Now my demon side was starting to rise.
Blocking out the pain in my head, I leapt to my feet and lunged forward. I landed my punch, but it didn’t do much damage. The congressman slammed his fist into the side of my head again, sending me staggering back, and I hunched over, dizzy.
The blows were clouding my thoughts. I had nowhere to go. Orion thought I was Mortana and wanted me dead. The demon hunters wanted me dead.
Even a life of quiet desperation wasn’t in the cards right now, playing chess with Mr. Esposito in Ye Olde Osborne Coffee Shoppe.
A wild, furious sort of panic gripped me, and I rushed forward, shoving Jack’s father hard into the guys behind him. He fell back. I tried to make a run for it again, but Jack struck from the side, punching me in the head. I staggered as he moved behind me and threw my elbow into his ribs, and he grunted in surprise.
Right now, I might still have some demon strength and magic, but not a lot. If I’d been at full capacity, this fight would have been over.
One of the hunters lunged for me, swinging a glass beer bottle at my head. My hands shot out and blocked his arm, redirecting the strike of the bottle against his own forehead. Fragments of glass littered the rickety stairs.
He was down for now, but they were all around, one after another coming for me.
Jack was up again. He reached for my throat, and I dodged him, jumping to the side. He lost his balance and fell forward. I grabbed him from behind and slammed his head down on the jagged top of the chain link fence.
“Demon!” Jack’s father hissed. “We will rid the earth of your kind!”
I spied an opening between the congressman and one of the others. Now’s my chance.
But as I started to rush past him, the hook caught me in the side, ripping open my skin. Pain carved through me, and panic sunk its claws into my heart.
Oh, fuck, oh, fuck.
I gripped my side, freeing myself from the hook with a sharp tug. Grimacing, I fought to keep my thoughts clear. I couldn’t die here…
A voice sounded in my mind, echoing as if it were coming from somewhere in the distance. You must have a chance at the crown. Chaos. Chaos. Chaos.
Was I hallucinating?
I stumbled into plastic bins, blood rushing from me.
I was going to die surrounded by enemies, bleeding all over Mr. Esposito’s trash cans.
Chapter 3—Rowan
Staggering, I fought through the pain. They could have killed Mom, and I couldn’t die before I found out.
It was like a part of me had never left the woods. A part of me was still there, running through the trees, senseless with fear. A double version of myself, permanently trapped in the past. And only that part of me could remember exactly what happened. I had no idea who it was.
That night, I’d split in two. One part of myself would always be hearing her scream.
“Was it you?” I shouted.
No answer. The congressman took a step closer and gripped me hard by the throat, lifting me into the air and crushing my windpipe.
“What do you think, boys?” He grinned. “Should we still take her alive?”
I tried summoning my power, but I felt it sputtering within me, struggling to ignite. Snuffed out again like charcoal doused with water.
“Alive, yeah,” said one of the frat boys.
The congressman dropped me hard, and I gasped for air. “Did you kill my mom?” I rasped.
He brandished the hook. “I might have.”
A bit of lingering demon magic crackled between my ribs, then started to heat, surging along my arm. With an electrifying burst of energy, I whirled and landed a hard punch in his face.
His head snapped back, but he recovered fast and swung for me again with the hook. This time, I managed to block it, gripping his wrist before he could rip me open.
I snarled at him, growing feral.
He bared his teeth. “Your kind have been a plague on our great nation for centuries.”
Blood was pouring from my side, and my brain swam with dizziness, my mind dancing with the memory of what Orion had told me. He’d loathed the mortals more than anyone, believed they had no mercy when it came to demons.
Strength was seeping out of me, and my mind grew dark. As I faltered, the congressman kicked me hard in the stomach. The blow ripped my side open a little more, and I stumbled back, shocked by the pain.
“What do you want from me?” I muttered.
His lip curled. “Demons like you are wild animals. Predators. And do you know what we do to dangerous animals? We lock them up so they can’t hurt anyone. Sometimes, we hang trophies of your heads on our walls. A message to the others.” He cocked his head. “I’m not sure you’ll make it that long, though. A dying animal will find a dark corner to die in. You feeling that right now, demon?”
I did. My strongest instinct right now was to curl up behind Mr. Esposito’s trash cans like a sick cat crawling off to die alone. With rising terror, I gripped my waist and stared at the blood pouring from me onto the driveway.
My mind flickered with memories of Mom’s face, and I wanted to see her now more than ever. I stepped back, and my attacker slashed at me again, ripping the skin on the other side open. The screaming in my mind went quieter. I looked up at the congressman, taking in the smug curl of his lips. He was enjoying this. Blood dripped from his hook onto the pavement, a glistening pool of crimson.
Something snapped in me, and a burst of fiery magic sizzled between my ribs.
“You’re right, Mr. Corwin,” I snarled. “I am a predator.”
Volcanic heat pooled in my chest and blazed down my arm and along my fingertips. I gripped the hunter’s wrist as he swung at me again, the last vestige of my magic igniting in a burst of hot blue flame on his arm.
He screamed as his navy jacket caught fire. The flames licked at his face, and he dropped his metal hook, which clanged on the sidewalk. The smell of burning skin and hair nauseated me, but as much as I’d wanted to fight back, I wasn’t going to watch someone burn to death.
I snatched the hook from the pavement and, with the last of my energy, slashed the congressman’s throat. One quick swipe to his jugular, and his agony was over, his screams silenced. He fell to the ground, his body burning as the flames blazed higher. The other demon hunters screamed, stumbling over themselves to get away from me. They took off at a sprint down Gallows Hill Road.
The last of my magic drained from my body, and my legs felt weak. As bile climbed up my throat, I stepped past the burning body. I hoped the rain would put out the fire soon.
Mouth dry and body cold, a horrible thought struck me. I’d just killed a congressman. Lit him on fire and slit his throat. Right here, in Mr. Esposito’s driveway.
Holy fuck. I wanted to lie down on the ground, but if I stuck around, I’d be arrested. What’s more, if I went to the hospital or called an ambulance for myself, I’d be arrested.
Dizzy, I found myself shambling toward the road. I couldn’t survive without medical help.
A voice called out from behind me, and I turned to see Mr. Esposito standing in his doorway, his figure hazy through the black smoke curling off the congressman’s body.
“I’m sorry!” I blurted, unable to manage a full explanation.
Coughs racked his body for a moment, and then he shouted, “Rowan! Get to the City of Thorns!”