Page 109 of Spirit Storm

And then the tunnel wall simply ceases to exist.

Stone and dirt and centuries of layered rock explode inward in a concussive wave that knocks Priya and Dae-Jung off their feet and sends a fine crack racing up the chamber ceiling.

Dust rains down, and through the opening where the tunnel wall used to be, Tharuzel steps through. The air bends around him, light recoiling as the lines of the shifting runes pulse red through the leathery skin of his arms, chest, and throat.

The vertical mouth splits open from his bone-mask to the center of his sternum, and a chorus of stolen voices scream at once. "You have become a hindrance, little witch."

More demons spill into the room and a section of the chamber ceiling gives way as he stands to his full ten-foot height. "Your usefulness has reached its end. Prepare to die."

CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE

Prepare to die? All right, so he got what he needed from me, and now I'm just a thorn in his side. Well, good. It's important to know where you stand in a relationship, no matter how toxic or dangerous it is.

The sheer number of demons hemorrhaging into the chamber hits like a physical thing.

We're so screwed. Yeah, so, what else is new?

I plant my feet wide on the chamber floor, spirit fire already climbing my forearms. "Then I guess the gloves are off."

Tharuzel tilts his bone-mask face toward me, and the vertical mouth in his belly opens wide. Black tentacles surge from his chest cavity, glistening with stringy slime. They coil forward like snakes striking their prey, reaching for me.

I dive to the side, ducking behind the stone of the altar as the blood-bond ignites. Pain rips through me, and as much as I despise it, Tharuzel the Soul Thresher has the ability to tear pieces of my soul away, pulling me apart from the inside.

I can't breathe. I can't think.

Asher blinks in beside me and then wraps around me, and we're across the chamber. The moment he raises his shield around me, the pain is cut off, and I can breathe again.

Like he’s done before, he’s encased me in a glowing gold aura that will shield me from the worst of things.

With trembling hands, I squeeze his arms. "Thanks for the save."

"It's what I'm here for, P." Asher and I take in the chaos while another slew of demons charge in. They come in a wave, a solid black wall of claws and mass, and for a half-second the chamber is nothing but noise and movement and the sharp smell of char and rot.

Asher flashes me a wide-eyed look. "What's the plan here? Evacuate? Stand our ground? How do you want to handle this?"

My mind spins. If we leave the lockstone unprotected, I think Asher's shield wall will hold it, but I can't be sure. If we stay, people who trust me, who came here with good intentions, will be hurt.

A demon comes at us, and I throw both hands forward and send a column of spirit fire roaring into the front line. It catches one of them smack in the chest and scatters the others sideways as it burns.

"Left flank!" Freya's voice cuts through the chaos.

Bjorn and Sebastian pivot and meet the second press head-on. Bjorn drives a hammer-strike of spirit energy through the jaw of a demon twice his size.

Sebastian weaves fast and low with twin lances of cold blue light that punch clean through the leathery-flesh like needles through paper.

The rune circle behind us is still glowing. Still holding.

Asher's shield pulses gold over it, warm and steady, and I feel him at my side—until he launches to the side in a scramble.

"Ash, are you all right?"

"There's a demon on my shoe. A little… tiny… munchkin demon." It's not easy to see in the dim light, but the thing looks similar to S'Nark in his gremlin form.

S'Nark. "Okay, deal with it. I have a plan."

"I am dealing with it. I'm talking to you while I deal with it, I'm multitasking—Wow, he's a tenacious little bastard."

I send out a call for my demon familiar and pray that for once, he actually comes instead of ignoring me.