Exton

I draw my axe first; it's a bit more awkward than the sword, so it takes longer. Nick, as always, only has to wish and his sword is in his hand.

"Need some help, Sis?" Raina grins; I don't think she likes playing bait. "Could you...?"

The ghouls shift to their true form then and I'm free to start hacking. Nick apparently had no doubts, or maybe seeing his girlfriend - girlfriends? - whatever; with a ghoul just pissed him off. His first thrust takes Raina's 'date' close to the collarbone. I think he was aiming for the neck, but these things are fast - damn fast. Behind us, Raina and Ky arm themselves and join in.

That's when ten or a dozen more ghouls join in on their side. I split a skull, wrenching the axe free with a twist and thrust Raina's date through the heart. That's one that won't be getting up again. Ky is slashing like a mad thing, her style like some weird cross between gymnastics and martial arts. Damn, doesn't the woman have bones? Nick fights more economically; his speed is similar to the ghouls', so he doesn't have to lead a cut so it lands where the ghoul will be fifteen seconds from now. He's going mostly for heart thrusts, one of the sure ways to put 'em down.

Raina decapitates another ghoul with a backhanded swing, courtesy of her longsword; her jian takes another ghoul in the eye socket and she twists it free. The ghoul continues to fight with just one functional eye - the other is healing as we watch. Lesser injuries slow them down, then, but don't kill... good to know for the next time.

I hear Nick saying something, but I can only make out one word in three... something about a dunghill? I risk a quick look his way and see that he's fighting Rath. Oh shit... just what we needed....

We can't do this now. Time to call in the reserves.

I chop off an arm, throw back my head and roar, "Release the Flying Monkeys!"

They come from all over, our shifter reinforcements, in animal or semi-animal form, moving faster even than the ghouls; ripping, tearing, shredding, biting. Ty rips the head from a ghoul with his bare hands while Nina thrusts another through the heart. Once again the tide of battle has turned, this time in our favor... but then I see Ty shift back to human, a very naked unarmed human... what the fuck...?

It's like watching an old movie, all flicker and flash. Our shifter allies are shifting from animal to human and back again, and apparently they have no control over it. Great, just fuckin' great.... I roar and throw myself back into the thick of things. We'll worry about this after we've won.

Ky eviscerates a ghoul who was about to take a bite out of my neck; before he can heal, she takes his head and moves on to the next one. We're all drenched in blood and worse things, but we can't exactly grab a shower just now. Raina seems to have caught some of K'thyri's berserker rage or whatever it is, she's spinning like a dervish, slashing high, slashing low, taking them down and coming back to finish them. The shifters, though sore beset, are fighting stubbornly, whatever their current form, and they account for their share of ghouls. If we were giving out medals, I'd recommend them all for one.

And suddenly, just like that, it's over.

The shifters break out a box of Traeger's magical shackles and go over the churned-up ground, shackling the wounded ghouls. There are only a couple... and Rath. How did Nick not end up killing him?