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Angry tears stung the corner of my eyes. He couldn’t understand the utter betrayal of having a family member toss you aside like a busted toy. Granny’s actions had left deep wounds in my heart. There was no telling how long they’d take to heal.
Despite my anger, I took a deep calming breath and finally nodded at Gabe, letting him lead me in the opposite direction of my grandmother. A few more miles southeast and we’d be safe on the lawn of Westward Manor, home of the Nephilim warriors who guarded the Hell Gate on the North American continent.
It was the place I now called home. Decked out with a sprawling mansion, training complex, and stables, it was unlike any home in the South Dakota Black Hills. I’d never get used to the luxury that spanned every nook and cranny of the place, although I certainly didn’t mind trying.
We were only a mile away from home when I caught a flurry of activity out of the corner of my eye. Coming in fast were two ferals, their teeth bared. The first took the shape of a tall curly-haired man and the second, a tiny blonde woman. I barely had time to shout out a warning and wrap my fingers around my gun before they pounced, throwing both of us to the ground.
“Watch out,” Gabe yelled, yanking the sword from his back and jumping in front of me.
My head rang with a fierce joy. Finally, my chance to beat Ashley and show Gabe my worth as a Nephilim warrior. I could use a little stress relief and demons made the perfect punching bags. Unholstering my gun, I stepped out from behind Gabe’s protective stance and steadied my aim on the little blonde’s chest.
“Lizzy, get back,” he yelled, swinging his sword to slice through the man’s chest.
I ignored his warning and pulled the trigger of my 9mm, burying a silver bullet in her torso. He had nothing to worry about. I’d taken out demons twice her size. If anything, she should be afraid of me.
The gunshot only managed to enrage the demon. Her lips peeled back into a snarl, revealing a black hole where her mouth should’ve been. In a flash, she charged and knocked the gun out of my hand, sending it spiraling far out of reach.
“Lizzy, get out of the way.”
Gabe skewered the tall demon with a smooth lunge of his blade, sending him back to Hell in a shadowy cloud. He turned to swipe the blade at the blonde, but found me in his path and stumbled.
“No,” I shouted. He’d seen me take down plenty of demons. There was no reason to start babying me now. “This one is mine.”
A weightless sensation had begun in my chest. It grew until my skin glowed with an intense light that burned like a thousand paper cuts. In the back of my head, something stirred. Intense pain or abject terror, I couldn’t name it. Panic erupted in my temples, but I didn’t have time to react to my strange new glow. The demon took advantage of my momentary distraction to charge at us both, her claws wrapping around our ankles.
We fell hard on the ground in a dull thud. The demon clung to my torso and dragged her claws along my stomach, shredding my flesh. A scream tore from my throat, but I still managed to yank the silver dagger from my boot and sink it between her ribs. Not a kill shot, but enough to get her to roll off of me.
Lying next to me was Gabe’s still body. The small trickle of blood running down the side of his cheek indicated he’d banged his head on a rock.
Violent red filled my vision. She’d hurt my partner. For that, she had to pay.
“Come on,” I hissed. “Come and get me.”
She crouched down like a lion ready to pounce, the thin strands of her hair lifting in the gentle fall breeze. Eyes as dark as coals watched me, cool and calculating. I’d seen dozens of demons just like her speed through the forest since I began training. They were fast, but I was always faster.
It was at that moment that she sprang forward at a speed unlike any demon I’d faced so far. Her sudden lunge left me unguarded and unprepared. Without so much as a fight, she plucked the dagger from my loose g
rip and returned it, sinking it deep into my flesh. I screamed in agony as she sent me hurling toward the ground in a bloody heap.
My eyes darted back and forth, desperate to fight off the painful shock of the injury. I had to stay awake. To fight.
Before my eyes clouded over, I turned my head and gazed off into the forest. Despite the blurry pain, I was sure I could see a woman standing in the distance, watching us intently with dark eyes. She appeared like a ghost, her blonde hair whipping around her pale face in a sudden burst of wind, her thin white blouse making her appear translucent.
I blinked hard, trying to focus on the mysterious woman. Why was she here? Was she crazy? She needed to run. The feral would catch her in an instant. I needed to save her.
But, the pain was too much. Darkness enveloped me, driving away all memories of the woman and her strange appearance in the woods.
Chapter Two
For the brief few seconds that my eyes closed, I could see Granny’s face. Her wrinkled mouth was turned down in a disapproving frown, her dark eyes disinterested and cold. It was the expression she saved especially for me. An expression that screamed failure.
My stomach hardened into a tight knot and I threw my eyes open, ready to drive my fist into the demon’s chest. It wasn’t right that Granny was still allowed to go free after all she’d done to me. She’d treated me like dirt, tried to kill me, and then acted like everything in her life was normal. It wasn’t fair. I didn’t get justice. Luke, my long lost father and chair of the Nephilim board, would never allow it.
But if there was one thing I could do, it was destroy this demon.
Throwing all my hate and anger into the charge, I lunged with angelic speed and caught the demon in her torso. It screeched and thrashed, but I had it pinned beneath my body weight before it could squirm away. My weapons had been lost during the fight. The only thing I had left to send this demon back to Hell was the silver dagger sticking out of my shoulder.
With a ragged cry of pain, I yanked it from my flesh and fought off the dark clouds that loomed over my vision. Droplets of blood splattered from the wound and across the demon’s pale face, like a macabre painting. A scream tore from my throat as I plunged the silver blade into its heart. The dagger sank into the false flesh as easily as sticking a fork into a roasted potato. The demon jerked and twisted, but she was finished. Gabe woke up as the remnants of her black spirit sank into the ground.
