She dropped the Shield wall as Chimera leaped at it, falling through the wall. The momentum was strong enough that she sailed clear over Chris' head, who had to duck to avoid the tail, and landed feet splayed behind her. Turning around to face the monster, she dropped to the floor in time to avoid the funnel of flame. "He is not your mate!" she shouted over the roar of flames.
Her clothes were on fire and she brushed them off her hand. She was left with her black pants and shirt, and her shoes. She glanced down at her boots and the knives the boys gave her shot out the tops, settling into her hands.
With a wild yell, she ran at the Chimera, sending silent curses, one after another. Only one or two actually hit the monster, as it dodged most them. The places where they hit the wall burned black on the stone. It tottered for a second, but planted its feet, coming at a dead run. Chris sent several jets of water down her throat, and the fire that was coming out extinguished.
That should keep it from belching more fire. She turned her attention to the scorpion tail. To just hack off the tail was near impossible, and if she did, she wasn't sure what the blood might do. Making a mental note to check that when she wasn't about to get cooked, she fired a Stunner at it. It hit in the chest mid-jump and the chimera dropped like a rock, coming back and spraying a blast of fire at Chris. She threw up a shield charm and more water. Apparently the younger they came, the more fire. Hastily redirecting the water to protect James, she leaped up to the suits of armor. The blast of fire followed her and she almost slipped off the quickly melting tin. She lunged and barely snatched the candelabra in the wall. The delicate hooks almost ripped out of a wall and the liquid wax spilled out, streaking through her hair and spilling down her back. She stifled a scream, slipping onto a window ledge. The fire stopped, and as it cleared, Chris could see why. She was only a few feet away from James, who was still thankfully conscious.
She launched another jet of water and it met the next blast of fire midair.
Steam exploded on contact and a thick fog spread out, dissipating to the edges of the hall. Dropping to the floorto the floor in the temporary mist, Chris winced at the heat. The floor was so hot from the heat of the flames it was becoming malleable under her boots. She scrambled farther away from the Chimera, coming out at the other end of the hall. The powerful Chimera roared in anger. Its fire had become too hot, and it couldn't walk across the floor now either, and the fire she was attempting to hit Chris with wasn't going far enough to hit her, instead sending the liquid slag to Chris' end of the corridor. "Would you quit that?" Chris bellowed. "Neither of us can cross the floor now and James could burn to death up there!" The chimera stopped and settled for pacing. "He's alright for now. But I'm going to start cooling the floor to take some of the heat off. Okay?"
At a rather obvious nod, Chris began spraying the floor with ice, cooling the stone. "Why do you love him so?" She asked.
The chimera looked up from it's pacing. "His smell."
Chris blinked a few times, smoothing the stone with a spell. "Beg pardon? His…smell."
The chimera snorted in a way that could almost be taken for dismissive. "Yes. A chimera knows it's mate by the smell. It's addictive."
"But, he's human."
"I was so as well, even if for a short time." Seeing Chris' confusion, she elaborated.
"A chimera will only take one mate in their life, there is no other."
"How would that work?" Chris asked.
"By certain enchantments, he can become a chimera. Mostly."
"So that's the answer? Making him something he's not?"
"He would learn. I love him!"
Both fell silent. "Do you love him?" the chimera asked.
"No. I'm 15. I don't fall in love at fifteen."
Looking down at the floor, she saw the floor had cooled to a slick surface, except right by the chimera's feet. There it had flowed into waves like forms. Chris carefully ran the tip of her boot over it, feeling with an odd sense of surety, that this may be one of the last breaths she ever took.
Flexing her legs a final time, she took off at a dead run, straight at the chimera. It roared and leaped forward to meet her attack. Boots pounded and claws flashed as they raced a hundred yards to the other.
Less than twenty feet from the chimera, she dropped, now sliding down the slick floor. There was a faintest grade that hadn't been there before, but she was gaining speed from it quickly. The large chimera gave a strangled noise as both of Chris' knives slid up through her throat, and kept sliding, cutting her open from throat to ribs on a single stroke.
Letting go of the hilts, she kept sliding till she crashed into the rippled stone. She winced at the pain in her hip, but rolled over to her feet to see what was happening.
The chimera was coughing, falling over to the floor. Bits and pieces of her insides were coming out, along with lots of blood, blood so dark it was just a few shades shy of black. With a final roar, the creature died.
Chris struggled to her feet, adrenaline still rushing. She waved her hand, and the great beast began to burn, destroying any evidence that there had been a fight. The scorch marks disappeared, as did the blood that was running everywhere. The floor was beyond repair and it didn't look much different than the rest, just slippery.
She turned to the arch, leaping up the suits of armor to where James was. His eyes were wide open and he was staring at the ground, where the chimera disappeared in the final lick of flame. "What just happened?" He whispered, eyes wide with shock.
She scooped him up, lifting the Sticking Charm. "She was a chimera."