Dimitri exhaled slowly, irritated as he watched yet another fireball blaze toward him. He sidestepped it with ease, the flames scorching past his face. What once surprised him had now become repetitive.
"I gave you a chance," he muttered under his breath. "Now you're just being a pain in the ass."
The chains on his back reacted instantly, slithering and extending. Two more emerged with a sharp, wet noise—thick, steel tendrils that twisted upward and anchored themselves into the ground like legs. Slowly, Dimitri rose higher, now standing well above Lana. The chains held him like a grotesque spider, elevating him several feet off the ground.
Lana narrowed her eyes, fire whirling around her clenched fists. She didn't stop attacking. She couldn't. Flames burst from her hands in relentless barrages, one after another, her mind screaming through the grief. But none of them hit.
