Page 79 of Demon Bound

“No.”

“You’re still bleeding.” His weight was growing heavier, his arm crushing her shoulders. She couldn’t carry him like this, and even if she could, she didn’t know how much blood he had left to spare. “Lie down.”

He looked like he wanted to protest, but then he dropped to his knees. Raiya urged him onto his back and pressed her hands against the hole in his shoulder again. He winced silently.

“Get your baton,” he said.

She pulled it from her belt and placed it in his hand. “You’re going to be all right,” she told him. “You’re safe with me. I promise.”

His hand curled around the baton’s handle. “A poor excuse for a demon,” he murmured.

“Azreth,” she said firmly. “You’re not a poor excuse for anything. You’re just as you should be. You’ve done everything just as you should have. And I will fight anyone who says otherwise, including you.”

His bright, hollow eyes looked at her, blinking slowly.

She lowered her voice. “Do you trust me?”

His chest rose and fell beneath her blood-slicked hands a few times. “Yes,” he said.

“I’m not going to let any of them harm you. I will die before I let that happen. So worry about keeping still and conserving your strength, not about them.”

His brows twitched down, perplexed, and Raiya felt her face heating.

When she heard footsteps in the grass behind them, she spun. It was only Jai. The girl knelt beside them, holding a hand to her forehead to protect her eyes from the daylight.

“Here.” She handed Raiya a small bundle. “Some things to stop the bleeding. Is he going to be all right?” She stared, horrified, at the sight of Azreth’s body stained with blood. Raiya couldn’t blame her.

Raiya took a thick cloth off the bundle and pressed it to Azreth’s shoulder. “He’s going to be fine,” she insisted. “Thank you, Jai.”

“The humans in town are all in shock. They mostly just seem confused, but some of them are discussing taking weapons to confront you both.”

Raiya’s jaw clenched. Azreth had saved all their sorry lives, and they still planned to kill him.

“What was that thing?” Jai asked quietly. It was the sort of tone one might use in a hospice sickroom—soft and reverent and a little nervous.

“Azreth said it was a creature from the hells.” She turned to him. “Have you fought them before?”

He shook his head slightly. “I’ve seen them before. I have never approached one. Only a fool would pick a fight with a vythian.”

“A fool, or a hero,” Raiya said.

Azreth’s brows pinched together. “We must find the person who brought the vythian here.”

“Maybe no one brought it here,” Jai said with a shrug. “Heilune is full of monsters. It’s not that uncommon to encounter them.”

He shook his head again. “Not monsters from the hells. It is too difficult to escape the hells alone. The vythian was summoned here by mortals. Someone is responsible for this.” He looked up at Raiya. “What is the likelihood that this is a coincidence? Another creature from the hells? Why here? Why now?”

Jai and Raiya exchanged dark looks.

Raiya peeked under the corner of the cloth she was holding to his shoulder. She couldn’t tell whether the bleeding was slowing.

Azreth stiffened, his hand tightening on the baton. Raiya looked behind her. A group of people were approaching: several men and women whom she recognized as members of the Roamer clan.

She got to her feet. “Stay back.” She was surprised at how firm and confident her own voice sounded.

A tall, ochre-skinned sun elf woman, whose name she didn’t know, approached with her hands raised in front of her. “We wanted to help.” She looked uncertainly at Azreth, and her face paled. Azreth was baring his teeth at her. In an instant, he’d hidden all his pain and fear, unwilling to let this new threat think he was weak. The elf looked like she wanted to turn back. She looked at Raiya for support. “I’m a mage. Not the best mage, but I can heal a little.”

Raiya was stunned into silence for a moment. “Yes,” she said. “Yes. Please. Help him.”

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