Page 46 of Demon Apathy: Sunderverse

“What?!” I sputtered a laugh. “Are you crazy? I don’t have Striker’s Queller.” That much was true.

“C’mon, Lucia, don’t be selfish. My father told me all demon hunters are given a chance to hold it. He said no one’s been able to touch it since Konrad Striker died. If you touched it, I bet you I would be able to do it too.”

“Hey, let go of my arm. You’re hurting me.”

But he didn’t let go. Instead, he menacingly pressed me against the railing.

“Get off of her, you bastard!” someone said in a quiet voice that made me shiver.

Sage glanced over his shoulder, confused. When Sage didn’t let me go, Drevan appeared behind him, grabbed him by the neck, and pulled him away.

Arms windmilling, Sage staggered back, crashed against the sliding door, and slid to the floor. Face twisted in a combination of anger and panic, he glanced up at the tall shape looming over him. Drevan’s eyes were glowing red, his face shaped into a mask of rage.

Taking a step forward, Drevan leaned down and grabbed Sage by the throat, sharp claws extending and ripping into Sage’s skin. Beads of blood trickled to Sage’s shirt collar.

Sage growled in pain. “Who the fuck are you? Let me go!” He pulled on Drevan’s arm, but he might as well have been fighting a brick wall.

“The question is… who areyou?!” Drevan hissed between clenched teeth.

Huh?Drevan knew Sage. He couldn’t have forgotten him.

“Drevan, let him go. He’s my friend, Sage,” I said.

He emphatically shook his head. “No, he’s not. Show yourself!” Drevan shook Sage, tightening his hold.

“Let me go, asshole,” Sage wheezed past his constricted throat.

“Show yourself!” Drevan repeated, his voice going all eerie and echoey as if he were speaking from the pits of hell.

Sage tried to fling another insult at Drevan but couldn’t draw breath.

“You’re going to kill him!” I pulled on Drevan’s shoulder, trying to free Sage, but Drevan didn’t budge. Not even an inch.

“Have it your way,” Drevan pronounced as he picked up Sage off his feet as if he were a child and flung him over the railing.

“No!” I yelled, reaching over the railing, thrusting my telekinetic powers to seize Sage as he plummeted toward the traffic below. He slowed for an instant. I held my breath. Our eyes locked.

Please, please, his hazel eyes pleaded.

I clenched my teeth, releasing the extent of my power. His descent stopped, and Sage hovered in midair.

“What are you doing?” Drevan asked in a bored tone, then flicked his wrist, cruelly severing the lifeline I’d extended toward my friend.

“Noooo!” I cried out, a hand reaching uselessly for Sage.

Unable to believe my eyes, I watched as his legs kicked helplessly at the air as if attempting to gain a footing. A guttural scream tore from his throat as he dropped, getting smaller and smaller by the second.

“What have you done?! Save him!”

Drevan leaned over the railing and watched Sage fall, an indifferent expression on his face. “Watch for the wings. Any moment now.”

“What? What are you talking about? Sage doesn’t have wings. He’s a Stale!”

“Any moment now,” Drevan repeated in a singsong voice.

Oh, God, I couldn’t see!And yet, I couldn’t turn away.

“Um,” Drevan frowned. “Any time?” This time, he didn’t sound so sure.