May's Possession

Felix’s body, which was now entirely made of water, dropped to the floor and shot forward. He had no control over his movement. All he could do was hang on for the ride as May raced toward the demon.

When they reached the demon’s feet, Felix’s water form rose into a pillar, rapidly enveloping its skin. Every inch of the creature that he touched burned, letting off steam with a hiss. It howled in pain as the water spread, and within seconds, it had been swallowed completely. It only took another second for the demon to let out one last shriek and crumble into nothing.

Doors opened up and down the hallway. Demons emerged from the shadows. Eleven of them. These ones were smaller and wingless, but they raced toward Arisa, Mason, and Felix’s body of water with alarming speed.

Relax, Felix, May said. I got this.

Their water arced through the air and struck the closest demon in the chest. It clutched its burning skin as it dropped onto its back. May wrapped the water around its neck until she’d burned a hole clean through.

Mason and Arisa plunged into the fight. Felix wasn’t sure how exactly he was seeing the world around him, but he was dimly aware of Mason scrambling to pick up his dagger off the floor nearby, and Arisa picking up Helena’s sword.

They two sliced at demons around them. After only a few blows, most demons dropped to the ground and stopped moving. May continued to burn up demons with water, moving between them at a speed that left Felix’s head spinning. Not that he had a head anymore. Still, he was dizzy to the point of nausea.

It took a couple of minutes for them to kill all of the demons.

The water that was now Felix moved into a roughly human shape. Then, his body came back in the blink of an eye. He staggered backwards into the closest wall. His clothes were damp, and water dripped from his hair and slid down his skin.

Sorry, I’m a little out of practice, May said. I usually come back completely dry.

“You—you turned into water!” Arisa exclaimed.

Mason took a step back from Felix. “Holy water, at that.”

“Wait, I drank holy water?” Felix held a hand to his throat.

Sort of, May said. I need stone to channel my power, so most of our power in that water form came from the fact that the stone we were using has sigils on it that convert water into holy water.

“Do you always have to drink water first?”

Not necessarily. But putting the stone in the water we drank first gave us a boost, since it takes time for the sigils to start working on the water form. The longer you leave the stone in beforehand, the better. Luckily those demons were pretty weak.

“So, if you turned into water using a regular stone, would you just be regular water?” Felix asked.

Yep.

“Who’s he talking to?” Mason asked.

“My sister,” Felix said. He explained May’s ability as best as he could. She corrected him a few times, issued a snarky You’re welcome , and left his mind.

“I think she wore herself out,” Felix said. “I won’t be able to do that again anytime soon.”

“That’s fine, we killed all of them.” Arisa handed Helena’s sword back to Felix. “It held up well.”

“I still think you should strengthen it,” Mason muttered.

“I’ll look into it,” Felix said. “So, what are you going to do now?”

Mason walked a ways down the hallway and looked up at the ceiling. “Well, I would call it a day, but I’d like to know what drew so many demons to one location.”

“Yeah, this was bizarre,” Arisa said. “Especially considering the other recent demon attacks in the area.”

Something thudded against the ceiling overhead. Felix tensed. “What was that?”

“Maybe the building’s settling,” Arisa suggested.

“I’m not that lucky,” Mason said. “I didn’t sense any other demon magic, but—” His eyes widened. “Sh—”

The ceiling above him exploded. He raced toward Felix and Arisa. “Run!”

Felix darted through the closest doorway into a large, unfinished room. He glanced back as Arisa caught up. A cloud of dust filled the hallway behind them. “What happened to—?

A red demon erupted from the dust and grabbed Felix. Felix’s feet lifted off the ground, and then he was sailing through the air. His back slammed into a wooden beam. He gasped as he sank to the concrete floor.

His vision blurred. The demon stalked toward him. More figures moved behind it.

“Arisa?” Felix tried weakly. The demon was a few feet away now. It lifted a clawed hand and summoned black flames.

Mason crashed into the demon. As they tumbled to the ground, Mason lifted his dagger and drove it into the demon’s neck. The demon’s fire went out. It choked as black blood spurted from the wound.

Felix pushed himself to his feet. “You said we killed all of them!”

“I didn’t sense these ones until they were on top of us!” Mason glanced back with wide eyes. “I should have been able to feel them, even if they were hiding themselves. It doesn’t make any sense!”

To Felix’s relief, Arisa appeared at Mason’s left. “There’s at least ten more.” She threw a frantic glance at the door. “I put up some protective sigils in the air, but—”

“At this rate, the demons will burn through them pretty quickly,” Mason said. “Get ready to fight.”

Felix’s shoulders sagged. He was exhausted, and judging by the other’s faces, they were too.

Arisa pulled her dagger from her bag. “Can Clementine help us?” Felix asked her.

She shook her head. “She won’t do much damage to a demon. I’ve been meaning to strengthen the sigils on her knives, but I haven’t had the chance.”

“Who’s Clementine?” Mason asked.

“I’ll explain later.” Arisa lifted her weapon. “Assuming we survive this.”

Felix raised Helena’s sword. If he weren’t on the verge of collapse, he’d try hitting the demons with lightning to knock them down, but he couldn’t imagine generating more than a few sparks now.

