Page 122 of A Trial By Blood

Another snarl came a second before what felt like a boulder crashed into my back. I was slammed to the forest floor, then flipped. One of the warthog demons was looking down at me, drool sliding from each side of its wide maw. Then his companions were there as well, surrounding us, hooting and laughing.

I screamed and struggled, but he held me too tight.

“Can we keep her?” one of the others asked.

“Could be a good breeder,” the one on top of me said and squeezed one of my breasts. “Her teats are small, but they’d grow when she was fat with my young.”

No fucking way. This was not happening. I would not let this happen. “Get the fuck off me!” I screamed in his face.

He curled his hairy fingers around my throat. “Get used to it. I’ll be spending a lot of time right here,” he said, spraying spittle through the gaps in his sharp teeth.

“No.” I shook my head as fear morphed into anger. “That’s not happening.”

They laughed, and I yanked a hand free from under him and struck, smacking him across the side of the face. Humor was replaced by rage, and pinning me with the hand around my throat, he slowly dragged one of the claws on his other hand down the side of my face. My flesh was torn open, and I screamed, but not in fear.

He was trying to scare me and paralyze me with fear and pain, and it only made the rage inside me grow bigger and hotter. Rage at these assholes, but mostly rage at what my family had gone through to save our magic, what Zinnia had sacrificed, all of it for no other reason that I could see other than to amuse the mother. I fucking hated her.

And I hated how goddamned defenseless I was. How weak.

If I was Willow or Iris, I’d know how to fight him off or use a spell or elixir to immobilize him. I couldn’t do either proficiently, and at that moment, I couldn’t even remember the most basic of spells. But the angrier I got, the more powerful I felt. I remembered what Iris said about my magic, and I felt it inside me, building, growing. My limbs felt tight and hot, the tips of my ears and fingers and my fangs tingled—and my back burned as hot as my fury.

The demon on top of me frowned, then jerked back.

“What is she?” one of the others said, head tilting to the side.

My muscles flexed. He’d taken some weight off me, and I shoved with a screech, with all the force of my magic behind it. The sound that left me was piercing and wild, a sound I’d never made before, and the demon flew back.

I jumped to my feet, and the other two with him stared in shock. Everything looked sharper, brighter. I could see into every shadowy corner, see at a distance I never could before. My hands felt weird, and I looked down and gasped. My fingers were longer, tipped with claws, red veins snaking along each one, visible through my now almost translucent skin.

I wobbled, almost unbalancing, as a breeze flowed around me.

My wings were out and strong and beating behind me. I don’t know what I did or how this happened, but I knew if I concentrated really hard, I could make them beat faster, harder. My feet lifted off the ground.

The demons snapped out of it and pounced, grabbing at me, their claws slicing through flesh. I kicked out and let my wings lift me higher, until I was out of reach.

Blood poured from a cut to my thigh and from another across my stomach, making me dizzy, but somehow, I stayed in the air. It was precarious, and I dipped and weaved and almost collided with several of the taller trees, but from up here, I could see the edge of the forest. The car. Safety.

I weaved and dipped low, almost hitting the ground, but managed to gain enough height again. I was nearly there. The demons’ hoots and growls grew more distant, but they were still following, and I was making it easy for them, leaving a bloody trail.

So close.

Spots danced in front of my eyes. I’d lost too much blood, and I was close to losing consciousness.

I dipped and weaved again, and this time there was no stopping it. I hit the ground hard. There was another hoot and laughter as they got closer.

I scrambled to my feet and ran for the car, stumbling, but somehow managing to stay upright. Yanking the door open, I got in, pulled it shut, and slammed my hand down on the lock. I quickly found the keys in my pocket and started the car as demons burst from the trees.

I’d hit my head hard and darkness was trying to creep in at the edges of my vision.

Not now. Stay the hell awake.

I put it in drive and hit the gas, jerking forward. The darkness crowded in.

Not yet.

I just needed to get onto the main road. I just needed to stay conscious for a little longer. I bounced along the short dirt road, the highway just ahead. I glanced in the rearview mirror. They hadn’t given up, still running after me.

Finally, I turned onto the highway—