Lord of the Night

Chapter 33: The Pack

As always, my first reflex was to freeze. The wet sand suctioned around my feet, gripping me to the ground. Memories from my past blurred with the Demons around me. Amber eyes, sneering lips. Limbs hurtling forward with a cruel kind of grace, like a black widow descending on a trapped fly.

"Remgar." My father's voice sliced through the web binding me. He yanked my arm back to turn me toward him. His dark eyes possessed both terror and lucid determination. "Remgar, run. I can hold them back for a little while. You can escape!"

Tears sprung to my eyes. His body was a whittled tree, and holes riddled his mind, but his instinct to protect me had never diminished.

I sprang into action.

My arm shot out to force my father back a couple steps, and then I met the nearest Demon with a hooked fist. He fell hard, not expecting my quick response. The next Demon responded more quickly, raising her rusty rod to meet my hand. I shoved the rod aside and launched a kick at her gut, toppling her backward.

Three more filled her place, but the first swing was clumsy, and I caught the rod in an open hand. Pain shot from my palm up to my shoulder, but I managed to maintain my grip. With a grunt, I wrenched the rod out of the Demon's hand. I flipped it around just in time to meet the approaching rod of another Demon. Then I ducked, and the third Demon's rod whistled over my head.

I leaped back up to my full height and readied the rod with renewed hope. Maybe I actually stood a chance against these Demons. The rod I clutched would not perform like a Demon-slayer mace—I had little hope of actually killing these Demons without any rubber or spikes in my weapon—but maybe I could knock them unconscious or scare them away.

But my hope was short-lived. The first two I had knocked back were already on their feet. Another Demon had joined them, a larger Demon with brighter eyes and hands that crackled with electric power.

I wheeled around and struck out, bashing the skull of the nearest Demon. Her face spasmed as she fell. Before she hit the ground, I had swiveled to meet the next attacker, thrashing my rod to meet his, knocking the Demon back a step. But when I lashed out at the largest Demon, a burst of light encased her in an electric shield. A shockwave jolted up my arm, and I almost dropped the rod.

She barely flinched.

A pack leader. I had heard about them before—rogue Demons born with powers far exceeding the rest. And I should have known I would find one here. Guardians had long since wiped out all of the packs without a pack leader.

Lacking any better plan, I threw myself into the battle even harder than before. My muscles moved faster and more powerfully than I knew they could. My next blow smacked flesh—and the next, and the next. Sweat drenched my shirt and dripped from my brow, hot and then cold in the breeze.

But as my opponents fell, I realized the pack leader was no longer attacking me. She now stalked past the rest of us toward my father. She unleashed her claws and fangs and pounced toward him.

"No!"

Even as the cry burst from my lips, my rod flailed, knocking back the nearest attackers. When I found a second's reprieve. I wheeled around, boots digging into the sand, and charged toward my father.

He had fallen onto his back, but he still kicked out at the approaching Demon. One foot socked her gut, delaying her for a second. But just before I could reach them, the pack leader's claws sank into his arm.

In a wheezing gurgle, he cried, "Ahhh!"

My own yell shredded my throat. "Dad!"

The pack leader tipped her head back and hissed a sigh, clamping tighter on my father's arm. I swung my rod at her head, but electric energy engulfed her, driving back my attack. I lashed out harder, but her head barely tilted from the pressure.