Quinn screeched a warning, but I was already closing in, thanks to Fuego. Brooks was right above Adrik when he quickly dropped out of sight. Had he rolled under a car? Okay, the guy really was a ninja. I felt bad for him for all of three seconds. Then the fourth second ticked by, bringing with it a familiar smell: Iktan’s signature scent of death.
She was here.
But where was the double-crossing demon?
I spun in circles, scanning every inch of the parking lot, every car hood and roof. Instantly, the security lights in the corners shattered, plunging us all into blackness.
Ik must not have remembered that I have perfect night vision and didn’t need any light to battle her. I hurried over to the sedan where I’d last seen the boy twin.
“Adrik!” I whisper-shouted. “Where are you?”
Quinn, still clutching the girl, circled above in silence. Brooks hovered nearby. They sensed Ik, too. I was glad that Alana had wised up and was staying quiet now.
My eyes cut through the dark.
There.
A mere twenty feet away, five demons were perched on top of the chain-link fence, their yellow eyes glowing. Ik stood in the center, her silver braid whipping behind her like a scorpion tail. I quickly crouched between two cars, hoping they hadn’t seen me.
Phipp. Phipp. Phipp.
I peeked over the car hood. Each of the demons had a long narrow tube pressed to their lips, aimed at the sky.
Crap!
Darts whizzed like white bullets toward Brooks. She zigzagged to avoid them.
I launched Fuego at the demons, but my spear could only hit one at a time. It went right through the gut of the biggest beast, who vanished in a thin trail of black smoke.
Every demon eye shifted.
That’s right. Keep your focus on me.
“I’m the one you want!” I shouted as I threw out my hands and blasted torrents of blue fire. The remaining four beasts leaped down, fangs bared. Fuego circled back to me as fireballs shot from my eyes, tagging two of the demons in their shoulders, arms, and legs. They howled, oozing sizzling yellow goop/blood onto the asphalt. Ik ignored the two demons writhing on the ground and stepped toward me, smiling evilly.
Brooks swept in like a rocket, talons extended. Her screech echoed across the lot. Keeaar!
“Brooks!” I shouted. “No!”
I watched in absolute horror as the other uninjured demon aimed its blowgun at her. As the hawk continued to dive, I flung Fuego at the demon, piercing its chest. It disintegrated with an agonizing shriek, and Brooks pulled up.
Iktan was nowhere to be seen.
I stood in the center of a wide lane, catching my breath, scanning the dark. Where had Ik gone? Where was Adrik?
“I know the godborn’s here,” Ik said. Her disembodied voice seemed to come at me from all directions. “Give the godborn to me if you want to live.”
“Not happening,” I said. At least she thought there was only one. Pish. And she claimed demons were superior!
“You can’t beat me,” Ik said. Then, in a huskier voice, she added, “How many will have to die tonight, Fire Boy?”
I clutched Fuego, ready to fight. “I’m thinking one more demon.”
“Don’t you mean four?” Ik and two more demons materialized fifteen feet in front of me. Their silver braids hung to their ankles and were pulled so tight, I thought their faces might crack open if they flared a single nostril.
I hurled Fuego, but my spear met only black mist. The demons were an illusion.
An identical trio appeared on the roof of a car. Then another on the fence. They were replicating themselves over and over, and I had no idea which ones were real.
I felt the rush of Brooks’s wings nearby, but even with my night vision, I couldn’t see her. At the same moment, an engine turned over. Tires peeled out with a hair-raising squeal as a red sports car barreled toward the demons standing in front of me.
The car smashed into the beasts—or I should say through them, since they evaporated into thin air. The vehicle screeched to a halt a few feet from me.
Adrik was in the driver’s seat.
He jumped out of the car, wild-eyed and panting. “Where’d they go?”
A deadly growl emerged from the dark. Seconds ticked by.
One. Two. Three.
I death-gripped Fuego.
Out of nowhere, a demon flew at me, tackling me to the ground. It buried its teeth in my neck, sending venom into my blood. But this time I was ready. Fire charged through me. I became a lethal inferno that had the demon screaming in agony as it vanished.
I whirled toward Adrik. He was wrapped in a demon’s arms, thrashing and grunting uselessly.
“One move and I slash his neck,” the monster croaked.
“Your smell could kill me!” Adrik shouted.
I froze just as Brooks appeared behind the demon. I blinked. She was still a hawk, but instead of brown and white, she was entirely black, blending into the inky night.
While I was distracted, Ik emerged from behind a car and leaped toward Adrik. But Brooks was faster. She slashed Adrik’s captor across its spine with her talons, bringing the demon to its knees before Brooks hauled Adrik up and out of reach.
Ik raised her blowgun toward the hawk. I released a single stream of fire toward her, and the weapon burst into flame. Meanwhile, another demon flew at me. I quickly ducked out of claws’ reach and scrambled onto the roof of a sedan. Two more demons rushed me, launching themselves onto the car. I fled, carefully jumping from roof to roof with Fuego’s help. But the predators were agile and gaining.
Brooks circled back, invisible against the black sky except for Adrik dangling from one of her claws. “Grab the other leg!” he shouted.
Brooks hovered only a few feet ahead.
One more jump.
Using the last car roof as a launching pad, I leaped through the air, instantly vanishing Fuego to free my hands as I gripped Brooks’s available claw.
Darts whizzed by, missing us by inches.
Crap! I threw up a wall of thick smoke to camouflage us.
The darts kept coming. Adrik looked at me wide-eyed. “Blast the filthy b—” I heard him shout before I released a stream of raging fire.
Brooks let out an earsplitting cry. I didn’t need to look to know she had been hit. Her entire body tensed.
And we plummeted.
The ground rushed toward us at surprising speed.
“Brooks!” I yelled.
Her desperate voice reached me telepathically. Zane, my wing!
My heart punched my ribs with such ferocity I couldn’t breathe.
She struggled, extending her one good wing, arching her back, and tensing her muscles as she tried to glide us to safety.
Adrik’s expression was a contorted look of horror. “We’re going to crash!”
We won’t crash. We won’t crash, Brooks chanted. I can do this. But there was no doubt she was losing the battle with gravity. And then all the fight left her. Her body went slack.
We tumbled through the air. In ten seconds, our heads were going to bust open like melons.
Down.
Down.
Down.
I felt a sudden jolt. My hands slipped a few inches. My stomach dropped. I looked up to see that Quinn had Brooks by the back of her neck.
“Adrik!” Alana shouted as she clung to the eagle’s back.
“Quinn!” I hollered. “We have to get to the gateway!”