The Shadowed Manse by David Alastair Hayden, Pepper Thorn

Arthur dove to the side and rolled out of the way. Morgan activated her force field and met the beast head-on. The impact knocked her back against the wall. She struck the pads with a THUMP, but not nearly so hard as Arms had. She sank down to her knees, gasping for air. Her shield had saved her; and she still had her hands up, keeping it active.
    Lexi leapt on top of the monster, dug her front claws into its neck, and raked with her back claws. The monster roared and bucked like a bronco, but it couldn’t shake her loose. Unfortunately, all she seemed to do was make it angrier. Vassalus sprang to Morgan's side and stood guard beside her.
    The monster stopped bucking, and again charged Arthur. He only managed to get off four shots before it reached him. Three shots struck it in the chest. One shot struck it between the eyes — and did nothing. Unfazed, unharmed — the beast kept charging toward him.
    He didn’t dive aside soon enough. The monster’s horns clipped him in the side. He somersaulted through the air and struck the wall.
    THOOM!
     
    *****
     
    “Arthur!” Lexi screamed. “Arthur! Are you okay?”
    Arthur woke, hurting and winded. He wasn’t sure how long he’d been out. Morgan was standing over him and shielding him with her force field, as the monster repeatedly head-butted and chomped down at them. With her heels dug into the floor, she held her ground, but just barely, and only because the monster wasn’t charging. If not for Morgan and those gloves, he’d be dead by now. But her shield wasn’t defeating the monster, and it probably couldn’t hold up forever …
    Clawing her way up onto the back of the monster’s head, Lexi was doing her best to kill the monster, but was getting nowhere. Vassalus locked his jaws onto the creature’s tail and bit down hard enough to draw dark, smoky blood from it — but without letting up on its attacks against Morgan, the monster deftly wrapped its tail around Vassalus and squeezed him boa constrictor-style. Clutching his ribs, Valet stabbed the tail with his rapier, but that didn’t help at all.
    Despite the danger, Arthur drifted back into darkness — then woke with pain flaring in his forearm. What the heck?! Morgan was still shielding him. What had —
    Morgan lifted her foot and aimed her heel at him.
    “Hey!” he said.
    “Stay awake and do something!”
    “What?”
    “I don’t know … anything! I can’t hold out —” her shield flickered “— much longer.”
    The beast chomped down, and the shield flickered and shrunk down so that it barely covered him and Morgan at the same time. But as it bit down, Arthur spotted something: a glowing red dot at the back of the monster’s mouth. That was odd.
    Arthur scanned around; he had dropped his rayguns when the monster knocked him against the wall. Ugh, one was under the creature, and the other was … over ten yards away. He’d never get to it before — oh, Morgan’s! It was in the holster on her opposite hip from him.
    He rose up into a crouch, reached around Morgan’s waist, and drew her gun.
    Morgan elbowed him in the throat. “Don’t touch me, perv!”
    Arthur doubled over, sucking wind. “Wasn’t — trying — to —”
    The beast struck hard — the shield went out. The creature caught Morgan with its horns and flung her aside. Arthur readied himself to die, but the beast thudded after Morgan. The force field must have angered it. Morgan sat up slowly, too dazed to move or realize how much danger she was in. He had to get over there fast . He started toward her, but the beast was already rearing up; he wasn’t going to make it in time.
    No — this wasn’t going to be like with Derek. He wasn’t going to lose someone else — especially not Morgan. He needed her. The world seemed to close in around Arthur, as if he were in a tunnel — just like when he attacked Derek earlier in the day — but this time a white mist surrounded him instead of shadows. A surge of adrenaline pumped