Fairy Bad Day(79)

“No,” she screamed. Then, in what seemed to be Matrixlike slow motion, the beast lunged at him, its deadly poisonous talons aimed directly at Curtis’s throat. One scratch and Curtis would be dead. Instinctively, she pushed him out of the way and they both went crashing down to the ground.

She groaned in pain and she tried to wriggle into a sitting position as the darkhel raced at them again. Next to her Curtis was groggily rubbing his temple as the darkhel pivoted around and once again tried to slash at them.

“Curtis, move,” she yelled, too late, realizing that his white sunglasses were lying in a broken pile on the floor. Emma felt the blood pound in her temples as she caught sight of Curtis’s grim expression. Oh God, what had she done?

“Your glasses. I’m so sorry. If I hadn’t pushed you—”

“Then I would be darkhel shish kebab by now,” Curtis managed to say as he scrambled to his feet, ignoring the damaged glasses. “So stop looking at me and concentrate on what it’s doing.”

Emma spun around just in time to see the darkhel once more coming at her. This time she didn’t raise her sword. Instead she just held it in her hand until the creature was almost upon her. At the very last instant she lifted it up and thrust it deep between the creature’s ribs.

For a moment the darkhel paused, then reached out and swiped her with a deadly talon, but before she could parry the blow, Curtis stepped in and blocked it with his crutch, then ducked and struck the creature just above the knee.

Emma gasped as she realized that Curtis, without his glasses, was working purely from intuition. The creature, meanwhile, just stared at the crutch for a moment before reaching out with a giant arm and sending Curtis flying back into some tables. Emma instantly leaped forward, but the moment she did, the darkhel flicked her away like she was an irritating mosquito then picked her up and threw her back into the tables. She felt the wood splinter as she landed awkwardly on her ankle. She groaned in pain as the darkhel’s foot came crashing down on her chest, slamming the air out.

“Enough.” Its voice was low and throbbing with malice. “It’s over. And although I know I should kill you, I think it would be more fun to let you live. So you can reflect every day for the rest of your miserable life on how you failed to stop me. Just like your mother.”

“My mother didn’t fail.” Emma gasped for air as the creature pressed its heel harder into her chest. “She banished you. That’s called winning in my book.”

“Oh, foolish human. You are truly pathetic.” The creature loomed over her. It was so powerful now that she felt the strength draining from her just by looking at it. “Not to mention stupid. Do you really not know the price your mother paid?”

“What are you talking about? My mother released your soul from the soul box, just like I did. She was the one who left me the key,” Emma said as she thought of the crystal necklace.

“Well, I’ll grant you that she did manage to find the key. It’s just a pity she could never find anything to open with it,” the creature hissed, its vile breath hot against Emma’s skin as it reached down and effortlessly plucked her up by the neck. “Your mother used what I believe she called the Death Curse.”

Emma’s breath caught in her throat as the creature tightened its grip. She gasped for air as she tried to make sense of what it was saying. “You’re lying.”

Her mother had been one of the strongest slayers who had ever lived.

She died from an infection in the hospital.

It took four days. Emma was there. She’d seen it...

“Oh . . . don’t tell me you didn’t realize that your mother never found my soul box? That she had to use another method to banish me back beyond that stinking gate? That she gave her life to stop me from finding what I was seeking?” The darkhel’s voice was full of mockery.

Emma felt sick.

The darkhel’s grip continued to tighten around her throat, but it was the creature’s words that were doing the real damage. The darkhel had killed her mother.

The beast had killed her mom.

But before the world went black she caught sight of Curtis hobbling forward and thrusting his sword deep into the creature’s side. Emma instantly fell to the ground, her ankle flaring with pain. The darkhel didn’t even wince as it sent a giant fist pummeling into Curtis’s face, and Emma whimpered as the skin around his eye split open and started to bleed profusely down his golden cheek.

“Now. The two of you can watch.” The darkhel grinned as it stalked over to where the bowl it had been carrying was lying on the floor. It scooped it up and carried it over to the countertop where Emma’s dad was lying unconscious. “Now . . . let’s begin.” Emma watched in horror as the creature flipped open the heavy book and started to chant some words in Latin.





CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT





Emma screamed as she tried to crawl forward on her injured ankle over to where her father was lying prostrate on the counter, but the darkhel ignored her as it continued to chant.

“What’s happening?” Curtis demanded. Fright had turned his face an ominous greenish color. “How much longer before it’s banished? Can you hold it?”

Emma stared at him for a moment as the full impact of the situation washed over her. The darkhel had won. Which meant that she had lost.