The Sweetest Burn (Broken Destiny #2)

CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR

I LANDED ON the other side with my usual grace, which meant face-first into the pavement. Oh well, so I’d never be a ballerina, big deal. I jumped up, shook my head to clear it and looked around, my eyes taking a second to adjust after the brightness of the Eden realms.

The campus looked like a war zone. Black, snakelike clouds were still strafed through several buildings, but either the view was different from the ground or there weren’t as many as I’d first thought. Despite that, I couldn’t count all the people that were running around in a panic, and more than a few fires had started. Surprisingly—or not surprisingly, considering how infiltrated minions tended to be in places near demon realms—I didn’t see any police or firefighters.

My brave words to Zach now landed on me with the force of a thousand bricks. These people had no one to help them. I wasn’t a superhero and I wasn’t nearly up to the task of being a savior, but I was all they had, so I had to make this count.

First, I had to mark the gateway. A glance around showed that I’d spilled out onto West Wisconsin Avenue, in front of Zilber Hall. I didn’t have anything to write with—hell, I didn’t even have a bra, underwear or shoes!—so I used the only thing I had to mark the site. My blood.

I ran over to the no-parking sign and ripped it off. Then I used one of the sharp metal edges to gouge my arm, smearing the blood over the spot where the energy pulses were the strongest. I left the sign there, too, but it would probably get blown off. An unnatural windstorm swirled around the campus, no doubt caused by the demon realm spilling out onto this place.

As soon as I’d marked the gateway, I ran to the nearest median. The narrow strip between the streets was lined with trees and shrubs, but I wasn’t there to admire the aesthetics. I was looking for rocks.

After digging madly through the dirt, I found some, and stuffed a couple handfuls of them into my pockets. My tattoo was starting to change from brown to gold, but it hadn’t uncurled into a weapon yet. I must not be close enough to the demons that were riding through the realm spillage as if it were their own personal monorail. Time to change that.

I kept the biggest rock in my hand and ran toward where the screams were the loudest. The landscape of buildings, streets and churches looked completely different than when Adrian, Jasmine, Costa and I had strolled through here hours ago. Darkness had since claimed it, and that darkness was more than the absence of light. It was a living, writhing force that brought death and terror, literally, judging from the minions and demons that spilled out of those snakelike plumes.

“Make for the churches!” I began to shout at the people. “Everyone, get to hallowed ground as fast as you can!”

I repeated that chant over and over, only to be ignored by all who heard it. Up ahead, a minion dragged a screaming girl who resembled my former dorm mate toward one of those dark flumes. I ran toward them, but they disappeared into the realm tentacle before I could reach them, and I couldn’t cross it to save her. I wanted to scream out of sheer frustration. Instead, I channeled my raging emotions into something else. If no one would listen to me and run for hallowed ground, then I would force the minions to pick on someone their own size.

I flung myself right into the midst of two more minions, who were forcibly corralling a group of students toward another realm flume. My adrenaline was so high, I smashed the rock over the first minion’s head, then ducked under the punch the second one threw before head-butting him in the midsection. He hadn’t been expecting my strength, so it knocked him flat, and then I slammed my foot down onto his neck.

The crunch I felt coincided with him going completely limp. A rush of wind warned me to whirl, and the minion whose head I’d bashed missed tackling me by only an inch. His momentum sent him sprawling, and I leaped onto his back before he could roll over and attack me again. With all of my strength, I smashed the rock into his head again. This time, I felt his skull give, and when I jumped off, he was as dead as his now disintegrating friend.

“Head for the nearest church!” I ordered the stunned group of students. “As long as one of those black flumes isn’t on it, you’ll be safe.”

“Screw this,” one of the guys muttered, running off. With a frightened bleat at the bodies turning to ash, the other girls followed him, and none of them were headed toward a church.

My teeth ground together. So many innocent people were getting hurt, killed and kidnapped right now, and as these crowds and the tourists at Scotty’s Castle had taught, everyone was too panicked to do what I said. My best bet was to distract the demons and minions from continuing their evil roundup, and I happened to know the perfect bait. Me.

“I am Ivy Jenkins, the last Davidian!” I yelled, holding up my right arm with its now glowing, uncurling sling for emphasis. “Come and get me, demons!”

All the demons and minions within earshot stopped what they were doing and began to run toward me. Oh shit, I thought, realizing that there were more of them than I had anticipated. A lot more. I didn’t even have enough rocks on me to take out half their number, but I didn’t have to fight them. All I had to do was outrun them. So, I spun around and ran.

My plan to distract them from hurting innocent people worked. Within a staggeringly short amount of time, it looked like I was leading a macabre version of a parade. Gleaming-eyed minions outnumbered their masters by about five to one, but quick looks behind me revealed that at least ten demons were hot on my heels. None of them had wings, though one had the head of an owl, another had long horns and another had Medusa-like snakes protruding from her head.

I began to notch rocks in my sling and hurl them at the horde without really aiming. I didn’t have the time to. I was already running as fast I could while using a supernatural weapon that made my arm feel as though it had been set on fire. Add that to avoiding those winding realm tunnels that more demons could be hiding in, plus trying to run away from the most populated areas to give the people a chance to get away, and it shouldn’t have surprised me that I felled very few of the monsters chasing me.

That was fine, I reminded myself, putting everything I had into increasing my speed. I knew where the Archon gateway was, and once I was through it, none of them could follow. In the Eden realm, I could gather all the rocks I needed and come back through the gateway with my slingshot blazing. They wouldn’t even know what hit them.

A large man stepped out from behind one of the buildings, and relief swelled in me when I recognized him even though he was still about a hundred yards away.