Page 85 of Demonic Affliction

In the last moment, a rageful scream breaks through the fog of agony. I think I must have imagined it, but then a loud pop sounds in the recesses of my mind, and the serafyn’s power releases.

I roll to my back, body quivering, heaving in shuddering lungfuls of breath. My vision is blurred, my skin tender to the touch, and I do not have control of my limbs, but that wretched fire has at last been snuffed.

Alive. Alive. I’m… alive…

Unfortunately, I don’t have time to ask why it chose to spare me, because in the next moment, another pulse of swirling, dark energy comes from the Welwig above.

“Willow!”

Nyx, Rhune, and Dravik rush to me as the Welwig pulses again, sending another surge of horrible, ancient magic out into the chamber.

Nyx hauls me up by the arm, and Rhune’s arm curls possessively around my rib cage, keeping me upright and taking weight off my trembling knees. Dravik plants himself in front of the three of us, releasing a feral growl as his dark orange wings snap wide.

Above us, a mass of screaming creatures comes tumbling out of the Welwig—and these are even more fucked up than the ones we saw in the tunnel. Some crawl across the ceiling and down the walls like spiders. Others are too weak and malformed, and drop straight to the ground. The ones that survive haul their broken bodies out of the carnage, their mouths gaping and hungry as they mindlessly claw toward us.

Their screaming fills the whole chamber, drowning out the pleading voice of the serafyn in my mind.

“Protect Willow!” Dravik orders. “They’ll try to rip her away from us like those other creatures.”

Rhune and Nyx press in tighter as Vhalthor and his soldiers rush forward, trying to head off the creatures. They do well for a while, but there are too many and not enough soldiers to cover every gap. Several dozen of the monsters break loose from the fighting and charge straight for our group, their heads low to the ground, saliva spraying from their mouths as they scream.

Dravik, Nyx, and Rhune spread out around me, covering me from all sides. I blink, and they’re on us, attacking with the viciousness of a starving predator.

One creature's claws rake across Dravik's forearm while another goes for his leg, and he lets out a pained grunt as he begins tearing into his attackers. Nyx takes a bite to the shoulder and rips the monster off before tearing its head from its body with his bare hands. Rhune staggers back a step when one slams into his chest, but he plants his feet and swings, knocking the creature so hard it flips through the air before smashing into the far wall of the cavern.

Cin is still on the ground, and now he is convulsing, foam gathering at the corner of his mouth. Whispered words punctuate each jerk of his body, but they don’t sound like any language I recognize, and each one sends a frightened shiver down my spine.

“Quick! We need to help Willow!”

I look to the side, seeing Dagny and her six mates rushing in to help defend me from the approaching horde. Roark barrels through three at once while Malice lands atop a set of shoulders, ripping the creature’s head from its body in a glorious spray of violence. Lir and Cyprien work together, their movements quick and deadly as they hack and slice at the gnawing monsters. Fenryr and Kaebl take up the rear, using their telepathy to launch coordinated strikes on any creatures that try to break through the line.

For a moment, it's enough.

Then more come, spilling from the ceiling and piling atop each other in a horrible writhing mass. Dagny's mates get pushed back one by one, boxed in on every side, and my mates and I are forced to retreat farther.

The horde separates us, and I fall back with Dravik while Rhune and Nyx get pushed off to the side. Rhune and Nyx cry out, and the cord of the bond wraps around my heart and squeezes, spreading an icy cold throughout my veins.

“Willow!” Rhune screams my name, echoing pain and suffering throughout the cavern. I look toward him, and something cold and hard settles in the pit of my stomach when I see him and Nyx pinned down by at least a dozen creatures each.

“Watch out!” Dravik sweeps his arm wide, knocking me back several steps just as three snarling creatures descend on him—on the spot I was just standing. They rip and tear at his flesh, filling the air with horrible wet, tearing sounds, and I can do nothing but watch in horror. Three more descend on him while a fourth breaks off from the group and heads straight toward me, its head low, saliva spewing from its open maw with every piercing scream.

I back up quickly, not looking where I’m headed, and end up stumbling over a chunk of broken ice. Instead of the ground, my heel meets open air, and I pinwheel my arms desperately, trying to stop my body from falling into the abyss.

“Shit! Shit, shit, shit!”

My abdomen screams as I force my body forward, and then, finally, I’m back on blissfully solid ice. My relief only lasts for a moment, though, because when I look back up, I notice that the horde is even closer. My three mates are incapacitated, and Dagny and her demons are losing the fight badly. The horde has adapted to the demon's attacks, and now they move as a unit, purposely isolating each one before pushing them toward the pit like me.

End of the line.

Give in! the serafyn screams, its voice pitched and frantic. Give in to me! Please! It’s the only way!

29

Willow

I dig my heels into the ice and hold, refusing to take one more step back and refusing to let it in. Every muscle in my body shakes with the effort of staying exactly where I am—the horde ahead of me and the abyss at my back—caught between two horrors I can’t find the way out of.

I’ve never felt more useless in my entire life.