The Demon Duke and I (6 page)

          But now, all she could think about was the danger – the many fucking dangers that she had just gotten past – like being a second away from being barbecued. “You almost got us burned,” she yelled.

          The horse snorted, as if ridiculing her doubt of its ability.

          She glared at its head, hoping Granite would be as sensitive as he seemed to be intuitive because if looks could kill, Granite would be near death by now.

          The horse neighed, its head twisting left and right as if searching for their destination.

          Oh.

          George quickly told Granite where to go, and the horse actually nodded, pulling the reins as it did. They were flying fast, covering miles in seconds. George knew she should be rejoicing by now, but something inside her felt heavy and restless.

          “Granite,” she whispered.

          The horse stilled in the air, the sound of its beating wings like a whirlwind trapped in a bottle.

          “Let’s go find a weapon then get back to your master and help him beat the crap out of those little shits.”

****

          “Take His Grace to a safe place, Adrijan.” It was Mihail’s first command as he made it to Silviu’s side after slashing his way through dozens of imps.

          “No,” Silviu gritted out just as Adrijan started to summon a wave of water to aid him.

         
Do not be stubborn, Your Grace,
Ilie snapped.
You look near death. Are you sure you’ve found the right heartkeeper?

         
There was no time to reply as another wave of imps leapt towards them, spit coming out of their snarling mouths.

         
Mihail, leave us and deal with the demon commanding these imps.

         
Mihail tensed but did not stop swinging his sword and cutting off heads, which rolled down the ground and were trampled underneath the clawed feet of the other imps.

         
Now, Mihail.

         
With a curse, Mihail made his way to the higher-ranking demon.

         
Why aren’t the Wraiths attacking them?
Adrijan asked as he blasted the imps that came flying their way with ice as sharp as daggers, each one slitting its target by the neck.

         
The Wraiths are not under my command. They have sworn to protect Brimstone – the land itself – from harm, and clearly these demons only want to kill me.

          Damn---

          No, Ilie. Do not speak ill of the dead.

         
With a snarl, Ilie pounced on the nearest imp and tore off its head with his giant ferocious jaws in an attempt to release his frustrated rage.

         
We must call for our people,
Adrijan said.

         
No. The imps will go back to Hell once their master dies.

          From afar, Silviu saw Mihail sink his sword into the heart of the demon, driving his opponent to the ground. The demon roared in pain, twisting and jerking but unable to escape. Mihail twisted his blade, shredding the demon’s insides, and he continued to turn the blade with a merciless look in his eyes until the demon twitched for the last time.

          But the imps still did not stop attacking.

          Instead, their aggression rose to a fevered pitch, bordering on manic and suicidal, scratching and hissing as they tried to decapitate Silviu and his Galeré.

          Mihail was doing his best to get back to their side.
We have been deceived, Your Grace. The one I killed is not the master. There is an archdemon here, and he wants you.

         
Ilie growled,
No other option, Your Grace. You must go – NOW.

         
Silviu was swaying on his feet in pain and exhaustion but even so, he shook his head, tightening his grip on his sword.
We stand together---

         
The sound of beating wings stopped him, and Silviu looked up, his heart racing fast.

          It was his heartkeeper.

          Her dark hair flew against her back, her eyes shining brightly, her face a mixture of fear and defiance.

          “I told you to go to a safe place, milady.”

         
How was it that this man kept proving himself to be crazier and crazier than she thought?
Even though he stood proudly, fighting off those creatures next to men she assumed were his friends, George also saw the pallor of his skin and the way his lips had thinned with the pain he was trying to hide.

          This man…would
never
abandon a fight.

          And she…could
never
abandon him.

          “Let’s go down, Granite,” she whispered.

          The horse nodded and flew down. When Granite reached the ground, she jumped off his back.

          Silviu was stunned. “What are you doing?” he hissed.

          “Committing suicide, like the rest of you,” she snapped, but her voice was shaking as she twisted the rusty bar of iron Granite had located for her.

         
I take it back, Your Grace,
Ilie thought with amusement.
Seeing that she is as stubborn as you are, you two make the perfect match.

         
Silviu ignored his friend’s words, instead concentrating on the small girl beside him. “These are
demon imps
we are facing, you stubborn girl.”

