“I got you, buddy. You’re okay.” I hovered over him, knives still out in case anything else decided to drag him away.
That dry rattling sound returned, making my hairs stand on end. I whipped around, knife blade singing through the air, just in time to see a trash-bag clad body drop from the sky with a heavy thud not ten feet away. And not a moment later, Deyva dropped from the clouds, her sneakered feet landing on the demon’s chest with a sickening crunch.
“You don’t touch my humans,” she snarled, pulling John from his sheath.
The demon let out another rattle of protest before she swung the blade down, separating its masked head from its body like a knife through butter. It crumbled to dust underneath her and I couldn’t have been more proud, but we couldn’t afford to celebrate yet.
“Dey, look out!” I screamed the moment I saw more figures moving in through the smog.
“You too, behind you!” she shrieked.
I spun, stabbing my blade through a grey-skinned hand that had been reaching for Will. It poofed into a cloud of ash-like dust that made my eyes sting and water. Turning back to Deyva, I saw that Zach had beaten me in becoming her hero.
Our girl kicked through the chest of another hellion, while Zach stabbed mercilessly through another that had tried to sneak up on her from behind. Once that one crumbled, and Deyva successfully decapitated another with John, the others began pulling back into the fog.
“What are you scared of, fuckers?” Zach taunted the retreating silhouettes. “You hate followers of God so much, come get us!”
“Let them go.” Deyva placed a hand on his shoulder, the tension visibly draining out of him from the contact.
“It’s weird for them to retreat though, right?” He looked over at me, brow furrowed and chest lifting slightly with exerted breaths. “Have you ever seen that before, Stav?”
“No,” I admitted, sheathing my knives. “But Deyva’s right. No point in going after them.” I lowered my knees to the ground, next to Will who was still face down and shaken. “Hey man, they’re gone. We’re all okay. I’m gonna help sit you up, okay?” Deyva and Zach came closer, their expressions concerned as I pulled Will up by his shoulders. “That’s it, get your knees under you. You’re okay.”
The man’s breaths continued to saw in and out shallowly from his chest, panicked and hyperventilating. He shook like a leaf and his eyes darted around, focused on nothing, with pupils the size of pinpricks. I felt awful for him. As an engineer, he usually didn’t jump into the fray of our fights with demons, seeing himself as more useful maintaining our utilities to keep Bethel comfortable.
Now his first real confrontation with a demon and he nearly got dragged off to that unthinkable place.
“He’s in shock,” Zach murmured, kneeling in front as he took one of Will’s bloody, ragged hands. “You were so brave, Will. Make no mistake, God is watching and He is proud.” The young priest’s Adam’s apple bobbed with a swallow. I didn’t have to be Deyva to sense his uneasiness with giving reassurances about God when his own faith was shaken.
“Careful,” I warned. “His wrists might be sprained or broken. We better get him back.”
“We can manage with one windmill down,” Zach agreed. He rose to his feet and moved to help me lift Will under his armpits.
“May I?”
Our eyes fell on Deyva, green gaze shimmering and her kissable mouth in a small pout as she looked at the injured man between us.
“What are you going to do?” Zach’s tone was curious, without a single note of accusation.
“Just make him feel a bit better.” She looked at me, chewing her lip. “Do you think he would mind?”
Will barely seemed aware of the fact that she was standing in front of him, much less asking to use her abilities on him. The poor guy would continue to suffer long after his physical injuries healed, I had no doubt of that. If she could ease that suffering a little, even temporarily, how could I deny it?
I nodded at her. “Go ahead, babe.”
Deyva placed a delicate hand on his arm, closed her eyes on a deep inhale, then pushed a concentrated dose of emotions toward him as she breathed out. Whether she did it on purpose, or just because I was holding him up, I got a hit with the bundle of emotions she directed at