Page 198 of The Demon's Pet

These had to be illusions, so seven of them were probably not him. But how I was going to keep track of that once he started moving eluded me.

For another moment, I wished Sam was here because he would know what to do about it.

But no, he trusted me. I would have to trust myself too.

I focused, feeling heat warm me from the inside out, growing and growing from the force of my anger. For what Gabe had done to my friends, for what he had tried to do to me, for what he was going to do to Griffin.

Fire exploded over my skin, covering my body but not burning me at all, like the day of the stoning.

The fire felt like a part of me, like my energy burning outside of my skin. I put out a hand and studied it, watching the flames lick out and around my fingers.

“It’ll take more than hellfire to kill me, amateur,” Gabe sneered. “I’ve been fighting demons since long before you were alive.” All eight versions of him moved in a circle around me. “But go ahead.”

I threw my hands out, focusing on throwing my energy toward him, wanting my fire to hurt. To my shock, two screaming balls of red and orange fire shot at and engulfed two of his illusions, and they burned up in a puff of smoke.

I moved to send more fireballs to two more illusions, but before I could, I felt something sharp in my back, then a sudden wetness.

When I looked down, I saw the tip of Gabe’s sword poking through my chest.

I let out a choking gasp and fell forward, and he yanked his sword out of me as I dropped.

My blood pulsed out beneath me in a puddle, and the remaining illusions disappeared, revealing only Gabe walking out from behind me with his bloody sword over his shoulder, flat side down. He didn’t seem to care that it was dripping on his perfect white tunic and over his armor.

I tried to push myself up, put a hand over the gushing wound on my chest, but I couldn’t even think straight. I felt like I was going into shock.

Dead. I’m dead, right?I thought.

Gabe laughed. “That was easy. How could Samael leave after not even training you well?”

“You bastard,” I grated out, trying to stand up again. “You fucking fuck.”

Gabe raised an eyebrow as I fought to stand again. “Such language. Befitting a stupid demon like yourself.” He knelt and caught me by the chin, forcing me to face him even as I could feel blood pumping out of my chest. “This is the end for you, Morningstar. Just accept it.”

But just when I felt I would faint, I felt something knitting together inside me. I felt my heart pull together and begin to beat, the feeling echoing in my chest. I felt my skin close together painfully, the slash in my shirt and the blood all over the ground the only signs that I’d ever been hurt.

He can’t kill us, my inner demon said.Not like that.

Believing in her, I forced myself to stand, though I felt shaky. I’d never been good around blood.

But she was right. I was strong. She’d been right about not having to obey alpha powers, so she was probably right about this.

Gabe jumped back from me as he stood, and his illusions spread out from him again, almost blurring my vision as I tried to keep track of where he was.

My eyes darted between the different versions of him, trying to make out any difference.

I needed to attack the right one.

The wind blew, and I noticed no difference between them. Each had blood on his tunic, each held his sword to the side, and each looked at me with cold eyes as they waited for me to discern which was real.

I couldn’t afford to attack the wrong ones again. I didn’t know how many times I could heal from a fatal attack.

One version of Gabe shot out to attack me from the front, swinging his sword. This time, I anticipated an attack from behind and jumped, using my strength to go above the two figures who met in the middle, impaling each other on their swords.

One dissolved in a puff of smoke, revealing Gabe had attacked from the front this time. I landed, shoved my booted foot into his gut, and kicked him back as hard as I could.

He went flying back but managed to stay on his feet. But I was there in an instant, this time swinging my leg high in a perfect roundhouse kick to his face. My technique mixed with my demon speed combined to hit him in the head with a cracking noise that echoed in the empty courtyard.

He stumbled back, holding his head, where his hair was on fire thanks to its contact with my flaming leg. Flames still licked over my entire body, and there was fire where I’d hit him with my boot too.

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