“You aren’t going anywhere,” Crak said. “You cheated and Draegan will deal with you when he wakes up.”

Jordan stepped in front of me. “She drank the same stuff he drank. Everyone here saw it, including you. How is that cheating?”

“She is not a demon. No demon can drink that much Glaen,” argued the other gulak demon.

“Lorne, she is Mohiri, you idiot,” Lucien said.

“Wilhem!” Lorne bellowed. The demon who had admitted us came into the room. “You let a human in here.”

Wilhem walked up to me and sniffed. “These two have Mori demons.” He touched his nose when Lorne started to shake his head. “This never fails.”

Crak crossed his arms. “I don’t care. Draegan will be pissed if he wakes up and finds out we let them leave, and I don’t want him mad at me.”

Jordan reached behind her and pulled her short sword free from its sheath. The two gulak demons took a step back. She pulled me around them. “We’re leaving. Deal with it.”

I shook my head to clear it. “You better listen to her, boys. She’s scary with that thing.”

We got halfway across the room before Crak let out a small roar and lunged at us. Jordan shoved me aside and turned to meet his attack. The gulak demon was not agile, but he came at us like a charging bull. Jordan dodged his advance and swung her sword, but the blade hit his shoulder and bounced off.

He grinned, showing off sharp teeth as he lashed at her with one of his clawed hands. “It’s not that easy to kill a gulak, little Mohiri.”

I let out a small scream when someone grabbed the back of my jacket and swung me around. I came face-to-face with the other gulak. The magic I’d been holding back erupted, and my whole body tingled as electric currents raced through it. Instead of trying to pull away from the demon, I reached for him, my hands glowing when they slammed into his chest. His eyes flew wide, and he let out a strangled scream before he flew backward and crashed into a white marble podium holding a sculpture that resembled a deformed swan. The heavy piece of art toppled over and bonked him squarely on the forehead, and he fell back on the floor moaning.

I turned to Jordan who was fending off Crak and two of the ranc demons that had joined the fight.

“Hey, no fair!” I yelled, jumping the closest ranc demon. He twisted and tried to gore me with one of his horns, but only managed to scrape my palm before I grabbed him by both horns. Power burst from my hands and the demon’s horns shattered. “Oops,” I said as he stepped back and felt the stumps that used to be his horns. “Sorry.”

He made a keening sound and ran at me. I met him halfway and grabbed him around his thin neck with both glowing hands. His cry dissolved into a croak a few seconds before he sank to his knees. I gave him another blast of power for good measure then let him collapse to the floor.

Jordan had taken out the other ranc demon, and she and Crak were circling each other. “You got this?” I called, and she gave me a thumbs-up with her free hand.

Noise behind me alerted me to the fact that Lorne had gained his feet again. He shook his head to clear it and looked around until he found me. Instead of speaking, he roared and lumbered toward me. I sidestepped him easily because he was still disoriented, and before he could stop his headlong rush, I jumped on his back. My hands wrapped around his face, and I pushed power into him.

The gulak gasped and collapsed beneath me. I climbed off his unconscious – or maybe dead – body and looked around for Jordan. I smirked when I saw Crak facedown on the floor with Jordan straddling his back and wrenching his arms behind him. “I can do this all night, you overgrown lizard,” she ground out, twisting his arm until he moaned in pain.

Chuckling, I brushed off my clothes. It hit me then how quiet the room was, and I looked up to see the rest of Draegan’s guests watching me with expressions ranging from astonishment to fear. It wasn’t until I moved to brush down my hair and felt it crackling with static that I understood their reactions.

“Anyone else here have a problem with us leaving?” I asked the room, and almost every head moved from side to side.

Lucien was the only one who spoke. “What are you?”

“Didn’t you hear Wilhem? I’m a Mohiri.”

“No Mohiri can do what you did.”

I shrugged. “Apparently, at least one can.”

Lucien studied the demons at my feet. “Something tells me people underestimate you a lot, little Mohiri.”

I plucked a gulak scale from my hair. “They usually do. I’m working on that, though.”

I heard swearing and a crack behind me, and I looked back to see Crak sprawled out with his head at an odd angle, and Jordan getting to her feet. “Bastard tried to bite me. What kind of fighting is that?”

I picked up her sword and handed it to her. She glared at the other demons then glanced at me. “Let’s get out of here.”

“You don’t have to tell me twice.” I felt for the crumpled contract in my pocket. I couldn’t wait to get back to Greg and tell him his nightmare was over.

I took one last look at Draegan before I left, and behind him I saw the two mox demons huddled in a corner. “Hold up, Jordan,” I said as I veered toward the two females.

“Do you two want to come with us?” I asked them. They stared at me with wide, frightened eyes. “Once we leave here, you can go wherever you want. You’re free.”

One of them darted a look at Draegan who was snoring loudly now. “Don’t worry about him,” I told her. “He can’t hurt you anymore.”