Page 102 of Death Wish

When we reached Xaver, the demon grinned broadly.

“I’m here,” I shot. “Recall your hellions. They aren’t needed anymore.”

“There won’t be any more deals,” he barked. “You took advantage of my kindness and ruined that option. I won’t let it happen again.”

His kindness? I almost laughed out loud. Had I missed that part?

“Hey, I didn’t call for any backup. I don’t know what that thing was that came flying in.”

Cole inched me closer to Xaver and the Hell pit, and my pulse kicked up a notch. What was stopping him from just throwing me in? Maybe Wyatt was right, and I had played right into Cole’s plan. Had I made a major mistake?

I locked my knees, refusing to get any closer. He shoved me forward.

He was trying to push me into the pit. He had tricked me again.

“Now I will take you and all your little blood bags’ souls to Hell,” said Xaver. “My Halflings have been bored for some time and would love some new playthings to torture for eternity.”

When I peered up, I noticed the blackened spot in the center of Xaver’s chest, where one of the blessed bullets had landed. The skin around the area had festered away, creating a small hole surrounded by his sticky, tar-like blood.

If I got close enough, I could punch my fist through his flesh and expel my power. Blasting him from the inside out.

Sounded like it would work in my head. I didn’t have another plan, so let’s hope I was right with this one.

But since Xaver towered over me, I needed to find a way to get up to his level. Or bring him down to mine.

“Well, here I am,” I said. “Come and get me.”

To my surprise, Cole let me go, just in time for Xaver to reach down and grab me by the waist. He hauled me up to face him, the stench of his rotting breath making my stomach churn.

“The first thing I’m going to do is cut those pretty hands of yours off, so they can’t do any more damage. And then—”

I lashed out with a closed fist straight for the center of his chest and called for my light at the same time. It whipped through me like a tornado, wild and finally free. In an instant, white wisps of power surged out of my fingertips.

“You mean like this?” I said, satisfied.

Whiteness exploded inside him, the light bursting out of the other bullet holes in his skin, his eyes, ears, and mouth. It was so bright, my eyes burned. I could barely look at it.

When the light consumed Xaver completely, drowning him in brightness, he let me go. I dropped to the ground onto my knees.

Like discharging a bomb, the whiteness expanded suddenly, illuminating the entire yard in a blaze.

I squeezed my eyes shut and held my breath.

A few seconds later, when darkness pressed against my lids again, I opened my eyes. Xaver was gone. As was every Halfling. All that was left was a distinct ringing in my ears.

“You did it.” Cole was by my side, his voice almost childlike in his excitement. “You killed him and blasted all those fuckers back to Hell!”

I smiled up at him. I had done it, hadn’t I?

His eyes had changed again, mostly their normal color but also rimmed with red. He hadn’t been completely changed into one of those creatures, but he had come pretty close. If he opened himself up to that part of him again, there was a good chance he wasn’t coming back. His familiar grin was welcomed, though, even if I didn’t know who he was. Not really.

He took my hand to help me up, but the moment I tensed my muscles in my legs to push myself upright, exhaustion swept me up in a merciless embrace. This time, I couldn’t fight the darkness when it called my name and dragged me under.

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