Caged by Damnation (Caged #2)(56)

I ignored my snake-like enemy and ran to my friends. Griffin moaned as I prodded his body, seeking the damage. "Leave me alone, woman. Let me die in peace." He coughed up blood.

"If you think I'm going to do that, then you haven't learned very much. Besides, your mind must be crazed if you think I answer to ‘woman.’" Griffin laughed at my attempt at humor. "Where are you hurt?" My gaze moved from him to my stalker and back.

Griffin moaned again. "Everywhere, but the worst is the knife wound in my back." He winced. "You should leave me. Save yourself. You and Liam have a chance, but I'm as good as dead."

I smacked him across the face. "If I let you die, do you think Ash would forgive me?" Griffin's eyes regarded me with a mixture of irritation and respect, but he nodded. "Look, I need to take care of this jerk and then I am getting all of us out of here. Okay? I will not leave you, but I need you to hold on." I looked at the blood beneath him and realized I needed to hurry.

"Yeah, sure. Just let me sleep a little."

I shook him. "No sleeping! Got it?" I pointed at my opponent. "I need you to watch in case I need help." That got his attention. I didn't really want him to do anything in his condition, but I knew it would give him a goal to help him stay coherent.

"Okay."

Moving away, I met the creature halfway. He smiled, but I knew I would outlive him. There was no way I could allow him to win when someone was relying on me.

"I thought you were trying to run. Pity, I would have enjoyed the chase, but no matter."

I grinned, throwing him off balance with my confidence. "Miss my chance to cut out that vulgar tongue of yours? Not a chance." Kit willed energy to me and I gladly accepted. This jerk was going down and I would get my friends to safety.

I ran, not towards him, but towards a wagon a few feet away. Jumping, I kicked against the wood and landed my other foot into his cheek, as he came after me. The resounding crack was satisfying. He growled, but my blow had shut him up.

The fight was a blur of punches, kicks, and him slamming my face into the concrete. Grabbing a nearby shovel, I leveled it and swung it into his head, . I then thrust it into his abdomen while he was distracted, and then moved my dagger in front of me. The rage in his eyes from his injuries was terrifying, but I wouldn't back down.

"What's the matter? Afraid of a little Anakim? Or is it just because I'm a girl?" I barely finished my sentence, when he rushed me, tackling me to the ground like a quarterback.

The landing was brutal. All the air was thrust from my lungs and I felt his claws tearing into my chest. My one satisfaction was that my dagger was now buried deep within his guts. When I tore it loose, his innards spilt over me. Blood gurgled as he tried to speak, and he finally fell against my body. He was dead, but I was poisoned.

I tried to maneuver towards Griffin and Liam. If I could just get them out, I would be content to pass on. It was not to be. I faded in and out, catching glimpses of Liam's battle. He was taking on two demons, one who would have looked fairly normal if it weren't for an abnormally large tongue, and the other a grotesque giant who looked like he could take on an army himself.

I feared for my companions. My eyes locked on Griffin. I hoped he could see the apology in my gaze before I surrendered to the poison. Lost within the darkness, I relived the most horrific events of my life, but none of them compared to the feeling that I was a failure.

Images passed through my mind: my childhood, my life with Maye and Ash, and eventually, Asmodeus. He spoke to me; his voice was hushed, but assertive. "Live, little Anakim. You are not meant to die here. Your destiny is much bigger than a single battle." His expression was one of love and concern, as he leaned in to brush a light kiss against my lips. "You have outlived horrors most have never seen. You can push through this."

My voice was raspy, as if I hadn't tasted water in days. "What if I don't want to live?"

"Then it was all for nothing. Your friends have sacrificed themselves because they believe in you. If you can't have faith in yourself, you might as well give up on them. Go ahead and deliver them to Hell yourself, because that's the future that will await them if you can't find the strength to continue." His face was fading. I couldn't find it in me to hold onto the vision. Darkness took me once more.

Awareness came to me slowly. I was standing in a luminescent room. A seemingly endless light passing from wall to wall created a prism effect. I was suffocating, being pulled at the seams and sewn into a tapestry of distortion. I wasn't supposed to be here! My world had drifted away; I was left with a new dimension that my mind couldn't make sense of.

The insanity of silence descended upon me as I twirled, searching for an exit, a window or another path to familiarity. Frustration rose up to unfurl from deep within me, but my voice was lost too. Pressing my hands to my ears, I hoped the action would make sound seem more tangible. Nothing changed. Grief shadowed my eyes, drawing forth a liquid sadness which crested my checks and fell to the ceramic floor.

I raced to the wall, banging my fist against the hardened ivory material, then I fell back against the wall and sank to the floor. The blood smudged behind me was my witness, declaring that this wasn't a dream. The pain from my knuckles had taken the side of the wall, blaring that this was useless and I was a prisoner in a white fortress.

"Let me out of here!"