He fired, the bullet grazing my cheek to plant itself on the wall next to my ear.
How could he fucking miss?I ducked as the other one swiped his axe and slid my foot under his leg, making him fall on his ass before slashing his throat with the poisoned dagger.
Before I could even stand up to deal with the poor shooter, he was already choking on his own blood on the floor, Savi crouching over him. She pulled her blade out from the side of his neck and wiped it on the man’s sleeve.
My heart raced as I took in the bloody mess around us. Marcus was stashing his gun back where he had it and the girls were assessing the carnage, checking if any of them was still conscious.
“We need to hurry, they’ll be back to themselves soon,” I said, starting to walk deeper in the tunnel.
“Hold on,” Marcus said, grabbing my wrist and pulling me to a stop. “Are we really not going to talk about howeasyit was? I’m telling you, something smells fishy.”
Francesca nodded, although the golden blood on her shoulder showed she’d been hurt. Savi crouched on the floor, inspecting the fallen guards.
“The guymissedyou at point-blank range,” Marcus continued. “You expect me to believe that people like them caught Arc and Dimitri and managed to hold them both for so long?”
“They were all demons, too,” Francesca signed. “And they were acting strange.”
Savi stood up holding a bunch of keys and shook them, pointing at the tunnel.
“Think it’ll open the door at the end?” Marcus asked, holding out his hand for her to place them on his palm. Savi nodded. “Okay, let’s go. But the next guards we find, I wantyouto mess with their brains.” He pointed at me. “Do the little trick you pulled on the camp guards. See what’s going on inside their mind.”
We didn’t find any others from where we left the bodies until we reached the end. After three tries, Marcus found the right key to open the heavy door.
The girls carefully stepped inside and waved us forward. It looked like a huge garage. Empty trucks were neatly lined against the walls and large containers of all colors were piled on the other side. Deciding not to waste any time, we kept moving toward the back of the room, looking around ourselves carefully in search of more signs of trouble. Marcus unlocked the next door and signaled for us to be ready.
I hid behind him as he parried a sword with the reinforced piece at his wrist while the girls rushed in the back lines, weapons out.
I closed my eyes, focusing on each of their energies. Nine demons of various ranks and ages, all fighting as one.
But their emotions? All over the place. They didn’tfeelanything except anger and hatred. No pain. No motivation for anything. Their heart and mind were raging, the emotion so high that my powers were useless.
What the Hell is going on in there?I tried focusing on one of them, digging my claws into his mind, searching for something,anythingthat I could use against him. But he only stared, tilting his head to the side with empty eyes.
“Lola,nowwould be the time!” Marcus growled as he dodged another hit, pressing me between the door and himself.
“Ican't,it's not working!”
“What?” he seethed. “What are you—Lola, wait!”
I pushed past him and stabbed a demon through his eyes, turning around swiftly as I pulled the blade back only to throw it at the back of another.
“It’s not working!” I repeated, reaching for one of the guns, aiming at another one limping toward a struggling Savi.
The shot echoed through the narrow corridor and the few demons left turned their empty eyes in my direction.
My heart raced as they exchanged a silent look and started walking toward me, ignoring Savi and Francesca behind them.
“Duck!” Marcus screamed from behind me.
I crouched on the ground as the first one lunged, flying right over my head and straight into Marcus wrist blade. The other two kept walking, unaffected, drawing their own weapons. I took a defensive stance, ready to fight back, just as they both fell to the ground under Savi and Francesca attacks.
My strained muscles relaxed as we looked around, making sure no one else was coming our way.
Marcus let out a pained grunt behind me and I spun on my heels.
Dark blood flew from his side, his armor partially shredded.
“Fuck,” he gritted out, pressing against his wound with the palm of his hand. “That one got me good while you were behind me.”
