by Amy Braun
Scar swiped his claws at my throat while Camo went for my liver. I leaned away from Scar’s claws and dropped my elbow so Camo couldn’t stab me with his claws. I stabbed the machete forward, hoping it would go through Scar’s chest. The Soulless just stepped back. Camo wasn’t as smart.
I kicked back, driving my boot into the second Soulless’ knee. As he howled and crumpled, I twirled the machete until the blade pointed away from my back. Then I shoved it into Camo’s head. I felt the resistance and heard the crunch of bone, but I knew Camo was dead. Scar didn’t even notice, too busy lunging for me. I slammed my foot into his chest and knocked him back, pulling the machete from Camo’s head. Scar couldn’t take a hint, and rushed to tackle me. I swerved to the side, jerking my knee into his stomach. His attack stopped, ending permanently when I brought my machete down on his neck.
Two more hacks, and Scar was headless. I glanced at Logan to make sure he was okay. My oldest brother was dodging attacks, grey power floating down from his hands like the trails of smoke from one of his cigarettes. All Logan had to do was touch the bare skin of a Soulless, and he would kill them instantly. He knew how to take care of himself, and I didn’t let myself worry about the three new Soulless charging toward him.
I did worry about the five coming my way, however. I rested the machete against my leg, bringing up my free hand and drawing black smoke into it. Soulless weren’t stupid, unfortunately. When they saw the smoke in my hand, they didn’t charge from the same direction. They broke off from one another, moving to surround me. I had to act fast.
I turned the smoke in my hands and shot it out like a spear, driving the poison into the chest of the center Soulless. She screamed and arched her back as the poison ate its way through her. I held onto the smoke, whipping it to the side to catch another monster in the back. My luck ran out after that.
I managed to see one of the Soulless coming on my right from the corner of my eye. I turned with my machete, trying to catch him in the stomach. I missed, and exposed my back. Another Soulless pounced on me, wild red hair swinging into my face. The Soulless hung on like a psychotic monkey, pulled my shirt collar aside and sank her fangs into my shoulder.
She paid for her mistake instantly. She took one drink of my venomous blood before she dropped off my back and screamed. I ignored her and the pain in my upper arm, balling my left fist with black smoke and punching the Soulless in front of me square in the face.
I couldn’t kill instantly like Logan could, but I got damn close. The blow sent the smoke into his skin, and I commanded it to rupture every blood vessel in the Soulless’ head. His brain burst inside his skull like a popped balloon.
There was a sharp hiss behind me. Another Soulless, who would be on my back before I finished turning–
Except a sharp black arrow flew over my shoulder and into his eye.
I glanced back quickly. Simon turned his bow away from me to find another target. Maddy was rushing behind him, using a key she must have stolen from the dead Soulless guard to unlock the cages. About half were empty now. The humans scrambled out, terrified and unsure of what to do. Maddy yelled directions at them, giving up her flashlight but not her knife.
Another screech had me dropping to one knee. I spun on the ground, dirt grinding into me. I missed the claws of the Soulless woman over me, and swung the machete at her legs. I put way more force than needed into the slash, and took off her knee at the thigh She shrieked and began to collapse. I was rising, bringing the machete up with me. The blood soaked blade sliced through her ribs up to her shoulder, splitting her heart in two. She was pretty much done for when she hit the ground, but I took off her head just to be sure. You could never be too careful with monsters that could heal themselves.
I raised my head, looking for the next attack. But none of the Soulless seemed to care about me anymore. They had turned their attention to Logan.
He moved with a fluidity and grace that every warrior would envy. He kicked to get distance and punched to kill. Grey smoke twisted around him like a thin, deadly snake. If I hadn’t known better, I’d say he never stopped training.
Logan truly was untouchable.
But my human brain reminded me that I was a brother. It wouldn’t let me stand back and let Logan fight alone, even if he could handle himself.
Placing the machete on my back, I ran for the crowd of Soulless surrounding my brother, filling my hands with inky black smoke. I should have held back on my powers, knowing that I was losing them every time I used my smoke, but with a dozen savage Soulless closing in on him, I couldn’t bring myself to care. All it would take was one bite to subdue Logan. His blood could probably cause instant death to any Soulless that drank it, but a dozen bites could still cause massive bleeding for him.
Death was human now, and no human lived forever.
I was on Logan’s right, and none of the Soulless appeared to notice me. I slid to a stop about ten feet away from the fight and flipped up both my hands.
The smoke rose from my skin like a sudden, dark fog, and I focused all the energy into forming the locusts. Doing this was a huge pull on my strength and powers, but it would work. Logan would know to get away from it.
The locusts buzzed and hissed, hungry and eager, veiled in thick black smoke. I turned them into a wall, and sent them at the Soulless attacking Logan.
