Page 71 of Bound

“I will give you one last chance to retreat,” she called.

Not a single demon looked her way. But several townsfolk did, their expressions twisting in terror as they noticed her flowing black gown.

“Glenda told the truth,” one woman yelled from her hiding spot beneath an overturned milk cart. “It is the witch, transformed to her true form and returning to kill us all!”

Ruby sighed.

Slate bounded to her side, his claws wet with demon blood. He gave her a look that was both confused and searching. She knew it in her bones: he was with her whatever she decided to do next.

She wanted to kiss the demon blood off his mouth. She settled for turning back to the sky, still thick with demons, and gritting her teeth. Magic crackled up her arms, her irises glinting dark blue.

“I will take out as many as I can,” she said, her voice splintering into something twisted and thick. “You deal with the rest.”

Slate’s black eyes widened as he saw the magic sparking around her. Then he set his jaw and nodded.

Ruby grinned. The more magic that swelled around her, the more demons took notice. Some of them were slowing or even stopping in midair, pointing for the others to watch the strange little witch who had started glowing.

Ruby snarled a word that had been dead for a hundred mortal generations and threw the roiling jets of magic as hard as she could. A dozen screamed out and fell from the sky, holes burning through their torsos.

Slate growled and took off, launching himself at a demon who had stopped clawing through a door to gawk. He plunged his claws through the demon’s chest and threw him into another demon, both of them going down in a crunching pile of ash.

Demonic cries of outrage poured from all sides of town. Demons rushed into the square, most of them aiming for Ruby.

Ruby raised her hands again. They were shaking, but it was hard to care with so much magic pouring through her. She could feel it fizzing in her bones, burning through her blood. Dark and horrifying and beautiful, just like the monster she had bound herself to.

“LEAVE US OR DIE,” she yelled, throwing another whipcord of magic.

Demons slammed out of the sky, caught by the speeding chord. Others dodged it, still aiming for her.

Slate caught them one by one. He bit off their heads or shredded their chests with his claws, grabbing them with his tail and dragging them in to be slaughtered.

Not a single demon made it to Ruby, who stood in the middle of the blasted town square and shot down every demon foolish enough to try and take her down. By the time the town fell silent, Ruby and Slate stood in the middle of a hundred ashy demon corpses as they watched the few smart demons fly away to safety.

One last demon made a weak swipe at Ruby’s ankle.

Ruby stabbed it through the hand. Slate stood on its head, grinding it to dust.

Slate turned to Ruby. “Are you alright?”

Ruby wiped her dagger on her dress and slid it back into its holster band. “I’m fine. You?”

“They barely touched me.” Slate gathered her face in his bloody hands, his thumbs rubbing gore into her cheeks.

For a moment Ruby felt like there was no one else in the world. She wanted to melt into him, to have him take her right there in the middle of town square on top of all the corpses they’d made together.

Then a timid throat cleared, and Ruby remembered there were still people watching.

She turned. The bakery door creaked open, townsfolk peeking out from behind the makeshift barricade they’d erected when the demons started attacking. Either they had gotten lucky, or they’d started running demon drills after all, like Ruby always told them to.

Glenda stood at the front of the crowd, trembling limb to limb. She tried to turn around, but someone behind her shoved her back.

Glenda cursed her quietly and turned to face Ruby. “We… we thank you for saving us, O witch.”

Slate snorted. He gave Ruby a questioning look, and Ruby knew he was asking if she would like him to kill this woman.

She shook her head. Glenda was annoying but not dangerous.

“She deserves more than your thanks,” Slate said darkly. “I would have let you die in a second.Shesaved you. You should be on your knees in worship.”

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