Page 63 of My Demon Assistant

Eshim

Thelargeroomwasempty for the most part. A few broken beer bottles in a corner, graffiti on the walls, nothing special.

In the center of the room, Maximus and Malik fought the dark soul, who looked like a big, bulky man thanks to Mammon's magic. Souls couldn't have a physical form in the human world. They needed a body,exceptif they had a powerful demon at their beck and call. Still, Mammon couldn't keep this going indefinitely, which was why they needed bodies they could possess.

I scanned the room, then spotted the crumpled heap of a man on the other side of the room.

Fressia and Lux had seen him too, and we teleported to his side so we wouldn't be in Maximus's way.

The human was covered in blood, and there was so much of it I was struggling to see his wounds. He needed a hospital.

"He needs a hospital," Lux said, mirroring my thoughts, and I nodded.

Reaching out, I placed my hand on the back of his head, the only part of him that had no blood on it. "Hey, you're safe now. We'll get you out of here, okay?"

The man went still under my touch, and I worried that we were too late. I leaned forward, trying to get a glimpse at his face, when Fressia shouted "Look out!" and jerked me back so suddenly we both fell over just as the human flipped around far faster than he should've been able to, a knife clutched in his hand that would've been buried in my chest if Fressia hadn't acted.

The blade of the knife was onyx and dripping with black magic. It would've sent me straight to Afterworld in a second.

"Thanks," I said a bit shakily as I got to my feet and took a few steps back.

"Maximus, a little help here!" Fressia called, and a few members of Maximus's team smoothly moved between us and the human.

The human wasn't human anymore, and it was clear as he stood up, his limbs a little jerky like he wasn't used to them yet. I forced myself to take a deep breath and focus, then sucked in a surprised breath. There were two souls in that body. One light, one dark. The souls were struggling, both barely holding on to the body as they struggled for dominance.

"Shit! There's a human and a dark soul in there," I told the Otherworlders. "You'll have to be careful."

Otherworlders could not intervene in the lives of the living. They definitely could not kill them. Which meant these people would have to find a way to separate the souls if they had any hope of hurting the dark soul.

A sound from behind made me turn, and I watched as Maximus pulled a knife out of his shoulder, wincing in pain. Another knife full of dark magic? I was glad it was just his shoulder. Consort Reece should be able to heal that.

The dark soul he'd been fighting took advantage of his momentary distraction and took off, leaving the trapped dark soul to deal with us. That was interesting. Did that mean there was no loyalty between the dark souls? We'd assumed the four who escaped had planned it together, but what if it'd been chance? What if they were four random dark souls who'd seen an opportunity and just acted? And now they were struggling to work together, which was why we couldn't figure out their plan. Maybe they didn't have a plan at all. Or maybe they had multiple plans and were still fighting over what they were going to do.

"Shit!" Maximus shouted as the dark soul took off, then waved Malik toward us, who joined the other team members in keeping the other dark soul contained. He didn't want to abandon the human body he was possessing, which was good for us. But we had to be alert in case he decided to run, because we'd only have a second to capture him before he disappeared like his cohort.

"Kym, I need your help," Maximus was saying, and I glanced over to find him on his phone. He was calling his mate. Smart move. Kym's fire magic could literally burn the darkness out of souls. If anyone could get the dark soul out of this human's body without harming him, it was Kym.

We didn't have to wait long for him to arrive, and Kym popped a kiss on Maximus's cheek as soon as he arrived, then frowned at his shoulder. "You're hurt."

"I'm okay. Reece will patch me up later. Come on."

Kym took one look at the human and hurried over. He would've walked right up to him if Malik hadn't grabbed his shoulder. "Careful, Kym."

"I know you'll keep me safe, Malik," he said with a wink, making Maximus grumble as he took his hand and led him closer, his sword held at ready.

"Poor guy. He's trapped in his own body," Kym murmured.

"Can you help him?" Lux asked, and Kym nodded as he stepped closer to the man. Far too close for Maximus's comfort, it seemed.

Raising his hand palm out, Kym exhaled slowly, and a blaze of pure white flame streamed out of his hand, getting the human right in the chest. He screamed, but it was easy to tell it wasn't the human screaming but the dark soul. I could literally see the dark soul writhing in pain inside, while the human's soul remained unaffected.

"Get ready to catch," Kym said through gritted teeth as the flames intensified, and the dark soul shot out of the human's mouth in a display reminiscent of a human show Jerry had shown me a while ago to explain what humans imagined when they thought 'demons.'

Maximus grabbed the dark soul—that was nothing but a blob of charcoal smoke now—before it could escape, and stuck it into his pocket like he'd done it a hundred times before. Which he probably had, since capturing dark souls was his job. Usually, the souls he captured had just died. They weren't running around after escaping their prison.

The human fell to the ground like his strings had been cut, and I winced as I rushed to make sure he hadn't hurt himself more.

"Will he survive?" Fres asked, and Maximus shook his head.

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