I blinked and he disappeared, taking my heart with him.
Watching in amazement, Emma sunk one arrow after arrow into the wild beasts. She would cover Chase, Travis, and Lexi as they tore through Hell’s minions. Chase never gave them any slack, but just as he sent one packing, two more appeared in its place. And so it went.
Travis tanked through a pack of hounds that had begun to surround the porch. Deep growls ripped from the bottom of the hounds’ throats. Travis ripped off their heads one by one and their howls turned to screams before they exploded in a burst of grey powder. When the filth settled, Travis stood in the center, unscathed with a grin on his lips.
Emma shook her head. “Showoff,” she muttered, smiling.
Chase went ballistic. And I couldn’t take my eyes off him. Flying through the air, he rushed a demon head-on, spiraling until the demon wacked into a tree and promptly blew up into grey glitter. I held my breath the whole time.
Periodically, his eyes found mine, and I felt his relief each time he saw me unharmed. The same could be said for me. I knew that I would know if he got hurt, but that didn’t stop me from worrying nonstop. My heart plummeted each time I saw him fight. I hated that he was forced to, that they all were forced to. If anyone else died…I couldn’t take anymore causalities of war.
Lexi took a direct hit from a demon while she was engaged with another. The force knocked her to the ground and her body jerked. I gasped. When she whipped her head up, her eyes glittered like topaz gems—total demon possession. “Dickhead,” she growled.
She flickered out of my sight only to reappear behind the one that had struck her and dropkick him to the ground. She dug her ruby heel into his chest, and he disintegrated. Pivoting on her other, she stretched out her leg, and the other bumbling demon ran straight into the lethal red heel.
Lex even killed with pizzazz.
I had been so distracted with Lexi and her deadly shoes that I didn’t hear the lower-demons behind me. Not until one already had his hands on me. From the corner of my eye, I saw that Emma had her hands full with a few nasties of her own. I should have been grateful I only had one to attend to, but in reality, I could barely contend with just one.
The demon latched on to my throat and licked his tar lips. His scolding breath doused my face. I hardly had time to register what he was going to do when he quickly sucked a gulp of my lifesource. “You taste good,” it hissed, his black eyes filled with longing.
One sip was all he was going to get.
I flailed in his arms before I remembered the dagger clasped in my fist, and Emma’s voice in my head instructor me to go low. Only way pierce was needed, to send this being to Hell. “I’m not a snack,” I croaked as I drilled the dagger into his side. Sucker. Chase’s eyes flared behind my attacker as he combusted, spraying grey matter all over me. The blade clattered to the floorboards. I could feel the hammering of Chase’s heart in my chest. Fear for me gripped him. “I’m okay,” I reassured him.
He angled his head. “That was sexy.”
I bent down and picked up the knife. “Stay tuned. There’s more where that came from.” I killed one demon and I started to get smug.
His lips were suddenly on mine, kissing me as if his life depended on it. It was short, but surged with love.
“Can you guys save the mushy stuff for after we finish saving your ass?” Emma said, pulling an arrow out of a demon’s chest right before he splattered into dust.
Chase grinned. “What can I say? Her lips fuel my strength.”
Emma rolled her emerald eyes. “I bet they do, lover boy.”
Now was not the time to start bickering. We were outnumbered. I looked out at the destruction and devastation, and it wasn’t easing up. If anything, it was getting worse. I expected the SWAT team to show up at my house and helicopters to start circling the air. “There are too many. What are we going to do?” I asked, feeling dejected and scared out of my whits.
Lexi, Emma, Travis, and Chase flanked me on both sides, shoulder to shoulder, making an impressive unified front. I was happy to see them all alive with only minor injuries, but our predicament was getting worse with each passing moment. We were holding our own, but for how long?
Now what?
In my head, I sounded a lot braver than I truly felt. What was the point in all of this? I refused to believe that all this was necessary? Did Alastair honestly think Chase was just going to hand me over? Chase would die fighting before that happened. We all knew it.