ChapterForty
Wren
“No!” I blurted and stepped forward, but I was too far away for any of them tohearme.
Corson put his hand on my shoulder and pulled me back. Another demon tore the gun from Vargas’s grip before he could fire. Vargas whirled on him with a fury I’d never seen from the steadfastsoldier.
“What’s going on?” I breathed as Hawk and the others all started throwing punches at each other. “Why are theyfighting?”
The five demons and Hawk tumbled down the steps and into the front yard. Blood flew, tails thumped, and horns were jerked to the side as they beat each other with an enthusiasm that would result in only onesurvivor.
Corson inspected the forest before turning his attention to me. “Stay here,”hesaid.
“No, I’m comingwithyou.”
“Not while they’re doing this. Right now, they don’t care who gets in their way. I don’t know what started it, but I’ll have an easier time straightening it out if I’m not worriedaboutyou.”
He was right, and while they were busy brawling, someone had to keep an eye out for more enemies lurking in thesewoods.
“I’ll stay and keep watch,” I told him and glanced over the barren treesoncemore.
Bending, he kissed me before straightening. “Stay here until they’re done. I don’t sense anything nearby, but scream if something comesatyou.”
I frowned at him. “I don’tscream.”
“I’ve heard you scream a time or two,” he replied withawink.
Before I could form a response, he strolled out of the woods and into the clearing. “What is going on here?” hedemanded.
No one acknowledged Corson’s arrival as he approached the ball of punching, kicking, and… yep, that one was biting another one’s leg like it was a chicken wing. The demon being bitten was trying to beat the demon off, but the cannibal wouldn’tletgo.
I would have laughed over the absurdity of it all if a cold sweat hadn’t begun to trickle down my spine. I’d seen the demons fight each other over something as simple as a beer, or their demon brew mjéod before. The Wilders occasionally clashed with each other too. We didn’t all live so closely with each other without someone getting irritable and someone elsepunchingthem.
However, unlike the occasional fist fights I’d seen the demons wage, they appeared to be in this one to the death, and I’dneverseen Hawk fight with them before. Ten minutes ago, Hawk was cracking jokes with Corson. Now he was throttling a demon with the apparent intent of popping the demon’sheadoff.
As the demons moved closer to where I stood, I saw that one of them was clutching a black cloth before it was torn away. Vargas and Erin trailed behind the pack of demons, their eyes following that black thing like a dog followedabone.
I stepped forward when the screen door swung open and crashed off the side of the house. Someone shouted something from within. My heart lurched at the explosion of noise, and my eyes darted over the forest.Everyoneknew better than to make so much noise. We spent most of our lives making as little sound aspossible.
Jolie raced out of the house and flew down the stairs with four backpacks in hand. She careened across the lawn with three Wilders on her heels. Spinning, she bashed two of the backpacks off Dana’s face. The blow staggered Dana back, but he quickly recovered and lungedather.
I understood some of the wrath on Dana’s face as he snatched one of the straps.Noone stole another’s bag. If such a thing started happening between the Wilders, it would never end, and the fighting would nevercease.
We needed to be able to trust each other, and we especially had to trust each other with the few possessions we owned. We all shared food, bedding, water, and every other necessity we found, but the contents of our bags wereours. A person only picked up another’s bag to move it if it was necessary, and now Jolie held fourofthem.
Something was horribly wrong here,butwhat?
Chet circled behind Jolie and tackled her to the ground. He slammed her forehead off the ground and came up with two of the backpacks. My hand went to the gun at my side with the intent of firing a warning shot, and hopefully stopping this, but I didn’t pull the weapon free. If I shot right now, I’d give away my location, and I couldn’t do that until I had a better idea why everyone had suddenly goneinsane.
Dana punched Chet in the face. A cracking sound echoed across the clearing and blood burst from Chet’s nose. His hands flew to his face as from within the house, shoutsresonated.
Corson stopped at the edge of the brawling figures. He grabbed two demons by their shirts and heaved them aside. My breath caught when Hawk swung at him. Dodging the punch, a look of disbelief flashed across Corson’s face before his eyes darkened with rage. Hawk swung again, but this time Corson caught his hand and threwhimback.
Caim uncoiled from his relaxed position on the porch roof. He removed his sunglasses, set them down, and crawled forward. His head tilted to the side as he watched the melee unfolding below him from the edge oftheroof.
Our tiny chance of being able to remain hidden here vanished when a gunshot sounded from within the house and someone screamed. Caim took flight and landed on the ground as more humans stumbled out the doorway of the residence, followed by more demons. One of the demons had a hand pressed against the bleeding hole in the center of his forehead. The injured demon lunged at another demon and tore hisarmoff.
Lix bolted out the door, his sword over his head. Leaping into the air, Lix plunged his blade through the demon’s heart just as the demon lifted the arm to beat my friend Darcy with it. Darcy scrambled away. Bale and Shax emerged behind Lix, but they didn’t pay any attention to the skellein as they were busy fighting three other demons. Caim hurried forward and pulled one of the demons away, but when the demon kicked at him, Caim became caught up in thebrawltoo.
