“He wants you,” one of them called back.
“He’s a fool and a coward. And he doesn’t know when to take a hint. I’ve already said no. More than once. Does he need me to draw it in crayon?”
I heard Chay groan behind me and mutter something about ‘not keeping my mouth shut.’
The Evils and demi-demons moved closer to us. One guy stood in front of me. He was half a head taller than me, but as thin as a rail.
I can take string bean, here, easy.
I rolled my shoulders and shook out my arms.
“What did you say?” the guy asked.
“Milayna,” Chay warned.
I was way too stubborn to listen to Chay’s subtle warning. Instead, I continued egging the demi-demon on. Taunting him. “I said, Azazel. Is. A. Fool. And. A. Coward.” I over-enunciated each word to make my point. I was tired. Irritated they were ruining our night. And I wanted to go home. Plus, if we ended up fighting, they were going to ruin my brand new, sexy, silk shirt. And that pissed me off.
He reached out and slapped me hard across the face. My head snapped to the side from the force. My skin burned, and I was sure if I looked in a mirror, I’d see a perfect, red handprint.
Whoa. Should’ve been paying attention. I didn’t see that one coming.
Chay tried to push past me. I held my arm out to stop him.
“It’s okay.” In my mind, I was visualizing hitting the idiot that slapped me. I turned quickly, hit the guy under the chin with a palm-heel strike, kneed him in the balls, and pushed him away from me.
He lay on the ground, holding his crotch. I walked over to him and crouched down.
“Don’t ever touch me again,” I whispered.
“You’re either fearless or a badass,” Drew said from my side when I’d stood. I didn’t have time to answer. The rest of the demi-demons rushed us.
Before I could turn around, one had me in a bear hug from behind. I elbowed him in the stomach. He let go and I turned, kicking at his balls—always my favorite move on a guy—but he caught my foot and twisted it. I landed on my stomach with a grunt—the concrete ate away the flesh at my elbows.
I pushed myself off the ground and punched behind his knee. He fell next to me. I landed an uppercut. I could feel his teeth clamp together when the hit connected, sending jolts of pain through my hand.
He looked at me with such hatred that I flinched. He got one good backhand to my face in before I rolled, jabbed him in the side, and swung my arms, jumping to my feet.
I was fighting off my doofus of a demi-demon when a heard a commotion to my left. Shouting, scuffling, Chay cursing a violent string of words, a grunt, and then nothing.
The guy I was fighting took advantage of my distraction and got a good hit to my head. I shook off the stars I saw floating in front of my eyes just in time to block his next blow. He threw another punch, and I ducked. He hit nothing but air. It threw him off balance enough that two good kicks had him lying on the ground.
I ran to Chay. There was a group of demi-demons, and I only saw Drew and Jake fighting them, but I knew Chay was in the mix. I’d heard him.
What’s Jake doing here? He had football practice tonight.
The closer I got to the group, the stranger I felt. My stomach swirled like someone was using a hand mixer in it. Around and around it went, scraping the sides of my body. A heat built in my chest and radiated through my body down to my fingers and toes. I looked at my fingers. They looked the same, but they tingled, like how it felt after I’d slept on my hand, when it prickled and tingled.
Pushing my way through the group of demi-demons, I braced myself for them to fight, but they ignored me, too preoccupied by the show in the middle of the circle. When I broke through the circle of people and saw what had their attention, my breath stalled and I was frozen in place. My eyes refused to translate the image I saw to my brain.
Then Jake hit him again and blood flew out of Chay’s mouth and splattered on my leg.
I pushed off as hard as I could and barreled into Jake. He was huge. A football player, he worked out in the weight room regularly. I knew I didn’t have a chance in hell against him, so I was counting on the element of surprise. I barely budged him, but I prevented him from landing another hit on Chay.
“What the hell are you doing?” I screamed.
“Fighting with my team.” He gave me one of his movie-star-handsome smiles.
“Your team? Since when do you fight against us?”
“Since I joined with Azazel.” I just stared at him. Another demi-demon came close and assumed a fighting stance. Jake waved him away. He stepped toward me and cupped my cheek. “Don’t look so surprised.” His body almost touched mine. Not quite, but I could feel his heat. His hand still held the side of my face, and his thumb rubbed over my cheek. “Come with me. You’d have everything you’ve ever dreamed of.” He leaned forward, and his lips skimmed mine. “We’d be good together, Milayna.”