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My plan to get one of the bitten alone flew right out the window. The five of us charged out of the bushes, attempting to meet the astral demons head-on.

Rowen immediately went for the largest of the three, the true Voro-Kai.

Dyani and Minroe took on the second largest, working together like a well-oiled machine. They practiced together daily, learning the intricacies of each other’s fighting styles. And it showed.

My heart lurched at how close they were to the demon’s talons and boar-like tusks, but Maddock and I had our own demon to worry about.

Rowen and Dyani were among the fiercest warriors in Luneth; I couldn’t afford to worry about them now, and they wouldn’t want me to.

They would want my full attention on surviving.

“Don’t hurt him,” I shouted at Dyani and Minroe. “There might be a chance I can save him.”

The Voro-Kai slashed at Dyani’s midsection, and she leaped back. “No problem,” she yelled sarcastically, her eyes focused .

“Just keep him distracted,” I shouted back, determination burning within me as I sprinted toward the demon with hints of blue in its eyes.

Enrin! Leer’s friend.

I approached the turning warrior, my arms up in a surrendering plea. “Enrin,” I shouted, trying to reach his humanity. “Do you remember who you are?”

I desperately hoped the blue eyes would snap back to life, but he lunged at me with a deadly swipe.

“ Find, ” he hissed and swiped again.

My gut dropped. He had become a part of the hive mind.

I quickly unleashed my Light, trapping Enrin within my beam, but he was far stronger than the demons I had fought in the crevice.

My arm trembled as I struggled to keep him steady.

Suddenly, the creature’s massive leg kicked back and hit Maddock square in the stomach.

“Madds!” I screamed as he flew back and landed on the ground with a painful thud.

Guilt assailed me. Asking everyone to avoid killing the demons put us all in danger of being hurt—or worse, bitten. I needed to hurry. I only had a moment to see Maddock trying to get back on his feet. “Don’t let him go,” he wheezed.

My gaze shot back to Enrin. He was pinned within my beam of Light, but I would have to touch him if I were going to heal him. My hand passed through my shimmering Light with ease, and my fingers wrapped around the fur-covered wrist of the Wyn warrior.

“ Ours. Ours. Ours. ”

I closed my eyes and searched for Enrin’s thread of life—any remnants of who he had been before, but despair rammed against me like a brick wall. It had been easy to find with Alvar, but now, the transformation was too far along.

I waded through the thick, black poison, but there was no blight to cleanse. The venom ran deeper into the blood, bone, and skin. It was fully integrated into the host.

My stomach dropped through the earth as I realized there was nothing left to separate, nothing left to save. Enrin was gone.

We were too late.

A grunt from Rowen snapped my attention back to the battle. He masterfully evaded each strike of the demon’s claws as he grabbed the rope tied to his blade.

At first, I was confused, but I realized he had transformed the blade into a whip-like weapon capable of slicing from a distance.

He brandished the makeshift weapon with ease as he spun the rope in a wheel and hurled the blade through the air.

The edge cut the demon’s hide as black blood oozed from its shoulder.

Rowen pulled his arm back, and the star-blade returned to him.

He spun around, looping the rope around his middle to regain control of the line before sending it flying back to the demon.

The Voro-Kai screeched in pain as Rowen lanced it again. Its ear-splitting wail caused the other two demons to rear in panic.

My eyes flew back to the demon I was holding.

It thrashed and snapped its maws at me savagely.

Tears streamed down my face as I realized there was nothing I could do.

We were too late for these brave warriors who had risked their lives, their souls.

Everything. There was no recovery for them, only mercy.

“It’s too late,” I cried out, despair engulfing me. The least I could do was make sure they found peace. Rowen had taught me how to strike vital organs, a lesson that would guide me as I made Enrin’s death as swift as possible.

I thrust my star blade upward, slipping it between the demon’s ribs, angling it toward the heart, or what was left of it. The demon let out a gargled breath, stilled, and then collapsed to the ground.

I only had a moment to register that the Ever-burn blade had worked, that it was a viable weapon against the Voro-Kai. When suddenly, the once-brave warrior erupted into specks of light.

I could only hope the shimmering fragments made their way back to the heavens, where Enrin truly belonged.

The other two Voro-Kai, having witnessed the destruction of its own, erupted into a lethal frenzy. And the larger one cracked Rowen upside the head.

Bile rose up my throat and choked me as the demon grabbed my soul flame’s head and wrenched it to the side.

The beast bared its fangs and lowered them to Rowen’s neck.

Terror engulfed me as ropes of inky drool dripped onto Rowen’s shoulder.

“Over here!” I screamed.

Its head snapped up. “ Ours, ” it hissed, recognizing me instantly. Erovos had fed it images of my face since its inception. I knew it wanted me.

The demon dropped Rowen and stalked towards me.

I raised my hand to unleash a beam of Light, but someone beat me to it. Maddock had returned to his feet. He was hunched over in pain with his arm outstretched, but he hadn’t hit the beast, only angered it, and the Voro-Kai turned its attention to Madds.

I traveled to the other side of the clearing. “Hey! Over here!” I shouted again, waving my arms.

The demon’s nostrils flared, its eyes darting for me. It thrashed its head in confusion and wailed .

I traveled to another side of the clearing and called out again, wanting to disorient the beast. I stepped back, about to hit it with my Light, when my foot collapsed through a rotten log. I cried out as wood spliced through my calf.

The demon’s eyes locked on mine as it bounded toward me.

I tried to travel, but the pain kept me rooted in place, and I couldn’t pull my foot from the log, the splinters were in too deep. A wetness trickled down my ankle and the beast’s nostrils flared at the scent of my blood, its eyes going wild.

“Keira, watch out!” Rowen roared and threw his whip-like blade in a straight, smooth motion. The blade lodged in the Voro-Kai’s shoulder, and the demon bellowed. With its free hand, it grabbed the rope and pulled with unimaginable force, sending Rowen hurtling through the air.

“Rowen,” I screamed as he was flung from my line of sight.

“Keira, run!” