Page 21 of Demon's Prey
He started on his way with a giant leap on top of the nearest building. He would try to spot all the rivers within his sight there, first.
Kurse was able to find her within the hour. Men from Gideon’s Torch had tracked her down and were holding her at knifepoint under a bridge. Kurse crawled underneath and neared the van when he could no longer take the sense of her fear and pain.
He howled as two men came toward him with guns. He swatted them away, then bashed their heads together. Their skulls collided together and burst apart like two soft pomegranates.
A third man had been holding a knife when he leapt on top of the van. He hissed at him and spat into his eyes. The man yelped as his spit set his eyeballs on fire. He rubbed them and retreated toward the river.
Kurse jumped down to the opening of the van and saw his beloved bound and laying upside down. In one motion, he raised her up to her knees, ripping the bindings with his nails. She was breathing hard and looked terrified.
“Kurse! Oh my God, how did you find me?” She inquired while wrapping her arms around his leg. Kurse suddenly felt bashful, feeling her touch.
“If I told you, I don’t know if you would like it…”
The man with the burned eyes came back from the river.
“GIDEONS BROOD FOR LIFE!” The man shouted. He then threw something big and metallic into the air. When it landed just below Kurse’s feet, he knew exactly what it was. He had seen nitrogen grenades before.
Without a second thought, Kurse shoved Faith onto the ground, and he wrapped his body around her. Crisp glacial pellets hammered into his scales, instantly freezing upon impact. It ran up his skin in a shudder, wrapping around his tail like an icy cobra.
Kurse moaned as he held Faith still. He could feel the nitrogen attempting to solidify his blood, but he consciously pushed against it with his armored scales. It still hurt him like a mother fucker.
Once the nitrogen had finished running its course, stopping at the nape of his neck, Kurse was able to stand up. He felt his body cracking with every movement.
“Stop for a second,” Faith pleaded.
Kurse stood still. She moved around him and assessed the damage he had taken. She covered her mouth with concern.
“Are you okay?”
Kurse chuckled. “Mostly. The nitrogen didn’t get to my blood, so I should be fine. Perhaps a little slower moving for a bit.”
Kurse didn’t want to relay what he was trying to feel. Ice and coldness, beyond rocky road, was a demon’s sworn enemy. Because of his scales, he could absorb more nitrogen than any human, but it still felt like a million little ants were ripping at his skin.
Faith touched his claw. “Can you move?”
Kurse nodded, relishing in her touch. She led him to the van and helped him get in, as much as her tiny frame allowed. He sat up against the wall, breathing hard. He would heal but still needed time to rest.
Faith climbed into the front seat after closing the back doors. Her eyes were rounded with worry, which made Kurse’s fears about their status melt away a little. His thoughts of romance evaporated completely when Faith noticed two more vans ahead of them.
“Fuck,” she uttered.
Faith did a full one-eighty with the van and began racing in the opposing direction. Kurse felt himself fly to the other side, leaving a dent in the van.
“Sorry!” Faith yelled back. “That time it was my fault.”
Kurse looked out the back window, still grinning from her comment. He sees two vans of the same black shade chasing them down, ignoring traffic laws and evading police.
“I’ve got this, Faith. Keep driving.”
“Kurse, don’t hurt yourself!”
It was already far too late for that, but he rose up anyway. His skin pulled at itself like it had been attached with glue. He kicked the back doors open and roared at the drivers behind him. One of the drivers weaved off into a pole. The other was a bit braver.
Kurse lifted his tail, still chiseled with frostbite, out of the back of the van. He twisted it to remove some of the ice, then yelled out in extreme agony. He pushed it forward and opened up the end of it, releasing four tentacles and a stinger that hammered forward through the glass of the van.
It stuck into the head of the driver. He spurted it outward, and as it did, the tentacle split his brain into four separate sections. The man in the passenger's seat howled in horror, leaping out of the van as it continued to roll. The body of the dead driver slumped forward into eternal silence.
“There! Keep Driving Faith!”
