“You do have something of mine,” she replied taking a step toward it. She towered over the little monster by at least two feet, yet, she would not underestimate him and kept a close eye on him. “And I want it back.”
“You stupid female,” it whispered as it raised its hand above its head.
At least a dozen demons appeared all around her. They sat up in the trees and exposed themselves from their hiding places behind thick tree trunks. They’d been watching the whole time.
No, she wanted to wage war on her own terms, but it appeared she wouldn’t get the chance. The element of surprise was gone, and so now, she would destroy those she could.
Throwing her head back, she began to laugh. Even to her own ears, it sounded maniacal, like all her mental faculties weren’t in place.
She looked around her as the demons moved in.
Lifting her hands above her head, she shifted into her dragon form.
Let the war begin, and may her death bring her peace.
17
Eric ran down the mountain at top speed. He’d dropped the pack about a mile back, allowing him to move faster. Tirvu talked a good talk, but he could see exactly what she was doing. She’d said all those cruel and awful things to him to push him away. She thought he couldn’t survive against the demons, and she was probably right. But in reality, she couldn’t, either, especially in her weakened state.
Whether she could admit it or not, she needed his help.
He tripped over a branch and went sailing through the air. Closing his eyes, he waiting for impact and hoped he didn’t break anything. When it came, his shoulder took the brunt of it, his knee scraping against something. The breath rushed out of his lungs, and he laid quietly for a moment while assessing the damage and trying to get his breathing back on track.
His shoulder hurt, but he could move it. Later, it would be really sore, but for now, it wasn’t anything to worry about. With a groan, he opened his eyes and sat up. His leg had a long gash along the shinbone that became immediately bloody. Glancing around, he tried to figure out what he’d come in contact with, and saw the pointed branch of a fallen tree by his feet. That had to be it.
He got to his feet and became dizzy. Leaning over, he placed his hands on his knees and stared at the ground. He hadn’t hit his head, but even so, a good knock to the body could cause his world to spin—something he didn’t have time for.
After a few minutes, he was able to stand upright, and his breathing had returned to normal. He glanced around to see if he recognized where he was, but nothing looked familiar.
“Celestria!” he yelled, his voice echoing all around him.
He needed to find the wolf pack and speak to their leader, Celestria. They would become an intricate part of his plan, if he could convince her to go along with it.
“Celestria!”
Silence greeted him, and he swore in frustration. He imagined somewhere in this forest were a pack of lazy-ass dogs lying around sunning themselves while Tirvu fought for her life.
Unless he’d gotten off track, the campsite should be down the hill just a bit. That’s where he’d last seen them, so he’d return there.
His shoulder now screamed at him, but it still moved. It was most likely severely strained or bruised, and right now, he couldn’t think about an ice pack and the bottle of pain relievers he craved. He had to keep his focus on finding the wolves.
Taking a deep breath, he continued his run down the hill.
Blood. So much blood.
After Tirvu ripped apart another demon with her fangs, she flipped her head to toss half the body to her left and dropping the rest of it at her feet. Her tail swung back and forth, keeping a wide perimeter around her while she stomped and clawed at the demons. She’d become used to the rotting stench of demon blood as it ran down her snout, her throat, and all over her scales. Demon blood was black, and she had so much of it covering her, she looked like some sort of strange zebra dragon.
Inhaling deeply, she breathed ice crystals on a group of demons to her right. All carried different types of weapons that they had retrieved from the cave. So far, she’d been stabbed, burned, and small metal balls had been shot at her. Thankfully, her scales had blocked most of the onslaught, but she still could feel places where she hadn’t been so lucky.
The demons she’d blown ice onto all literally froze, and she flicked her tail their way, shattering all of them into small pieces, the sound of glass breaking filling the air.
She didn’t know how long she’d been fighting them, but it had been a while. Her energy waned, and she knew she wouldn’t be able to keep up with the onslaught for very much longer. At some point, they’d win, and she’d die.
Out of the corner of her eye, she saw one demon emerge from the cave with something, and she gasped, stopping to stare at him.
It lifted the precious Moonstone above his head with his claws.
“I’ll shatter it!” it called.
It was as if time stopped. She huffed as she stared at the sacred relic of her people.
“You stop the killing, and I may keep this in one piece,” it yelled, coming toward her.
Bile rose in her throat as she thought of the Moonstone ceasing to exist. Legend said that the hearts of her creators lie within, and to see them desecrated in such horrible way … she couldn’t allow it.
She took one last swipe with her tail at the demons moving in on her, then lay down on the ground as a show of surrender and considered her options as she stared at the Moonstone.
She’d never win this battle, so she’d never get the Moonstone back. Her world would annihilate itself, no matter what she did. The one thing she hadn’t considered when she’d entered this fight was that the demons would actually destroy the artifact. She couldn’t imagine a species sinking to such a low level, but then again, she was dealing with demons.
“Very good,” it said as it moved closer.