          She swallowed at his words even as she lifted her chin. “Yeah, well, if you’re not running, I’m not running either.”

         
He’s coming.
Mihail growled the words into their minds.

          Silviu pushed George behind his back just as the archdemon finally trudged forward, gaining momentum with each heavy step, with the entire ground shaking even more powerfully underneath them. With a savage bellow, the archdemon jumped into the fray with a murderous look on its hideous face, his clawed hand clutching a sword raised high in the air.

          The stench of the creature was the first thing that reached George, making her want to puke. It was the smell of rot, and if she had to compare it to something, George would have sworn it was the smell of decaying human flesh.

          Its features were…
misshapen –
that was the only way to describe it. Every living creature was supposed to be made by God’s hands, but not this – not this beast, with its unevenly curved horns, soulless eyes, nose-less face, and its gaping, salivating mouth.

          The creature suddenly swung its sword towards her captor, who barely managed to deflect the strike.

          “No,” George screamed, seeing the tip of the blade graze her captor’s neck. Without thinking, she rushed towards them.

“Stay back,” Silviu growled at his heartkeeper even as he parried the strikes of the archdemon’s sword, twisting and turning to avoid being nicked again. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw that the imps had swelled to impossible numbers, as if Hell had found a way to defile the earth and impregnate nature with its soulless offspring.

Granite was doing his best to protect his heartkeeper, but it was only a matter of time before they would all be overrun.

“Die,” the archdemon howled, and this time it managed to swing his sword with enough force to knock Silviu off his feet. The archdemon lifted his sword for another blow, and Silviu immediately took advantage of the moment, rolling away to keep him out of striking distance.

His body continued to war with the soul that heartkeeping was forcing on him, and the battle between his demonic cells and his newfound soul was like an internal wound being slashed open again and again.

          The pain blurred his vision, but Silviu forced himself to his feet.

         
Protect my heartkeeper,
Silviu commanded his Galeré even as he was nearly split in half by his opponent.

         
She is doing fine on her own for a human.
Mihail sounded grim and reluctantly impressed at the same time.     

         
Don’t be stingy with your compliments,
Adrijan chided even as he continued to blast the never-ending wave of imps coming at them.
She is doing magnificently.

          She is suicidal, that’s what she fucking is,
Ilie retorted.

          But all their laughter died down when the archdemon’s blade found its way to Silviu’s chest.

          Mihail, Ilie, and Adrijan roared in unison.

          “NOOOOOO!” George screamed as her captor slowly dropped to the ground. Without a thought, she climbed on Granite’s back and urged him to stomp his way to his master’s side.

“Let’s whoop some ass, Granite!” She pressed her hand to Granite’s side, hoping that her captor was right and that this ferocious winged horse would indeed intuitively understand her plan.

          It did.

          At Granite’s nod, she urged the horse to gallop faster towards its master. Granite flew a few inches above the ground and ran over the heads of the imps, crushing their skulls in the process.

          Every crunching sound of bones shattering into pieces filled George with grim satisfaction, but her eyes remained on her captor’s figure.

         
“You do not deserve to be a demon duke,”
the archdemon spat.

          Silviu didn’t answer, conserving his power and using it to keep his heart beating even though the archdemon’s sword was near to destroying it.

          The archdemon tightened his grip on the hilt of the sword again, readying to drive in the killing blow.

          “Yo, asshole,” a feminine but coldly sweet voice said.

          Silviu choked.
The stubborn, stubborn, stubborn girl---

         
The sound made the archdemon halt.

          It was her cue, and George struck the creature as hard as she could with the iron bar.

          Enraged at the blow because it had come from a foe that smelled like the weak humans it preyed on, the archdemon whirled around, its cavernous jaws snapping open in preparation to swallow its opponent whole.

          George said with relish, “Do it, Granite.”

          The horse neighed in approval and kicked the archdemon on the face with all his might. It was a powerful blow, accompanied with a strong gust of wind that had the archdemon flying back and crashing against the bark of a tree.

          Wasting no time, she leaned down and held her hand out. “I swear to God, if you don’t come up with me now---”

          But her captor had already pulled the sword out from his chest and swung himself behind her.

          The quick capitulation disconcerted George. “Oh, umm…”