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The sound she heard was the dying engine of the silver Honda Accord. What was left of it, anyway. Several feet away stood three men. They pointed toward the wreckage and talked amongst themselves. Their dialect was crude, otherworld, and she knew without a doubt they hailed from below. From the Hell realm. She felt their darkness. It thickened the air and clogged her lungs.
Her heart sped up. A shot of adrenaline rushed through her veins and for a moment she tensed, a bird about to take flight. But then common sense prevailed and Kira realized she needed to stay calm. In control. Everything Logan had told her, every single warning, nugget of advice, and defensive move he’d taught her over the last two weeks settled in her mind.
She took a deep breath and slowly exhaled, her eyes never leaving the enemy. She ignored the stab of pain that accompanied thoughts of Logan. She couldn’t go there. Not right now. There would be time to dwell on him and the implications of his disappearance later. Right now she needed to survive.
Kira didn’t make a sound, but carefully moved all her fingers and toes. She’d been thrown from the car, and other than a nasty headache, didn’t seem to be hurt.
The car was upside down in the ditch and it made a crun
ching noise as the weight of it shifted. This alarmed the demons and she quickly lowered her eyes as one glanced her way before following the others toward the wreckage. She had no idea if Priest had survived the crash and for a moment panic nearly overwhelmed her.
How was she going to get out of this? If Priest was dead then she was on her own in a world where no one was what they seemed. The only person she trusted was Logan.
She took a second. Pushed the panic away. Kira was in the middle of a fall paradise, complete with a field of pumpkins to her right, and farther beyond, a forest of multicolored trees. All the colors of fall dusted the tops of them, swaying slightly, leaves falling to the ground as the wind picked up.
A forest. Trees. If she could make it there, she might have a chance.
She shifted slightly and relief flooded her when her fingers brushed against the sharp edge of the dagger she’d grabbed earlier. She clutched the handle and held tight as the demons rocked what was left of the twisted metal, all of them eager to get to what was inside. They didn’t seem to care about her for the moment, but then why should they? She was human. It was the guy with her who would bear the brunt of their anger. Three against one? Not great odds.
And then they’d come for her.
She felt sorry for him—if in fact he was still alive—but at the moment her main focus was herself and the unborn child nestled deep inside her body. She knew he was there. Some might think it was a crazy assumption. She’d been with Logan for only a month, but she knew. She felt him—felt his spirit. And it was the babe growing inside her who gave Kira the strength to focus and to leave.
The low rumbling of the demon’s words all of a sudden sparked, and growls rent the air as a loud scraping noise accompanied their shouts.
Kira chanced one glance toward the car and saw that Priest had crawled from beneath its twisted mess, a long sword in his hand and blood flowing freely down his forehead. It did nothing to detract from the dangerous air around him. In fact, it enhanced it. He brandished his weapon and snarled, and for a second Kira didn’t know who looked scarier, the demons or the man who faced them.
The demons spread out to surround Priest in a semicircle. As Kira gripped the dagger tighter in her hand, she carefully rolled to the side, aware that the demons were totally focused on the Priest and not her. She wouldn’t get another chance like this.
Slowly, she began to crawl through the grass, occasionally glancing over her shoulder at the wreckage. Inch by inch she hauled her body forward, keeping silent, even when the largest demon rushed forward and hit Priest so hard he flew back into the car and overturned its steel carcass end over end. She paused, aware for the first time that she, too, bled. She felt the warmth seep down her leg and smelled the metallic scent.
Hold on. The words whispered in her mind. They became a mantra that echoed over and over again as her eyes swept back to the forest. Hands and legs propelled her forward until she reached a small indent in the landscape. Kira rolled down the slight embankment, where she rested for a second and gathered her wits. Sweat pooled beneath her lips and across her brow. She blinked and shook her head, stifling a groan as pain spread out once more.
A loud, god-awful scream rent the air and every hair on her body stood on end. Fear, thick and cloying, filled her throat, and a wheezing noise escaped her lips as she began to crawl again.
A tingle of awareness pebbled across the back of her skull and Kira froze. Someone was behind her. Close enough for her internal radar to pulse and burn.
She gripped the dagger in her hand, rolled over, and could do nothing to stop the shriek that ripped from her throat.
One of the demons stood several feet away, long scythe held loosely in its hands, face contorted in a macabre grin. Saliva dripped from between lips that peeled back to reveal double rows of deadly, serrated teeth. It cocked its head to the side, nostrils flared, and its grin widened even more as the scent of Kira’s fear settled in its lungs.
Behind him, grunts, squeals, and the clanging of weapons echoed in the air, but she couldn’t see Priest from her vantage point. At the moment, however, Kira’s only focus was her own survival. She would not perish out here among this filth.
She would not.
Kira shot to her feet, staggering a bit before she recovered and took off at a full run, the forest so close now, and yet as the beast behind her snorted and growled, so far away. She nearly tripped over the rocks that now littered the ground, but regained her balance quickly. Seconds later she plunged inside the cool interior of the forest, feet flying over the uneven terrain, fear nearly choking her as she heard the demon crash through the trees behind her.
The air was much cooler in here, the sun blocked by the thick canopy of trees above her. Pine and the pungent odor of rotting leaves and vegetation greeted her, along with an eerie silence—save for the demon hot on her trail. Kira kicked it up a notch; she twisted and turned among the trees, not sure where she was headed, only knowing she had to escape or all was lost.
Time stood still, her heartbeat filling her head. Her labored breathing. The pain in her side. The sweat rolling down her forehead.
And then she was out in the open again, the smell of pine forgotten.
“No,” she whispered hoarsely.
And when she fell her to knees, there was nothing left inside to get her back up. The well was dry. She’d run in circles, it seemed, and was now back where she’d started.
Priest has slain one of the demons. Its body was prone on top of what was left of the Accord. But the other was locked in a deadly battle with the warrior, the two of them rolling on the ground, looking to silence the other forever.
