Yikes. All of that was easier read than done.But here goes nothing . . .
I followed the instructions and sliced the dagger through the air, aiming for his chest. He may not have had a warning, but he didn’t need one. His hand wrapped around the blade, digging right through his palm. My eyes widened as metal hit bone.
Now I know where his last scar came from.
A sickening smile curled his thin lips, revealing a set of stained teeth. My insides twisted. His foul stench made me gag, along with the blood pooling by his feet.
He ripped the blade from my hand, tossed it aside as if it were a child’s toy, and shoved me off my feet. I sailed nearly six feet into the wall and landed hard on the grungy pavement.
Pain pulsed through my muscles, and my head spun. I searched for my dagger through the cracks in my vision, finding it just out of reach. Groaning, I rolled to my knees and wheezed through the ache in my ribs.
This was a joke. A very unfunny, morbid joke where I died and this fight was used as a teachable moment for future untrained hunters. An announcer’s voice droned in my head:Next time, on a very special episode of How Not to Fight a Demon . . .
The monster roared, lurching toward me. I barely had enough time to counteract. Using a wave of magic, I sent an electrical current into the puddle beneath his feet. Sparks flared, shooting up his legs. The demon convulsed. His eyes rolled into the back of his head.
Heck yeah! Elle scores a point.
I increased the current, sending him to his knees. A flare of excitement burst to life inside me. I might actually have a chance! But my magic sputtered. It wasn’t strong enough to keep him down for long.
He regained his footing, and the magical current dissipated. With a ragged step, he charged, forcing me to stumble backward. I fell and hit the pavement, but I kept moving until my back hit the brick wall.
Blood seeped from the open wound in his hand as he reached for my foot. I cried out, kicking his arm away. Another kick, and my heel connected with his stomach. I might as well have been kicking a boulder.
His fist cracked the brick inches from my head, sending dust into my eyes. I blinked away the particles and gazed in horror at the hand still lodged in the wall. The skin was stained red and blistered, but I noticed a dark symbol near his wrist. He was an underling. An enforcer demon hired by someone higher in the underworld rankings.
Basically, I was getting my ass kicked by somebody’s minion.
“Where is it?” he growled, wrapping a bruising hand around my upper arm. “Where is the Soulbinder?”
The soul what?
He jerked me forward, hot, fetid breath assaulting my face. “Tell me where it is!” When I didn’t answer, he sent me skidding across the pavement. This was nothing like the movies, where the heroine landed, did an acrobatic jump to her feet, and reentered the fray. Getting tossed around like a rag doll freaking hurt!
Magic fizzled in my fingers. My demon blade was nowhere in sight. I stared up at the narrow slice of night sky peeking between the buildings, and a hysterical laugh bubbled in my throat. No surprise my first demon fight had turned out badly, but did my first semi-date in ages have to end with me dead in an alley?
I got dressed up for this!
The demon loomed over me. He’d picked up a jagged piece of wood broken off from one of the crates. Blood oozed from his hand onto the pavement. Sounds were fuzzy, yet my breath roared like a freight train inside my lungs.
I tried to get up.
Couldn’t.
My extremely short stint as a demon-hunter had come to an end. Was anyone surprised?
Cue the tiny violins.
“Die, Hunter,” he rasped. The demon lifted the board and pointed the splintered edge at my heart.
Something moved behind him. The fire door opened. Caden! Was there enough time before I became a marshmallow on the end of a stick? I had to at least give the fight one more try.
The razor-tipped board descended with whistling speed. I gathered my magic, focusing it all in one burst.Wait for it . . . Remember what you learned.
Magic exploded from my fingers, capturing the board a few inches from my chest. It held, suspended in the air. I tried to push it back, but it was all I could do to keep it steady.
The demon’s features twisted into a vicious snarl. He roared, forcing all his strength into a final strike.
I strained against the new surge of power, hands shaking, a cry buried in my throat. It was no use. My spell slipped, releasing the wooden spike. It plunged the final few inches, and I squeezed my eyes shut, bracing for impact.
