No, dammit! Teeth gritted, her chest screaming with pain, Shadow flung out her other hand, hitting the hellhound on the side of its massive chest, struggling to push the creature off her. Her symbionts latched on.
A jolt of sheer malevolence swept through her like she’d been tasered in the soul. She cried out as the beast’s fangs sank deeper, anguish stealing her voice. Her fingers clenched the hound’s pelt. Her breath rattled in her throat, a coppery taste flooding her mouth. Another snarl ricocheted as oblivion hovered.
“Maybe you’ll think twice before your next move, human,” Mammon snapped. “Bring her.”
Shadow shut her eyes. She might as well die at the hellhound’s jaw instead of becoming a toy for the bastard demon to use. At least death would come fast. But despair took hold that she couldn’t avenge her dead mate.
I’m so sorry, my love. I tried to avenge you…
The hound’s jaw slackened.
Pithius thanksss,a guttural voice seeped through the darkness crowding her mind.Spell broke…It gently batted her cheek with its furry face and sulfuric breath. A hot, wet tongue licked her wound. More pain burrowed through her. Shadow forced her eyelids open, connecting with fiery coal eyes.
Help me, Pithius…kill him…
Through her dimming sight, the hellhound turned and seemed to grow even larger. Taller. The row of spikes around its neck rising. With a menacing snarl, it leaped in a black blur, snatching Mammon’s arm in its deadly maw. It tossed back its enormous head in a dizzying shake. The demon’s snarl reverberated in the empty tunnels as his body fell in a thud to the asphalt. His arm in the hound’s mouth.
The dank air agitated as familiar figures—the Guardians—took form. Power rushed through the place, and it hurt her like knives flaying her skin.
“We have you…” a familiar male voice said. Aethan. Then warmth coasted through her injured shoulder.
“Urias! I’m so sorry—” Ely clutched her hand. “I was only gone for a few minutes—I shouldn’t have left—”
“Dammit,” Aethan snapped. “My abilities aren’t gonna heal this. Someone get the Oracle, I’m taking her to the castle!”
“No…” she whispered, lifting a limp hand to stop him, but it fell halfway. “Have to…see him…destroyed.”
Aethan cursed.
Her blurred sight remained fixed on the hound and demon. Mammon’s form morphed between his humanoid and demonic one, the latter barrel-shaped, scaly skin, and horned. His arm restored.
The warriors spread out, watching the demon and hellhound fight, their weapons braced.
With a menacing snarl, Mammon somehow broke free of the hellhound’s fangs and flashed up, hovering above the battleground. A wave of black power flew out of him toward her. The Guardians dashed in front of her, shielding her just as a terrifying growl erupted. Pithius leaped up in a dizzying flash, taking the hit. A snarl ricocheted like thunder crashing, and the hound collided into the granite wall, letting out a whimper.
Mammon laughed, bracing the killing sword, watching the Guardians who circled him.
Nooo!The cry jammed in her throat.
Adrenaline bursting free, Shadow shot up from her earthly body in a wraithlike slingshot, her otherworldly form slamming straight into Mammon’s hovering humanoid body and coming out the other side with his bloody, flesh-pumping organ in her ghostly hand.
Shocked curses rang out.
Pithius leaped at the screeching demon, taking him down. Its giant maw snapped over Mammon’s head, deadly fangs sinking deep into flesh. Blood spurted like a burst geyser. Shadow squeezed the beating heart, the thing turning to ash and spilling free from her fingers. Dust scattered. The hound shook the Mammon’s body at breakneck speed, and his head separated from his neck. A dark swirling energy slid out of the slain body.
The head fell from the hound’s mouth. Pithius leaped forward, caught, and devoured the demon’s vile soul.
One of the warriors flashed over and picked up the deadly sword from the ground.
Shadow let the tug on her psyche pull her back, and her ethereal self settled back into her broken body on the ground, agony swamping her once more.
I’ve avenged you, my love. Now, I’ll find you.
With a rasping breath, she shut her eyes and finally let oblivion claim her…
Chapter 32
Agony rushed through Shadow,ensnaring her in its claws, trapping her in darkness…
