Awesome. “Can any of you see the tails? Are they segmented like that of a scorpion?” Six legs was a dead giveaway. Not that many creatures had six limbs, but I wanted to be sure.

“Yes,” Robert confirmed from the side.

“It’s a tarasque. It comes from the south of France, grows to an enormous size, and it’s supposed to breathe fire.”

Also according to the legends, a tarasque was a dragon. These guys looked more like cats who’d somehow sprouted rhino-like armor, but who was I to complain?

“How did the French kill it?” Derek asked.

“They sent a Christian virgin out, and she bound it with her hair and led it back into the city, where the citizens slaughtered it. We don’t have a virgin handy.”

“No shit,” Desandra said.

The central monster bared her teeth. They were thick, sharp, and crooked.

“Quick, Derek, it’s your chance to shine,” Ascanio said.

Derek gave him a withering look.

“Desandra is a mother, Robert is married, Kate’s affianced, and I’m an old soul. You’re the closest thing to a virgin we’ve got. Get on with growing some flowing locks.”

Robert laughed. The sound was so unexpected, I almost jumped. In all the time I’d interacted with him, a careful smile was as far as he got.

“I’m going to hurt you after this,” Derek promised.

Ascanio grinned. “Hey, I just assumed you were saving yourself for marriage, my mistake.”

Robert pulled two sets of steel knuckles from the inside of his suit. A long curved blade ran the length of the knuckles. Nice. On my right, Ascanio tossed his hair back and retrieved a short sword from his leather jacket. The blade was fifteen inches long and at least two and a half inches wide, single-edge, with a profile that looked almost like an overgrown kitchen knife but with a simple, saber-style cross guard. Ascanio reached for the hilt with his left hand and plucked another sword from the first. Baat Jaam Do. Butterfly swords. Handling two swords took a lot of practice. Well. Interesting.

Three tarasques emerged from the left, two from the right.

“We have two behind us,” Desandra reported.

We were surrounded.

The thick front limbs of the tarasques tensed. Nostrils flared, sending clouds of vapor into the cold night. The tails curved upward, flapping back and forth.

I turned my sword, warming up my wrist.

Monstrous lips stretched. Wicked teeth bit the air.

“Let’s go!” I barked. “I’m bored.”

The beasts scuttled forward like giant cockroaches, moving with an odd gait, lifting the front and back leg on one side and the middle one on the other. The largest of the three beasts hooted like an owl. He was almost to me. In my mind I stepped to the side, swung, and sliced across its neck in a classic diagonal blow. The saber glanced off the carapace. No good.

Ten feet. Stand still.