I juked around a tree. Being smaller and lighter, I was able to change directions faster than Talus. As I moved, I lifed my arm and whirled. As soon as Talus appeared around the trunk, I threw the potion bottle in his direction. It arced through the air, tumbling end over end.
I wanted to watch it land, but I wasn’t sure how bright the flash of light would be, so I turned my back and started running again. I’d taken two steps when a brilliant flare enveloped the trees around me. Not only was the light bright, it was hot. It was as if I were standing in front of an open oven.
A strangled male scream came from behind me, but I didn’t look back. I hoped it burned his eyes out. The fucker deserved it.
I couldn’t maintain the speed for much longer. I knew Bokkan had a large estate. I could only hope I was close.
The air burned in my chest, sharp and thin as a blade as I tried to suck in as much as possible. The pain in my head grew with each step, bringing a black haze to the edges of my vision. I could not pass out. I had to stay conscious in order to fight off Talus when he caught up with me.
Before I could formulate what I should do next, a loud snarl sounded behind me. Too close. I turned and Talus was on me before I could do more than lift a knee to try and kick him in the leg. Instead of resisting his momentum, I went with it, grabbing his elbows as I planted my foot in his belly. We went down and I tucked my chin into my chest, trying to protect the back of my head. The air rushed out of his lungs with a grunt when his weight hit my foot.
His snarling face was blackened on one side, the skin peeling away. The light bomb must have burned him when it went off.
Fucking hell, he was heavy. My leg nearly collapsed beneath him. I brought my other foot up and pushed as hard as I could as I shifted my grip on his upper arms to shove his shoulders to my right. As I hoped, his weight slid in that direction and landed on his side.
I didn’t let go of him, letting my body roll so I was over him. Then I dropped my weight onto his gut, leading with my knees. Another grunt escaped him and his body curled inward. Spreading my fingers, I aimed a fast jab toward his eyes.
Instinctively, he jerked his head back, closing his eyes. With my other hand, I spread my thumb away from my other fingers and slammed the inner edge of my palm against his throat in an arc hand strike.
He gagged, lifting his hands to protect his face. I took the opportunity to drag the small knife out of my bra and unsheathe it. The short double edge blade didn’t have a traditional hilt. The T-shaped was created to fit between two fingers and be gripped in a fist. In the human realm, I’d heard it called a push knife or punch knife. They were illegal in a lot of places because they could do a lot of damage with little effort.
The only downside was that I would have to aim for the few soft spots on the daemon body. I slashed at him with the knife, catching the outside edges of his forearms.
He jerked and moved to cover his face completely when he realized I was armed. Instead of trying to get behind his guard, I shifted off his body and aimed a swift punch to the side of his body, just below his ribcage. There was a narrow space that ran down his side that wasn’t protected by his thick abdominal muscles.
The knife sank into his flesh, going too deep. When I tried to yank it out, it was stuck. I twisted my wrist, breaking the vacuum the blade created when it sank into him, and pulled hard.
Talus howled in agony and blindly threw an arm out. His backhand caught me on the shoulder rather than the face, but it was a solid hit. I flew off him, rolling several times. I got my feet beneath me, crouching into a fighting stance.
“You cunt!” Talus roared, climbing to his feet as well.
His movements were much slower than mine had been. He cupped his side with one hand, trying to staunch the blood. I moved, shifting my feet so I moved sideways but still toward where Bokkan’s property should be. I wanted to create more space between us.
He reached down and drew his dagger from his boot. “I planned to make your death quick when I was done with you, but now I think I will enjoy watching you bleed to death while I fuck you.”
I forced myself to laugh even as sick fear threatened to empty my stomach again. I could not throw up. I had to remain in control.
“That didn’t go so well the last time we fought, did it, Talus?”
“I was trying not to harm you then. Now, I hope you bleed.”
I snarled at him in return. “I want to kill you, so same here, asshole.”
He darted toward me, lifting his dagger to slash. While he was faster than he’d been in the training ring that day, he still wasn’t quite fast enough. I ducked below his swing, my hand flashing out to slice a deep cut across the inside of his thigh.
When his arm swung back, I was already moving around behind him and repeating the cut to his other inner thigh. Since the choke I used on Venna and Bokkan had been effective, I assumed that the arteries in daemon legs were similar toa human’s. The cuts would have severed both of his femoral arteries.
He spun around, kicking out with a leg. I moved back, but not quickly enough. The kick caught me in the hip and sent my flying several feet until my back crashed into a tree. The air left my lungs, and I couldn’t get it back.
Black dots danced in my eyes. Shaking my head, I fought off the faintness threatening me and tightened my grip on the push knife. I glanced down at the ground beneath Talus. The blood was pooling on the ground, the puddle growing quickly, but Talus seemed completely unaffected.
Shit. He was so big, it would take him twice as long as a human to bleed out.
Though I still couldn’t draw in a full breath, I stumbled to my feet and took a fighting stance, the bloody knife still clenched between my fingers. Talus took an unsteady step toward me, his black eyes rimmed with red.
He swayed but remained on his feet. Before he could charge at me, I heard a roar from the trees and something large burst out of the undergrowth to my right. A massive, dark shape shot straight at Talus, sweeping him off his feet.
Blood sprayed as they slammed into the ground.
