Page 82 of Sweet Violence
My vision was staying blurry for too long; there must have been something on the pale demon's spikes. My demon side usually began healing me by now, and spending so much time in Hell accelerated the healing I already had. Which meant I was drugged. And completely fucked.
What if the toxin killed me?
Dev?I asked again, wiping the bits of brain off my face with my sleeve and facing the demon bearing down on me, cleverly avoiding my fiery footprints on the floor. Ishouldhave been on the offensive, but I’d quickly become defensive. Not a good position to be in.
I dragged a breath into my lungs, and tasted blood. It overpowered the sex smell of the great hall until only copper filled my senses.
The demon who approached clearly wanted to back me up against the wall, but I refused to surrender ground to her. She was three feet taller than me, and looked like a cross between a bridge troll and a lion, if bridge trolls came in bright, flamingo pink.2
"You know you're going to die for this, right?" I asked, blinking to clear my eyes. Ish. They remained mostly foggy. "Is it really worth it? That guy over there doesn't give a single shit about—okay, cool," I gasped when she opened her mouth in a loud roar, a second set of teeth snapping down in her pink mouth.
"No chatting, got it," I agreed, and flung my hand in front of myself, roughly shaping my fire into a shield I slammed into her big, troll-lion head. "Let me guess, though. You're Tegan."
It was a strong name, powerful; it suited her.
"Glim," she replied in a throaty growl, teeth bared as she shook her head. I pictured cartoon birds flying around it; I'd given her one hell of a knock with my fire shield.
"Glim? Oh,wow. That does not suit you at all. Are you sure your parents didn't fill out the birth certificate wrong? Glum would be a much better fit."
"I'll have you know," she snarled, coming at me faster than I could hit her. I was lucky I had my shield lifted automatically.3"I'm the life of the party."
"Huh." I ducked aside and flicked my fingers, sending five throwing knives of ruby red fire at her head. "Well, that’s unexpected. But it's your lucky day, Glim; you've got anexclusiveticket to the biggest party in the world. The after-world-party."
Her expression became even snarlier. She ducked low and swiped both sets of teeth at my ankles; I was forced to jump out of the way, skittering three steps back on the shiny, bloody covered floor. Shit, I skidded even further, and was lucky to keep my feet.
"Do you get it?" I panted. "It's a blend of after world and after party."
She didn't stop to chat, and I shouldn't have been wasting my air, either. But being on the defensive made me itchy and nervous, and nervousness made me chatty.
Izan, Drill Bastard, and a good handful of their followers just stood there, watching to see the outcome. Like they weren't fussed either way. We could kill all these people, or they could subdue us; either one was apparently a win.
"Coryx, Ikya, help Tegan," Drill Bastard barked.
"What iswiththese names?" I demanded, slamming my shield into Glim's furry arm as she reached for me, her hands tipped with clear claws. "First Vauxhall? Dude, you're a car brand. And now Ikea? And not even the pronunciation everyone uses; your name literally sounds like ickier."
"It's I-K-Y-A," someone snarled across the room, throaty and deep.
"Good for you, sweetie," I replied and leapt aside when Glim barrelled at me like a rugby player, her shoulders ducked low.
She slammed into my shield and made a deep, growling sound of pain—butkeptpushing against the disc of solid flame, forcing me back a step, and then another, and another.
I tried to slash my dagger above the shield, but I couldn't reach any part of Glim to do damage. She was bigger than me, stronger than me, and I was losing ground to her determination and brute strength. My feet slid back another few steps, and I panted, fuelling more magic into my shield to burn her hands, but she was as stubborn as I was.
Great. Now was theworsttime to meet my match. If it had been only my life on the line, I might have explored how much alike we were, but my mates were at risk.
Okay, Avie, time to do something spectacularly dumb and impressively brave.
I took as deep a breath as my tight chest would allow, Joseph's pain still pressing on it through our bond despite his unconsciousness, and pictured what I needed to do. I needed to be fast, or I'd be dead. And then I'd be no use to my mates.
This was a really bad moment to realise how much I liked them, wasn't it? I wanted them to live, to heal—and to be happy. Preferably with me alive. But I was an idiot through and through, because even if I had to die an impressive, heroic death to keep them alive … I would. I wanted to.
I'm losing my fucking mind,I groaned mentally, and slid back another step on the bloody floor. When my back slammed into a solid wall, my heart skipped.
Out of time, Avie, it's now or never.
One supremely idiotic plan, coming right up.
I ripped the shield away, crushing it out of existence, and in the same movement, summoned a huge sword of deep, electric blue fire, driving it into Glim's fuchsia pink, furry chest. It sliced into her like a hot knife through butter, and I shuddered as her pain made my power flare like I threw petrol on a barbecue. For good measure, I stabbed my invisible dagger into her throat, too.
