Page 18 of Their Promise

Maya leaned her shoulder against mine, giving me silent comfort.

A strange, dark feeling hit me, making me jerk my eyes up.

Mom turned around as well, getting to her feet slowly. “Something’s coming,” she said and tapped Caleb on the shoulder.

I was on my feet, moving forward, but Mason stepped in front of me and put an arm out to stop me.

“What?” I asked, looking up at his scowling face.

His eyes darted to my face before looking back away from me. “I can smell demons.”

Kayden stepped up next to me and said, “Get back. We’ll handle this.” He shifted into a warrior form of half wolf and half man.

Arguing would have felt good, but this was their job, so I went back to the blanket and sat beside Maya. “Guess we’ll get to see if they’re as good as they claim they are,” I whispered to her.

Trey looked over his shoulder at me and winked, “Enjoy the show, Princess.”

I rolled my eyes and grabbed my boba drink.

A black oval made of swirling smoke appeared in front of Mason and Kayden and several demonic creatures jumped out. They were only about three feet tall, covered in scales, and scurried around on all fours. When they howled at us, they revealed thick fangs on the top and bottom of their jaws.

Mason drew a sword from a scabbard on his back that I hadn’t noticed and immediately decapitated one of the creatures. A thrill went through me that I didn’t want to admit.

My dads and Mom created a shield between the guys and us, so I sat calmly with Maya to watch, knowing they would keep us safe.

“Have you ever wondered what would happen if you jumped through the portal?” Maya asked.

I nodded. “I assume you’d get teleported to their world.”

“Do you think it’s just a vast landscape of creatures that are attacking each other and these are weird anomalies sending them here?”

“Or, are there sentient beings sending the creatures here as a test to see if we’re worth their time and energy or if they could colonize us?” I suggested.

“Oh, that’s a scary thought,” she said and shuddered.

Kayden and Mason attacked two creatures while Trey watched. Was he just going to make them do all the work?

Three more creatures jumped out and finally, Trey intervened, taking a warrior form to let his dragon side out, and spewed flames that coated one of the demonic creatures that looked like a dog with porcupine spines and we called a hellhound. It was apparently a term used in some mythology.

My body warmed as I watched the trio protecting us from the demonic creatures. I knew they were skilled fighters, but knowing and watching them in action were two different things. The darkness within me swirled higher, trying to overtake me and summoning some of my bloodlust.

No! No, I could not get out of control. I had to stop it before anyone noticed.

Closing my eyes, I took deep breaths and thought of the pond and rock in the barn, my safe place, and thankfully, the darkness receded, taking my bloodlust with it.

I opened my eyes as the black portal disappeared. When they killed the last creature, all of the bodies went up in a black poof of smoke.

Why did some demon bodies disappear while other times they had to be burned to destroy the body? There were so many questions and we had so few answers.

Standing, I dusted myself off, tapped Maya to get her to follow, and headed to browse the vendors’ stands. “Well, that was a bit anticlimactic,” I said despite actually being impressedwith how efficiently they had handled the creatures and how I had reacted to them.

Maya gasped as she ran up to the first vendor selling hand carved jewelry boxes. “I’ve been wanting one of these!” She squatted down so she could look at them closer. “Which is your favorite?” she asked me.

I squatted next to her and pointed at the jewelry box with stars and hearts carved in it. “This one is my favorite.”

“This one is mine,” she said and pointed at one with a moon and two wolves howling at it.

The seller, an older man with grey at his temples, smiled. “I’m glad you like my work, Princess.”

---