Destiny Gift (The Everlast Trilogy) - By Juliana Haygert Page 0,86
the door as the brutes advanced toward Morgan. They didn’t look for Brock. They seemed intent on attacking whoever annoyed them. And Morgan was doing a good job. He waved the wooden chair leg around and jumped on a wider desk to get out of their range. But the demons didn’t stop. Morgan tried to keep their claws away by brandishing his improvised weapon.
That was my cue. I tiptoed to the brutes and opened the vial with the fountain water. I prepared to let a few drops fall on their back, but one of them lunged at Morgan, messing up our plans.
I froze, my mouth hanging open, as I saw Morgan get pushed to the wall and scratched on his face. Shocked, I almost dropped the precious vial.
The other demon detected my presence and turned to me. Adrenaline shot through my system, and I was able to move again. I backed away, putting a few desks between us. Not that broken wood and metal would detain the demon, but I needed time to think.
He kicked the desks out of the way and lunged at me. I slid aside—his claws grazed my shoulder—and let him break his head on the wall. A second later he was after me again, his head intact but the wall in pieces. Pain sliced across my shoulder. I swallowed hard and glanced at Morgan, who was wrestling the other demon, trying to stab him with the Crimson Blade.
My second-long distraction was enough for the demon to slap me and send me flying. I hit my back on the edge of a desk, and he charged me again. He caught me by my neck and dragged me up, away from the safety of the ground. His huge hand choked me and his nails buried into my skin. I worked on the vial, but couldn’t get the stopper off. My hands shook, and his grip was too tight. I couldn’t breathe. My vision went gray.
Just when I thought I was sliding into unconsciousness, the stopper popped off. With my left hand, I grabbed the demon’s arm and pulled him close to me. With my right hand, I turned the vial upside down above his head. The liquid dripped out, touching his skin. Instantly, he dropped me and yelled, putting his claws over his face. A burnt smell reached my nose before I saw the fire spreading over his body.
He backed up, yelling and jerking, trying to find a way to put out the fire crackling his skin.
That caught the attention of the other demon, distracting him. With a roar, Morgan pierced the demon’s chest with the Crimson Blade. Its body collapsed, and thick black blood spread over the floor, forming a large gooey pool. Crumpled in a corner, the demon I had set on fire stopped jerking. His melted skin was covered by blisters as the fire died out. I gagged.
“Two down,” Morgan stood. “Two hundred more to go.” He chuckled at his own dreary joke.
I turned to him and gasped at the sight of long, deep, bloody scratches on his cheek, his chest, and his thigh. “Morgan, you’re hurt.”
He pointed to me. “You too.”
Blood dripped from my aching shoulder, but the wound didn’t look as bad as his injuries.
“Can you walk?”
He limped to the door, gritting his teeth, and cursed. “It hurts, but I can walk.”
We peeked out from behind the door. The corridor was dark, but I could see the shape of a staircase ahead. A sign on the wall informed us we were on the second floor.
I pulled Morgan back inside the room. “Don’t tell me you want to simply run out of here.”
“I don’t like it either. Do you see any other option?”
I shook my head. Without the visions, there was no other option. Besides, between staying here and fleeing, I would rather die during an attempted escape. I just hoped no other demon decided to come inside.
He put his finger over his mouth and beckoned me to follow him into the corridor. We tiptoed to the end of the hall, where the staircase was. He peeped inside another classroom. “Come,” he mouthed.
I followed as I didn’t want to be alone and surrounded by demons again.
We stood in another dirty classroom, littered with broken desks, dim light pushing its way through cracks in covered windows. The desks had been pushed to a corner. In the center of the room, candles lit a circle drawn on the scarred and dirty hardwood floor.