If I didn’t get my head in the game, he was going to kill me. He was on top of me, so I couldn’t slide my Nim Cub out of the sheath around my neck. The sheath along my spine was out too.
I bent my right leg, getting my foot as close to my hand as I could beneath the demon’s body. He was crouched over me, his hand trembling as if attempting to pause its downward trajectory. It felt like hours later, but I finally clamped my hand around the hilt of the knife in my boot sheath and pulled.
I thrust my blade up, deep into his stomach.
He groaned, falling forward. “Again,” he urged, and I shuddered. What kind of sick shit was this?
His hand clamped around my throat, squeezing. “Again,” he growled, eyes wild.
I pulled my blade free and shoved it into his throat. The angle was awkward, and I had no room to move, but he gurgled, his hand let go of my throat, and he fell to the side. It wouldn’t keep him down for long. I made it to all fours and crawled away, jumping to my feet.
The demon pulled the knife from his throat. I’d somehow managed to miss the major arteries that would keep him down while he bled out before his body began to heal the damage. Go me.
Distantly, I could hear shouting. No one would expect an attack right outside Samael’s tower. The building was probably going into lockdown right at this minute.
The demon charged me and I stepped to the side, tripping him. He was a fast fucker though, and he twisted in the air, teeth bared as he leapt at me again.
I smashed my elbow into his face and he screamed in rage. “Kill me!” I lunged right, but couldn’t avoid his hand as he swung, and the edge of his fist caught me in the face.
Pain exploded across my cheek and I went momentarily dizzy, dropping to my knees. The demon advanced on me.
Fuck this shit.
Ireachedfor my magic, hauling it up to me. For once, it responded, and I gasped as it swept through my body, pouring out of me in a dark tornado.
The demon went flying into a car.
The shock of it helped me clamp down on my power, which wanted to rip and rend andkillwhoever had attacked with no warning.
The demon’s face twisted, and he moved in odd, jerky moments as he hauled himself to his feet, leaving a body-shaped dent in the Tesla.
“More,” he rasped, advancing on me.
Someone was controlling him, and the thought of the amount of power it would take to make him little more than a puppet… bile flooded my mouth.
“Who did this?”
He opened his mouth, looking momentarily lost, but something swept over him and his eyes darkened. A snarl ripped from his throat as he lunged toward me.
“Witch, kill me.” he rasped as I sidestepped and he jerkily corrected. “Now!”
I didn’t want to.
Along with their normal powers, it was rumored that some older demons came into new powers as they aged. Depending on their origins, they could have an affinity for certain types of magic, and many of them involved forcing humans to do their bidding.
Could one of Samael’s enemies have done this? A high demon who wanted to cover his tracks?
That kind of manipulation could be removed. Samael could likely do it. I just needed to incapacitate this demon long enough that he could be chained up somewhere. And I’d heard rumors that Samael had a dungeon in the basement of his tower.
The demon stumbled toward me, fighting the good fight as he lurched drunkenly in a bid to slow his pace. It didn’t work. His face went blank as he moved with demon swiftness, his hand curled as he aimed for my throat. I dodged left, caught his right wrist and wrenched it up. I twisted his arm higher as he snarled, then stepped behind him, kicking out at the back of his knee.
He dropped. I kept his elbow locked and waited.
He attempted to hit me with his left hand, so I lifted his arm, breaking his elbow. My stomach churning at his pained growl. I don’t like hurting people who haven’t hurt me, and this demon wasn’t in control of his body. It felt like beating up a kid.
A kid who slammed one of his invisible wings into me as I fought to hold onto his arm. My hands slid. I was so distracted by the unfairness of it all that I’d forgotten about his wings, damnit.
There was only one option left. For a moment, the demon slumped, and that was the window I needed to jump onto his back.
