this rate you're going to die! I know—if you teach me magic, I might consider letting you live. Not a bad offer. »
Yumiel slowed her attacks, giving Léandre time to catch his breath and answer.
« I can understand that you've changed, Yumiel—we've all changed, even me. But never, ever will I reveal the secrets of magic to someone like you. I'd rather die than tell you anything! »
Yumiel intensified the attacks from her daggers, advancing toward Léandre: « You're very weak for a shifter? Is this your first fight? »
Léandre struggled to answer. The daggers kept attacking nonstop and flying away again, preventing him from grabbing them.
« You fight like a coward. »
Yumiel kept walking slowly toward him, waiting for him to exhaust himself.
« Haha, says the mage. »
Growing more exhausted, he decided to go on the offensive, charging at Yumiel. Ignoring the daggers she controlled—but he forgot the sword waiting for its moment, which stabbed straight into his abdomen.
Standing there, Léandre had a crystal sword impaled through his gut, yet he still incanted.
« Aesh'rul lun'reth suun'vaar aesh'vorth toren'haal vorn. »
His hands became fireballs again, launching them at Yumiel, who dodged them easily.
« Look at you, your potential was incredible. But you're so weak! Such great power given to someone so feeble. »
Yumiel was now only a few steps away from Léandre.
« Now tell me. You're working with Kate, aren't you? Where is she? »
« Fuck you! I won't tell you anything, a mage never breaks his oaths. »
Léandre was bleeding heavily. If no one treated him, he'd be dead in a few hours—maybe less.
« What a shame. I really wanted to learn magic or at least get some information, but oh well, at least your brain's still intact. »
Yumiel was about to knock Léandre out just before he recited another incantation:
« Ruun'laar ven'aesh. Shaen'lin rukh'laar »
Suddenly the magic surged toward Yumiel before vanishing into the air: « What was that lol. »
Suddenly Léandre began vomiting blood, bleeding from his eyes, ears, and even his nose. His eyes were rolling wildly.
« Oh fuck. What's happening to you—magic intoxication? HEY! Don't you dare die, idiot, I need you alive! »
Yumiel tried to move but felt heavy, as if something was holding her to the ground, preventing her from moving. She understood it was the spell he had cast. Yet as she struggled, she felt herself breaking through the spell, managing a few movements. But Léandre didn't just stand there doing nothing.
« Ruun'laar ven'aesh. » Yumiel couldn't move. She opened her senses to the maximum, and they all told her the same thing: RUN!
Yumiel gathered all her blood, forming an extremely thick shield that she put in front of herself.
« Aesh'leen tor'kaar »
A beam of blazing light shot from Léandre's hands, burning and destroying her crystallized blood shield in only a few seconds. She used her own blood to create a new shield she held with her hand, placing it in front of her and feeding it with more blood.
When the beam pierced her first shield, it struck Yumiel's personal one. The beam was so powerful it pushed her backward. She pumped blood into the shield to repair it instantly as it was damaged. She felt her blood being drained at an incredible speed, growing weaker and weaker.
But if she gave up now, she might very well die. The beam was shrinking, but Yumiel was exhausted and nearly out of energy; in the end, the beam broke through her shield and tore through her body, leaving a nice hole in her stomach.
Luckily for her, the beam stopped at that exact moment, and Léandre collapsed to the ground. Yumiel fell to her knees, feeling extremely tired and with a raging thirst for blood. The blood she'd used had been completely destroyed, almost evaporated by the power of the beam.
Suddenly Yumiel snapped back, throwing herself onto Léandre's body. She placed her hand on his heart, but it wasn't beating anymore.
Pressing on it to try to restart it: « Fucking bastard! You can't just die like that! » But Léandre's heart didn't start again.
« Fucking fucking shitshit asshole! He thinks he's cool after what he just did? »
Looking at the body—dead—Yumiel decided to drain it of blood to recover from her wounds and the massive blood loss.
Yumiel had easily lost more than 2 liters of blood. Almost anyone else would be dead, yet she was still alive and lucid. Even though her regeneration had taken a hit and she felt very weak.
When she sucked Léandre's blood, she felt something new in her mouth, like an explosion of flavor. As if she had been drinking water all this time and had just discovered fruit juice.
With just a few liters of his blood, she felt overflowing with energy; after finishing draining him, she moved to the main dish—his heart. Pulling it from his chest, she took it in her hand and squeezed it to drink the blood inside.
Her whole body then began shaking. As if she had just had an orgasm, licking every last drop—it was pure nectar. Stronger than any drug, it reminded her of the first time. But more importantly she felt stronger, much stronger. She estimated that his heart was worth a hundred human lives.
Once that euphoric moment of pleasure ended, she turned back to Léandre, looking at his head before contacting Jack.
« Kshhh. Jack, are you there »
After about thirty seconds, Jack answered:
« Shh. Yes, I'm here, Yumiel. Everything okay on your side? »
Yumiel looked at Léandre's pale corpse lying on the ground.
« Kshhh. Uh… yeah, yeah, I'm fine. Tell me, how fresh does a brain need to be for you to recover useful stuff? Like information or abilities? »
« Kshhh. I'd say something like around an hour. Why? »
« Kshhh. Let's say that… ah screw it. How fast can you get here? I'm on the street of the old anti-monster organization. »
« Kshhh. I've only got one round trip left, I'll be there in 20–30 minutes. »
« Kshhh. Copy that, I'll wait for you. »
Yumiel sighed, then lay down on the ground next to Léandre's corpse, simply staring at the stars.
« I'd like to travel in space. Maybe one day. » Lost in her thoughts, she still heard footsteps approaching from afar.
Still lying down, she turned her head just enough to see Théo and his sister approaching her. She decided to ignore them, simply watching the sky as she waited for Jack.