Slawter

Dervish scratches his left cheek nervously. “Bait,” he says softly. And his gaze settles on Bill-E.

I don’t like it. Hell, I hate it! But it’s the quickest, easiest way. We’re up to our eyeballs in trouble. We have to take risks.

We leave Bill-E standing in the middle of the street, twisting his hands, face crumpled with fear. He trusts us but he’s terrified. I would be too in his shoes.

“If anything happens to him…” I whisper to Dervish.

“It won’t,” Dervish says solidly. “Now don’t talk—watch.”

A minute passes. Two. Screams fill the air, a chorus of agony and anguish. Every hair on my body is standing upright. I have to keep my teeth parted, afraid I’ll grind down to the gums if I don’t take care. Part of me wants to run, make for the barrier, force a way through, forget everybody else.

Save your own skin, it whispers. Dervish and Bill-E are the only ones who matter. Convince them to leave with you. Let the others look after themselves.

I ignore the treasonous, selfish voice—but only with an effort.

Movement at the end of the street. Several figures come racing around a corner. Dervish and I tense, ready to unleash a burst of magic, then hold it back when we see that the figures are children. Bo Kooniart, Vanalee Metcalf, three others.

“Run!” Bo screams at Bill-E. “We’re being chased! Get the hell out of here, you moron, before—”

“Bo!” I yell. “Over here.” She stops, panting, eyes wide with terror. “Quick!”

“But there’s—”

“I know. Trust us. We can stop it. But you have to—”

“Here it comes,” Dervish interrupts.

I look left. A demon with the body of a giant bee is humming through the air after Bo and the others. As it gets closer I see that it has a semi-human face, except with bee eyes and more teeth than any human I’ve ever seen. Magic flares within me. I stretch out a hand in the direction of the bee demon.

“Not yet,” Dervish says. “Let it get closer… closer… Now!”

Together we channel magic and unleash it. Twin bolts of energy strike the demon sharply, knocking it across the street, away from the children. It smashes into the wall on the opposite side. As it slumps to the ground, Dervish runs towards it. I follow, caught up in the moment, acting instinctively.

The bee shakes its head and starts to rise, buzzing angrily. Dervish grabs a wing before it gets out of reach. Yanks it down. The bee lashes out at him with a stinger the size of a large kitchen knife. He ducks. I scream and smash an elbow into the bee’s semi-human face. Its teeth bite deep into my forearm, but I jerk my arm free before it can do serious damage.

As I grab the bee with my uninjured arm, I feel Dervish’s magic burn into the demon. It makes wild buzzing sounds. Thrashes, trying to break free, snapping its teeth, stabbing at him with its stinger. He holds on tight. I do too. I head-butt the bee, letting magic shoot through my forehead, intent on sizzling the demon’s brains.

“Not too much!” Dervish pants as the demon goes slack. “We want it alive.” He stands, sliding both arms around the bee. “Let’s keep it like this and—”

“Monster!” a voice screams and suddenly there’s someone beside us. A hand shoots by my head. A fist buries itself deep in the demon’s chest, then comes ripping out, dragging guts and yellow blood with it. Stunned, I fix on the face of the assailant—and my heart leaps joyfully.

“Juni!” I yell, releasing the bee’s head, throwing my arms around her.

Juni Swan hugs me hard, then steps away, staring at the demon, then her fist. “How did I do that?” she croaks. “I felt something inside me. It was power, but I don’t know where…”

“Hi,” Dervish says quietly, letting the dead demon drop to the floor. He smiles crookedly, then slips his arms around Juni and buries his face in her neck. “We thought you were dead,” he half sobs.

“I was… dreaming, I think,” she says. “Bill-E was kidnapped. We rescued him. Then we were attacked by ninjas and had to go to a mountain in search of their lair.” She shakes her head. “I woke up in a small room. I came out and saw demons. I fled. Then I saw you. I thought the bee was going to kill you. Something exploded inside me. Before I knew it…”

She stares at her fist again, a look of astonishment on her face.

“Seems you have a talent for magic after all,” Dervish chuckles, then sighs. “But you timed it badly. We wanted this one alive.” He quickly explains his plan to her and the children, who’ve crept across. Bo seems to be less shaken than the others. She’s trembling fiercely and her face is white with fear, but she’s in control of her senses and listens intently.

I use magic to heal my wounded arm and watch Bo cautiously. Her father was one of the collaborators but that’s not her fault. I’m pretty sure she didn’t know about his pact with the Demonata. Bo was never anything worse than a spoilt brat. You don’t deserve to be killed for that.

Dervish finishes outlining his plan. “So Grubbs, Juni and I will pull back, leave you kids here, wait for another demon to come along, then… kablooey!”

“Kablooey?” Juni repeats, raising an eyebrow.

“I liked comics when I was a kid,” Dervish says with a shrug.

“How are we going to get the demon to the barrier?” Bo asks, and though her teeth chatter, her voice sounds normal.

“Grubbs and I will drag it there,” Dervish says. “Juni can help.”

“But—”

“Here she goes,” Bill-E groans. “Always has to have her say!”

“Shut up, shrimp-breath!” Bo snaps, then appeals to Dervish. “I don’t want to be a troublemaker. I just want to get out of this alive. But it’s what you said about how you were going to alert everybody and tell them where to come.” She pauses.

“Go on,” Dervish says kindly, though if I was in charge, I’d tell her to put a sock in it. She’s being a drama queen, trying to grab the attention. Typical Bo.

“Well,” Bo says hesitantly, “if you’re able to use telepathy, I was wondering… can demons do the same?”

Dervish stares at Bo, then nods slowly. “Some can.”

“So,” Bo continues, “if you catch a demon and it realises you’re dragging it off to the edge of town to kill it, won’t it call for help? And bring a load of other demons down on top of us?”

Dervish scowls. “She’s right. It’ll take several minutes to get to the barrier from here. If the demon summoned help, we’d never make it.”

“Can’t we knock it unconscious?” Juni asks.

“Perhaps. But if it gets out a shout…”

He falls silent. Bo looks at me smugly, but I’m too impressed to bear her any ill feelings. She’s not entirely brainless, I’m reluctantly forced to admit.

“I have a suggestion,” Bo says. She’s stopped trembling. Confident. On a roll.

“I’m all ears,” Dervish says with a wry smile.

“Why don’t we lure a demon to the barrier before you go messing with it? Trick it into chasing after us. It wouldn’t call for help if it didn’t know its life was in danger.”

“We have a genius in our midst,” Dervish says, smile widening. Bo beams like an angel. Despite myself, I have to laugh. She’ll be more unbearable than ever after this, but right now that doesn’t seem like such a bad thing.

“There’s only one problem with your proposal,” Dervish says.

“Problem?” Bo frowns.

“Running’s dangerous. If there’s a demon hot on your heels, you can’t concentrate on what lies ahead. Very easy to run into another demon, or a pack of them. We can’t control the situation if we do what you suggest. And control is vital. Grubbs and I must reach the barrier. If we don’t, everybody dies. We can’t risk running into a trap.”

Bo mulls that over, starts to speak, goes silent, then says very quietly, “What if the rest of us did the running? What if you and Grubbs went to the barrier and we tried to lure a demon to you?”

I blink, astonished. I never thought I’d hear the spoilt Bo Kooniart make a suggestion like that. What she’s proposing is close to self-sacrifice. Without us, she and the others won’t stand much of a chance against the