“You okay?” Thomas said, making a wary circle with the sword in hand. The scent of demon now filled the small clearing they stood in.

“No, goddamn it. That’s a dumb question,” groaned Adam, but he struggled to his feet anyway.

The blur came again, this time straight at Thomas. He swung his sword, hit air. Then a heavy fist struck the side of his head and it was his turn to kiss the ground.

Thomas blacked out for a moment under the force of the punch, but then pushed quickly to his feet, knowing they didn’t have much time. The demon was just playing with them now and it wouldn’t take long before he got serious. Nausea rolled around in his stomach as he balanced unsteadily, pain throbbing through his head and shoulders.

Playing with demons was just no fun at all.

He and Adam exchanged a glance and stood ready in the moonlight, both swaying a little. Blood trickled into Thomas’s eye and made it burn.

Silence.

Stillness.

From Thomas’s right came another blur of motion. With all his might, he concentrated on the movement and calculated the swing of his sword. Blade bit into flesh and Boyle roared. The demon’s fist came down again, backhanding Thomas. His sword flew from his grasp to land in the nearby brush.

As Boyle lifted his hand again, Thomas tapped his magick. Power coursed, channeled through his chest and down his arm. He concentrated it on the earth beneath Boyle’s feet, causing it to rumble and shake.

Boyle, caught off balance, stumbled backward. Adam stepped in immediately, swinging his sword at the demon who dodged the blow at the last second. The blade whistled through the air an inch from the demon’s throat.

Thomas lunged for his lost weapon. As his hand closed around the grip, he heard Adam’s warning, “Watch out!” and rolled to the side to see Boyle had picked up a huge branch and was attempting to skewer him with the end like a marshmallow at a campfire. The end of the branch stuck in the ground where Thomas had been just a moment before.

Thomas took the opportunity to swing the blade in an arc toward Boyle’s knees, but the demon managed to pull the branch free and block his swing. The blade stuck fast in the wood like Excalibur to stone. Boyle and Thomas both pulled to extract their weapons at the same time. Wood and blade separated. Thomas rolled away while the demon turned and engaged an attack from Adam.

He pulled himself to his feet and glimpsed a prone figure in the weeds. Jake. Thomas couldn’t tell if he still lived or not.

Thomas turned and bellowed, “What do you want with them?” Rage and frustration made the words echo raw and bloody into the night air, pulled from his throat with savage intensity.