Daria put a hand to her lower back just as the golden glint of the blade reflected off the moonlight. Death had taken the weapon.
Now what am I supposed to use?
Just as the thought crossed her mind, something flew right by her head to embed in the building beside her. A metallic twang reverberated, and she didn’t even pause to see who’d thrown it as she yanked it out of the wall and crouched down.
Grunts and curses echoed in the now empty field around her, and even with so much open space, she couldn’t see where the blade had been thrown from. Had her chaos provided it?
Thanks, she thought to herself, just in case. Couldn’t have her chaos going unappreciated.
Keeping her back to the building, she inched away from the fight between Death and Deceit, confident that Death could take him. She was worried about Betrayal, who was nowhere to be found.
Hope and the first demon were still fighting, and they seemed evenly matched, even though Hope was larger than the other.
Daria felt so useless in situations like this. At least she’d cleared the field, but what good was she now? She couldn’t exactly fight—
Something up ahead flashed on the edge of the trees, and without thinking twice, Daria ran after it. She trusted her chaos, knew it would help her get out of any sticky situation, and that was the only reason she ran headfirst into the woods. She passed through the line of trees and hesitated, letting her eyes adjust to the sudden darkness. The evergreens were full and thick, and blocked out almost all of the light from the moon.
Keeping her eyes peeled for Betrayal—or anyone—she moved slowly and quietly, keeping her back to a tree at all times.
Something rustled just ahead of her, and as the fighting faded to background noise, she moved forward until—
“Daria!” Betrayal hissed.
She jumped, but just before she squealed, he slapped a hand over her mouth and pressed her back against a tree. “The fuck are you doing out here?” he asked quietly, his words more of a brush against her neck than anything as he leaned down to whisper in her ear.
“I was looking for you,” she explained.
He grunted and leaned back. “Someone’s in here, but I don’t know who or where. I think they’re gone.”
“Did you see them?”
Shaking his head, he brushed his hand down her arm until he twined his fingers with hers and tugged, pulling her from the woods. She turned her head, an itch over the back of her neck telling her they were not alone. But whoever they were, they left them alone as they kept walking. She didn’t know if that was better or worse.
“There was more than one, and I think if we followed, we would have been outnumbered,” Betrayal muttered.
The sounds of fighting intensified as they breached the edge of the forest, and Daria darted her gaze between the two pairs of demons. Hope was winning, and she breathed a sigh of relief. He sat on the chest of his opponent and rained blow after blow down on him, but his weapon had been knocked away.
Death still gripped the hilt of the golden blade, but Deceit was ruthless.
Betrayal growled and moved in Death’s direction before he turned back to her. “Just… try not to get killed, okay?” he asked, and then, with one last glance, ate up the distance to help Death.
The chaos in her chest was on alert, adrenaline rushing through her body, but she wasn’t sensing anything that posed an immediate danger. So with bated breath, she watched the fight. She didn’t dare wade in and try to help, she’d only be a distraction. While she felt useless, she knew she’d only cause more harm than good if she tried to get involved.
One day, she’d master her chaos and kick some ass, but her demons worried far too much about her to risk it right then.
Suddenly, Hope’s gaze darted in her direction, and she frowned at the concern on his face. She took a step forward, intending to do what—she didn’t know—but she was drawn to the helpless look on his face.
The demon beneath him took advantage of his pause, hand scrambling over the ground until he closed his fist around the hilt of a blade. Daria opened her mouth to scream, but before even a whisper could escape, he thrust the short sword up and into Hope’s chest. The tip of it stuck out of his back, and Daria froze, unable to comprehend the sight.
“Hope!” Daria screamed. Her feet slammed into the ground as she ran toward him, and her chaos swirled with the same panic that coursed through her. The blade in her hand dropped to the grass, but it took off, led by the invisible force of her chaos. Hope fell to the side and rolled to his back, and as the other demon took off in a run, Daria’s blade followed him until it embedded itself in his shoulder. He grunted but kept running.
Daria didn’t bother going after him, instead she slid to a stop right beside Hope, hands fluttering over his chest.
“Pull it out,” Hope rasped, and one of his hands lay over his sternum, knuckles bloodied and bruised. “So it’ll heal,” he hissed.
Daria nodded loosely and curled her fingers around the hilt before meeting his gaze. A calmness fell over her, or maybe it was just numbness. “It’ll be okay,” she promised, and without warning, she yanked the blade out of him. A sickening sound accompanied the swift movement, and she winced before tossing it to the side.
“Thanks,” he whispered weakly. “Guess it’s my turn,” he said, a dull smile tugging at his lips.
“Your turn for what?” she inquired, but before she got her question out, he passed out.
His head lolled to the side, and Daria’s heart froze in her chest as a wave of worry washed over her, and her chaos flared up again. A crash sounded to her right, and she jerked her head around just as a tree fell and smashed to the ground. It made the earth vibrate beneath her, and she turned her gaze back to Hope.
His brows were knotted in pain, even unconscious, and she glanced over her shoulder just as Death and Betrayal started running her way. She didn’t see Deceit, but from the blood arcing across Death’s chest, she hoped they’d made him hurt.
“What happened?” Betrayal asked.
“The other demon stabbed him,” she answered lamely, and motioned to Betrayal. “Take your shirt off.”
He arched a brow. “Is this really the time for that?”
“To staunch the bleeding, dammit,” she grumbled, and rolled her eyes.
“I knew that,” he responded, and grabbed his shirt at the back of his neck to pull it over. Daria must have really gotten used to their extended life spans, because she didn’t feel guilty at all about enjoying the sight of his muscles flexing as he handed her the shirt. The tattoos covering his torso were quite a distraction though.
The light air of teasing dissipated as she folded the shirt and pressed it to Hope’s wound.
“Let’s get him to the car,” Betrayal murmured, and Daria nodded as she slid out of their way.
“Hold onto this,” Death instructed, and handed her back the gold blade. She nodded, tucking it into her waistband, and accepted the keys from him as well.
The journey to the car seemed to take ages longer than it had the first time, and she was on edge the entire time. The mood had certainly downshifted as they remained silent.
They situated Hope in the backseat, and Daria squeezed into the other side, putting his head in her lap as she pressed her hand onto the wound.