“Yes.”
I opened my mouth, but a deep, vicious power made me freeze. I slowly turned, conscious of Vas doing the same next to me.
I counted twelve lesser demons. Thick, webbed, black wings, claws the length of my hand, and powerful legs that trembled as they crouched, ready to leap at us. These demons were beasts. Uncontrollable, illogical beasts, who wanted nothing more than to rip and shred and complete the tasks given to them by whoever had summoned them.
And yet, something was different.
Theyseethedwith magic.
“Someone’s given them power,” I hissed, and Vas nodded, squaring his shoulders. Why would the witches waste the power they’d stolen on these demons?
Unless they planned to harvest that power again when the demons had fulfilled their task.
“Run,” Vas ordered me, and I resisted the urge to tell him exactly where he could put that order. He glanced at me. “Go, Danica. I’ll hold them off.”
I didn’t want to leave him, and he shook his head at my hesitation. “I can take them, but it’ll take time. Time Samael doesn’t have.”
“Don’t you dare get dead,” I snapped at him. I took a deep breath, turned, and sprinted into the cemetery. I attempted to keep my steps light, but branches broke beneath my feet. Thankfully, the loud chanting coming from deep within the cemetery would cover most of the noise I was making.
Butthatnoise wasn’t from my feet.
I froze and spun, making it halfway around before something hit me, sending me flying. I landed against a fallen gravestone, my head making contact with a thud that instantly made the world dim around the edges of my vision.
I didn’t have time to recover. The woman was on me, blade swinging. Her teeth were bared, but I recognized her as one of the descendants. Matilda. I rolled, almost hitting another gravestone, as she rushed me. I needed more room to move.
I kicked out, slamming my foot into her thigh, and she stumbled as I finally made it up to my feet. Movement made me want to puke. Awesome. Vicious pain radiated through my head, my every heartbeat.
“You’re dead, bounty hunter.”
“Yeah, yeah, let’s go.”
Matilda grinned at me and I almost rolled my eyes. Attempting to outcrazy an opponent was the oldest tactic in the book. The air began to thicken, the chanting growing louder, and I forced down the urge to empty my stomach.
With a growl, Matilda jumped at me. She held her knife like someone who’d never fought with one before, but even idiots get lucky occasionally. Unlike me, she wasn’t injured. I was forced to dodge each slash, attempting to keep my footing amongst half-buried gravestones.
I didn’t have time for this. I ducked the next wave of her arm and shoved my knife deep into her left thigh. Blood sprayed. I’d hit the femoral artery. She was dead, she just didn’t know it yet.
She weaved on her feet but attempted to advance on me again. Her body knew something was very bad, even if her brain hadn’t accepted the fact.
I backhanded her. She went down like a bag of rocks and her eyes rolled. She wasn’t getting back up. I gathered a single breath and took off again, darting through the undergrowth. My lungs felt ready to explode. I was fit, but head wounds sucked.
There. The witches’ ward glowed an ugly green-brown. I dropped my shields, and this time I didn’t care if my magic offered me a trickle or a flood. I’d drag it up from beneath the suppression spell even if it killed me.
It wasn’t a trickle. It was potent and wicked. It twined around me, sparking as if reacting to my fury. I used my Kershaw to slice a cut down my forearm and raised my hand before I could think twice, slamming it against the ward.
The impact punched through me, the magic vast and deadly. Who was I to think I could break it? I was nothing but an almost powerless bounty hunter. I was going to die here, my body nothing but food for the scavengers, and Samael would die, and then the rest of the demons would die…
I pulled myself together. The witches had added a healthy dose of terror to their ward. Cute.
They thought they could come for the demons and no one would care. Because people feared and hated the demons and most would love to see them die.
But I cared.
The ward burst with a dull pop. My headache worsened and I swayed on my feet, leaning over to dry heave weakly. I didn’t have time for this. By now, they knew I was here.
With the ward down, I could start shooting.
I unholstered my Colt and slowly began to stalk through the trees. They wouldn’t know which direction I was coming from. They may be powerful, but I’d bet most of them hadn’t ever touched a gun. I’d get a few shots off before they noticed me.
