Suddenly Madiyan was over me, clutching at my chest, screaming words that I didn’t understand. Blood slicked through the medusa girl’s hair-snakes, reflecting wet firelight. I tried to answer her but my lungs weren’t working. My arms and legs weren’t working. Blood streamed down Madiyan’s forehead, past desperate red eyes, spattered frantically from her lips onto my face. Cold blood, and too much of it. I fought to stand, to reach out, but none of my muscles would move. I strained to shout against the pain in my empty lungs…

—

Winter comes to the Lamia Islands. Some residents avoid the weather, some endure it, some accept it. So it goes with life. Mark and Yurilee return in another original tale set in Okayado’s “Monster Musume” universe.

Sequel to “My Poisonous Friend.”