Desmos grasped my hair and started dragging me away from Ethan’s body. I screamed from the pain as I struggled, but he kept moving forward.
“Stupid woman. You think you can save him? You thought you could destroy me?” Desmos laughed, dragging me along the floor as I struggled.
I felt helpless. My Vampire strength was no match for him. I saw Carlos and Mikey lying on the floor. No one could save me now.
“Dead demon hunter blood is what can kill me. The books don’t tell you that, do they?” He chuckled, dropping me into the circle again.
I was several feet away from Ethan. Staring into his lifeless eyes, I began to sob. This was how it ended?
Out of nowhere, something flew toward us, blowing fire. Taco. I stared, worried something terrible would happen to him. Magic swirled around, a man forming. Then he shifted into a giant dragon. My mouth fell open as he towered over us. I couldn’t believe what I was seeing. Taco was not a tiny Taco anymore. He was strong and extremely powerful. He roared, swinging his claw at Desmos, missing when the demon leapt back.
I scrambled to get out of the way, narrowly missing Taco’s claw coming down on the floor. Desmos slashed with a knife, leaving a red gash across the dragon’s chest. The dragon roared, angry. He reared back and blew fire, but Desmos reacted quickly, using magic to block the flames. Not that they would kill him, but it would leave him out of commission for a short while.
Taco swept out with his tail, trying to use the spike at the end as a weapon. Desmos leapt over it and swung his knife at the same time, stabbing into Taco’s back and holding on. I screamed. As Taco shifted, trying to loosen his attacker, the knife sliced down his hide, blood flowing out of his wounds.
I got up, climbing onto Taco’s tail, but it was too late. He fell to his side, no longer able to move.
“Asshole!” I screamed, trying to climb over Taco, ready to strangle him. The demon grinned at me.
“I’ve slayed a few dragons in my day. This one isn’t any more special than the others.” He leapt off, walking in my direction.
Taco’s body started to shrink, going back to his tiny size. He lay still, silent.
When I tried to run around the demon, he anticipated it, grabbing my arm and throwing me to the floor. The wind knocked out of me, I tried to kick out at him, slamming my foot into his chest. He sliced my leg, making me scream as blood poured down it.
He stood over me, the knife in his hand. I started kicking out again, attempting to push him away, to no avail.
“I’ll let you struggle, since it’s so much more fun!” He slashed down with the knife, but I managed to get out of the way. I scooted to the side when he attempted to slash at me again, stabbing into the wood flooring.
Growling, he grasped my neck, holding me down and staring into my eyes. “The pain will only be for a minute.”
He stabbed into my stomach. I screamed.
When a circle slowly appeared above us, it reminded me of a wormhole you saw in the movies. It swirled with different colors, the movement so quick, the wind started picking up.
Desmos grinned. “The gate!”
“Call the Ancestors, Sophie!” someone shouted.
“I can’t!”
“Yes, you can.”
When I glanced up, I saw Dan and Eric standing there, a few others behind them, unable to do anything to help me.
“I call to you, Ancestors! Come help me in my hour of need!” I shouted.
Desmos’ eyes darkened as he stared down at me. “They will not come. I’ve blocked–”
The room began to light up as the necklace started to shine. Demos stumbled back. Ignoring the pain, I crawled over to Ethan and grabbed his sword. I slid it through his blood, trying not to think about him lying there. Desmos growled, charging at me. At the last second, using my remaining strength, I lifted the sword. His momentum carried him right into the blade, slicing through his heart.
Eyes wide, he looked down at his chest. “No. This can’t be,” he whispered. He started shaking hard, his whole body beginning to turn black, like it was about to crumble to ash.
I heard chanting from behind me, but I didn’t want to take my eyes off Desmos. I felt something changing inside me. My body was weakening.
Maybe from lack of blood? Can I heal? What about the babies?
There was an abrupt burst of light, magic exploding around me. The swirling hole above me disappeared, the light in the room vanishing, blackness surrounding me. I saw Mikey standing over me. His mouth moved, but I couldn’t hear anything. Unable to keep my eyes open anymore, I succumbed to the darkness.
“SHE NEEDS TO GET TO the medical room,” someone said.
I blacked out again.
“I DON’T KNOW WHEN SHE’LL wake up. It could be any minute or it could be months. She has a lot of healing to do.”
DARKNESS... ALL I SAW was darkness around me. As I started to panic, shapes came into view.
“Sophie?”
I looked around slowly, trying to figure out who it was. Drake’s face appeared in front of me. I opened my mouth to scream, but he placed a finger over his lips.
“The babies and your lover are sleeping.”
“Drake?” I croaked, my throat dry.
He nodded, moving away from me and holding his arms out. He was in ghostly form. “Here in the flesh.” He smirked. “Well, I guess not really. But you know what I mean.”
I laughed, unable to contain myself. Tears started falling down my face. I couldn’t control them. “You’re a fucking ghost! I wouldn’t
