I commanded Blue to protect Di, confident he could hold off the Fireborns and handle any threat if the Starborn slipped past me. But I intended to ensure that wouldn't happen.
The Starborn was mine to deal with.
He halted, eyes narrowing with irritation. "Get out of my way, boy."
His voice grated against my nerves. I smirked deliberately, goading him further. "Not happening, grandpa."
His nostrils flared, flames licking at his fingertips. Satisfaction curled in my gut, I'd rattled him.
"This will be your downfall," he snarled.
"We'll see," I shot back.
Neither of us hesitated. We collided in a violent storm of fists and flames. Gratitude surged toward Adam for the combat training he'd provided when I was younger. I easily pivoted on my toes and let the momentum of my hip’s rotation drive my fists forward, but the Starborn was far better than I'd anticipated.
Our speed blurred our movements beyond human perception. This was why your stance and quick thinking mattered the most in a demon fight.
I led with the move Adam had taught me at twelve– feint left, drive right, low arc to the ribs with the heel of the hand. The kind of strike that broke a Nightborn in three. The Starborn caught my wrist mid-arc, twisted it past the point my body could follow, and let go before I tore. He wasn't trying to break my arm. He was showing me he could.
Fine.
I dropped low, swept his front leg, and pushed flame up through my palms toward his face – every part of the move correct, every part of the move fast. He stepped over the sweep. Not around it. Over. As if my leg moved through honey. Hishand caught my flame mid-air, closed around it, and crushed it back into smoke.
My fire died in his fist.
No demon I had ever fought could crush another demon's fire. Fireborns can control each other flames, yes. Starborns can evade the fire or redirect it. But they can't extinguish it like that. He had taken mine out of the air and snuffed it like a match.
What are you,my body asked him silently.
I called the rest of my power up. Wings wider. Horns curving longer. My voice in the ancient tongue rolled out of me as a warning, the kind of sound that had ended fights before they started. Other Starborns turned to look. The white-haired one did not.
He smiled.
He smiled at my full power the way you might smile at a child showing you their favorite toy.
Then he moved.
He swung a flaming fist into my ribs, a sharp crack echoing through my body. The sickening crack of bones, accompanied by the excruciating sudden pain, took my breath away. I stumbled back but regained my composure just in time to evade a ball of fire heading straight to my heart.
The fucker had a sharp technique, flawless. Each strike landed with precision and brutal speed. I gasped for breath, muscles screaming, exhaustion threatening to overwhelm me. Meanwhile, he stood composed, utterly unfazed.
I tried Blue. I called him with a word and a thought, the bond between us snapping the order across the field: come, end this.
Blue couldn't come.
Something in the air around the white-haired Starborn held him back. I felt my familiar slam against an invisible wall in the air and bounce. The bond between us strained and held but Blue could not cross to me. The Starborn wasn't just outclassing me.He was neutralizing me. My fire was gone. My familiar was held. My wings were starting to feel heavy. My powers were running out of room.
This was what dying felt like, then.
Not the pain. The narrowing. The slow closing of every door I knew how to open.
Diablos,I thought.I'm sorry. I'm so fucking sorry.
I landed several solid hits, but he absorbed them effortlessly. My momentary hesitation, wondering what to try next, nearly cost me everything. He slipped behind me in a blur, cold fingers encircling my throat, driving a blade deep into my back.
Agony exploded through my body. A torturous fire consumed my insides, radiating outward in painful, creeping waves. It felt like acid coursing through my veins, devouring me from within. I screamed in agony.
I knew that pain.
