Chosen (The Chosen Few Trilogy #1) (29 page)

Mai scrabbled away from them on her back. Belinda stepped in, waite
d for one of the demons to move
, then ducked under its attack and struck into its soft belly. This was followed by a strike to the neck and a chop that sounded like a tree being felled. The demon went straight down, unconscious.

“
We need weapons,
”
she said, not even breathing hard as she broke the demons neck with her boot. When she turned and saw Lysette and
me
regarding her in
outright shock she smiled
.

“
Get real Chosen,
”
she said.
“
Training is over.
This is kil
l or be killed from here on in.
”

Ken ran and leapt at the second demon, catching it under the chin with a mid-air uppercut.
Its
snarl was cut off by a choked gurgle as it landed hard, already dead.

“
D
ude
,
”
he whispered in respect of his own skill.

Belinda helped Mai to her feet. I glanced up towards Lucy
’
s window. Call it luck or instinct or a paternal sixth-sense, I don
’
t know, but I was
looking at my daughter
standing at
the window, staring down at us.

“
Lucy!
”
I cried.
“
Wait there! I
’
m coming!
”

Another demon blocked our path. Without br
eaking stride I called on my
power until it shimmered around me. That took half a second. A moment later I flung it with all my will, thinking:
punch!

My power struck the demon like an F15. Even Belinda cringed when the beast
barreled
backwards faster than sight and impacted with the side of the house in a cloud of mortar and
pulverized
bone and brick fragment.

The demon
disintegrated. Bricks cascaded from the wall, leaving a demon
-
size hole. When I sprinted into the kitchen I saw that several blocks had exploded
inside
a
s well, one of them striking
another demon full in the face and destroying its tusks and fangs.

Score two to Logan! The demon was down on its knees, making a horrible gurgling noise. Mai seemed to
float across
the fl
oor as she moved with incredible
speed to its side. A second later she had broken its neck. I hadn’t even had time to draw breath.

“
Control it!
”
Belinda hissed at me.

The kitchen was a melee. A pitch battle. I saw a guard yank open the fridge door and slam it into the face of a lungi
ng demon. I saw Myleene throw
our prized coffee machine at the crazy Hierarchy demon- Dementia. I saw Jade pinned to the floor by two demons suddenly pivot and rise up into a handstand, kicking out at both demons and sending them crashing into kitchen furniture.

Only winner here
’
s
IKEA
!
I thought
.

Belinda said,
“
We four stick together. We get Lucy first. If the crisis preparations were followed then Giles has Devon and the
Trevochet
’s
hidden away, and they are helping us from concealment. Now, go.
”

She turned quickly to Lysette. “Sorry, but you’ll have to stick with us.”

I skirted the chaotic struggle, but a
s I slipped out the kitchen
and into the corridor I h
eard a
scream
. I whipped around just as Dementia leaped upon Myleene. Dementia
’
s white hair flicked and whipped like it had a mind of its own, its braids of flesh and bone slicing into the demon-bitch
’
s own hatred-filled face.

“
Nowwwwww, Myleeeeeneee,
”
I heard her slur.
“
Dieeeeee.
”

I gathered power, but in less than a split second Dementia wrenched Myleene
’
s right arm from its socket and threw it across the floor. Blood fountained and flowed and Myleene
’
s screech was so high we barely heard it. I threw a strike at Dementia, but the bitch was fast, hellishly fast, ripping open Myleene
’
s throat with switchblade
nails and twisting away from my blast in a movement that defied the eye.

Myleene lay face up, unseeing, already dead.

We stared at the scene, aghast.

“
Go!
”
Belinda recovered, making
the Commander’s decision in a fl
ash. She chose, and we followed, up
the dimly lit corridor and the stairs at its end, my face strained and white with horror. Mai and Belinda
dispatched
three demons along the way. Mai said they were
probably searching
for Devon Summers, our shield
.

“We risk getting trapped along here,” Mai pointed out as we ran.

“
There
’
s a way out through the library,
”
Belinda said, over her shoulder.

“The library’s
downstairs.”

“We’ll make it,” Belinda started to slow.

We moved along the second floor corridor, stopping outside Lucy
’
s room. Belinda shouted her n
ame, then pushed the door open
and my daughter rushed out into my arms, tearful and shaking.

“
Lucy!
”
I held her and stroked her hair and thought
God, why can
’
t we just be allowed some time together!

Mai cried, “Look out!”

I looked over the top of Lucy’s head to see a demon rushing towards us. Ken stepped forwards to meet it without fear, rushing it with a shoulder charge. It fell to the floor, snarling, and Ken stumbled too, tangled up in its flailing limbs. The demon made a noise like a pressure hose as it turned on him, fangs and jaws gnashing, drools of acid slowly dribbling from its mouth and
chin
. Within a second Mai was beside Ken. She took hold of the demons skull and smashed it three times into the wall until I heard the sound of destroyed bones.

