The dragon passed by again, dropping quickly from the sky. Its feet reached for me, intent on grabbing me and forcing me off the fence.

I punched it with air, knocking it off its flight path. It screeched and rose again, hovering over me for a moment before sounding the trumpet.

“It probably has no idea what I am.” I threw my other leg over the top of the fence. “This is going to hurt.” I dropped down into the middle of the bushes. Briars dug into me, scratching and tearing. Darius joined me a moment later, grunting as he made his way out.

We have to get cover.

“Whatever gave you that idea?” We limped to the nearest stone building, moving as fast as we could. Rounding the corner, we ran smack into two demons, clearly summoned by the dragon’s calls.

One of them hesitated a brief moment, its eyes going wide in its malformed head. Darius took advantage, his fingers turning into claws as he swiped. The other demon launched forward with an air knife. I dodged the thrust and kicked it in the stomach while ripping out my sword. The air knife came at me again as the other demon lost its head to Darius’s efforts. I slashed down, cleaving the demon where its neck and shoulders met.

A surge of air pushed toward me from the side. I turned, bringing up my sword, but my power got there first. Roaring out of me, the fire broke through the ice magic and kept going, rolling through the air and piercing into the demon like a knife.

The demon screamed and jolted, succumbing.

Darius grabbed me by the arm and pulled me, running over the demons we’d just killed.

“My power is acting on its own volition,” I said, my lungs burning. They weren’t used to exertion without air.

For now, use whatever is at your disposal. We’ll figure it out when we aren’t running for our lives.

Fair enough.

We ran between the buildings. The view was such that we could see the courtyard at the end of the corridor. Demons warred, using power, weapons, or their own claws. Yelling and grunting competed with clangs of metal.

Darius pulled me to a wooden door on the other side of the corridor. The lock clicked and he pushed the door open, rushing in with me following behind. His claws extended as he set upon the startled demon inside. Two blinks and the demon was slumped on the ground.

“We need to heal and come up with a plan,” Darius said, shrugging out of his clothes.

I shut the door and did the same before looking over my wounds. As I’d expected, my skin was ripped and torn from the run in with the fence and the briars. Nothing too bad, but a few places hurt like the bejeebus.

“Here.” Darius passed over another vial of blood.

I took it greedily before he transformed to his monster form. Another explosion of energy and power vibrated through me. I dug in my pack for my leathers. Something slid past my hand.

I flinched back before I remembered what it was. Then hesitated.

“Oh ew.” I reached in again and extracted the snake, grimacing as it wriggled.

Something solid hit the outside wall. The clatter of metal announced someone had lost their weapon. The battle was in full force.

I put the snake onto my leg, wondering if it would work on human skin. Without warning, it bit me, its fangs digging into my flesh.

“Ow!” I started to yank it off, but the pain had already numbed. The gash next to the bite started to close up right before my eyes. “Oh wow. This works.”

I let the snake roam my body. It bit me near the deep cuts and just slithered over the smaller gashes. The healing ability was insane. When it was done I offered it to Darius.

He shook his head and pointed at the worst of the problems, already nearly closed up. His monster form wasn’t as good as the snake, but it was close.

“Now what?” I asked, returning the snake to my backpack. I finished putting on my leathers and strapped on my weapons again.

He hovered near the door. We skirt the battle, try not to reveal your magic any more than we have to, and find the leaders of this sect.

“A human running around this battle is going to draw notice.”

Hopefully not with all the fighting. They’ll be focused on survival. They won’t have time to notice you. He loosened the straps of the backpack, something that didn’t look easy with his claws, before putting his satchel and clothes in it. He would be using his monster form. This fight was about to get uglier.

I ran out ahead of Darius, sword in hand. At the end of the corridor, I threw a spell that created a riot of noise and light right in the middle of all the fighting. It exploded, throwing a demon up and over the crowd. The light flashed like a strobe, and some demons flinched away or jerked up their hands to cover their faces. Others stabbed those that gave in to fright.

We ran along the wall on the outskirts of the battle. A demon stepped into my way, and I thrust forward and stabbed it in the chest. Darius launched at another, hitting the demon’s upper body with his clawed feet and knocking it over. Then he raked his claws across the demon’s face and stabbed its throat before jumping on to the next one.

I slashed another demon in the back as I got moving again, making it arch and reach for the wound. One of its enemy demons descended, taking the opportunity for an easy kill. I left them to it.

We ran down a side corridor and turned left. Darius kept looking up, directing us toward the building looming over the rest. A creature with three legs ran our way. Darius got to it first, ripping and tearing at it like a wild thing. He hardly slowed, continuing on at a fast pace.

More fighting and clangs came from the right. Darius ignored it, continuing straight. We ran down another corridor, the design like an above-ground ant colony made of stone. I got the feeling it was supposed to make a stranger lose their way. Darius never faltered in his directional choices.

Five demons stood in the courtyard at the base of the tallest building, large things without weapons. Which meant they didn’t think they needed them. Their eyes came to rest on us, and their power instantly welled up, thick and heavy. I felt it pushing and pulling at me, giving mine the boost to which I’d grown accustomed.

“They are powerful,” I said to Darius right before the air condensed around us.

Kill them. He raked his claws through the air, shooting sparks as he cut through the ice power.

I blasted two demons that were standing close to each other with hellfire, cutting down the air around me as I did so. They squealed as the fire ate away at their bodies. Darius ran at the others, spearing one with his claws as a wall of air swung toward him.

I finished the two I’d blasted. I wasn’t taking any chances.

An air impact shoved Darius across the ground and toward a stone wall.

I broke up the power and struck the demons back with an air and fire one-two punch that I pulled out of my ass. The effect was like hitting them with a giant paddle embedded with spikes. I felt them try to dismantle it, but they couldn’t counter both types of power, so their efforts were ineffective.

That seems like the Great Master’s power, I heard from one of their thoughts.

I hacked at its neck with my sword and Darius full on ripped the other’s head off. No wonder he liked when I let my rage show.

The door they’d been guarding burst open. The wood slapped off the stone wall. Power the likes of which I’d never experienced wrapped around me and lifted me into the air. I couldn’t move. Couldn’t understand the weave. Didn’t know how to break into it even with my mixed power.

A huge demon with wings folded close to its red body stepped through the door. A tail with a triangle at the end flicked out from behind it. Its eyes glowed white from within a bony head. All it needed was a trident and it could be a cheesy Halloween costume.

“So it is true,” it said in a rough voice as it sauntered out of the door. “An heir does exist. And she has delivered herself to me. How convenient. It saves me so much tedious effort.”

Its gaze swung to Darius, who was suspended ten feet away.

“And she has somehow brought her vampire lap dog into the Dark Kingdom.” It tsked. “I detest your kind. We do not need any more of your half breeds. Killing you will give me no end of pleasure.”

If Darius was as confused as I was by the half-breed comment, he didn’t show it. The demon lifted its hand, and air turned into a stake directly in front of Darius’s heart.