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Because I’m looking right at him.
What?
He’s partly transparent, but he’s here. Sort of.
“What the fuck?” burst out Gavril.
Khloé tensed as the others crowded the crate, their mouths open wide as they stared at Asher. Only Enoch’s two puppets and Lane—whose demon was still in control—remained far back.
Enoch squinted at Khloé. “You create illusions, do you?”
Gavril crouched. “This is no illusion. The boy must have the ability to astral project.” His eyes narrowed, glittering with sheer cunning. “How interesting. He should not have been able to get inside that crate—no one should, whether in astral form or any other. Hello, little boy.”
“Want Kooey,” Asher said around the finger he’d stuffed into his mouth.
Gavril’s brows raised. “Then you should stay with us. I’m sure she’d like your company.”
“Kooey go home.”
“I’m sorry, young one, but Khloé won’t be going home.”
The air chilled as Asher’s eyes bled to black. The demon—so unbelievably cold and callous—curved its lips into a dimply smile that held an edge of arrogance. It opened its small hand, and a gold spark flickered to life on its palm.
Thea gasped. “What’s it doing?”
The entity looked at the ceiling, and then the spark on its palm became a stream of gold power that punched a hole through the top of the crate and through the roof of the building, sending bits of wood flying through the air … and breaking the containment spell.
Khloé’s heart leaped and, hearing a chorus of caws, she peered through the hole in the roof. She felt her lips part in surprise. Crows were flying and dancing there, as if drawn by the lingering energy of the power display … or by Asher himself, she wasn’t sure.
Asher’s form shimmered and then disappeared. The others spun, searching the room with their eyes. Khloé figured he’d returned his astral ass home, but then he reappeared near the bar. Or, more to the point, his demon did. And it was still wearing that arrogant smirk.
She felt power gather in the air as the others braced themselves to attack. Her stomach sank, her demon tensed, and a shot of pure adrenaline rushed through her. She didn’t know if Asher’s astral body could truly be hurt or not, but she wasn’t about to risk it.
You guys need to get here fast, bro, she told her twin.
We don’t know where “here” is yet, he pointed out.
Just look for the flock of crows. Wasting no time, Khloé snapped out her leg and kicked the crate door open. She thrust out her palms and called to the power humming in her belly. Whips of electric fire lashed her captors, making them cry out and fall to their knees.
She crawled out of the crate just as a golden wave of pure power swept out of Asher’s demon and crashed into its foes, including the two corpses—hurling them all across the room. Well, damn. Her own entity was mightily impressed.
She itched to stand at astral-Asher’s side, but it would serve them both better if they remained separate targets—it would divide the attention of their foes.
Lane ran out of the saloon mere seconds before crows flew through the front door. Their wings flapping like crazy, the birds descended on Enoch, Gavril, Thea, the sentinels, and the puppets before any of them even had the chance to stand upright. Voices cried out and cursed as the crows pecked with their beaks and raked with their talons.
Enoch batted them away and then surrounded himself with his forcefield. Ugh. He snarled at Khloé as he stood. “You will not survive this night.”
“Worried that you’ll fail yet again, old man?” she taunted.
Growling, he pitched several death orbs through the air. She deflected them with her own power, and they harmlessly crashed into the wall, leaving patches of rot.
The asshole threw more black, smoky orbs at her. She evaded them just as another surge of golden power swept out of Asher. It crashed into Enoch’s forcefield, causing spiderweb-like cracks to form in the construction, but the bastard quickly bolstered it and repaired the damage—
She winced as a high-pitched sound built in the air, hitting a note so high it threatened to burst her eardrums and once more damage her psyche. Khloé hurled a ball of hellfire at Gavril’s head, and the sound cut off.
Sensing he was the most powerful of her foes besides Enoch, Khloé plunged her mind into that of the Prime and seized control. “You will protect me and fight alongside me.”
Gavril didn’t hesitate to whirl on the spot and attack Enoch. He couldn’t pierce the protective forcefield, but he was able to telekinetically bat away every death orb that came at her. Awesome.
Unlike Enoch, she couldn’t control more than one person at a time, but Gavril proved to be very good backup. He essentially held off Enoch while Khloé blasted the others with strong currents of electric fire again and again, managing to obliterate one puppet pretty much instantly.