Mai flung the body away
,
and
then
held out a hand to Ken.

Belinda was looking calmly back the way we came.
“
I wish I knew where everyone was,
”
she said with a calculating frown.

Ken said, “I
feel naked without a weapon.”

Everyone blinked at him. To our knowledge he’d never
used
a weapon
.

“
Poor Myleene,
”
Lysette began, but Belinda cut her off.
“
Don
’
t,
”
the blonde girl said.
“
First we survive, then we grieve. Let
’
s get through this night first.
”

She led the way back. I draped an arm over Lucy’s shoulder and held her close, comforting her as best I could. I was desperate to say something, desperate to talk, but not now. Not like this.

Once downstairs we heard sounds of combat burst from the kitchen. A demon came tearing down the corridor towards us, brandishing a sword which it swung at Ken, our rear guard. It was then I
realized
just how dumb these beasts were as its sword got stuck in the plaster wall. The thing stared up at its jammed sword, then looked back at us. You could almost hear it going
oops!

Ken kicked and punched and finished the thing off. Then he wrenched the sword free. From beneath curly blonde locks he eyed Belinda.

“
Suddenly…I feel better.
” He swung the weapon as if he’d been a sword master
even
before he’d learned to surf.

“
Keep it then,
”
Belinda hurried towards the back of the house, heading, I presumed, for the library. As we dr
ew closer, however, we heard more
sounds of combat.

“
Bastards are
in the library,
”
Belinda hissed in anger.
S
he closed her eyes for a few seconds, then decided.
“
No choice. We go on.
”

And we did. We followed her because she was our leader. We followed her because, even having witnessed the unmatched skills of Tanya Jordan and the elves, we still trusted her with our lives.

The library was ten times more frantic than the kitchen.
Dozens of
demons fought against Kisami, Eleanor
,
Jade
and Tanya Jordan
. With disbelief I watched Jade perform a literal dance of death, weaving in and out of the enemy, punching and kicking with decisive strikes and leaving a pile of dead in her wake. I saw Jondal gesturing and Ashka jabbing her fingers, but their opponents did little more
than flinch. Thank God for Devon Summers
. Undaunted though, both destroyers
unsheathed
swords and attacked with infernal
precision.

Kisami slipped and fell, falling luckily beyond Ashka
’
s swing. The deadly blade sliced so close though it took off a slither of his hair. Transfixed, I watched as it separated and drifted up through the air, fluttering apart like a shattered dream. Kisami
’
s luck ended there though. Ashka stepped onto his thigh, pinning him to the spot with her vicious weight. Then she upended the sword over his heaving chest.

The Destroyer plunged the sword down. I almost cried when I saw Eleanor throw herself across Kisami
’
s chest and take the sword into her own body. The elf reared up in agony, her eyes wide, then slumped lifelessly.

“No!”

I flung a blast at Ashka. The impact knocked her back, but only a
few feet. She must have absorbed most of
the energy somehow.

A thought struck me. Our crisis plan was flawed. If J
ohnny was here
now, then together we could end this.

I cast around. Bodies fought and struggled and slipped and leapt from one wall of the library to the next. Demons and humans used chairs and sofas to gain advantage and even climbed the bookcase walls to fight. Tanya Jordan performed a lethal ballet right in the thick of it, sending demons sprawling to left and right, and leaving none alive as she danced right back over them, a dripping stiletto in her hand.

I pushed Lucy behind me
and backed right up to the wall. A scream sent my eyes searching and I saw two of our house guards torn apart. Jondal struck at Tanya using magic as well as metal, but
all
his
strength
combined barely kept him alive. I think that Tanya would have killed him right then if not for the death of Eleanor, which had destroyed everyone’s concentration.

Then, suddenly, Ashka was there! Coming straight at us. Belinda stepped in front of me,
Ken at her side. I moved
to the centre. This was our formation. When Ashka struck w
e all flinched. I got the faintest
mental image of the world in ruin, but I recover
ed
immediately.

“
Fuck you, bitch,
”
I heard Ken say. He poised to leap at her, but then several things happened at once. Dementia came barging through the
library
door,
covered in blood. The vampire, Mai,
reacted instantly and leapt onto the demon’s back. Mai sunk her teeth into Demen
tia’s neck and bit down
. Blood welled up in torrent
s. Dementia squealed
and
barreled
through us, twisting and turning, trying to throw Mai off, but
the vampire hung on
, even digging her nails deep into her enemy’s arms to
stay
in place.

Vengeful strength
from Mai
, desperate strength, heroic and stupid and everything we needed right now.

Ken, distracted, only managed to evade Ashka
’
s sword when Belinda shoved him aside. But Belinda was suddenly exposed as the sword came down on her skull.