Demon's Bride

“Three left,” Leo muttered. He glared at his firearms. “No time to reload. Damn me for not being a soldier. If Bram were here ...”

A

He slung the musket onto his back once more and looked about for another weapon. There was little time, though. The remaining demons saw their compatriot dead and new fury resounded in their shrieks. They dove down, heading straight for Leo.

She had to do something. Would that she had a weapon of her own ...

Anger, fear—they coalesced within her, both cold and hot. She felt it gathering in the labyrinth of her body. Vivid blue energy. It had burst from her when she had no control, in moments of panic. She had thrown Leo across the room with it. Yet it belonged to her, was part of her. A weapon given to her by Livia. She was not so powerless.

A

One of the creatures dove down, raking Leo’s chest with its claws. He grunted in pain and staggered back. The other two, scenting blood, swept low to join the fray.

Fury scoured A

She flung up her hands. Waves of energy poured from her in an arctic blast of air. She muscled for command, her body aching as she fought for control over the magic. It threatened to overwhelm her.

No. She had been powerless before, in so many ways. But no longer.

Gritting her teeth, A

He glanced over at her, brow lifted in surprise. Clearly, he did not expect her to come to his aid.

She could not examine her motivations now. Her heart still bled. But this was a battle they must fight together.

Clenching her teeth, she sent another surge of energy through her body. One of the demons went careening backward into the branches of a nearby tree. Boughs splintered and snapped. A thrill of bloodlust shivered through her. She wanted to hurt these beasts, cause them pain.

Leo bent to load his musket, but he had only gotten as far as pouring powder into the barrel when a demon attacked. A

She readied herself to hurl more energy at the demons. Then she fell backward, thrown to the ground by Leo. His body covered hers. A loud crash rang out.

Peering up from beneath the heavy shelter of Leo’s body, she saw a thick, jagged tree branch on the ground behind her. The demon she had pitched back into the tree shrieked in frustration as it hovered nearby. A

It would not have been a scratch, the damage from the thrown bough. The jagged branch would have pierced her chest. Killed her.

Leo rose up onto his elbows, his body a lean weight atop hers. “Hurt?”

She shook her head.

The outraged demons howled. A

Shoulder to shoulder, they readied themselves for the next attack.

The three beasts dove down. A

Leo swung at it with his musket, but the demon flew out of reach. They were locked in this dance, back and forth, the demon lunging near, Leo pushing it away as he brandished his weapon.

A

Swirling her magic, she used the energy’s force to scoop up gravel. Then she flung it with all her strength toward the demon. It shielded itself from the onslaught, throwing up its arms to cover its face. But its wings were spread wide. Unprotected.

Gravel tore through its leathery wings. It gave a scream of pain and anger as membranes perforated. It could no longer keep itself aloft. It spun as it crashed to the ground.

Leo wasted no time. He ran to the creature and clubbed it with his musket stock. Over and over. This time, A

Infuriated, the final two remaining demons charged. A

The first demon charged her again, and she bit back a hiss of pain as it cut her arm. Leo saw this. His face twisted in fury. He ran toward her, but the other demon held him back, its wings beating at the air, claws slashing.

Terror, exhaustion, and anger all seethed within her. This nightmare world—she wanted nothing more to do with it. Energy coalesced through her limbs, the force of a hundred storms. When the first demon rushed her once more, she let out a primal, furious scream, a battle cry, as she flung out her hands and unleashed the tempest inside.

“I have been lied to, manipulated, betrayed,” she said through clenched teeth. “Made fearful. No more.”

The beast made a frantic, enraged sound as it fought against the gale. But A

A

It saw A

The last remaining demon looked to where its compatriot lay dead. It turned panicked eyes to A

With a frightened yelp, it spun around and flew away. Its wings beating against the air, it disappeared into the darkness like the last vestiges of a bad dream.

The dream, however, was quite real. Demons’ bodies lay strewn about, becoming only carrion, their inky blood spread on the ground and splattered on Leo’s clothing, his face and hands.

In the aftermath of violence, the silence became its own war. A