If I hadn’t chosen the subtler Plague, I would have used the locusts to end the world. They devoured everything they touched, as caustic as any cancer or ulcer I could create. The locusts were the manifestation of the very worst part of me. The locusts didn’t care what was in front of them, as long as it was consumed.
They crashed into the Soulless in an unforgiving wave, drowning the monsters in smoke and reducing them to bones and blood. The Soulless screamed horrifically as the locusts skinned them alive, bit by bit, piece by piece. They were piranhas in blood-soaked water, working together to whittle their prey down to nothing. I could see the Soulless thrashing, swatting uselessly at my little school of monsters with clawed fingers stripped of skin. They turned their heads wildly, blood pouring from the gaping holes where their eyes used to be. Every time they opened their mouths to scream, a swarm of locusts raced in, eating the Soulless from the inside out.
I really was a monster.
I saw Logan back away from the swarm of corroding Soulless. He moved until he was far from my smoke and out of harm’s way, shooting me a look that held something of a warning. He was trying to tell me I was using too much power. If I kept going like this, I would lose it all. Or I would drain myself to death.
So I started pulling back. I couldn’t tell if all the Soulless were dead, but I had backup. I called the locusts over to my body, breaking them down into smaller pieces so I could absorb them easier. They flowed into me in a steady rush, settling back into my human chest. I exhaled, taking a second to compose myself.
A lot happened in that split second of relaxation I gave myself.
First, I heard the shouts. Warnings from Maddy and Simon in my direction. Then I felt the heat coming toward my back.
I ducked and threw myself down, but wasn’t fast enough to miss the entirety of the blaze. My left arm burst with searing pain, black fire swelling along my arm and torching the upper cuff of my t-shirt. I landed on the dirt and rolled, not caring how badly I hurt my arm as I smacked it on the ground. A little extra pain was better than having my arm melt off.
The demonfire wasn’t on me long enough to do the really serious damage, but it still felt like I’d gotten nicked by a blow torch. And the fire-throwing demon hadn’t gone anywhere.
He stood over me, a thick-necked, thick-shouldered, thick-headed beast-man with orange fires dancing in his sickly black eyes. The dark-haired demon had a good foot and seventy pounds on me, and his hands were so big it looked like he could break bricks with them. He could probably give Kade a good run for his money.
They even shared the same smile, all menace and ill intent, the look of eager cannibals b
efore they started their barbecue.
“You cheated, Horseman,” he said, eyes wild and smiling.
I was hoping he was all talk and no action, but then he ducked, completely missing the arrow that had been coming for his head. Bulky the demon spun on his heel, filling both hands with black and red demonfire and sending them out in a terrifying explosion.
My heart stuttered in my chest when I heard someone shout. Soon a straight line of bruised fire stood behind Bulky, completely blocking any view I had of the others. I barely had time to get to my feet before the demon turned around, smiling with insanity.
“Cheating is for cowards,” he finished.
I could have told him that I honestly didn’t care, that I’d cheat day in and day out if it kept me alive, but Bulky had other ideas. He rushed me with a truly amazing speed and punched me in the chest. It had the same impact a sledgehammer would, and pushed me just as far. I stumbled five feet toward the bonfire, nearly losing my balance on something behind me. I made the stupid mistake of seeing what I’d tripped on. A pair of female legs were sticking out of the bonfire, like disgusting, blackened tree logs. The top half of her body was frying in the flames, the smells of burning pork and scorched hair filling my nose.
It was horrible, and I shouldn’t have stared. I barely had time to turn around and concentrate on the much bigger problem in front of me.
Bulky swung a wide roundhouse at my head. I stepped back to miss it and reached around my head to grab my machete. Bulky hooked my arm with his free one and pulled down, stopping me from getting the weapon. His initial arm flew back, his sharp elbow catching me along the jaw. The world blurred for a minute, and I got a hard knee in the stomach. I couldn’t break the hold yet, so I reached for a knife on my belt and twisted into Bulky. The blade sank home, right under his ribs. Bulky grunted and stiffened. I twisted the blade and looked up. Then he laughed.
Bulky slammed his head into mine, confirming that he had a skull made of concrete. I was released and stumbled back, hardly able to see straight. Bulky laughed again, making anger surge through me. He didn’t want me to cheat? Fine. He thought I was a coward? Fine.
I’d be happy to show him how very wrong he was.
Bulky’s leg shot out, trying to catch me in the head. I raised my arm and caught his foot. He finally frowned. I moved with the block, reaching for his foot with my other hand. When he realized I was trying to break his ankle, he jerked it out of my grasp. He had to step back to regain balance, so I rushed forward. I snapped a kick out to his chin, which he blocked. Then I swung a wide punch at him. Also blocked.
