With a frustrated snort that the beast managed to remain ahead of her, Anora quickened her pace. When they entered a rather deserted back alleyway, the thought that it could be leading her into a trap crossed her mind, but she knew this neighborhood like the back of her hand, and while, if she recalled correctly, ghouls had strength on their side, she had range and power. 
	She smirked when the creature turned down a branch in the alleyway she knew led to a dead-end. This was her chance to corner it.
	Anora spread her arms slightly wider as she advanced upon the opening in the brick buildings, her speed never faltering, and the energy around her hands growing in anticipation.
	She shouted in surprise when something latched onto her wrist the moment she stepped into the opening. Her arm yanked back painfully as it took her legs an extra moment to get the memo of the need to stop. Before she could spin around to face whoever had caught her, her feet were lifted from the ground by her arm. Trying to use the momentum of the action while keeping her left shoulder from dislocating, she swung her free magic-encased fist toward her attacker. The power crackled angrily over her fingers, but the feeling of dipping in cold water flowed over her body from where her captor gripped her, making her fist freeze mid swing and the vibrant energy fizzle out.
	Panic blossomed in her chest and crossed her face as she realized she could not move, but the expression changed the moment she registered who--or, rather, [i]what[/i]--had a hold on her. Anora gawked at the woman standing before her, from the scales that covered her very feminine body in a natural armored garment and jade-like plates over her lean stomach, to her voluptuously emerald hair moving of its own volition. Though reptilian, the impressively tall woman was nothing short of the most beautiful creature she had ever laid eyes on. Though Anora could still move her mouth, could look the creature over, words failed her, leaving her only to stare in amazed horror.
	Her only answer to the woman’s indubitably rhetorical question, the woman’s musical voice holding a regal air, was an extended, ever brilliant, “Uh...” However, the prickle of the woman’s claws on her cheeks had a sobering effect, and Anora's nose and lips rose in a quiet snarl. This was [i]very[/i] real. And if she did not collect herself, she would become another corpse added to the pile of “godly beasts” the woman claimed to have killed. 
	Of all the ways she had imagined stumbling upon another with some sort of power, having a scaly hitwoman out for her had not been one of them.
	For the second time that day, Anora’s heart ferreted madly in her chest.
	The moment her paralysis wore off, her right arm, its muscles still tensed in its swing, followed through with its punch, only to hit empty air as she fell to hands and knees on the concrete. She scrambled back to her feet, looking around wildly for the woman, but her search was in vain. She flinched and ducked cautiously as the reptillion woman’s cruel, disembodied laughter echoed around the alleyway. Her body tense and adrenaline coursing through her, she held her hands in front of her defensively, an indecisive mist of violet and gold swirling around her arms as it waited for her full command as to what form to take. The gold in her eyes intensified with the use of the power, her amethyst irises alight with a faint glow.
	“Bring it, puny Gecko!” she shouted in response to the woman’s insults as she turned, trying to locate the speaker. Then, her eyes settled back on the ghoul she had been chasing, the creature standing some forty feet down the alley.
	She gasped when the beast let out a moan filled with the drone of flies, wasps, and many other creeping bugs that emerged from its jaws in a pool of sickeningly yellow puss. Yet, it was the snakes, of all things, that burst from its skull that made her take a full startled step back, ready to run, but the cold, liquidy sensation slid up her leg. She jumped forward before it could spread too far, and it faded as quickly as it had started.
	She only had one option, then.
	Holding her breath, her body shaking slightly in fear, she had no time to waste. She could only hope what practice she had, even if it had been against foes existing only in her imagination, would suffice.
	She swallowed hard, then inhaled sharply through her nose as the beast rushed toward her. In a single, swift movement, she crossed her arms in front of her, then stepped forward as she yanked them apart again. The mist that had coalesced around them stretched and formed into a shimmering translucent barrier of purple strewn with golden spider webs, followed her arms as she threw them partially behind her, then disconnected to stand on its own. The comforting tingle of the magical barrier surrounded her, caressing her skin as her powers eagerly awaited her next order.
	Even her powers felt slightly different today. More fervid, more willing to obey as if even they knew she was in danger. Following some unfamiliar instinct, she waited until the ghoul was slightly closer, swished her left arm in front of her once more, then placed an open palm on the inside of the barrier. At her touch, electric sparks engulfed the outside, and she ran toward the ghoul with a wordless battle cry, the heat and electricity radiating from the shield making her hair stand slightly on end even on her protected side. Though she hoped to ram into the beast with all the fury of a lightning storm, she remained ready to turn should it dodge, to fire the crepitating shield she had created wherever it went. Even, perhaps, to wrap it in a prison of sparkling gold and deep purple.