Over the top of the scattered remains, thebartas leapt forward as her midnight blue light raced up to mixwith the flames engulfing my arm. Her sparks rippled over my flesh,the power in them enhancing my fire.
“Call the hounds back,” she said as anotherbarta sent one flying through the air.
“Harga!” I commanded in demonish.
Displeasure surged through the bondconnecting me and the hounds; their irritation at being called backbeat against me, but they slipped through the carnage they hadcreated and toward me. Two of them were carrying the arms of abarta demon in their powerful jaws. They fanned out before us toform a protective line. All of their thick black coats were slickwith blood, but they were hungry for more as they eyed the bartascoming toward us.
The bartas’ red eyes shone as they advanced;their jagged fangs hung over the lower jaw of their snout. Thelower-levels who hadn’t been destroyed by my fire managed to regaintheir feet behind the bartas. The demons’ skin was mottled red andcharbroiled in many places, but stupidly they would come back formore.
River’s hand grew warmer against my arm. Theothers glanced nervously at each other as the bartas steadilyprogressed toward us. Twelve feet… ten feet…
“River,” Hawk said.
“A few feet closer,” River whispered.
Seven feet…
CHAPTER 43
River
A heart attack was not out of the question,I realized. Sweat coated my palms, and my throat had gonecompletely dry, yet I waited for the hideous creatures to comecloser. If I couldn’t do this, they would be almost on us when Ifailed. There would be no fending them off.
Six feet…
The bartas hunched their backs and thrusttheir shoulders forward in a move I recognized as their physicalpreparation to spring at their enemy. My nails dug into Kobal’sarm. A fresh surge of power from him flooded my sapped body as thebartas raced forward.
Lifting my other hand, I released a blast oflife so powerful that Kobal and the others turned their heads awayfrom the radiant flash bursting across the room. I moved the lightcoming from my open palm over the creatures barreling at us. Thelife force crashed into each one of them, only knocking them back afew feet.
My shoulders heaved, and I struggled to getair into my lungs as the bartas stared down at their chests beforelifting their hideous red gazes to all of us once more. They allreleased a strange chittering noise that sounded a lot likelaughter. My ability hadn’t affected the other barta I’d killedduring Magnus’s training at first either, but there were over adozen of them gathered before us now.
What if it didn’t work?If it didn’twork, we’d be barta food.
Raising his arm, Kobal pressed it against mychest as he moved me back a step. His claws lengthened, and flamesburst from his hands and over his body as one of the bartas tookanother step toward us. Hawk lifted his gun to take aim, but beforehe could fire a bullet, the barta stopped and stared in confusionat his chest.
The barta demon emitted a strange chh, chh,chh sound. The one behind him quickly picked up the sound as theyglanced at each other before focusing on their chests again. Thefirst one raised its claws to its chest, and like the one I’ddestroyed before, it began to tear at its own flesh until itexposed its ribcage.
Kobal spun and wrapped me in his arms as aloud pop resounded through the cavern. Though Kobal shielded mewith his body, I still saw the spray of blood bursting over him andsplattering the wall behind us. More pops filled the air and moreblood sprayed the walls around us as the bartas’ heartsexploded.
Kobal released me, but kept me behind him ashe spun to face Lucifer’s group. I stepped out from behind his backto survey the wreckage of the bartas sprawled out around us. Besideme, the disconcerting mirage of Magnus as me was covered in blood.Magnus’s eyes met mine before the blood vanished from hiscountenance.
I couldn’t suppress a shudder at thespectacle of blood vanishing from my face like that. Taking a deepbreath, I lifted my head to take in Lucifer and the survivingdemons across from us. After encountering the two lower-leveldemons at The Gateway truck stop with Azote, I found them easier todifferentiate from the upper-levels.
Morax may have a tail and horns, but it wasnothing compared to these grotesque monsters we currently faced.Some had pig snouts like the ones from The Gateway, others hadcloven hooves and jackal faces. Others had alligator tails andjaws, while some resembled animals I’d never seen before, and a fewwere a cross between many different animals, some of which Iassumed were also creatures who resided within the bowels ofHell.
My gaze settled on Lucifer standing amongstthem. He was nearly as tall as Kobal, but lean with a powerful,whipcord-like frame. I held his empty black eyes as he grinned atme. He folded his arms over his chest when he leaned back to surveyme. I hated the smug look on his face; if it was the last thing Idid, I would destroy him.
“Stay here,” Kobal commanded.
“No!” I cried when he broke away from us andbounded through the piles of carnage with an ease matched only bythe hounds running at his side.
I took a stumbling step after him and almostfell when my legs gave out on me. Magnus grabbed me back and pulledme against his side. I bit my lip as I turned to take in the ashenhue of Magnus’s face, ormyface as it were. Nearly blackcircles surrounded his eyes, the blue veins beneath his skin werevisible in the corners of his eyes. My fingers drifted to thecorners of my own eyes before my head turned in the direction ofKobal.
I may be drained, and I may look like acorpse, but I’d still kill anything that tried to injure him. Itried to jerk my arm free of Magnus. He held on tight as Kobaldodged past one lower-level demon and then another.
Corson, Bale, and Hawk rushed forward behindhim. “Let me go!” I shouted at Magnus, and a burst of fire shot upfrom my hands to encircle my arms.
Magnus yelped and released me. Free of hisgrasp, I ran forward. I kept my gaze focused ahead as Kobal slicedthe throat of one demon before setting fire to another one. My footcaught on a tangled gargoyle wing. I nearly sprawled into thetwisted mess beneath my feet, but Magnus had followed me throughthe carnage. He grabbed my arm again to jerk me up beside him.
