“My head is killing me,” Nyx groans as her eyes open.
She looks around the large room to see that she’s not alone and her roommates are starting to wake up. A long-haired girl with vampire fangs zips to the wall and leans against it, wiping at a few tears. The blonde with a tiny dragon on her shoulder and a raven-haired woman in a noble dress are the next to rise to their feet. Nyx wrinkles her nose when a fan turns on and she catches a whiff of a young girl with a bow, dirt and grime covering her from head to toe.
“What is this place?” asks a young girl with a wand and a thick book tucked under her arm. “Who are all of you?”
An intercom crackles to life and a high-pitched voice says, “Welcome! I’ve decided to capture you all and make you fight to the death! All for my entertain-”
“In this small room?” Nyx interrupts with a chuckle. “I’m sorry, but there isn’t enough space for this kind of thing. Myself, the vampire, and the wand-slinger alone would decimate this room.”
“You’re still trapped!” the voice shouts. “The door is electrified and will kill anyone who touches it. Now fight!”
“I’m not waiting,” the girl with the bow growls.
She takes aim and fires at the blonde woman, her shot piercing the dragon through the head. The tiny creature’s lifeless body falls back while its claws grip the woman’s clothing, tearing the fabric down her body. The woman’s breasts fall free and her clothing gets tangled around her legs when she tries to walk. Awkwardly hopping around, the blonde slips and falls into the door. The other prisoners can only watch as a burst of electricity engulfs the woman and turns her into a pile of charred bones.
“We need someone to save us,” cries the noblewoman. She lets out a yelp when she sees the archer aiming an arrow at her.
“Stop it, dumbass,” Nyx snaps, waving her hand and sending the archer crashing into the wall with a wind spell. The girl collapses to the ground and passes out. “All we have to do is get through the door.”
“That’s why we need a man,” the woman insists.
The brown-haired girl stares at her before admitting, “I don’t understand what she’s talking about.”
“I didn’t know they still made damsels in distress,” Nyx says with a shrug. She turns to the vampire girl, but stops when she sees the tears. “Why is the vampire crying in a corner like a heartbroken schoolgirl?”
“I miss my husband. We’re soulmates and-” she begins before crying again.
“I’m starting to reconsider the death match idea,” Nyx growls.
“I won’t die here!” the archer shouts as she leaps to her feet and takes aim.
Nyx covers herself in flame and watches the arrow incinerate before it reaches her. She grins at the open-mouthed stare of the girl with the wand. The archer moves to aim at another target, but she is rammed into the ceiling by Nyx’s spell. A few more solid slams around the room and the archer is dropped in a corner where she groans in pain.
“Now we can-” Nyx starts, freezing when she turns around. “What the hell, fangy!?”
“I was hungry and lonely,” the vampire whispers, dropping the noblewoman’s body at her feet. “The woman said she loved vampires and wanted me to eat her. I miss the sun and my sparkles.”
Nyx stares at the vampire in confusion. “Where the hell did you come from? Nevermind. I’m setting you on fire.”
“Wait!” the wand girl shouts, stepping between the two prisoners. “We need her to get out. The door can’t kill something that isn’t dead. Besides, I read that vampires like her can only be killed through beheading.”
“Disintegration is kind of a catch-all death, kid,” Nyx points out. “You read about vampires like her?”
“I’m not proud of it.”
The vampire girl disappears for an instant before ricocheting off an invisible shield around Nyx and the young girl. She hits the wall and lands on her feet, shaking the stars from her eyes.
“Copywritten paralysis spell that this author doesn’t know the name of!” shouts the girl with the wand. She smiles when the vampire girl stands straight, her undead body locked in place. “That should calm her down.”
An arrow strikes the girl in the shoulder and she tumbles to the ground. “You bloody shot me, you crazy bitch! What the fuck is your bloody problem?”
“I-” the archer says. Her words are cut off when she is engulfed in flames and turned into a pile of ashes.
“You two saw me give that idiot a few chances,” Nyx contends, getting a nod from the injured girl and a forced mutter from the vampire. “Good. Let’s get out of here. Close your eyes, fangy.”
Nyx approaches the vampire as violet energy wraps around her arms. She grabs the girl by the ankles and picks her up like a baseball bat. With a wide grin, she walks to the door and strikes it with the paralyzed vampire. The burst of electricity nearly blinds her and fills the room with the smell of burning hair. A coating of violet magic covers the vampire before Nyx strikes again, the electricity weaker this time. Several solid blows later, Nyx gets frustrated and magically rams the vampire girl into the door. The hinges snap and the power source for the trap explodes out of the wall.
“That was easy,” Nyx announces with a grin. She watches the vampire stagger to her feet and stumble into the sunlight. “So, where are you off to, wand-slinger?”
“I have to get back to school before final exams,” the girl answers, cringing at the pain in her shoulder. “I probably should have this taken care of too.”
“Guess I’ll take you home to make sure you’re safe.”
The girl smiles and picks up her fallen tome. “I stay at a wizard’s school. I’m sure you would like it.”
“Oh, I’m sure I’d fit in perfectly,” Nyx replies with a mischievous grin.




