26. Max #2
Humans talk about Lucifer Morningstar like he’s a footnote. A cautionary tale for children. The demon huffed. I couldn’t even prevent it from hitching a ride on my first night out with a friend. You should know better, Max. Do you know who your real daddy is? Ask me, and I’ll tell.
The words landed like an icy spear between my ribs. Not the taunt that I was used to. It was the undertone, ancient and sinister, resonating in the marrow of my bones. A door I’d kept sealed my entire life rattled on its hinges.
With a miner’s strength and a soldier’s will, I shoved the demon to the farthest edge of my mind. Its dark chuckle trailed behind it like smoke. It had gotten a reaction.
The Broken Drum, the soldiers’ club Bryn had been raving about, loomed ahead at the end of the main strip.
Hard to miss. It was one of the few two-story buildings in Dustyard, constructed from salvaged timber and corrugated metal.
It was lit with so many Stormglass lanterns that it glowed like a beacon against the dark camp.
Music and noise poured from every window.
The entrance was wide open, bodies flowing in and out.
The smell of cheap liquor and wood smoke carried on the night air.
I warmed up despite myself, echoing Bryn’s excitement. Whatever had happened at the Sorting, we’d survived it. We were going to celebrate.
“Where are you two freaks going? ”
The sneer came from the shadows between the Broken Drum and an adjacent storage building. Several figures stepped into the lantern light. I counted nine.
A mix of first-years and second-years, judging from their uniform: gray fatigues and silver fatigues side by side.
Four of them I recognized from Slade’s crew, the ones who’d pinned me to the barracks wall.
The scarred cadet stood at the front. His name was Kevin.
Evidently, he’d filled the vacuum Slade left behind.
I clocked their positioning. Spread in a loose crescent, cutting off the road ahead and the alley to the left.
Their weight was balanced, hands loose, which showed they were confident and trained.
These weren’t brawlers throwing sloppy punches in the barracks.
They’d spent real time on the mat and in the ring.
I’d learned that fighting on the right side of a war didn’t make you a good person. And I’d bet not everyone fighting for the White Witch was scum that needed erasing. But these nine had chosen their mark tonight, and it was me.
“Run,” I told Bryn. “It’s me they want. Don’t be collateral damage.”
“Not a chance.” She planted her feet. Then she shouted at the group. “The whole base is celebrating. Go back inside and drink like everyone else.”
“No wonder these two stick together,” Kevin sneered. “One pretended she had a dick, the other wishes she did. Pathetic.”
“Ignore the queer,” another cadet said. “She’s nothing. We’re here for the witch.”
“I’ll fuck that bad bitch first!” Kevin’s scarred face split into a cruel smile. “I want to see how special her witch cunt is.”
They didn’t just want to kill me. They wanted to violate me and break me first.
They can try. Scum, the demon purred, its voice icy cold.
“Don’t do this!” Bryn cried. “It’s not too late to stop!”
“Shut up, fag. Nobody’s interested in your cunt.”
The men closed in.
The first one lunged from my right. I drove my elbow into his throat and felt cartilage buckle. He dropped, gagging. The second came low, a wrestler’s shot at my legs. I sprawled, caught his head under my arm, and hammered my fist into the base of his skull. His body went slack.
I hadn’t trained longer than them. But I was faster than any of them.
Two down. Seven left. They adjusted fast. No more solo charges.
Three came at once: two from the front, one circling behind.
I caught the front man’s wrist, redirected his momentum, and slammed him into his pal.
Both stumbled. I pivoted and met the one behind me with a knee to the sternum that folded him in half as he tried to grab my breast.
A fist connected with my ribs from my blind side. Pain cracked through my torso. Another blow caught my shoulder. A blade nicked my neck. I swung back, a miner’s hook, nothing elegant, all force, and felt bone shatter under my brutal knuckles.
I couldn’t overcome all of them. I tried to summon the shockwave. It wouldn’t come. Same as in the dragon fire. The demon was holding out, waiting for me to beg, to let it take the wheel. I wouldn’t trade one nightmare for another.
I fought with what I had. Fists, elbows, knees.
I was taller, heavier now, and my punches carried real damage.
But despite my speed, my training was still raw, and they were seasoned.
Blows rained from every angle. My cheekbone cracked under a devil’s blow.
Blood filled my mouth, but I didn’t flinch.
Bryn screamed behind me as she fought her own battle against a second-year who had her pinned against a wall. The gang had separated us.
Four scum remained standing and swarmed me as one. Hands seized my arms, my legs. I thrashed, broke one grip, drove my knee into a groin, and heard the shriek. But the others dragged me down. My back hit the dirt. Kevin drove his knee onto my chest, crushing the air from my lungs.
“This is for Sergeant Slade.” He spat in my face. “And for my friends you just put down.”
“Finish it, Kevin. Slit the witch’s throat before she gets to more of us.”
Kevin flashed a lewd smile. Rancid lust fogged his eyes. “I have a better idea.”
His hand went to his belt. Not for a knife.
“The bitch is so big. Taller than any of us.” He let the words hang. “I want to see if her cunt’s any good. If it’s tight.”
Dark rage gathered in me. The demon stirred. Not because I’d asked. But because whatever lived inside me had its own threshold for what it would tolerate .
We were ready to slaughter them all. Brutally. Utterly without mercy.
Then a howl pierced the night. And it didn’t come from the demon in me.
Power punched the air like a concussion wave. The hair on my neck stood rigid.
Kevin’s hand froze. The whole gang froze. Terror bleached their eyes.
From my angle—flat on my back, pinned to the dirt—I could see the sky. Black. Scattered with stars.
Another howl. The sound of the worst predator pounding the earth and moving fast through the camp.
And it was here.