My body moved before I had a chance to argue against the thought, legs pumping to get away from the enormous pressure that exploded behind me. If this night hadn’t confirmed my third-date curse, then I was a fucking moron. Who was I kidding? Thinking the date had ended as soon as we stepped off the trolley was what made me a moron.
How could I have been so stupid?
The figures that surrounded us were hideous, like something from a Hollywood creature feature. They had black, slimy skin and faces like the most grotesque gargoyles of the Middle Ages. Most of them held sharp weapons—dark swords, axes, spears—and were dressed in barely more than rags, though their veiny muscles bulged in the tears and gaps. But they weren’t looking at me, didn’t move to stop me. They were going to let me pass.
But I didn’t want to pass. I didn’t want to leave him to fight all these things alone. He wouldn’t get off the hook that easily. Dammit, I wanted explanations, and these things—thesedemons, I guessed—would need taking care of.
I spun back in time to see Lucifer’s gorgeous black wings as they transformed into something more bat-like. Power I’d never felt before engulfed the area, and he was easily the second strongest being I’d ever been near. Which made sense, all things considered, if he was the actual fucking Lucifer. Then his whole body started changing, shifting into…
What the hell is that? A dragon man? He’s fucking huge!
This wasn’t the best time to be distracted. My rage came rushing back ten-fold. The nearest of the demons turned toward me as I let my power loose like I never had before, lifting the lid on a pot that had been boiling over for years. It came to my fingertips easily, an old friend rushing to my aid, and my mind spun furiously with ways I could use it. As more power gathered, pressure building up painfully behind my eyes, more demons turned away from dragon-Lucifer and watched me.
If I could hold some of them off, give him less to fight through, I could get answers sooner.
“Why?” I asked one of them as I stomped toward his stupid, slimy ass. “Why do all my third dates end so fucking badly?”
Real flames burst from my palms, and I didn’t have time to be surprised. The demon rushed me. I held my hand out and imagined a popping balloon. Imagery had always been a huge trigger in my past screw-ups, and I prayed it would work the Sophiee when I put intent behind it. The demon blew up, its black blood splattering all over me as two more headed my way.
That… was so cool, butsodisgusting.
“Why does this shit always happen to me?!” I yelled at them.
I didn’t really expect an answer. They weren’t inclined to give me one. I didn’t always have great control over my powers when I was trying to suppress them, but something snapped inside me. I was the daughter of a powerful witch and a god. These fuckers had ruined my date and now, for the first time, I didn’t have the excuse of not wanting to hurt anyone with my abilities. I had a real, physical target I could unleash on without restraint.
All my pain. My frustration. A lifetime of heartache.
They would feel it all.
“Fuck you, you slimy assholes!” I mimed ripping something apart between my hands and one of the demons shredded right before me. Pride swelled in my chest as my magic responded the way I wanted it to, for the first time in my life. “You and that fucking Renaissance cosplay reject you rode in with!”
I was too lost in the sea of fury to think about what I was doing. It was all instinct at that point. A boulder dropped out of nowhere and landed on the second, then vanished again, leaving only the gooey mess behind. But what had started as no more than twenty had grown. They were pouring from the shadows.
Lucifer was ripping them apart with his claws, his teeth, and he was getting swarmed. But now, so was I. There were too many for me to get to him easily. So I dove into them, letting my magic sing its chaotic song.
Black blood rained over me as my imagination went wild. More popping balloons. I started pulling tricks from the old cartoons I watched as a kid. An enormous anvil crushed two of them. A piano took out a group with a discordant crash. I set one on fire, but he kept coming at me.
“Shit!” I popped him, cringing at the now-hot blood that coated me. “That was a bad idea.”
I spun, my hair dripping with the goopy black snot, flinging some of them into the bay with an invisible force. The anger was still there, but my chest felt lighter at the Sophiee time. Tension leaked out of me with every demon I ripped apart. They roared at me and I roared back, so fucking alive.
It was the first time I’d ever let my powers free. There was so much to contain, and I’d always tried to do just that: keep a lid on it.Don’t let go or someone might get hurt.I constantly made excuses about learning to control it when I got older, when I had time, but by then it was a habit.
That was why things kept going wrong when I got stressed or anxious. I could feel that now. My magic was trying to come to my rescue and I was fighting it, warring with myself. Now that there was imminent danger, a legitimate threat that could harm me, I accepted it and used it.
What else can I do with it?
The demons moved slower, creeping instead of running, warier now. I clearly wasn’t what they’d been expecting. Lucifer was using a straightforward tooth-and-claw tactic with a little fire on the side, or at least what I could see, and he was holding his own. He probably wasn’t even using everything he had. I needed inspiration if I was gonna keep going.
Fire still hovered around my hands and a video game I loved popped into my head, another red-haired character who could wield fire. I poured my focus into creating slightly more realistic chakrams out of my flames, hands out to my sides, mimicking his movements as best as I could remember. A grin took over my face and giddiness pushed away any lingering doubt as my magic followed my command. This was so freaking cool.
Now, what was that guy’s catchphrase again?
“Name’s Lexi,” I said to the demons. They reared back, ready to pounce. “Got it memorized?”
One dove at me and I didn’t have time to wonder if this would work or not. I flung my arm at him, the fiery disk slicing through the air to cut through his shoulder and chest at an odd angle. Another came at me and I threw the second while I worked on conjuring a third. It at least got his neck, but I missed decapitation by a few inches. Apparently, I was going to need some practice with my aim.
I was taking them down, though, and the wounds caused by the flame chakrams were surprisingly cauterized, which meant no demon blood spraying on me. That was a plus. The more I conjured, the easier it got. My aim was still shit, but I was slowing them down. A leg here, an arm there, and I did manage to get one head even if it was a little high and more like only the top half.
