were numb and my one good arm hung limply at my side.
Everything slowed and the pain dulled a little. I vaguely felt his hand leave my throat, but I could not move. His powers had me hooked to him as he fed.
He said something, but I could no longer distinguish the words. I was so tired, so heavy, and only the fiery pain in the pit of my stomach kept me from slipping away. My eyes drifted shut of their own accord, and I felt him take another heavy inhale and the pain flared again.
Something snapped within me, like a cord stretched too thin. It broke and recoiled with relentless speed. A flash of bright pale blue light exploded behind my closed lids, and I was momentarily blinded. A roaring sound invaded my ears. Death had come for me.
Death sounded painful, angry, and desperate. Not peaceful. I thought that was unfair. After all that had happened, couldn't death have welcomed me with warm arms and visions of my dad waiting for me?
Without warning, a figure crashed into us and sent me spiraling to the ground in a messy heap. With intense effort, I peeled my eyes open and saw him crouched like an animal in front of me.
Daemon growled in fury as he rose, standing over me like an avenging angel, swathed in light.
Chapter 29
Baruck's mad laughter echoed and bounced around my skull. "You've come to die with her?
Perfect. That makes this so much easier, because I think I might have broken her." Daemon shadowed Baruck's wild
movements, fading out and taking on his true form - the form he could be killed in.
"She tasted good, too. Different somehow," he taunted. "Not like a Luxen, but still worth it in the end."
Launching himself at Baruck, Daemon threw him several feet away with one powerful blast of light from an outstretched arm. "I'm going to kill you."
Baruck rolled on to his back, nearly choking with laughter. "You think you can take me, Luxen? I have devoured those stronger than you."
Daemon's howl of anger drowned out whatever else Baruck might have said, and he sent another blast of light at him. I felt the ground beneath me tremble as I managed to raise myself up onto my elbows. Each movement, no matter how small, sent sharp stings all through me. I could feel my heartbeat, the struggle behind it. Streaks of lights danced within the darkness of the Arum. They exchanged blows without even touching one another.
Bright, orangey balls of fire formed on the tips of Daemon's hands. They shot out past Baruck, fizzling out before they slammed into trees. The world turned amber and gold. Heat blew back at me. Embers crackled in the air, fading before hitting the ground.
Each strike sent the ground into motion, knocking me back down, face-first into the damp, itchy grass with a grunt. Pushing myself up, I saw a streak of light moving over the field, much like a falling star but shooting across the ground at a dizzying speed.
The light shot between Daemon and Baruck, fizzing out as it reached me. Warm hands gripped my shoulders and lifted me. "Katy, talk to me," Dee begged. "Please talk to me!" Nothing happened when I tried to talk. No words came out.
"Oh my God." Dee was crying, her tears falling from her beautiful face and landing on my nearly silent chest. She pulled me into her thin arms as she screamed for her twin.
Daemon turned from the battle at the same time Baruck did. With one look, a bolt of darkness shot straight for us, knocking Dee back. She screamed out in pain and rolled to her knees. She looked up, her eyes glowing an intense white.
She rose to a crouch, her human form fading into crackling light.
Daemon struck back harder, and the ground rumbled. Baruck dodged Daemon's attack and went after Dee. Screaming in fury, she rushed Baruck.
He caught her again. For a second, darkness swallowed her, and then she crumbled to the ground in a twitching heap. Daemon charged Baruck, tackling him to the ground in a rage that was so potent it fueled everything around him.
From the branches that shook, to the dead leaves falling like macabre rain, to the ground beneath me. The air crackled with power.
I felt it in my bones. Groaning, I staggered to my feet and sucked in a breath. I wasn't going out this way. My friends weren't going out like this.