September Moon (Alexa O'Brien, Huntress #8)

I grabbed Arys’s hand and pulled him along beside me. Following the fence to the first broken point, I stepped onto the hospital grounds and immediately collapsed on my knees. An overwhelming ill sensation rocked me, and I thought I might vomit. Each breath made the bad feeling grow. Arys pulled me up while throwing a bunch of questions at me. I could only shake my head. The abysmal force sitting like a foreign intruder within me recognized this place. I knew where to go.

I broke into a run as a sense of urgency gripped me. I ran the length of the building until I reached the end and turned to come up on the north side of it where two rows of trees lined an unseen path. With Arys hot on my heels, I ran down that path, certain I was drawing ever closer to where I needed to be.

Excitement flooded me with a rush of adrenaline. I ran like I’d never run before, my feet barely touching the ground. The closer I got to the invisible marker, the greater the force inside me seemed to swell. I was sure that I was going to make it. That we could do this after all without the interference I feared.

I was wrong.

Shya appeared directly in front of me. With the stench of sulfur clouding him and his black wings spread wide, he hit me, a solid body check that flung me backwards.

I hit the ground hard, feeling the impact reverberate up my spine. My teeth smacked together, rattling my jaw. I clawed desperately at the hard earth, scrambling to my feet. Arys put himself between Shya and me, but the demon tossed him aside with ease.

“Did you think it would be that easy to deceive me, bitch?” Shya hissed. His eyes flashed with a deep-rooted hatred that chilled me to the bone. Grabbing hold of me, he shook me hard enough to blur my vision. “How did you get it? Tell me how you got it.”

His shouts hurt my ears. I struggled to get away, but he held tight with a strength so far beyond human it couldn’t be measured. Though his angry shouts were worrisome, it assured me that Falon hadn’t lied. This was no set up. Not for me anyway.

Shya smacked me hard across the face before throwing me down on the ground. He stood over me with a supernatural breeze ruffling his short blue-black hair. In a fit of temper, he kicked me, hitting my side, and I yelped. The wolf inside wanted to shift, to flee or fight. This weak human body was holding me back.

“Fuck you,” I managed to say before lashing out at him with my own power. Arys’s proximity boosted my strength, and the attack actually threw Shya back several feet. It wasn’t much, but it gave me time to get on my feet again.

I sought to take in my surroundings, finding that Shya wasn’t alone. Brook was doing a good job keeping Jenner and Arys busy while Shya targeted me. I couldn’t see the others, but I hoped they were waiting for the right time to make a move. Rushing in too soon would get them killed.

Rather than engaging with Shya, I tried to keep moving. It wasn’t far now. The place where I needed to be lay just ahead, between the two trees at the end. I could feel it.

I threw a shield up around me a second before Shya’s blast of demon magic hit. It burned like someone had poured liquid sunlight over me, but my shield allowed me to keep running.

Until he rushed me with a sweeping kick that took my legs out from under me.

No sooner had I hit the ground than Shya was on top of me. He straddled me, fighting to get a hold of my arms. He couldn’t take Lilah’s orb with me putting up such a struggle. I knew it would require some effort and concentration on his part. I couldn’t allow him that.

“Tell me who gave it to you,” Shya shouted in my face. His usual calm and collected demeanor had been shattered by his irrational need for more power.

“Who do you think?” I gasped out, fighting to get him off me. “It was Lilah’s. And because she’s a twin flame, now it’s mine.”

“Like hell it is.” He slammed my head against the ground, trying to knock me unconscious. I couldn’t let that happen. “It’s mine by right. I deserve it.”

If I hadn’t been fighting to stay conscious, I would have marveled at the demon’s psychotic belief. Power was a deadly thing. Was there ever enough, or would it always make one crave more? Was this kind of insane pursuit of more in my future?

Desperation drove me to try anything. So I drove a long, sharp claw into his eye. The resulting shriek was ear piercing. He reacted like most would, reaching for the assaulted eye. I brought a knee up between his legs as hard as I could. Then I used a shot of power to toss him off me.

I didn’t hang around to see how fast he recovered. The injuries he’d inflicted on me were numb. Adrenaline surged through me, keeping me moving.

I caught a glimpse of Jez’s golden ponytail as she made an appearance. Silver dagger held high, she plunged it into Brook’s back. Being the only metal I knew of that harmed demons, it had him flailing around in an attempt to dislodge it.

Jenner and Arys let him have it then, throwing everything they could at him before he could recover. A flash of white revealed Shaz, in wolf form, circling the feuding trio with fangs bared.