in my chest as I face forward, ready as I’ll ever be for what’s next.
The second we all step onto the path that leads to the mausoleum where Hell’s portal awaits, that eerie, unnatural silence finally shatters.
Two hundred demon heads swivel in our direction, and then shrieks rent the air. The noise is so loud and so sudden, I would’ve involuntarily pissed my pants if anything had been in my bladder.
I cringe as the terrifying noises seem to bounce off every headstone and crypt.
“Get the Scythed One for the Ophidian! Kill the rest!” My head whips up at the shouted order, and I see that the voice came from a demon perched on the roof of the mausoleum, skulking like a gargoyle.
“Stay in formation,” Iceman orders, and that’s all any of us have time to say, because in the next instant, all two hundred of the demons rush at us.
Flames erupt from Jerif’s hands like a volcanic eruption, and Echo’s shadows that were once shrouding us from view form into angry tentacles, ready to snatch the attackers in their tendrils and snap some necks. Crux, Iceman, and Echo grip their icy blades, and I’m in the middle of them all, clutching my scythe like my life depends on it, because it absolutely does.
I don’t even know at what point my terror activated my scythe’s blades to come out, but I stroke the smooth wood, thankful for the wicked, gleaming, demon-ashing weapon. I pray to whatever the fuck I am and the blood flowing through my veins that this will be enough to see us through this. That I won’t fail my guys like I did last time.
I don’t understand why this is happening, but we’ll have to figure it out when this is all over. It’s like these demons tracked me here to this portal, and that thought fills me with dread.
We’re surrounded in seconds.
The guys try to tighten their formation around me, because I know without a doubt, that their unspoken agreement is to not let these fuckers take me. It’s my own unspoken agreement too, just like I’m determined not to let anything happen to them.
I feel more than see the first wave of demons hit. It’s like a tsunami of black slamming into us, and all four of the guys stagger into me at the same time. But it seems my guys were waiting for that. Like they’ve somehow planned this, Crux makes a fist beside his head, and the circle of demons closest to us burst into blood and sinew as their bodies turn inside out. Before the corpses even finish falling, Jerif makes flames engulf each body, protecting us in a ring of fire.
Iceman lifts a hand in the air, and right outside of the flames, he starts raining down viciously sharp ice. The frosted needles hit the demons’ bodies with a sickening noise, slicing through bone and muscle, puncturing organs and taking them down with agonized shrieks and gurgled grunts.
When something dark catches my eye above me, I look up and realize that some of the demons can fly. They have dragonfly wings that look like they’re edged in small pointy metal shards with teeth to match, but Iceman is somehow two steps ahead of me. “Echo!”
Immediately, my shadow demon looks up, and his tattoos rush skyward, leaving his skin bare as the shadows converge into a massive, moving sphere above our heads. As soon as every inch of shadow has come together, they split up into several different formations and then snap up, lashing out at our flying assailants. His shadows work quickly. It’s not pretty, but it is effective. Necks are snapped and wings are too, making my own press tightly against my back in their own form of a cringe.
One flying demon is able to dodge Echo’s shadows, and I track it with my eyes as it heads for Iceman, no doubt to get rid of the threat of the deadly ice shards. Long claws come extending out of its hands as the demon dives for him, but right before it can make contact, I smash my scythe into its shoulder, and he explodes in a puff of ash.
For some damn reason, that first hit of mine seems to take the edge off my nerves. No more dreading what’s to come, because the battle is officially here. I’m facing it with renewed purpose, right alongside my guys.
The five of us work in tandem. Crux destroys more demons, turning their bodies into