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Chapter Twenty-Three
Erik
I smell sulfur just a moment before the three shadow demons stride into view from the steep path up the mountain. They’re huge—more than a dozen feet tall, with foot-long claws and jaws full of multiple rows of teeth like sharks. Solid black, except for their eyes, which glow a deep hellish orange. They have barbed tails that whip back and forth, and they flicker in and out like an old TV set, shifting back and forth from solid muscle to wisps of shadow.
This can’t be a coincidence. The Night Guild must have been lying low until we found the dagger. They must have somehow known we were after it and want to make sure they take possession of the one thing that can destroy Darkness and Light’s alliance. I was wondering why they hadn’t found us the night before.
How could I have been so dumb?
Astrid is still standing right behind my shoulder. I spin, my eyes glowing silver as my dragon rises to the surface. “I said run! Do it, Astrid!”
She backs away from me, then she turns and runs for cover. As soon as she’s a safe distance, my dragon surges out of me. I shift in a blaze of magic, skin turning to pewter scale, wings flaring out, fire and ice burning in my chest. I will not let these beasts take Astrid. Not here, of all places. History will not repeat itself. I won’t lose another woman I love.
And it’s as that thought goes through my head, the realization that I’ve fallen for Astrid, fallen hard and irrevocably, that the shadow demons charge me.
They surround me, darkness and hellfire, teeth and leathery wings, glowing eyes that shine with malice and cunning. Their shadow magic rolls toward me, plunging the entire courtyard into a shade of night. They can disappear and reappear somewhere else in the blink of an eye, and they’re fast as hell. I also know that only one thing I possess can send them back to Hell.
I open my jaws and blast out a wall of blue fire, spinning as I go since they’ve come at me from all sides. One of them sizzles as the flames catch it, but it’s not a direct hit so it manages to blink away with only the loss of its tail. The other two are even faster and zip off unscathed.
A gash opens along my ribcage as one of the fuckers materializes right in front of me, slashes, and then disappears again. I spin, focusing on the feel of their magic against mine. Behind me I feel a flash of dark power and I duck, rolling onto my back and sending another whoosh of flames at them. This time I hit one of the demons right in the chest. It screams and burns before my eyes, dissolving into a pile of ash at my feet.
The other two hiss and redouble their efforts. They attack like lightning, flashing in and out, catching me with claws and teeth. I get in wounds on them, too, but I know that kind of wound won’t vanquish them. Only my fire can do that.
I let out a roar as one of the demons slices my back legs with its claws, cutting through tendon and muscle. My blood sprays out across the snow, hot and crimson. As I fall to the side, I catch one of the demons with a blast of flames and it burns to a crisp, black ash joining my red blood on the stones of the courtyard.
The final demon shoots me a wicked grin as it blinks out of range of my flames, moving toward Astrid. I pivot my head and I can see her, standing in the doorway to the hall at the back of the courtyard.
The demon’s voice fills my mind as it moves. “I will take the thing you care about most, dragon. My masters did not tell me what shape the witch had to be in when I gave her to them. I will have my fun before I return her.”
Another roar rips out of my throat as I try to get my back legs under me. Agony rips through my body, but I don’t care. Protecting Astrid is all that matters.
“The best toys are the ones who are in love with someone,” the shadow thing continues. “I will possess her in every imaginable way until she begs for death. She will hate you for not saving her. I will break the love between you. I will shatter her soul.”
It’s almost across the courtyard now. I manage to get my legs under me somehow, even though I can barely feel them. All I know is pain.
My wings stretch out, and even though it’s hard to get off the ground without springing from my back legs as I usually do, I manage to beat my wings hard enough to gain altitude. The demon turns and its evil smile falls as it sees me flying. It shimmers and reappears right next to Astrid. She lets out a strangled cry as it encircles her throat with its long claws and drags her forward into the courtyard.
“Go ahead, dragon,” it hisses, this time aloud. Its voice is like splintered glass and rusty metal. “Burn us both, if that’s what you want.”
It stares up at me defiantly, the deranged grin back on its face. When I take in a breath, my massive lungs expanding, a flicker of doubt moves across the creature’s face. But by then, it’s too late.
I release a torrent of flame, engulfing both the demon and Astrid.