She studied it and tried to figure whether the aberrant creature was male or female, but she saw no signs of sexual distinction. Did all those in Hell turn into a carbon copy of each other? It appeared so, as she couldn’t distinguish one from the other. None of them looked male or female, but all had fangs, red skin, almost skeletal bodies, and claw-like hands.
“I know you have a human-like figure in there, and I want to see it,” the demon said.
Tirvu shifted her gaze down to the Moonstone in its arms.
“It doesn’t matter to me, dragon-shifter,” it said. “I’m a fucking demon. There is nothing I can do that will take me to a place worse than Hell. Me shattering this stupid rock? It may earn me a couple of points with Satan, as he’s the only one who likes to be worshipped, but in the end, it means nothing to me.”
But it meant everything to Tirvu.
She shut her eyes as her bones and tendons popped and snapped, then looked up at the demon in her human form.
The demon walked over to her and placed its foot on her chest, as if to hold her down.
“You are a pretty one,” it murmured. “But nothing like me.”
Tirvu’s eyes widened as the demon changed into a striking woman with wavy black hair and sky blue eyes. Thin and curvy with perfect facial features and dressed in a business suit, she looked almost too flawless to exist in this realm.
The woman removed her foot from Tirvu’s chest and slowly lowered herself to her haunches.
“When I was a human,” she whispered as she pushed a lock of thick, luxurious hair behind her ear. “I loved to kill. I murdered my five children, my husband, my dog, and a total of four complete strangers before I was caught.”
A vile human, for sure, but Tirvu refused to give her any feedback on her declaration. In her world, killing one’s spawn resulted in immediate death.
“You don’t have anything to say?”
Tirvu shook her head as she eyed the Moonstone just out of her reach. She bit her lip to keep from lunging at it. Although it would never return to its rightful place, she couldn’t live wit
h herself if she did anything to destroy it.
The woman glanced from Tirvu to the relic. “Do you want to touch your precious rock?”
Of course she did. She wanted to take it from this vile entity who sullied the artifact just by looking at it, but she also recalled Eorricris telling her all those hundreds of years ago that demons liked to play mind games.
“You can touch it if you want,” the woman said, holding it within Tirvu’s reach. “Go ahead.”
She closed her eyes as she fought the urge to lay her hands on the hearts of her creators, to save them from whatever treachery the demons had in mind. She guessed if she did reach for it, the demon would smash it, or pull it away in a cruel teasing gesture.
“Very well,” the woman said, getting to her feet and tucking the Moonstone under her arm as Tirvu opened her eyes.
The woman shifted into her demon form, and Tirvu couldn’t help but wonder why she would choose such ugliness over such beauty. Perhaps it was as simple as the demon form being a representative of her black and evil heart.
“Take her into the cave,” the demon said. “We’ll give her the punishment that she deserves for disturbing us in there.”
Tirvu closed her eyes again as two demons grabbed her arms and tried to lift her to her feet. She didn’t have the energy to stand, so she just went limp.
As they dragged her over the forest floor, the rocks and sticks cut into the back of her legs, but she could no longer find it within herself to care. At least Eorricris was safe this time. He wouldn’t have to endure the torture she assumed the demons would bestow upon her.
She’d failed in her journey. She’d failed her people. Her world would destroy itself, and her life would soon be coming to an end.
18
As he approached his old campsite, he glanced around, feeling as though someone watched him. He placed his hands on his knees and tried to catch his breath before he called out to the wolves again. His chest heaved and burned as sweat poured from his head and puddled at his feet. His whole body hurt, but he couldn’t stop, and he had to press on.
After a moment, he raised his head to find Celestria standing to his left in her human form. One thing that had changed over the past few days was he was no longer uncomfortable with a bunch of unclothed people around him.
“Celestria,” he said, gulping for air. “I need to talk to you.”
“Yes, I figured. I’ve heard your calls all around the forest.”
He stood upright and placed his hands on his hips. “If you heard me, then why didn’t you answer?”
She walked toward him until she stood directly in front of him. “We found the rabbits. We hunted them for you to give to the woman to help her heal, to nourish her. It was a gift, and instead of using them as they were intended, you wasted them by burying them. Why should we come calling when someone has slighted us in such a manner?”
He shook his head. “It’s not like that. I offered them to her, and she was disgusted by it. She’s a vegetarian, Celestria. When she didn’t want them, I tried to find a member of your pack so that I could give them back. When I couldn’t, I buried them. I didn’t know what else to do.”
She narrowed her gaze on him. “We must have been patrolling near town when you searched for us.”
“I swear I looked for you. I didn’t want them to go to waste, either.”
Her stare bore into him, as if she could read the truth in his soul.
“Very well,” she said with a nod. “I believe you. What is it that you want?”
He exhaled a breath he hadn’t realized he’d been holding, then rubbed his face, trying to get his mind in the game. Without Celestria, his plan wouldn’t work.
“Did you know that there a bunch of demons at the top of this mountain, and they’ve taken over Devil’s Ridge?”
She arched an eyebrow. “Really.”
“Yes.”
