She pursed her lips. “Maybe.”
The front door rattled, and the bang of a shoulder smacking the surface reverberated through the building.
“Shedims have two hearts in the center of their chests.” I clutched my longest dagger in my hand. “You must pierce both to decimate them.”
“Got it.” Cinder opened her bag and rummaged through it.
The front door cracked. The demons outside howled.
“We must go now,” I said.
“Okay.” She retrieved an envelope before positioning the backpack on her shoulders and buckling it at her waist. “I’m ready.”
I gripped the doorknob, and every muscle in my body tensed. “If you die in the Underworld, your soul will be obliterated. There is no coming back. Not even Lucifer can will it.”
“You worry about you.” She slid a hunting knife from its scabbard. “I can take care of myself.”
I hoped to Hades she was right.
14
CINDER
I meant it when I said I could take care of myself. Give me six vampire ghouls at once and I’d kill them all, no problem. Fae mosquitos? Call me the witch bug zapper because those babies were getting burned to a crisp. Fighting the beasties that could make it to my side of the veil was usually easy-peasy.
I had forgotten, however, that witch fire had zero effect on this side. Why would it? Streams of literal lava meandered through town like babbling brooks. I bet the shedims were planning a picnic on the rocky bank when they got through with us.
Too bad we were going to be through with them first.
Discord flung the back door open and charged toward the shedims. In his human form, he stood about six feet four. The would-be assassins towered at least half a foot over him, which meant they probably saw me as about as threatening as a cockroach.
Four of them swarmed Discord while the other two sneered at me, their thin lips peeling back to reveal jagged teeth with chunks of Hecate knew what lodged along their gumlines. I had no intention of letting them add my flesh to the rot, but hey, if they won this scuffle, at least they could use my hair as floss.
“Standing tall or on your—” Oof. The shedim charged so quickly, I barely noticed the blur of movement before it smacked into me. I careened backward, landing on the ground and hitting my head on a rock with a thwack.
Pain shot from the back of my skull to my eye sockets, making my vision swim. I squeezed my eyes shut, blinking them open in time to see the demon’s claws glinting in the moonlight as they swiped toward my face.
The envelope filled with powdered binding spell had skidded across the rocks when I fell, but I still clutched my dagger tightly in my right hand. I slashed, slicing into the shedim’s wrist. The force of my thrust knocked his claws away, sparing me from the wicked scars he’d attempted to make.
It did not spare me from getting a face full of demon blood, however. Thankfully, my mouth obeyed the command from my brain and kept my lips tightly shut. I did not want to know what this nasty sucker tasted like.
The shedim wailed and raised its other arm. I jabbed my dagger into the fiend’s chest, twisting it and slicing up and down to make sure I got both hearts. Its eyes widened. If it had a human face, I’d have said the expression was a mix of incredulous and downright terrified.
Then it exploded.
Demon guts went everywhere.
My stomach lurched at the rancid stench of decay and garbage, but I managed to scramble to my feet in time to see Discord take out another one. That left four to contend with. I was certain the guys breaking into the front of the house wouldn’t be far behind.
Switching my dagger from hand to hand, I inched backward toward the lava bank where the potion envelope had landed when I fell. The demon matched my strides, sizing me up as it snarled.
The rocky terrain tested my balance. My ankle rolled again, but I recovered. One of Discord’s attackers screeched, drawing my shedim’s attention, and I lunged for the envelope. My boot slipped on a patch of smooth obsidian, and I went down, catching myself with my hands and knocking the envelope farther toward the lava stream.
The corner hung over the edge, and it ignited, hellfire threatening to consume the last of my spell. I scrambled toward it. The demon charged. I flipped onto my back, bending my knees and kicking out, planting both boots in the demon’s stomach and knocking him back.
“Get them,” a deep, menacing voice ripped through the air.
I snapped my gaze toward the house and found the mob from the front door barreling out while one man stood on the porch, his arms crossed, his stance wide. He wore black cargo pants and a matching tank over his human form, and he inclined his chin, looking down at us as if he were Emperor Commodus, ready to give his gladiators the thumb down.
