She inhaled sharply as one of the sentinels all but dazed her with a telepathic punch that made her stagger like a drunk. Bastard. Still, she fought on. At the same time, the crows kept biting and raking, and Asher kept on releasing gold waves of such crushing power it almost took her breath away.
The combined attack took the two sentinels and the second puppet out of the equation, but Thea teleported to the other side of the saloon and out of harm’s way. Enraged, Khloé’s demon hissed through its teeth.
Worried that the woman would teleport out of the building and escape, Khloé taunted, “Yes, that’s it, flee and leave the others to fight your battle. Keenan told me what a coward you are. How many times was it that you left him without even a goodbye?” Khloé replicated Jolene’s haughty sniff that could make a person feel an inch tall.
Covered in bites and scratches, Thea sneered. “Think you’re better than me just because he calls you his mate?”
“No. I think I’m better than you because I’m better than you.”
“Bitch.” Her upper lip curling, Thea released a series of hellfire orbs.
Khloé ducked, dodged, and weaved, but the latter orb connected. She jerked back at the punch of hot pain to her ear. Fuck it burned as the hellfire blistered and ate at her skin.
Thea laughed. “You won’t be so pretty once I’m done fucking you up.”
“Right now, you’re no spring chicken yourself.” Khloé retaliated; a flickering wave of electric fire soared toward Thea and lashed her so hard she flew backwards and crashed into the metal crate.
Even as she fell, Thea flicked her hand at Khloé. A ribbon of ice-cold energy whipped Khloé’s face and sliced the skin like a blade. Fucking ow.
Khloé tossed several hellfire orbs at the little skank, who teleported away and took cover behind the piano. “Fuck.” Another ribbon of frosty energy came flying at Khloé. She jerked back, but it slashed her chest, ripping her tee and flaying her skin.
Just then, a ripple of golden power swept up both Thea and the piano. They slammed into the wall, and Thea slumped to the floor, unmoving. Excellent.
Khloé slanted Asher a quick glance, needing to be sure he was okay, and saw that his demon was still firmly in charge. She also saw its form flicker, and she knew its power—a force that its psyche was too young to adequately wield—was beginning to burn out.
A death orb came sailing toward her. Khloé’s heart jumped into her throat. She ducked, barely avoiding the orb. It was only then she realized that Gavril was dead. Shit.
“Oops, did I kill your puppet?” asked Enoch, smirking. “Shame the woman is dead. You could have made her your new pup—” He cut off as Khloé unleased more electric fire. It crackled and hissed as it sailed through the air and covered his forcefield.
She closed her hand, and the electric fire severed the forcefield in an instant, leaving him vulnerable. Wicked fast, she sprayed him with bullets of electric fire. But all harmlessly bounced off the forcefield he swiftly re-erected. Crap.
He chuckled. “It won’t be that easy to hurt me, little imp.”
He and Khloé did the same dance again and again. The fucker always popped up another forcefield in time to protect himself. Khloé hissed, and fury poured through her demon like lava.
Boards creaked as several figures staggered into the saloon, their movements awkward and clunky, their clothes in tatters, their flesh practically nonexistent—bringing with them the stomach-curdling scents of rot, dirt, and death.
They began to converge on Khloé. “Hell.” Swearing beneath her breath, she let loose on them in a rage. Flames of electric fire sliced through the air and whipped the corpses, sending them tumbling to the floor.
Even as she dodged or deflected Enoch’s death orbs, she peppered his puppets with bullets of electric fire, aiming for their brains and eyes. Some bullets hit their marks, but some fucking didn’t.
Several of the fallen stayed down, useless to their master. Others staggered to their feet and shuffled toward her. Asher’s demon kept Enoch occupied while she attacked the puppets, taking several out of the equation—some took hellfire orbs to the face; some took bullets of electric fire to the brain.
Undeterred, the other corpses staggered toward her. A few of them tripped over the fallen, but they picked themselves up and kept moving. Worse still, more and more poured into the saloon. Fuck.
It was like he had the entire cemetery out there, waiting their turn to take her down. There were too many of them, and she couldn’t possibly hold them all off. So many parts of her body ached and burned, and each move she made tugged on her injuries. Her breaths were coming quick—
A sharp psychic slap shocked a gasp out of her. Her face stung so bad her eyes watered, but she shelved the pain and fought on, trying to pretend she wasn’t tiring.