Page 94 of Their Promise

“Bottom!” Deryn and I yelled simultaneously.

Unfortunately, our call was echoed from the opposite side of the portal as well.

“Coming out of both sides? Has that happened before?” I asked Trey who moved closer to me.

He shook his head. “Never.”

“Top!” Mason yelled on our side at the same time Maya yelled it from the other side.

Two large bird-like demons with huge beaks and feathers that looked like they were made from the same spikes that the hellhounds had flew out of the portal and circled us.

“My turn to hunt,” Trey said, winked, shifted into his dragon form, and took to the sky.

My heart beat faster as I watched him head to fight the bird-demons and Mason fight against the bull-demons.

Moving closer to Mom in the center, I clutched at the necklace as it grew even hotter.

“I’ve got a bad feeling, Mom,” I whispered.

“It’s alright, Lily. We’re all here together,” she whispered as she used her telekinesis to grab rocks from the ground and fling them at the bull-demons, hitting them in the head and makingthem stumble to give Mason and Deryn an advantage as they fought them.

Since I’d moved closer to the middle, I wasn’t able to see around the portal to know how the other side was doing. I had to trust in my family and friends and their strength.

Surrounding this portal were the most powerful people in the entire world. If we couldn’t defeat the creatures, there was no hope for the rest of the world.

From the bottom of the portal ran a familiar hellhound pup with the cord from the cellphone bag around his neck still. He looked larger, like he’d grown at least three months older when it had only been a day since we’d sent him back. He ran out, looked around, saw me, and his tongue lulled out of the side of his mouth as he barked and ran at me.

“Don’t kill him!” I shouted.

Mom’s eyes widened as she watched the hellhound run at me. “He knows you. He’s yelling about being here to protect you.”

“What?” I gasped, looking at her.

She nodded. “He just keeps repeating, ‘Protect Princess. Protect Princess,’ over and over again.”

But why? Was he here on his own or had the humanoid sent him?

Six giant humanoid bodied demons with pig-like heads, thick arms and legs, and large curved tusks walked out of the portal carrying large wooden clubs.

The hellhound made it to me and jumped around me in a circle, yipping happily.

“Hello, pup,” I greeted. “Are you here to protect me?”

He barked, turned, spread his legs, and growled. The quills along his body spread and vibrated, making a sound similar to a rattlesnake’s rattle. He looked back at me, his tongue rolled out of the side of his mouth, and snorted. Clearly proud of himself.

“Stay next to me,” I ordered him. “I don’t want those big hellhounds picking on you again.”

He snorted again and rolled his eyes.

“He said, ‘they won’t come near me this time. They were punished,’” Mom translated.

She and I exchanged a look before focusing back on the battle.

The bull-demons and bird-demons were dead, so Trey, Mason, Grandpa Rhys, and Grandpa Deryn were focused on the giant pig-demons now.

I felt useless, but knew in battles like this it was important to have someone to call out new enemies and provide backup.

The pup turned towards the portal and growled low and menacing.

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