Page 25 of Dancing With Demons
I remember coming home to my uncle who raved about how I’d ruined my ‘good clothes’, never asking why or how I’d come to find myself in the dung heap to begin with. They’ve shown no compassion, only resentment that runs bone deep.
I’m surprised I survived childhood, in all honesty.
There are a dozen stories like that passing by, choking on their own blood, sucking down their last, gasping breaths. And none of them care. They never did. So, as I look upon the horror Eth’tak is wreaking upon the settlement, I can’t find it in myself to feel bad.
The men don’t last very long.
After the first was cut down, the rest break formation, but it is as if they cannot learn from the errors of others, and are torn down just the same. Eth’tak whips his head in my direction, his maw covered in gore, and his tongue lashing out as if to taste the air.
There is worry in his red eyes, even as he drops his latest victim.
I stumble forward.That’s enough,I want to tell him, but my lips are numb with shock, and I can’t find my words. His focus is solely on me, now, and his wings snap out to make him look bigger. It’s a sound that drives the survivors—at least those with working legs—away.
There’s a long moment of stillness among the bloodshed, only punctuated by a man gargling in the throes of death.
I should be terrified of Eth’tak.
Instead, I want him to take me far away from this place, so that I don’t have to see the carnage that they will, again, blame me for. But it’s not my fault, and it’s not Eth’tak’s, either. Theyplannedto lynch me. I could see the hunger for blood in their eyes.
Are you satisfied?I want to ask, though there’s no point. They’re all dead or dying, and those without any pride at all have turned their backs on the instigators. Eth’tak seems quelled in his blood rage, and no one is left to challenge him.
It’s a small relief. “Eth’tak-” I begin as he fills my vision.
I shouldn’t be comforted by the image of him, adorned in the blood of our enemies, but all I want is to be wrapped in his arms again.
He licks his chops before he speaks. It does little to clean up the blood dripping from his chin. “Piper. You’re okay?”
“Yes,” I manage to whisper, drawing towards him.
He opens his arms to catch me when something small zings out from between two buildings and knocks Eth’tak in the temple. His pupils narrow and he spins to face the offender.
It’s a boy, hardly ten summers old.
His face is stained with tears and speckled blood as he fumbles for another rock, but Eth’tak already has his sights set on him. Panic races through me, and I lurch forward as if to stop him, but he’s already out of reach.
The boy sees all of this and stumbles backwards as Eth’tak approaches, true terror in his eyes. “Fuck you!” the boy shouts, unable to load another pebble because of his shaking hands. Instead, he scrambles to his feet and pulls out a weapon from his belt, brandishing it against Eth’tak, making the demon pause. “You killed my Pa! Monster!”
I don’t know what he’ll do next. Maybe he’ll see the boy as a threat too, not a child who is trying to protect the settlement. “Stop!” I shout, chasing the scene with horror. “Eth’tak, don’t youdaretouch him! He’s just a child!”
Eth’tak doesn’t seem to hear me, and there is too much distance between him for me to stop his hand if he chooses to strike. I can’t trust that he intends to hesitate for long, and he’s a demon after all. They may revere their own, but a human? I’ve seen what they do to their own servants. And I won’t dare risk this child’s life.
Something inside of me snaps, and a rush of power overwhelms me.
I need this tostop.
I don’t know the boy’s name, otherwise I might have called out to him and told him not to attack. Eth’tak is towering over him, and the boy’s knife seems small compared to his fierce claws, still dripping with blood.
“Eth’tak!!!”
The energy is too much, and it blasts out around me. IseeEth’tak, but no one else as everything goes sheet white around us. And the cold…
It sinks into my bare flesh, not prepared for such a change. The whiteness is blinding, but I can make out heavy cloud coverage above us, dumping a sheet of snow over the mountainside. I clutch myself, trying to keep the barest of warmth to me even as the wind sweeps it away.
And then, suddenly, heat envelops me.
Darkness, too.
His voice is that deep timbre I’d recognize anywhere. “Piper, don’t move.”