Lily screamed and threw a punch at Jeff’s face, but he easily deflected it. “I really don’t like hitting girls, even if they are Azazel’s flunkies, but if you keep throwing punches, I will defend myself.”
Lily threw a kick aimed for Jeff’s crotch. He caught her foot in midair, twisting it around until she face-planted in the dirt. “I told you. Stop while you’re ahead. Or at least fight another girl. After you turned traitor on the group, I’m not above smacking you around a little.”
“Bite me.” Lily pushed off the ground and wiped the dirt from her face with the back of her hand.
“Oh, for goodness sake,” I said, shaking out my arms and rolling my shoulders, “if she wants to fight, let her fight.” I took a fighting stance. “C’mon, this is what you’re here for right? To have another go at me? You’re jealous—”
She swung, and I blocked the blow easily. “I’m not jealous of you.”
I made a quick jab. I knew I connected with her face when the familiar pain of a successful hit spread through my hand. She glared at me and spat a wad of mucus next to my foot. I made the mistake of looking at that grossness and not watching Lily. She got a fairly good hit in. I flicked my thumb over my lip to wipe away the trickle of blood.
“Oh, Lily, yes you are jealous.” I feigned a right and landed a left. “You’re afraid Chay likes me a little too much. I’ve seen the way you look at him. Looks like yours only mean one thing—you’ve got it bad, don’tcha?”
Lily screamed and landed a nice roundhouse to the side of my head. I stumbled, taking a second to shake it off. She came at me with a jab to the abdomen. I blocked it with a grunt.
I swept her feet out from under her. She fell on the ground. One knee in her back, my head down as I tried to catch my breath, I panted when I spoke, “All those months of secretly wanting him and he never noticed you. Now the new girl is hanging around, and you’re jealous.” I stood and kicked the dirt wet with her mucus at her. “You know what? You should be jealous.”
Lily stood and stepped to the side. I mimicked her movement. My gaze stayed locked on her. We circled each other like a pair of those wind-up ballerinas in a cheap jewelry box. I waited for her tell. I knew she’d make her move soon. I just had to wait her out. Out of my peripheral vision, I saw my group lined up in front of the group that came with Lily. Yeah, they had my back.
“He’d never touch you,” she ground out between clenched teeth.
“Oh, but you’re wrong.” I pouted. “Poor Lily. He has touched me, and now that you’re out of the picture for good, I’m gonna get everything you wanted.”
She started to circle faster. Her eyes darted from my eyes to my side and back again.
Yeah. Go for it.
She screamed and threw a kick at my right side. I sidestepped, but I still caught some of the impact. It was enough to make me eat dirt. I rolled and scissored my legs, knocking her legs out from under her. She fell next to me with a grunt. We recovered and jumped to our feet almost simultaneously. She threw a jab. I blocked it just before I made contact with a palm-heel strike to the head, knocking her on her ass, dazed.
“Milayna, if you keep knocking that poor thing on the head, you’re gonna give her permanent brain damage,” my dad called as he and Chay’s dad walked toward us from the parking lot.
“Dad…” I threw my arms out at my sides before letting them drop and smack against my thighs. “She doesn’t need a brain to work for Azazel.”
He shrugged. “True.”
“Damn, girl. What are you, a black belt?” Jeff looked at me with wide eyes.
“Brown.” I smiled at Jeff just as a flash of blinding white light lit up the football field. I shielded my eyes with my hand. “What was that?”
“Just Azazel having a little temper tantrum, that’s all. We might have a demon or two show up,” Chay’s dad said behind me. I glanced at him over my shoulder. His hands fisted at his sides.
“Great. I can’t wait.” Goose bumps broke out across my skin, and I shivered.
He looked at me and smiled. “No worries.”
“Well, since I’m new at this stuff, what do we do now? Do we fight? Do we run?” I looked at the group of teenagers that arrived with Lily.
One burly boy with fists the size of Christmas hams gawked at me and smiled. “We fight until you give up and join us. Azazel needs you.”
“Then I guess it’s going to be a long fight.” I opened my mouth to say something else, but the ham-hand guy punched me. If Chay hadn’t knocked into him, I’d have been laid out next to Lily in the dirt.
Oh, is this over yet? Can we just agree to disagree and go home? I want to curl up in bed and forget all about this. I already hurt. I’m such a baby.
That one hit was all it took to start things, and for a second, I froze. It wasn’t at all like the small tiff I had with Lily. Nope. They didn’t fight one at a time. A tangle of arms and legs kicking and punching covered the football field. The hobgoblins ran with glee through the maelstrom, cheering the demi-demons on.