Grave Mistakes (Hellgate Guardians #1)(85)
I get shoved behind Crux just as a group of Outer Ringers breaks through the others to get to us. He fists his hands at his sides and then blood and guts go flying as he turns them inside out.
I grab my scythe in my hand just in time as another one races toward me on hands and feet like some grotesque spider. It bares its teeth at me and jumps, but I swing, catching it on my blade and making it disappear in a puff of ash.
Iceman is trying and failing to erect another ice wall, Echo is completely blocked from view by his shadows as they lash out at any of the surrounding demons, and Jerif is still blasting them with fire, but it’s not enough. We’re overwhelmed.
How did this happen so fucking fast?
My stomach sinks with heavy panic at just how many Outer Ringers are here to ambush us. Hundreds. Maybe even thousands. It’s too hard to tell with all of them scrambling around like locusts. There’s no end in sight, and they just keep pouring from the two Outer Rings, climbing over each other.
“We need to go!” I scream, hoping that the guys will hear me. White-hot fear has complete possession of me. If any of the guys die, I’ll never forgive myself. But I don’t even know if I’ll be able to live through this myself in order to feel that guilt.
“Crux!” Iceman shouts, though I can’t see him over the melee.
“I can’t!” Crux yells back. “They’re overrunning Trēs Ring! We can’t get to the portal!”
Iceman screams out in frustration, and I hear something crash before more demons cry out. “Jerif!” Iceman calls out. “We’ll hold them! Take her to Duo!”
I don’t know how he gets to me so fast, but one minute, I’m being shoved farther back by Crux, and the next, Jerif is there, blasting a line of fire between us and the horde, separating us from the other guys.
“No! They need to come with us!” I scream.
Jerif ignores me and grips my arm, pulling me back. “We need to go! Now! The guys will follow as soon as you’re in Duo.”
All I can do is hope that he’s right and that the guys will somehow get out of this, because the last thing I’m going to do is be stupid and try to argue or go back.
Jerif pulls me, keeping his upper body twisted so that he can launch fireballs behind us as we run. I don’t dare look back, because I can feel the demons right at our heels. Every time a fireball lands on one of them, the heat scorches my back, letting me know exactly how close they are.
Our steps pound against the ground, and I find it odd that I can still hear that amidst all the shouting, grunts, and death cries. When I see movement in my peripheral, I know the demons are gaining on us. I keep telling myself to just make it to Duo. I’ll be safe in Duo. But there’s this other assholish part of myself that keeps saying, what if you can’t get in? What if Trēs was my only hope? Maybe these guys overestimated me. Maybe I’m not powerful enough to pass through these Rings. Maybe—
Jerif yanks on me harder, breaking my panicked train of thought. As much as I have an instinctual reaction to yell at him and lob some choice swear words at his manhandling of me, I keep my mouth shut and try to move faster. Hope slams into me when I spot the stone wall separating Ring three from Ring two. We’re almost there.
Like that thought alone just invited all Hell to break loose, I hear a strange skittering noise above me. I should know better than to look up. Every scary movie in the history of the world has taught me the right protocols to enact whenever a weird noise sounds off around you. You either ignore it or pull the covers over your head and hope it goes the fuck away. But what does my dumb ass do? I look up.
My eyes adjust to the writhing darkness just in time to see that something is crawling on the wall high above us. A lot of somethings. Whatever the fuck is up there clings to the cavern walls with their hands and feet, and they’re getting ready to pounce.
I yell Jerif’s name, trying to pull back on his grip on my arm to get him to look up, but it’s too late. Bodies come leaping off the top of the wall at the exact moment that we cross the threshold from Trēs to Duo.
I feel like I’ve been hit by a meteorite as a body crashes into me. My arm is yanked from Jerif’s hold and wrenched painfully as I go down with a scream.
I can see Jerif being pummeled by more falling demons as I smash to the stone floor, a pained grunt leaving my body along with all the oxygen in my lungs. My scythe goes flying, but I suddenly smell ash in the air, and I hope the blade took out a demon or two as it went bouncing away.
Jerif bellows in outrage, and I feel the heat of his fury-fueled flames against my face as he starts trying to push up from the ground and burn everything around him.
I’m flipped onto my back by clawed fingers at my side, and I balk as I stare up at a demon that looks like a cross between a pterodactyl and an orc. It snaps its razor-sharp elongated beak at me, and I flinch, terrified of what it will feel like when it rips into me. I know it’s going to hurt, but will it be the kind of pain that overwhelms the senses and almost shuts the body down? Or will adrenaline be my friend and block it all from me as I’m ripped apart?
The demon snaps at me again, but its beak never makes contact. A long serpentine tongue slips out of its maw instead, and it licks the side of my scraped and bloody face. Revulsion pumps through me as it pulls its tongue back into its mouth, and I watch it swallow my blood down it’s throat, making a clicking, growling sound in apparent satisfaction.