But the fight was far from over. I wasn’t easy prey, and there was nothing I liked more than punching demons down a few pegs.
Bulky and I exchanged some really good hits behind the wall of fire. He wasn’t the tricky, dirty fighter Vance was, and definitely not the powerhouse Ciaran was, but he had speed and strength. If I didn’t end the fight soon, my human body would wear out and he’d stomp me into the sand.
The heat at my back warned me I was close to the bonfire. While I was getting some shots into Bulky, each hit he gave me pushed me closer to the flames. Demons were creatures of fire, so the flames wouldn’t hurt Bulky. I was trapped in a human body, and would be far less fortunate.
Yet a plan was starting to form in my head. It was crazy, risky, and would get me hurt, but it was better than becoming a well-cooked piece of meat.
When Bulky’s fist crashed into my temple, I exaggerated the impact it had. Oh, it still felt like a wrecking ball had greeted my cranium, but I was able to turn in front of Bulky. Now it was his back to the bonfire. Not mine.
I kicked him in the chest when he still thought I was weak, and sent him into the flames.
Bulky howled, not out of pain, but of surprise. His clothes began to melt off as he tried to worm his way out. I grabbed the machete from my back and held it in both hands, like a samurai waiting patiently for the chance to strike.
I didn’t have to wait long.
When Bulky lurched out of the orange bonfire, I swung the machete. All he was able to do was widen his eyes before the blade struck his neck, knocking him onto the ground. It didn’t take his head off in the first blow. His damn neck was too thick. But I pulled the weapon free and let his body drop. Thick blood spilled into the sand, and Bulky tried to heal himself.
Nope. None of that, pal.
I stalked to Bulky, raised the machete, and brought it down in one swing. The blade crunched through skin, muscle, and bone, then clinked against the sand. I heaved, every breath hurting as I took it in. I stepped back from Bulky’s headless corpse, hoping I wouldn’t drop where I stood.
“Avery!”
I turned around, seeing the others coming around the diminishing wall of demonfire, which had begun dying out shortly after Bulky did. Maddy was in a full on sprint, crashing into me so hard I thought she’d knock me off my feet. I staggered, but she refused to let go.
“Ow, ow, ow,” I complained.
“Oh, shit,” she said quickly, unwrapping her arms from me and stepping back. “Sorry, I wasn’t thinking.” Her denim blue eyes glittered from the fires. “I couldn’t see you and I was so worried…”
“It’s okay,” I told her, fighting the urge to fall on my ass and sleep in a fetal position. “I’m fine.”
“You look like shit,” Simon countered, having finally caught up with Maddy. His words were harsh, but there was no missing the worried tone in his voice or the concern in his eyes.
“Bruises make character, right?” I said with a grin, which made all said bruises ache.
Neither Maddy not Simon were amused. I looked past them to where Logan was standing. Not a lock of his straight black hair was out of place. It didn’t even look like he had blood on him. My older brother stared at me without emotion. I honestly couldn’t tell if he were feeling worried, judgmental, or annoyed. I was too sore to care.
Simon moved up to my side and held out his hand, letting white smoke drift out from his fingertips and into my skin. Maddy watched it nervously. “Wait, isn’t that going to hurt him?” she asked.
My brother shook his head. “It can only hurt our kind if we want it to,” he explained, looking at her. “This is how Avery healed me when I was stabbed.”
Maddy’s eyes were filled with wonder and a little fear as she watched the bruises fade from my skin, but since she wasn’t screaming like a banshee or throwing herself in the fire, I figured she’d be okay. The human girl’s eyes turned back to mine.
“You shouldn’t have used the locusts, Avery.”
Maddy jumped at Logan’s deep voice over her shoulder, but he didn’t notice. He didn’t even blink when she backed away from him nervously.
“If you keep using your power like that, you’re going to drain yourself.” His pitch black eyes narrowed. “You know what will happen next if that occurs.”
Simon, now finished healing me, glanced nervously between us.
Yeah, I knew. If I drained all my powers, I’d eventually become totally human. For about ten minutes. Then the strain I put on my body would make itself known, and my heart would fail. My organs would stop working and my brain would shut down. I’d die from exhaustion, assuming I didn’t get any massive injuries beforehand. Given who and what we were dealing with, my money was on the bleeding-out scenario.
“Well, gee, brother. You’re welcome for saving your life. You’re so sweet.”
Logan’s jaw twitched. A sign of rage, something he rarely ever showed. “Do not joke about your life with me, Avery.”
This was when Logan reminded me of Kade. When he made threats, even subtle ones like this, he only had to make them once. If it had been Kade, I would have argued or brooded. But since this was Logan, someone whose opinions and thoughts mattered to me, I let it go. I mumbled Simon a thanks, put the machete on my back, and rolled my shoulders.
“Did the humans get away?”