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I sidestepped him and went for the dagger in my boot. My fingers wrapped around the familiar hilt, yanking it free. I went to lunge, but was too slow. He clawed at my shoulder and ripped my favorite t-shirt to shreds. I screamed out as the searing pain of his wicked nails dug through skin and muscle. Hot blood ran down my back, soaking my clothes within seconds.
With a quick glance down the hall, I could see Raquel struggling with three ferals of her own. She was doing a great job of keeping them at bay, but two had managed to bypass her and were coming straight for me.
I didn’t have time for this. With an impatient puff of air from my lips, I struck out with the dagger, hitting the bullseye. The bearded demon stared down at his chest with the hilt of my dagger poking out. He roared and clawed at it, to no avail. In a poof of black smoke, his body disappeared and I plucked my dagger from the ground.
Wasting no time, I shot through the doorway to the alarm room. A few computer monitors blinked at me. A rolling chair with gum stuck to the armchair stood in front of them. To the right of that lay a brown box, covered with a clear plastic case. Within the case was a bright red button. It reminded me of the nuclear missile buttons in old war movies. Except, instead of releasing a nuclear weapon, this button would save lives.
I flipped the case and pressed down on it with all my strength. There were a few moments of silence, which made my heart skip a beat. I bounced on my toes and willed it to work. Suddenly, a long, low horn sounded. The noise reverberated through my skull, forcing me to cover my ears with my hands. The alarm worked!
“Lizzy!”
Raquel’s voice called for me from the hallway. Grasping the dagger tighter in my hands, I ran out to meet her. By now, the ferals had overrun our portion of the manor. I expected them to charge at me—to strike back at the person who had alerted the rest of the Nephilim to their presence. But no, they ran past Raquel and nearly bowled me over. Spinning around to watch them, I felt a tingly sense of alarm as I watched them break down the door to Luke’s empty office.
They had to be after something. No feral would bypass a fight, unless it had strict orders for something else.
“Come on, we’ve got to stop them,” I said to Raquel, giving her a quick look over.
Glistening with sweat, she didn’t seem too worse for wear. She’d really came into her own as a warrior this past year. There was no way my cousin could’ve fought off a dozen ferals by herself when I first met her.
She gave me a curt nod and sprung forward. A tall demon with brown skin lunged at her first, his muscular arms wrapping around her. She artfully dodged his embrace and slid her dagger in the space between his ribs. At the same time, I found myself in hand-to-hand combat with a demon of my size, her long brown hair braided in pigtails.
She screeched and swiped at me, her deadly claws extended. I bent backwards and her arm swept over top of me. Regaining my footing, I took advantage of her momentum and spun her around, sinking my dagger just under her shoulder blade.
Although at least five more demons blocked my view of Luke’s office, I could tell they were crowding around something important. Dodging another attack by a third demon with frizzy black hair, I ducked under her arm and peered into the room. A tall demon with red hair that covered his head, chin, and arms had Psyche's Urn tucked under his elbow. Red-beard was pointing at the doorway, as if to tell the other demons to fight us back.
I wasn’t sure how the ferals had gotten past Luke’s security, but something inside of me clicked into fight mode. My determination only doubled as I saw them fan out to protect the box. It was important to them. Obviously, they knew something more about its powers than we did. It had to be a weapon of destruction.
I’d die before I’d let them take it.
With Raquel fighting beside me, we made it into the office. Blades flashed as we fought the remaining demons. I felt a sting on my arm when Red-Beard lashed out, his large hand clawing at my dominant arm.
“Drop the box,” I yelled at him, clasping my hand to the wound. No time to check the damage now. I had to get that box.
He gazed at me, his eyes burning bright red. As we stared each other down, he cocked his head to the side with the jerky movements of an insect. A shiver went through me. I’d been to Hell. I knew what his true form was. A shadowy, horrible creature with skeletal features. The human form he wore right now might have hidden his hellish interior, but I knew better.
“You won’t get out of here alive.” I gestured at Raquel, who had just finished burying her dagger in the last demon. “You’re outnumbered and outgunned. There’s no place to run.”
A deep growl came from his lips. His eyes flicked between us, like an animal waiting for the pounce. I edged forward. He still had the box tight under his arm.
“Lizzy.” Raquel’s warning tone wasn’t lost on me. “The box...”
“I know.”
I saw the look in his eyes change before he even took a step. With super speed, I raced him to the window—his only exit. My left hand closed on the edge of the Box of Awakening. I managed to yank it out of his grasp just as the window shattered. He screeched and twisted his body as he fell. A dagger whizzed just an inch past my head as he fell. Raquel joined me at the edge of the window ledge to look down below. Red-Beard was sprawled on the grassy lawn below, his leg at an awkward angle. A second later, he burst into a cloud of black, leaving behind a single dagger buried in the ground.
“Good aim,” I said, hugging the box closer to my body.
“Thanks.” She panted, her body shaking with excess adrenaline. “But he wasn’t exactly a small target.”
I shrugged. It was still an impressive throw. And she’d managed not to bury a dagger in my back. I was more grateful for that than anything else.
The alarm was still blaring across the yard. We snapped out of our momentary break to dash back down the stairs and toward the bleachers. The Nephilim had abandoned their seats and were running this way and that. Children screamed as they clung to their mothers. A few of the older Nephilim had been ushered to folding chairs on the lawn and were surrounded by younger warriors. At least two dozen Nephilim had some kind of weapon in their hand and I was at once thankful to those who always came prepared.
“Luke!” I found my father presiding over a group of Nephilim, trying to take a roll call. He turned when he heard my voice and pulled me into a firm embrace.
“You’re alright.” He saw Raquel just behind me and pulled her into our hug. “You both are. Where were you?”
“The manor.” I looked up at him, the sun bright in my eyes. “We had to sound the alarm. The ferals were going to ambush you.”
