The Sweetest Burn

The crunch I felt coincided with him going completely limp. A rush of wind warned me to whirl, and the minion whose head I’d bashed missed tackling me by only an inch. His momentum sent him sprawling, and I leaped onto his back before he could roll over and attack me again. With all of my strength, I smashed the rock into his head again. This time, I felt his skull give, and when I jumped off, he was as dead as his now disintegrating friend.

“Head for the nearest church!” I ordered the stunned group of students. “As long as one of those black flumes isn’t on it, you’ll be safe.”

“Screw this,” one of the guys muttered, running off. With a frightened bleat at the bodies turning to ash, the other girls followed him, and none of them were headed toward a church.

My teeth ground together. So many innocent people were getting hurt, killed and kidnapped right now, and as these crowds and the tourists at Scotty’s Castle had taught, everyone was too panicked to do what I said. My best bet was to distract the demons and minions from continuing their evil roundup, and I happened to know the perfect bait. Me.

“I am Ivy Jenkins, the last Davidian!” I yelled, holding up my right arm with its now glowing, uncurling sling for emphasis. “Come and get me, demons!”

All the demons and minions within earshot stopped what they were doing and began to run toward me. Oh shit, I thought, realizing that there were more of them than I had anticipated. A lot more. I didn’t even have enough rocks on me to take out half their number, but I didn’t have to fight them. All I had to do was outrun them. So, I spun around and ran.

My plan to distract them from hurting innocent people worked. Within a staggeringly short amount of time, it looked like I was leading a macabre version of a parade. Gleaming-eyed minions outnumbered their masters by about five to one, but quick looks behind me revealed that at least ten demons were hot on my heels. None of them had wings, though one had the head of an owl, another had long horns and another had Medusa-like snakes protruding from her head.

I began to notch rocks in my sling and hurl them at the horde without really aiming. I didn’t have the time to. I was already running as fast I could while using a supernatural weapon that made my arm feel as though it had been set on fire. Add that to avoiding those winding realm tunnels that more demons could be hiding in, plus trying to run away from the most populated areas to give the people a chance to get away, and it shouldn’t have surprised me that I felled very few of the monsters chasing me.

That was fine, I reminded myself, putting everything I had into increasing my speed. I knew where the Archon gateway was, and once I was through it, none of them could follow. In the Eden realm, I could gather all the rocks I needed and come back through the gateway with my slingshot blazing. They wouldn’t even know what hit them.

A large man stepped out from behind one of the buildings, and relief swelled in me when I recognized him even though he was still about a hundred yards away.

“Ivy, this way!” Adrian shouted, motioning me toward him.

I changed course and headed toward him instead of taking the next right toward the Eden gateway. With more relief, I noted that Adrian didn’t look hurt after his tangle with Blinky. In fact, he didn’t even look wet from my bathwater anymore, and when had he found the time to change clothes? He hadn’t been wearing that outfit the last time I saw him—

Realization hit me and I skidded to a stop a good twenty yards away from him. This might look like Adrian, yet it couldn’t be. And I only knew one demon who could shape-shift into someone’s exact likeness, but he was supposed to be dead. Again.

“Demetrius,” I panted.

Adrian’s form blurred. The unfamiliar clothes that had tipped me off turned into shadows that spread over the demon like a layer of oil. In the next instant, it parted, revealing pale skin, long black hair, a dark pink mouth and the blackest eyes I’d ever seen.

“So,” Demetrius drawled. “You’re not as stupid as I thought you’d be.”

I had another moment to note that his shadows hugged his frame instead of towering behind him in their usual, formidable array. Then reality slammed home. I had succeeded in luring minions and demons away from the helpless, panicked people on campus, but Demetrius’s shape-shifting trick had caused me to veer away from the gateway. Now I was trapped between a murderous crowd at my back and a far more deadly obstacle in front of me, and I was all out of rocks.

“The realm leak wasn’t a result of crumbling walls, was it? You spilled the realm onto the campus,” I accused, trying to stall so I could figure out my next move.

“Of course,” Demetrius replied with naked satisfaction. Then his voice lowered to a hiss. “You destroyed my shadows.” He took a step toward me, rage contorting his features. “You will suffer for that.”

In response, I began to spin the sling. He didn’t know the notch that was supposed to hold a rock was empty. Besides, the rope itself was hallowed. It might not kill him, but if it touched him, it would hurt, and I intended to lash him with it until he was distracted enough for me to run by him.

“One more step, and I’ll finish the job I started with your shadows,” I warned.

He smiled, so satisfied and chilling that I knew my bluff has failed. “If you could, you would have already done so.”

I refused to be deterred by how easily he’d called my bluff. He’s only one demon, I reminded myself, spinning the sling faster. And without his shadows, he was no bigger than an average man. I risked a quick glance behind me. Grins began to wreath the faces of the demons and minions who’d chased me. Shouts rang out, and I recognized enough Demonish to know that they were suggesting different ways to kill me.

Not today, I thought fiercely, about to turn back to Demetrius and lash him with my sling. Then something in the sky caught my eye. The crowd didn’t see it. They were all facing me.

A large form swooped down behind them and began ripping a path through the center of the murderous horde. Glowing, red eyes appeared between the bloody row, and a fierce surge of pride coursed through me. It was Brutus, plowing through the crowd with incredible velocity, his granite-hard wings cutting down everything in his path as if it was grass and he was the lawn mower.

“No!” Demetrius roared.

I ran toward Brutus, not caring that I was also heading toward the remains of the bloodthirsty crowd. Nothing short of a surface-to-air missile could stop Brutus.

His head and shoulders were so large, I hadn’t noticed Adrian crouched behind him until his arm shot out, hand extended for me to grab. I reached up—and a horned demon lunged at me, knocking my hand away. In the same instant, he grabbed Adrian’s arm and yanked. With Brutus’s continued velocity in the opposite direction, Adrian was ripped from the gargoyle’s back.

Multiple shouts sounded as Adrian fell into the crowd. I rushed toward him, but then was snatched up as Brutus’s wild grab for me sank his claws into my shoulders. I screamed as those claws dug deep, hauling me above the crowd. Brutus tried to grab Adrian next, yet he had already been swarmed. Denied of their chance to watch me get murdered, the minions and demons tore at Adrian with all of their unspent vengeance. His arms flashed in a flurry of ferocity as he fought them, but in moments, he was overcome. There were simply too many of them.

“No!” Demetrius shouted again. “Stop!”

I thought that furious roar was directed at me. Brutus was beating his wings, but we were flying right at Demetrius, and even without his lethal shadows, we were low enough that Demetrius could reach me with one good jump. I braced myself to fight. To my complete disbelief, Demetrius ran right past us, throwing himself into the group that surrounded Adrian.

“Get your hands off my son!” he howled.

My own screams drowned out everything as Brutus shifted his grip, his claws tearing out of my flesh as he dropped me, only to grab me in a firmer grip a second later. In this new position, I was able to reach for the harness around his neck, and I hauled myself from his arms up to his back. My shoulders flamed from the multiple puncture wounds and the added agony from the hallowed sling being activated, but I gritted my teeth and wound the reins around my fingers.

Pulling up meant fly higher, pulling down meant dive, and pulling straight out meant cruising. Adrian hadn’t taught me what position meant murder all the bad guys, but I intended to find out. ns class="adsbygoogle" style="display:block" data-ad-client="ca-pub-7451196230453695" data-ad-slot="9930101810" data-ad-format="auto" data-full-width-responsive="true">