In a flash, he aimed a high sidekick at the left side of my chest. I brought up my forearm and blocked it. Pain crackled down the side of my arm, but it was better than getting hit in the face. The blow knocked me off-balance, giving him the chance to knee me in the gut. Quickly, I blocked it and thrust my palm upward, aiming at his nose. His head snapped back, allowing me a couple crucial seconds.
I slammed my one fist into his solar plexus and hit him with a powerful roundhouse kick in the same place. He stumbled backward, clutching the spot and trying to breathe. I darted forward to finish him off with a two-handed hit, but at the last minute he grabbed my wrists and whirled, slamming me into the wall behind him. The back of my head hit, stunning me. In an instant he pinned my hands, and stared down at me with a patronizing look.
“Give up?”
“Not hardly,” I spat, sliding my right leg forward. I kneed him in the crotch. He hissed, loosening his grip on my arms. While he was distracted, I shoved my foot into his stomach and pushed him away, ignoring the painful bump I could feel rising on my skull.
Belial let out a rush of breath and nodded in my direction, seeming impressed.
“It seems I underestimated you, Jordan.”
I shrugged one shoulder. “A lot of people do that.”
“Very well. Perhaps I should treat you as an equal.”
Uh oh. I didn’t like the sound of that.
Belial unbuttoned his shirt a little more. “You do realize that I could just threaten everyone you’ve ever loved. I could make some grand speech about how they would die in horrible fashions: torn apart, drowned, strangled, stabbed. But that wouldn’t work on you, would it?”
I focused on his seemingly harmless movements, waiting for the inevitable attack. “No, it wouldn’t. There’s no reason to think you wouldn’t just kill them anyway after you have my soul.”
Belial nodded, fixing me with his predatory gaze. “Exactly. So that argument would be useless to pursue. However, there is the question of Michael.”
As soon as he spoke his name, I felt another wave of worry roll through me. How many minutes had we wasted? Where was he? Or was Belial just bluffing?
The demon moved so fast that I almost didn’t see it. Left jab, right cross, uppercut, left hook. I moved in close so some of them would miss, trying not to make a sound as his knuckles grazed my upper arms. Before I could add space between us, he kneed me in the stomach and slammed his forearm into my back. I hit the floor. I stayed there for a second, trying to block out the pain.
“Do you see how weak he makes you?” Belial said with a sigh. “The mere mention of his name and your defenses drop. I find it rather upsetting, don’t you?”
Once I could breathe again, I pushed up from the ground and faced him.
“What are you getting at, demon?”
He came at me again, this time trying to trip me. I let my body fall backwards and went into a back roll, coming up on my knees. He kicked at my face and I blocked, grabbing his foot to throw him off-balance. Mistake. He executed a perfect kick to the side of my head with his other foot. I managed to move mostly out of the way, but it still connected, knocking me onto my stomach again. I’d have a nasty bruise on my face if I got out of this mess alive, not to mention I’d accidentally bitten my tongue.
Belial knelt in front of me, watching patiently as I tried to shake off the pain.
“Deep down, you know what I’m talking about. You know that if you join me you will never have to worry about another person again.”
I spat out a mouthful of blood. “What are you talking about?”
“I know you worry about the people at your job, your waitress friend, even your horrible aunt. You fear they will be targets because of your ability as a Seer. As much as you try to feel nothing, you are a compassionate woman, Jordan. You can never truly forget about them.”
“You don’t know shit,” I growled, standing abruptly. I knew it was stupid to try to catch him off-guard but I didn’t have much of a choice. He was wearing me out little by little, and time was slipping away as he talked. I poured it on with all my energy, using my agility to drive him backward. He blocked my blows with ease, acting as though he were humoring me.
“I know more than you think, my dear. Just as I know that you’ve figured out what’s going to happen at the end of this fight.”
Belial caught my right arm and punched me in the stomach. My body crumpled forward, leaving me almost limp in his grip. Pain exploded through my entire midsection and straight down my legs like bolts of lightning. He flung me backwards onto the bed and held my arms down, staring into my contorted face. He sighed and watched me writhe beneath him as if disappointed.
“You knew when you first hit me that it would end up this way, and yet you still fought. You foolishly reasoned that you could beat me even though you know I am five times stronger than you are. Why is that, Jordan?”
“Go to Hell,” I managed to hiss through gritted teeth.