One by one, the paper planes hovering in the air in front of the door burst into different colors of flames. Red. Green. Blue. Yellow. The first few demons burst into the room and charged.

Blades swung. Felix cut clean through a demon’s neck, taking himself by surprise. That had been smoother than expected. The demon’s head hissed in pain as it hit the floor. Felix stepped forward to deliver another blow, but a second demon crashed into him. The sword slipped from his grasp. His head smacked against concrete.

The new demon pinned him to the floor with one hand. It lifted the other. Light glinted off its claws as it prepared to strike.

The blade of a sword burst from the demon’s chest and came to a stop inches from Felix’s face. A heartbeat later, the sword slid back out, and the demon collapsed to the ground next to him.

Archer barely looked at Felix as he decapitated the demon with his blade. Three more demons converged on him. Archer reached up a hand and pulled down his mask. With his other hand, he swung his sword through the air behind him. The demon it slashed staggered back, the skin around its wound burning away.

Felix pushed himself upright, eyes wide. He wanted to help Archer, but the thought of standing made him nauseous.

Archer didn’t seem to need Felix’s help, anyway. The second demon approached from the front and swung a hand at his face. The air in front of Archer’s lips darkened, as if it were filled with smoke. The demon’s skin burned as it passed through the cloud.

The demon grimaced in pain but kept moving. Archer took a step back to avoid its claws. The demon swung again, slower this time. It stumbled to the right. Swayed. Archer’s sword cut through its body, leaving it in two halves on the concrete. With one swift motion, Archer sent the third demon falling to the floor next to it.

The demons attacking Mason and Arisa backed off and turned their focus to Archer, quickly realizing he was the biggest threat to them.

Archer ran to the nearest wall, jumped, and pushed himself off of it. The remaining demons followed. While he was in the air, Archer let go of his sword. The blade plunged into the head of the first demon to reach him. Meanwhile, he yanked the glove off his right hand, drew a dagger with his left, and slid the blade across his palm. Blood welled on the metal, turning from red to bright green in seconds.

Archer’s boots slammed against the ground.

Another demon lunged at him. Archer ducked and swiped his dagger across its chest. The demon didn’t slow. It grabbed Archer’s wrist and pushed him backward into the wall. Archer twisted, broke free from its grasp, and plunged the blade into its back. The demon sank to the floor and desperately clawed at Archer’s legs. Archer stepped away, grabbed his sword from the dead demon nearby, and lunged at the next one.

Felix watched in awe as Archer finished off the remaining demons. Mason and Arisa stood frozen nearby, equally stunned expressions on their faces.

After the last demon dropped, Archer started toward Mason with his sword raised. Arisa jumped in front of Mason. “Wait, don’t kill him!”

Archer stopped but kept his sword up. “Why not? He’s a demon.”

“He’s not!” Felix forced himself to stand up. “Well, he is, but he was only turned into a demon a few months ago.” He gestured to Mason. “Arisa and I didn’t believe it either, but I used my dad’s ability on his dagger and saw what happened to him. He came here to kill the other demons. The bad ones.”

Laughter echoed around the room. Everyone’s eyes moved to the demon Archer had attacked with his blood-soaked dagger. The demon was slumped against the wall, apparently unable to move.

“You may think he’s good now, but he won’t be like that forever,” the demon said. “When he realizes he’s not going to age, not going to die, that he’s never going to be human again…” It wheezed. “Demon blood fills you with bloodlust. He won’t be able to resist it forever.”

Archer strolled over to the demon. “Care to explain what so many of you were doing here?”

The demon chuckled. Dark blood spilled from its mouth. “You can’t kill me with this poison, no matter how much magic you put in it,” it spat.

Archer slammed his boot against the demon’s shoulder, knocking it flat on its back. “I’m not trying to kill you. Yet. And that poison will keep you paralyzed as long as I like.” Archer leaned forward, putting more of his weight over the demon’s shoulder. Something cracked.

“I’m not interested in answering your questions,” the demon said. “But I do find that boy interesting.”

“I know what happens to humans who are infected with demon blood,” Archer said. “They don’t turn into demons. They turn into mindless killers.”

“Like zombies?” Felix asked.

“They’re not rotting or dead. They’re just monsters that won’t stop until they’re killed.” Archer’s gaze flickered briefly to Mason. “But they don’t grow horns or tails or gain demonic abilities.”

“Wait, follow-up question, are zombies real?”

Archer ignored the question, which Felix found unsettling.

“You’ve seen other humans turned demons?” Archer asked the demon. “Humans that didn’t succumb to demon sickness?”

“Not with my own eyes,” the demon replied. “But I’m not going to answer your questions just so that you can kill me.”

“I figured as much.” Archer lifted his sword. “Any last words before I send you back to hell?”

“If you want information, maybe we could make a deal.” The demon attempted to lift an arm, but it only moved an inch off the ground before flopping back down. “Poison wielder. You are Archer Rosenbaum, aren’t you? I have plenty to tell you about your dead friends, if you let me—”

In the blink of an eye, the sword passed through the demon’s chest. It gasped one last time before falling quiet for good.

Archer turned around. “Where’s Sebastian?”