Into the Darkness (Darkness #1)(27)

“What are you going to do?” Jared whispered, inching toward the wall.

“I haven’t gotten that far, yet. I’m terrible at strategy.”

My eyes darted throughout the room, looking for an exit, and finding three. The monsters blocked one. They were closer to another than we were, and we were backed against the third, unable to figure out its secret in order to use it. This was not looking good.

“Join us!” Puss Body said again, the horrible liquid creating a pool by its heinous clawed feet.

“I don’t even want to touch you, let alone join you!”

A body emerged slowly from the side exit, hesitantly, trying to sneak. I kept my eyes on the monsters, hoping it was friend and not more foe. Jared touched the small of my back, sharing hope through touch.

Jonas appeared, blade in hand glowing dull orange. His eyes swept the room, lingering on the monsters. His hand tightened on his blade and his body bent slowly, ready to spring. As a stray thought, his gaze finished the sweep, finding me standing in front of Jared, tired and sweaty, dagger held in a meager arm. His eyes squinted. An evil smile curled his lips. He winked, and then backed slowly out of the room.

He was leaving us here to die.

Jared’s hand started to shake.

The monsters advanced. They were coming to claim me, no doubt intending to kill Jared. He would get the better end of the bargain.

Knife in hand, tears in my eyes, I crouched. I would not go down without a fight. I’d get at least one or two holes in them before they got me!

It felt like electricity filled room, like a lightning bolt right before it touched down. My scalp tingled and my body broke out in shivers. The reddish maggot infestation monster was chanting.

“That is probably not good, Sasha,” Jared warned, flattening himself against the wall.

He was right. A strange reddish smoke shivered in front of us, wafting in our direction.

What the hell did I do about smoke? How the hell did you poke holes in smoke?

I took a big breath, willing calm. My dagger flickered brighter, the color greenish now. Another breath. One more. The smoky circle came closer, within a few feet. The monsters advanced behind it, chanting something like a net into existence.

“Oh good, a net. That’s not obvious or anything,” I muttered, hand tightening, warmth in my chest now pulsing through my limbs.

The cloud wafted closer. I struck, slashing at it with my now -orangish knife. Where the blade passed, the smoke wilted like a flower, leaving the circle lopsided. I slashed again, and again, taking joy in the destruction of whatever the thing was, my hand moving faster than I would have ever thought possible, fueled by whatever warmth seeped from my chest.

“Sasha!” Jared pointed, his arm next to my face.

As the last of the smoky thing wilted and vanished, I looked up into the middle of the magical net, floating on its own.

Fear coursed through me. I didn’t live through this much of my life to go down like this. And I certainly owed Jared a helluva lot more than what he’d been subjected to in the last few days.

Fear turned to anger. Anger boiled into determination. Determination dribbled into my chest, giving that warm blossom new life. Fresh blood. More power!

It surged and bubbled, filling me up and exploding over. My body was simmering, past joy, into an otherworldly plane. I reached farther, sucked in more. I pulled from the ground beneath me, from the walls surrounding me, from the charged air. I brought it in and lit it on fire.

As one of the monster’s swords reached past me to Jared, and the net drifted around my body trying to capture me, I threw out my hands with one thing on my mind, DIE!

From my palms materialized blackness darker than night, more potent than acid. It flashed through the net and into the beings. Rather than bouncing off like light, it soaked into them, filling up the holes in their design—because someone else’s design they were, like a constructed nightmare. The monsters exploded into wisps of air, like a dust bomb. Power shimmered in front of me, a nightmare vanishing with the dawn.

As the room cleared, my body wobbled, strength having left me with whatever I’d blasted from my palms. I fell to the ground in a limbless slide, already trying to shut off my brain from glowing knives, walking nightmares, and flashing palms.

“C’mon Sasha, we should go!” Jared whispered in a terrified voice, clutching my arm.

I staggered up, completely depleted. Everything was dark, objects in the room hard to see. We ambled along, Jared basically leading, until we got to a door standing wide open, screams drifting through like fog on the ocean.

“This is the way they brought me in. There is a parking lot beyond here,” Jared hissed, plucking at my arm.

“That is very useful information, Jared. I only wish you’d said something earlier.”

I lurched through the door, hitting the door jam and careening off, landing on my face in the dirt. Jared hoisted me back up, practically dragging me along, until we got to a car. I had no idea how he opened the door, but I do know he shoved me in right before I saw black.

*****

A blood curdling scream pierced the fight right before every Dulcha in sight exploded, bursting outward like dirt clods, and then vanishing. The air electrified, as if great power had been unleashed in a wild, raw upsurge.

Warriors looked around, unsure of what just happened or what might’ve caused it. Enemies stared at each other across their swords. Suddenly, they realized the scales had tipped. No longer was the aggressing party winning. It was universally known and seldom disputed that the Boss and his men could not be beaten when it came down strictly to sword work.