combated the dark mages on the other side of the street.
The demon captain landed not far in front me, impaling a Dominion soldier on his ax.
He’d advanced to a level-six demon instead of five. I bet he’d sold me out to get a power upgrade.
If I accepted my position in the demonic ranks, I’d say that my powers ranked at least a nine, even though I wasn’t trained.
The demon captain went straight for me, flanked by a group of his minions.
“Grab the girl and toss her to the portal!” the captain barked.
Lucien threw his telekinesis at him and Drew shot his lightning toward the demon, but the mages around the demon captain raised a shield of dark spells and pushed through the wall of our soldiers.
We were swarmed and outnumbered.
A horde of demons and mages cut in between the Dominions and me, surrounding me.
“Hello, little girl,” the demon captain purred, showing his jagged teeth in a diabolical grin. “I said I’d come for you, and I kept my promise.”
“I’m glad you did, demon,” I said. “It saved me time looking for you.”
He chortled. “You still think you’re funny, Lost One.”
His companions laughed coarsely with him.
I needed to end him before he made another “Lost One” reference.
The Dominion soldiers and my friends roared, cutting a path to reach me. Yelena screamed my name, shooting icy current at a demon, but he grabbed her and sent her airborne. Nat rushed toward her, shouting her name frantically as he thrust his blade hands into a green-skinned demon.
Circe also shouted my name as she threw her fire spell at her foes, trying to get to me along with the shifters. Jasper leaped into the air and sunk his teeth into a giant demon while the demon slashed the black wolf with his claws.
“Don’t come for me,” I screamed at my friends. “Run for safety!”
My Flame of Rainbows blasted out, reducing dozens of demons that surrounded my friends to pools of liquid.
The demon captain stared at me in shock. “You’ve grown into your power.”
“Not yet,” I said. “But you’ll die before you see my power blossom. And I don’t like your teeth. You should wear braces to even them up. Doesn’t Lucifer provide health insurance in Hell? Well, it’s too late for you to see a dentist now.”
I lurched, going straight for the demon captain. Fire whooshed on the surface of my dagger as it sailed toward the captain’s neck.
He didn’t have time to complain further.
Before his head dropped to the ground, I kicked it toward one of his mage minions, and the demon’s black horns slammed into the mage’s chest.
“Take it back to Hell, losers,” I told them.
All the mages tossed their spells at me at once, but my fires formed a shield.
“Don’t kill her,” a mage called. “Trap her and grab her.”
My fires pushed back at them, but the dark mages raised their shields collectively and chanted like maniacs. My flames were no longer as strong as before since I had used so much of them when I shattered the windows on the bus. Also, I was still learning the nature of my magic with baby steps.
“Now!” shouted the lead mage.
The dark mages all trained their wards at me, shooting out all sorts of dark light.
A black orb weaved around me. At the same time, I dropped to my knees, but not because I was being hit by the enemies’ spells.
An agonizing pain surged through me, and I screamed, feeling my flesh being torn.
Cold sweat broke all over my body.
Vaguely I heard the sentinels and my friends shouting my name. They must be trying to get to me despite how I’d warned them to flee and preserve themselves.
The demons were too many. We couldn’t overcome them, not while we didn’t have a demigod in our ranks.
I stretched a trembling hand forward, hoping to grab something to anchor me so I wouldn’t fall apart, while in my mind I was trying to reach Héctor.
The tearing pain came from him, and I felt it through our bond.
Terror struck me with paralyzing force. Even though he was the demigod of death, Héctor could die. After all, he wasn’t a death god. He wasn’t Hades.
If he died, my world would end at the same time.
A roar thundered beside me.
In a flash, Axel materialized in front of me. His wind tore though the orb around me, shattering it.
“Cookie, I’m sorry I was delayed,” he called, two longswords appearing in his hands.
The Demigod of War tore into the enemy