Here lies Dom, trampled to squishy jelly by his own war boar.

  It’s not a great eulogy, but it will be an accurate one if I don’t figure this out. What was a three-on-one battle, heavily skewed in our favor is now even odds. Maybe. I have no idea what the skills are of a Siren. Baco, I know, and that’s not a good thing.

  The Siren stands in the doorway behind Baco on the other side of the tiny lake. It doesn’t have a door, so maybe doorway is the wrong word. And she doesn’t have legs, so maybe standing is the wrong word. She’s rearing, swaying like a cobra.

  “Sadie, can you hit her with fire from here?”

  “Maybe?” she answers, fire flaring on her hands as she positions herself next to me. “That’s a bit far.”

  We need to tilt the odds back to us. I get the distinct impression I could throw the spear and skewer Baco a few dozen meters away, but without a weapon I’m down to my non-flaming fists, and who knows what happens to my little piggy.

  I also get another chunk of distinct knowledge that I have never learned. Unsummoning Baco will take too long. Ten, maybe fifteen seconds. That would be long enough to learn if Siren bites are venomous.

  Why hasn’t he charged yet?

  Because I’m an idiot. The Siren is behind him, swaying. And healing. Sadie’s first shot made a hole in her wing. She moved far enough away, guarded by Baco, and that wound is shrinking.

  Caution may be the better part of valor, but we should have jumped right into a fight. Lesson learned for next time. If there is a next time.

  “I’ll take Baco with impale, you keep Mariah Scary busy. Take out the wings.”

  She stops singing. Her mouth opens wide and it’s the sound of an entire choir screaming at the top of their lungs. Baco lunges forward, a huge spray of water coming off him like a speedboat. Baconator Prime nearly killed us both the first time around. I plant my feet and brace for impact. Sadie starts running out of Baco’s path, throwing a few small fire balls that burst around the walls of the room near the Siren, but no direct hits.

  The Siren shoots from the doorway, a long scaly arrow, no longer curvy and flexy, right at Sadie.

  “COME ON!” I yell the split second before Baco connects with me and the spear.

  The playbook of war boars is limited. Charge, gore leg. This time he wasn’t purple-powered, so I almost have time to dodge. The spear cuts a long gash over his shoulder, and a tusk tears through my calf in a slightly lower targeted replay of our first encounter. We each shout in pain.

  I fall to one knee. This wound is a ragged rip that would have shattered my shin half an inch over. Why does it hurt as much as when he had that huge tusk in my thigh? This wound is much smaller, more from a kitchen knife and not the tearing of a giant meat hook.

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  Because I lowered my vitality to summon Baco. Wounds hurt more now. This fight is turning out to be disadvantage upon disadvantage, and now I’m being dominated by my own freaking boar. I turn unevenly to face Baco before he gets set for another charge. I see sparks bouncing off the ceiling. Sadie is slinging flames and dodging as the Siren darts back and forth, trying to land a cobra strike on her.

  Baco is bleeding. Not as bad as I am. I plant the spear to the ground, waiting for the next rush.

  “Come at me, you goddamned stupid pig,” I shout. This time, I will dive out of the way as soon as he starts moving, and I will dive the opposite direction. “You’re supposed to be MY DAMN PIG!”

  Baco stumbles slightly. My shoulder hurts.

  Wait, we felt each other’s wounds – we’re reconnecting. The Siren has stopped singing, too busy snake dancing with Sadie. Sadie and I were too beat up in our first fight, it never occurred to me that we might share aches and pains.

  I force myself to stand straight. I hold my spear defensively before me, not waiting for that charge. I glare at Baco.

  “MY. DAMN. PIG.”

  Ding.

  You have gained the Domination (Emerging, Level 1) skill.

  Baco plops that fat ass down, awaiting commands, little whisk tail splashing puddle water.

  “DOM!” Sadie shouts. I turn. The Siren has wrapped around Sadie, over one arm, under the other as a feather boa without feathers. An actual boa boa. Her hands are glowing internally, but there isn’t any fire at all. The Siren strains and flaps furiously.

  Sadie’s hooves leave the pool. The Siren is lifting her away.

  “Not on my watch,” I declare, throwing the spear like a javelin. God, I hope I have the throw spear skill or there is a strong chance I’m skewering my bondling.

  I do not throw the spear like a javelin. I throw a javelin. The damn thing transforms as I release it, extending and thinning. It lodges right into the webbing of a wing. Sadie grabs the haft and tugs, pulling it free as a spear again. The Siren screams that choral shriek and Sadie drops back into the pool with a parkour roll, almost making the superhero landing pose. The Siren flaps, but that wing is Swiss cheese and it flails in the air for a moment before splashing down next to Sadie. We need to keep the pressure on. If it rests, it heals.

  Sadie pulls back and lands a solid punch to Mariah Scary’s not-quite-human face.

  “Charge,” I signal to Baco, my wounded leg preventing me from running in myself.

  The sound of war boar squeals and Siren being trampled brutishly becomes a hellish chorus I hope to never hear again.

  I take a step to get to my spear and drop to my knees.

  “Dom?” Sadie says, rushing over to catch me. “It’s your lowered vitality from having two summons. You can’t take as many hits as you did before.”

  I nod. “Figured.”

  She gets her shoulder under mine and starts to carry me.

  “You’re a summoner,” she says. “You manipulate pneuma. You can steal hers.”

  Pneuma. She said it once before. The satyr word for life force. Greek for the breath of life. That’s how I summon. I must lend parts of my pneuma to my bondlings and the system translates that to a vitality total. In essence, I sacrifice some of my health to create a new creature. It weakens me, but it’s worth it. And it hurts. She leads me to the dying Siren. Baco sits proudly next to the shattered body.

  “Use hers,” Sadie says, pointing. “She’s still alive.”

  “What?”

  “Dom, you’re low on vitality,” she says quickly. “Pneuma. The stuff of life. Take it from the dying Siren.”

  I’m a vampire now? I kneel next to the battered and bruised serpentine thing.

  “Remember, just do, don’t think.” Sadie urges. “Hurry, it won’t work if it’s dead.”

  I shake my head and look at the monster before I put my hand to its neck. The weirdest rush, like an IV of warm fluid, rushes up my arm when I squeeze. My hand glows and I can see my bones. The Siren twitches and I feel as if I’ve taken the most refreshing drink of my life.

  My leg is instantly healed.

  Ding.

  You have gained the Life Siphon (Emerging, Level 1) skill.