Anora’s tendrils of mist wrapped around the creature, binding it in place.
	“HA!” Her triumphant cry echoed louder than she had intended in the empty hallway. A grin spread over her lips; at last, she was using her powers for something more than play!
	But Darsby reminded her adrenaline-enhanced excitement about what they faced. She blinked, a hand still extended toward the creature to aid in directing her powers. “We’re doing [i]what[/i] now?”
	She felt the creature move between the mist like a sixth sense, regaining her attention. Her expression sobered and she focused once more on the Blouth. In precaution, with a flash, the tendrils spread over the beast and hardened instead into a barrier, preventing it from escaping. But it did little good to keep it still. Its body rose and fell, like a croaking bellows. 
	She opened her mouth to yell at Darsby to shoot the darned thing already, but then put two-and-two together; the beast was calling the Alpha.
	“A [i]pack?[/i]” she interrupted. [i]Great! Is it calling an Alpha, or its pack?[/i] She grit her teeth as Darsby went on. Confident she would sense if her barrier began to weaken, she looked around the hall, searching for a window. 
	Behind them at the hall's end, a window let in a slice of daylight, its light welcoming amidst the dim emergency lighting. Dustmotes flitted in and out lazily, oblivious to the threat plaguing the hospital. Before she could inform Darsby, a door creaked open.
	Her attention snapped forward. She searched for the sound, more purple sparks igniting over her fingers in preparation to fight or defend. But nothing could have prepared her for the monstrosity that clambered its way into the main hall. 
	Anora had seen plenty of horror films, and even a few decently-done sci-fi ones. But those paled in comparison to the very real monster standing before her. If she did not know better, she would have said it had crawled straight from one of her lucid nightmares. Barely recognizable, only the shreds of the thing’s uniform survived to identify the decapitated female cop.
	Horror froze Anora in place. The light of her barrier flickered. Seeing grotesque figures in her nightmares was one thing. As real as they seemed, she would always wake up, and could usually ultimately pick out the difference between them and reality. But seeing them in person, facing them in her waking world, was something else entirely.
	The moment her gaze inadvertently settled on the blue light, her earlier mantra returned to the forefront of her mind. She tried to look away, to tear herself from it before she could find out [i]why[/i] she was not supposed to look at it, but it was already too late. She heard Darsby’s warning, but it reached her in a jumbled, far-away mush, like it belonged somewhere outside her life, outside of time, her thoughts and will slipping from her.
	She stared numbly at the creature. Her arm lowered without her conscious command. The glow in her violet eyes extinguished with her barrier, the magic fizzling from existence with a burst of purple and gold sparks.
	The earsplitting [i]bang[/i] of gunshots broke whatever spell the light held over her. The sound still echoing painfully in her ears, she wrenched her gaze from the light. She scrunched her eyes shut and shook her head to dispel the lingering sensations of whatever the creature had done to her.
	She heard her name. It took her a moment to realize Darsby had stopped firing. She looked to him as he gave her orders, her heart pounding in her throat. 
	Taking a deep breath, she steeled herself as well as she could. Returning fully to her senses and the situation at hand, she eyed him for scarcely a second.
	Despite his cool, casual demeanor, his shaking hand gave him away. Either he, too, felt fear, or his injuries were catching up to him. Magic bullets or no magic bullets, every body had its limits. For all she knew, he had already overstepped his.
	She hesitated, not wanting to leave him, worried he would collapse. Nonetheless, she took a breath and nodded.
	“Y-You’d better be. There’s a window at the end of the hall.” Not waiting for a response, she turned and jogged toward the window. “But my car’s impounded!” she called behind her. “We’ll have find—!”
	Gunshots echoed through the hall again, cutting her off and making her flinch. Gritting her teeth, she skid to a stop a yard from the window. Keeping a hand over one ear to protect at least [i]some[/i] of her hearing, she inhaled and summoned a crackling ball of energy. She held her hand in front of her as the magic formed over her clenched fist, waiting for Anora to release it.
	She glanced back, her eyes carefully on the floor to avoid being sucked back into the Alpha’s light. She looked just in time to see the parts of the Alpha’s body slide over the tiles slickened with pus-colored slime.
	[b]“Now!”[/b]
	The ball of energy shot from Anora’s fist to the window. The thick glass shattered, sending a spray of glittering shards into the afternoon sunlight. With a last glance behind her to be sure Darsby held true to his word of following, she raced the last couple feet to the window. She hastily shrugged from her backpack, tossed it out the window ahead of her, and jumped outside after it as fast as she could.
	She hissed and grit her teeth when she misjudged the space, and a shard still sticking into the frame sliced into her arm. But she paid it little mind. She had bigger things to worry about. She stumbled when she landed on a patch of grass beside a sidewalk, thankful the ER was on the first floor.
	Glass crunching beneath her boots, she spun back around to face the window. She stepped backward, watching for Darsby to hop out the window behind her, ready to leap back in and help if he was not at her heels.