Page 97 of Their Promise

The humanoid demon grabbed me around the waist, flung me over his shoulder, and started running towards the portal.

Mason slammed into the humanoid demon in his human form, knocking us to the ground. I shifted into my full snake form and wrapped around the demon, constricting tighter and tighter as I coiled my body around him.

“You okay?” Mason asked as he stood beside me, looking around our side of the portal’s battle scene.

As if I could speak to him in my snake form while constricting.

The humanoid demon fighting Kayden hit him so hard that he flew at least forty feet away. Free from Kayden’s attacks, he ran at us.

Mason shifted his feet into his raven talons and with a slashing kick, cut into the demon’s chest.

The demon gasped and jumped forward, tackling Mason to the ground and wrestling with him.

The humanoid demon I was trying to kill was surprisingly still alive, still breathing, and none of his bones had broken even though I was using all of my strength.

Glancing over, I hissed at finding Nana Jolie on the ground and Foxfire losing his battle.

The humanoid demon fighting Mason had him on the ground, hands around his throat.

We were losing. This wasn’t good.

What could I do?

I shifted my head so I could speak. “What do you want?” I hissed at the humanoid I was coiled around.

He blinked then in very slow words said, “You. Princess.”

“Me?” I asked.

He nodded.

“If I go, you’ll all leave?” I asked.

He nodded again.

“Prove it,” I said, shifted to my human form, and stepped back from him. He stood, and brushed himself off, then waved towards the portal.

The demon who had been choking Mason let up enough to just keep him pinned.

Looking down at Mason I said, “Remember that second part of our promise? To always protect each other? That’s what I’m doing.”

He tried to shift to break free of the demon, but it continued to use its superior strength to hold him.

As I walked towards the portal, I caught Caleb’s eye as he continued to battle the giant werewolf-demon. He was about to defeat it. I just needed to stall long enough for them to get free to fight these humanoids.

I did not want to go through that portal. No matter how curious I was about what was on the other side and the strange pull I felt.

The rage and power within me were non-responsive. It felt like the necklace was pulsing against my chest, but I couldn’t even raise my hands to try to remove it.

The pup trotted next to me, happy and prancing. Did he know they were going to take me?

One humanoid demon walked in front of me while the other walked behind me.

The giant werewolf-demon fell, officially dead, freeing Caleb and Grandpa Nico turned, focused now on the newest threats.

Just as they moved towards me, a dozen similar humanoid demons ran out to create a wall around us.

Shit.

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