I’ll never get to him in time.
“Rowan!” I point to the horror unfolding.
Her response is immediate, shadows pulling up from the ground like living things, wrapping around the legs of the stick bug demon.
It stumbles forward but doesn’t fall. Instead, it lunges toward the crying child with its daggered fingers outstretched like claws.
I cast an earth shield wall in time to block it—barely—and the impact rattles through my bones. “Asher, get that kid out of here!”
The possessed woman turns, snarling. The flicker of her soul is buried beneath the parasitic presence, but I sense it. It’s dim but fighting to survive. “We can’t kill them, so how do we save the people?”
Asher scoops the kid up in his arms and beats feet out of the clearing, just as another possessed figure shambles in from another maze corridor.
Wylder slams his palms to the earth. Cornstalks erupt around us, thick and ropey, weaving into barriers that pen three more attackers. “We need the demons to abandon their hosts. Can you sour the milk somehow? Make the spirits strong enough to eject the demons?”
“How would I do that?” What I know about demon possession could fit on the head of a pin. We need someone who actually knows about?—
My breath catches. “S’Nark! I need you!”
Sebastian is battling like a phenom across the clearing. He’s glowing with the same ice-blue energy of my spirit fire, and I realize how wholly he commands our affinity.
It’s both humbling and deflating. People are depending on me to defend them like Sebastian can, and while I’m decent at basic witchcraft, I’m barely a novice with my affinity.
My momentary identity crisis is shattered as a demon-possessed man in a flannel shirt breaks through Wylder’s barrier wall.
Cornstalks snap like bones as he staggers free of his confines. My skin crawls at the way his jaw hangs slack, and black ooze drips from his mouth. That can’t be good. Where the hell is that ichor coming from?
But I have no time to dwell, because the demon minion inside is puppeteering his body forward with horrifying speed.
And he’s coming right at me.
“S’Nark!!”
Rowan intercepts, shadow tendrils yanking the demon lumberjack backward. But in no way does that solve my problem, because two more rush me from the side.
I blast spirit fire without thinking, but then remember the people trapped by the demons and pull the flames short. The intensity of my fire sears the air and drives them back a couple of steps, but it’s not enough.
A crushing grip yanks my wrist, and an icy ache floods my veins. It’s sharp and draining, and I realize this is what it feels like to have a demon siphoning me.
Oh, shit.I kick my attacker to free myself, but can’t break his hold. My knees buckle, and I feel my energy being drained away.
A roar splits the night.
Orion shifts mid-leap, his human form exploding into white fur, black stripes, and corded muscle. Four hundred pounds of predator slams into my attacker, flinging him to the cornstalks like a rag doll.
I let my head drop for a moment and gather the strength to get back to my feet. Asher is there in a heartbeat, lifting me to stand and steadying me. “Are you okay, Pops?”
I draw a deep breath and squeeze his arm. “Yeah, I will be. Man, being siphoned sucks ass.”
“On your back, Poppy!” Sebastian shouts.
I spin in time to throw up a bubble shield. The possessed lumberjack has launched out of the corn and is coming at me again, impossibly fast.
“They’re not stopping!” Rowan shouts, her shadows coiling around three at once. Sweat beads on her forehead. “There are too many!”
Wylder’s plants surge again, vines snaking around limbs, pinning bodies. But the demons thrash and tear through them. They’re relentless.
One woman wrenches free and charges Asher. He curses and straight-arms her. The hit spins her head and sends her to the ground. “Sorry. I’m so sorry, lady.”
