Good God, I was so going to reconsider pissing Daemon off next time.
The Arum dodged the asphalt and trees, throwing back what looked like globs of oil. Where the murky stuff landed, the road smoked. Burnt tar filled the air.
Then Daemon was nothing but blinding white light, a being that was not human, but otherworldly, beautiful and frightening in the same breath. The glow heightened around his outstretched limbs, forming a crackling ball of energy that snapped. Light dripped onto the road. Power lines overhead snapped and then exploded. The Arum blinked out, but their shadows couldn’t hide from Daemon’s light. I could see them moving toward him still. One darted out to the side, rushing him.
Daemon brought his hands together and the blast that followed shook the car. Light erupted from him, zinging straight into the one nearest, sending the Arum spinning up into the air, where for a moment he was in a human form. Dark sunglasses shattered. Pieces floated in the air, suspended. Another clap followed and the Arum exploded in an array of dazzling lights that fell like a thousand twinkling stars.
Daemon threw out his arm, and the other Arum flew back several feet, spinning and tumbling through the air, but he landed in a crouch.
Run. The voice came in my head. Run now, Kat. Don’t look b ack. Run!
I threw the car door open and stumbled out. Falling to my knees, I scrambled down the ditch, wincing at the sound of the Arums’ howls. I made it to the first tree that was still standing and stopped. Instinct told me to keep running, to do as Daemon instructed, but I couldn’t leave him there. I couldn’t run away.
With my heart leaping into my throat, I turned around. The two remaining Arum were circling him, fading out to nothing more than shadows and then reforming back into the tall, imposing figures.
Thick globs of midnight oil shot past Daemon, narrowly missing the halo of light surrounding him. One of the dark streams smacked into a tree on the other side of the road, splitting it in two.
Daemon retaliated by throwing balls of light at them, wicked fast and deadly. They whizzed through the air, forming walls of flames that fizzled out when they didn’t hit one of the Arum. The Arum were not as fast as Daemon, but they managed to avoid each of his missiles. After about thirty were lobbed, I could tell Daemon’s light form was slowing down, the time between bombs stretching longer and longer. I remembered what he’d said after he’d stopped the truck. Using his powers wore him out. He couldn’t keep this up.
Terror trickled through me as I saw them close in on Daemon, their darkness nearly enveloping his light. A ball of bright red flames formed and shot out toward the Arum, but Daemon missed. The ball of fire skidded across the road, fizzing out harmlessly.
One of the Arum flickered out completely, while the other kept throwing oily bombs at Daemon over and over, never slowing down. Daemon flickered in and out, reappearing a few feet away from each projectile. He was moving so fast, the entire scene started to look like I was watching it unfold under strobe lights.
Daemon was focused on the one Arum lobbing oil bombs and he didn’t see the other reappear behind him. The shadowy arms wrapped around what appeared to be Daemon’s head, bringing him down to his knees on the side of the road. I cried out, but the sound was lost in the Arum’s laugh.
“Ready to beg?” the Arum in front of him taunted, taking human form. “Please do. It would mean a lot to hear the word ‘please’ leaking from your lips as I take everything from you.”
Daemon didn’t respond, but his light was crackling and intense.
“Silence to the end, eh? So be it.” The Arum stepped forward, lifting his head. “Baruck, it is time.”
Baruck forced Daemon to stand. “Do it now, Sarefeth!”
A part of my brain clicked off. I was moving without thinking, running toward the very thing Daemon had ordered me to run away from. The obsidian grew warm in my hand as I rushed up the gully, burning like coals. A heel on my shoe snapped off when it became tangled in the downed branches, but I kept going.
I wasn’t brave. I was desperate.
Sarefeth turned into a shadow, thrusting an arm forward, into the center of Daemon’s chest. Daemon’s scream tore through me, heightening the fear, flipping it into anger and desperation. Daemon’s light flared, blinding and concentrated. The ground shook with a giant tremor.
Only a few feet behind Sarafeth now, I threw my arm back, obsidian in hand, and jumped forward and brought it down with every ounce of strength I had. I expected to meet resistance, flesh and bone, but the obsidian cut through the shadow, like Sarefeth was made of nothing more than smoke and air, and I stumbled to my knees.
Sarefeth jerked back, pulling his arm free of Daemon’s light. He spun around, his shadowy arms reaching for me. I scrabbled backward, falling down. The obsidian glowed in my hand, humming with energy.
And then Sarefeth stopped. Pieces of him broke free from his form, clumps of darkness drifting into the sky, obscuring the stars until all of him was there one minute and floating away the next.
Baruck released Daemon, taking a step back. For a moment he was in human form, dark jeans and a jacket, his expression horrified, gaze locked on the glowing obsidian in my grip. His eyes met mine for only a second. Vengeance had been promised in that minute stare. And then he was a shadow, pulling the darkness into him, fleeing toward the other side of the road like a coiled snake and disappearing into the night.
I scuttled over branches and cracked pavement in a mad dash to reach Daemon’s side. He was still nothing more than light, and I had no idea where to touch him or how badly he was hurt.