“I was aware they were in the area, but had no idea they’d taken up residence on the ridge. How long have they been there?”
“I don’t know,” he answered honestly. “We heard rumors from centuries ago that the people who lived hear swore that evil lived in the cave.”
“So the name is fitting,” she mused.
“Yes,” he said through ground teeth. Why wasn’t she mad that demons were operating in her land?
“And what does this have to do with me?” she asked.
“They’re using your land! They’ve probably been doing it for a long time, Celestria! Don’t you want to stop it? To claim what is yours?”
Since the wolves were so territorial, he’d been banking they would want to protect their land, but she stared at him with confusion. Why wasn’t she making the connection? Why didn’t she rally the troops and head up the mountain to fight the demons and get them off their land?
Unless …
Oh, shit.
“I appreciate you coming to me with this,” she said, crossing her arms over her chest, “but that isn’t our territory.”
His stomach fell as his plan shattered apart right before his eyes. He’d imagined climbing up to the top of the mountain with an army of wolves who wanted nothing more than to remove the demons. He’d thought a great fight would ensue, but in the end, the demons would die, or be chased off, and Tirvu would live.
He’d save her, and he’d show her that he wasn’t just a stupid, weak human.
“I … ”
He had nothing else to say.
“If we’re done here, I’ll take my leave,” Celestria said. “And please, stop calling for me. My pack likes to hunt at night, and we must rest during the day. During this particularly dangerous time, we need to protect the people of Saint’s Grove, so we need to conserve our energy.”
He nodded as his shoulders sagged, complete defeat rolling through him.
She turned her back to him and began walking away.
He had to convince them to help or Tirvu would die. He couldn’t live with himself if she did. There had to be a way to help her.
“Wait!” he called and ran after Celestria before she disappeared into the foliage.
She stopped and looked over her shoulder at him.
“I need you to help me,” he said, his voice choking on an emotion he couldn’t understand. “Tirvu made me leave when she found out the cave was filled with demons. She’s going to die up there unless we help her. Unless you help her.”
She faced him, then placed her hands on her hips and tilted her head. “Why did she force you to leave her side?”
He rubbed his hand over his face again before answering. “She … she cares about me. She didn’t want me to die up there.”
“She was willing to give her life for yours?”
“Y-yes.”
“And yet, you ran down here to find me and my pack to rescue her. Why don’t you fight by her side? Do you not care for her the way she cares for you?”
He had no idea how to answer that. His chest constricted further with the urgency of the situation as he tried not to imagine the horrors Tirvu could be suffering.
“She thinks I’m something I’m not,” he blurted. “She thinks I’m this one guy—a dragon shifter from her past—and I’m not. I’m just Eric, the computer guy. I—”
“I did not ask you any of that, Eric, the computer guy. I asked if you cared about Tirvu the way she does for you.”
God, it felt as if an iron fist squeezed his heart. Sweat continued to pour down his face, and he shifted from foot to foot, uncomfortable in his own skin.
Why couldn’t he answer her question? Why couldn’t he just be truthful to her? He cared about Tirvu, but not in the same way she did him.
The vise on his heart only tightened at the thought.
But why?
Because it’s a lie.
His chest began to itch again, and he raked his nails over it, wondering if he was developing some weird rash there or something.
“Yes,” he finally whispered. “I … I think I love her,
and I’m scared to death she’s going to die. I need your help.”
For the longest time, Celestria only stared at him, but then she finally spoke. “Very well. What is your plan?”
As he laid out the shaky idea, he no longer felt as if he was having a heart attack, and the tension in his neck and shoulders loosened.
She listened intently until he finished.
“I think that is a fairly weak plan, but I believe we can build on it. First, let me gather the pack, and we can all discuss it. They should be very happy at the idea of killing demons. As wolves, we hate them more than even vampires.”
He furrowed his brow and narrowed his gaze at her. “I told you there were demons up the mountain, and you walked away. Now you’re telling me that you like hunting them?”
She nodded.
“Why? Why would you do that?”
“I have watched you while you were in our territory. Tirvu cares greatly for you, and you do for her. But in true male form, you’re unable to acknowledge and articulate your feelings. I just wanted to hear you say it.”
She turned and walked into the foliage as he rubbed his hand over his face.
He’d just been told he was emotionally stunted by a damn wolf-shifter, and he wasn’t sure what to make of it. It was almost as if he’d just been chastised by his mother, and maybe he felt a touch of guilt.
“Keep up, Eric!” she called.
With a sigh, he followed her into the dense brush.
19
The demons were more barbaric than she could have ever imagined. She didn’t know how much time had passed since they’d hammered her hands into the rock wall while making jokes about someone named Jesus and how she didn’t resemble the Messiah. She couldn’t help but scream, but she wouldn’t beg for her life, and she had been too weak to shift into her dragon form. Eventually, the pain tortured her so badly, she passed out.
As she came to consciousness, she prayed she had been dreaming, had been caught in some horrible nightmare. Before she opened her eyes, the throbbing in her hands and arms let her know the agony was her new reality.
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