“Malakai!” I said, louder, pushing my free hand against his chest, trying to make him stop. His eyes snapped to mine, cold, deadly as if he’d snap me like a twig.
“Maybe you should turn me over,” he whispered, the gleam slowly settling, his eyes back to normal.
“What?” I stammered.
“All they want is a demon, you have one.”
With that, he took a step back, eyes lingering before he turned and joined the fight again.
I took a deep breath.
My flames slowly found their way back to my fingers, sizzling with excitement.
Turn Malakai in?
Why was it that the thought alone felt like he was mocking me? That if I agreed, it truly meant that I had failed my mission, failed being a fire mage. Because I couldn’t hunt one down myself, like I wasn’t capable of capturing a demon on my own?
No. I’ll show him, I will succeed.
My flames ignited, spreading up to my shoulders as they burned against my wound, cauterizing it instantly.
A shadow demon lunged at Ashley and I dashed towards them, jumping up into the air to reach what resembled its jaw. With a wide swing, my fist connected. Fire crackled on impact, engulfing it in furious flames.
The demon shrieked, its arms flailing around wildly, staggering backwards. I landed beside Ashley. “You okay?”
“You’re so damned cool,” she sighed, sounding almost dejected.
I heard Eve screaming and as our heads turned we saw a demon biting into her leg as she fired her rifle at it. Ashley grabbed her dagger, sweeping in from the back, burrowing the blade into its back between the shoulders before dragging it down along the spine. The demon howled a piercing sound. I had to cover my ears to not scream in pain as well.
Something moved at the corner of my eye and I snapped my attention towards it. A demon had snuck up on me, lunging with its jagged mouth wide open and… stopped.
Right before it would’ve sunk its teeth into my head, it slowly backed away one step. That’s when I saw the blade stuck in the back of its head, and Lionel who had clung onto its back.
“How do we put a leash on it?” he barked desperately.
I whipped my arm out, a flaming rope followed, snaring around the demon’s throat. It hissed violently as Lionel pulled his steel out of it and backed away. I went around the demon, spreading my fire leash around its arms, pulling tight so it wouldn’t be able to rake at us.
“I did it,” I stuttered, once I stood in front of it again.
Another scream and I looked back and saw the last demon biting into Mey’s shoulder, sucking her energy out as her skin grew paler.
“Mey!” Nate shouted and charged right into the demon, forcing it away from her. He brought out his dagger, stabbing it over and over and over. Throat, chest, shoulder, head. Again and again, he pulled the blade out only to dig it into a new spot, leaving nothing untouched.
Ashley and Eve helped Mey up who panted violently, sweat breaking out at her hairline.
“Are you okay?” Ashley asked.
Eve jolted, realizing she was touching Mey, a mage and suddenly stepped away, making Mey fall onto Ashley.
“What are you doing!?” Ashley hissed at her.
“She could be tainted,” Eve shot back, wiping her hands off, as if merely touching her would spread a disease.
“Don’t be stupid,” I snapped. “It tried to devour her, not become her.”
The demon I held captive roared, making the earth quake and my flames evaporated. It threw itself on top of me, pinning me to the ground as the giant hands grappled around my throat, teeth slowly closing in.
I thrashed around, kicking violently but it wouldn’t budge, my flames spread around quick as the fear of getting eaten alive overcame me.
