Darkling Dearest
Midnight had fallen. But Melissa didn't feel the usual quiet and warmth of it. Instead her head was pounding and everything hurt. She tasted a mixture of salt and blood in her mouth. Something warm was sliding down her cheek. Blood. Then, she heard voices. They were Jessica's, Jonathan's, and Dess's.
"Are you ok?" asked Dess.
"Well, I don't feel great but I'm not gonna die."
"Ok, you two go save Rex, and I'll stay here with Melissa," commanded Dess.
And Melissa heard them lifting off to go to her Loverboy and then the noise of clinking metal filled her ears. Dess was looking for weapons in that famous duffle bag of hers. At last the metal banging stopped. But Dess wasn't done yet, because then Melissa heard her pounding 13 metal stakes in a circle around them. "It's not gonna do any good. What's coming is bigger than this bit of protection. But the darklings probably have bigger fish to fry," she thought.
As Melissa sank in and out of consciousness, a familiar taste filled her mouth. Rex's taste. But, there was something different about it. His usual sweet and salty taste had a new twist of rusted penny to it. "Was he really... No, he couldn't be. It's not possible," she thought. She refused to believe that Rex was a darkling. How could her Loverboy be a halfling? At least the Flamebringer and Flyboy were on their way there. "Fly as fast as you can, Rex is in trouble," she mindcasted to them. She uttered one last word before she let cool, black unconsciousness cover her like a blanket, "Rex."