“Olivia, no!” Roman shouted. “Don’t say that!”
“Olivia, you’ve gotsucha good heart. I love how you want to protect her,” Balthazar said, grinning. “But she’s worthless…nothing but a human, hardly worth saving. Her life can be extinguished as easily as killing a fly. All I have to do is take my knife, plunge it in her heart, and kill her.”
He released her, giving her a soft shove.
Emily stumbled back and fell to her rump, coughing violently. Her hands flew to her neck, palpating her skin. Then, she scrambled to her feet and scurried backward away from Balthazar.
Balthazar turned to me.
“You’re so weak. Your mother would be ashamed of you,” he said, sneering. “You should be stronger.”
“I thought you said she loathed me. Why would she care?” I said, struggling against his force field.
“I’ve got an idea,” he said, tapping his temple. “Let’s make this more fun.”
He threw back his head and howled like a demonic wolf. The high-pitched howl vibrated painfully against my eardrums like a thousand tiny needles.
Roman, Marcellious, Emily, and I pressed our hands against our ears.
Two dark blurs shot toward us, materializing as Dahlia and what I imagined to be Roman’s darkness. They stood to the side of Balthazar and grinned.
“Lord Balthazar, we are at your service,” Dahlia said.
“My sweet,” Balthazar cooed, stroking her hair. “I appreciate you coming so fast.”
He chuckled at his own innuendo. As he turned his attention to my darkness, the wall of energy holding us back fell away.
We stumbled forward. Roman and Marcellious started to charge the darknesses.
“Not so fast,” Balthazar hissed, putting his palm out and creating his invisible shield. Then, his expression brightened, and he said, “Oh, why not? You need to find out what you’re up against.”
The strange force dissipated, sending us tottering, off-balance.
I fisted my hands at my side. “I’m not afraid of you, Balthazar!”
His face crumpled into an ugly sneer. “You should be, my dear. You should be.”
He disappeared.
“Get your daggers! Get your daggers!” Marcellious shouted. “Point them toward the sun and state the ancient scriptures!”
With fumbling hands, I retrieved my dagger from my thigh, thrust it skyward, and began to repeat the sacred scripture.
Roman had his dagger held aloft, too.
Our darknesses circled us as I began to intone the scripture.
“Louder,” Marcellious yelled, joining in with me.
Our daggers began to glow like they’d sucked the sun into them.
“Now, move fast! Plunge and kill!” Marcellious shouted.
Roman and I faced our demons, and the fight was on.
I tried to summon every fighting technique I knew. I slashed and parried as Dahlia tried to ward off my attack. I circled, and I thrust. But my movements felt clumsy, unsure, caught in a web of fear.
I glanced over at Roman, who fought his own demon with Marcellious. I felt heartened at their camaraderie. They were behaving like allies, helping one another.
