It’s too strong, she thought as she watched it bound up anew, its hide smoking, but its madness undiminished. I can’t win this.
This time the demon got through her defenses far enough to backhand her so hard that she flew off her feet and halfway across the clearing. Her ears were ringing as she scrambled up, her head swimming with the blow. She fought off another attack, and then another.
“Ailie!” she shouted.
She didn’t expect help from the tatterdemalion, but she needed to know where Ailie was. She was already eyeing the ATV, thinking that her only chance was to get away, to put enough distance between herself and the demon that it couldn’t get at her. It felt like a coward’s choice, not the right choice for a Knight of the Word, but it might keep her alive to fight another day.
She caught a glimpse of Ailie as the other peeked out from behind the Mercury. The tatterdemalion was thinking the same thing, but there was little she could do to help make it happen. Tatterdemalions were Faerie creatures, lacking sufficient substance to engage in physical combat. They were mostly air and light. She might reason and counsel, but she was not going to do much to fight off a demon.
Which right now was back on top of Angel, slamming her backward, striking at her as though the staff’s terrible fire were thin paper. It was as if the pain was making it stronger, giving it fresh energy, while Angel’s strength continued to diminish. Angel blocked the follow-up attack, sidestepping the other’s shredding claws, trying not to look into the terrible yellow eyes. There was a hypnotic quality to the demon’s gaze, the kind that predatory creatures used to freeze their prey in place while they ripped out their throats. Look too closely into that gaze and there was no escape. Angel concentrated on the elongated arms with their razor-sharp claws, still reaching for her, slashing.
She was aware that she was wounded anew, fresh blood running down one shoulder and arm. Somehow the demon had gotten through her defenses. It would continue to find ways to do so, she realized. It would continue until she collapsed.
Until it was over.
She took a chance. She attacked. Mustering all the strength she could, she launched a fiery strike at the sleek form, hammering into it with everything she had, sending it flying backward into the trees. Even as it was tumbling out of view, she was racing to gain the Mercury. She leapt astride and slammed down the ignition button. The engine caught and roared to life.
Already the demon was bounding out of the trees, coming for her anew, shrieking in fury.
“Ailie!” she cried, and felt the tatterdemalion’s arms come around her waist.
She turned the black staff on the demon once more and sent the Word’s white fire lancing into it. But this time the demon kept coming, arms raised protectively, taking the brunt of the attack, the scaly hide smoking and burning as it fought its way through Angel’s defenses. Angel held it off as long as she could, as long as she could maintain the fire in a steady stream.
Then, as she felt it begin to collapse, her strength exhausted, she wrenched the Mercury’s throttle forward and launched the ATV directly at the demon.
It was a bold move. The demon was too big and strong for her to simply drive over it. But she reacted to the situation, and it probably saved her. The demon could have stood its ground, but the maneuver surprised it. It saw the big machine tearing toward it and instinctively leapt out of the way.
Before it realized that it had made a mistake, Angel was past it and tearing down the highway at full speed.
The demon gave chase at once. It came bounding out of the trees after the Mercury, enraged. Angel opened the throttle a notch further. But she could not risk going any faster because this highway, like all the others in the world, was littered with debris. If she hit a big enough obstacle, she would flip the bike and go over and that would be the end of her.
“Faster, Angel!” Ailie cried in her ear, pressing close.
She gritted her teeth, bent low over the handlebars, and ratcheted the throttle up another notch, eyes on the road. When she couldn’t stand it any longer, she glanced back at their pursuer. It was farther away now and fading, unable to keep up the pace.
But still coming, still giving chase.
The last she saw of it before it receded into the distance was the gleam of its yellow eyes in the mix of woodland shadows and light.
Chapter TWENTY-NINE