The smell of burnt flesh and sulfur filled Anna's nostrils, making her gag. Crying out in pain, the demon yanked its hand away from her mouth. Anna immediately screamed for Shayne. Her fingers gripped the cross, holding it like a weapon.
With a yell born of fear and panic, she brought the point down as hard as she could. Its flesh parted like a hot knife in butter, as the force of her hand drove it deeply into its leg. The demon creature screamed in pain.
“You’ll die for this,” it cried in a distorted voice. “I’ll have fun torturing you in Hell.”
With a screech, it flung her as hard as it could, using every ounce of its supernatural strength. She rapidly approached a tree, but there wasn’t anything Anna could do to stop it. She felt the pain from the impact before everything went dark.
SHAYNE CAME AROUND the corner right as Anna hit head first into the tree. Although it was dark, his eyes were able to see everything clearly. Every one of his extra battle senses were on full alert.
He immediately took in the scene. The demon was dark, making its eyes stand out in vivid contrast. Standing at least eight feet tall, it had large muscles and thighs as thick as tree trunks. It also had deadly hooves instead of feet. It was a chancellor from Hell, a commander of countless legions. It was strong, powerful, and extremely tricky.
The demon landed in front of him. Leaning its head back, it laughed loudly. Up close, Shayne could see it was a male. At least for the moment. Some demons had the ability to change sex.
His fangs gleamed large and white against his darkened skin. Giving Shayne a look of disdain, he rasped, “Turn around now, and I might let you live.”
In response, Shayne lifted his weapons and looked bored. “Turn around now—” he started to say, but then stopped. “No, not even then.”
The demon was no longer laughing. Instead, he growled, “Now you die.” Raising a grotesque hand, he beckoned at Shayne while shooting a lustful look at Anna. “I’m going to make this quick. Tonight the boys and I are going to have a lot of fun breaking that bitch in.”
Risking another quick glance at Anna himself, Shayne was reassured to see she was still alive and breathing. That could change at any second, though. The demon had one thing right. It had to end and quickly.
He arched an eyebrow as he zeroed in on the creature’s dick. With a smirk, Shayne said, “I hope they are better equipped for penetration than you are, you ugly bastard. Just think, a guy as big as you but your thumb is bigger than your fucker.”
Shayne gave a mocking snort of laughter as the demon narrowed its eyes. He then added, “Just a thought, but next time you might want to fuck with the thumb. At least then, the ladies might actually feel it.”
His words had the desired effect. Enraged, the creature let out a bellow and charged Shayne. Waiting until he was almost upon him, Shayne jumped, carefully avoiding his wings.
A demon’s wings had deadly points filled with poison. Not to mention, their wings were extremely powerful and could trap and squeeze a person until they were dead. Even an immortal like him could eventually be killed from the wings or made dangerously sick by the poison.
Dropping down behind the demon, Shayne kicked out hard and fast and heard a satisfying crunch. The creature fell on the ground but flipped over fast. Without a pause, it leaped back toward him, claws arched and extended.
Time was running out. Anna’s blood pressure was possibly dropping, and he needed to wake her up as soon as possible. The extreme cold could quickly put her in a life-threatening situation, especially with a dangerous head injury.
Shayne sliced out with his blade, but he didn’t get out of the way in time. The demon laughed in victory as he punched him and knocked him down to the cold, hard ground. He twisted, but he was unable to dislodge the hold the demon had on him.
“It’s a shame to have to end this so soon,” he said, a smile on his face. “But all good things must come to an end.” His eyes gleamed red with blood lust, and spittle ran down its fangs. Grabbing Shayne’s hair with one distorted hand, he pulled, intending to separate his head from his body.
Flipping a cap open with his nail, Shayne smirked back at him. Pain just pissed him off, and when he was pissed, someone was going to die. The demon paused at the confidence in his face.
“Another tip, asshole,” Shayne said in a conversational tone of voice. “Consider taking a bath and brushing your teeth every now and then!” With that, he flung the contents of the vial directly in its face. The demon jerked back and screamed, as the smell of burnt flesh filled the air.
Shayne jumped up from the ground and kicked it between the legs with his steel-toed boots. As the creature fell over, screaming like a girl, he made quick work of finishing it off. Its essence would return to Hell, where it belonged. “What an asshole,” he muttered, before quickly rushing over to Anna.
She had a heartbeat, but it was very slow. Picking her up, he started to leave, when he saw the shiny silver object in the grass. Squatting down next to it, Shayne realized it was his cross. It was halfway melted, and it had made contact with demonic flesh.
He gave a quick prayer of thanks as he quickly got her to their room. Somehow she’d thought to use his cross to delay, even injure, a powerful, evil
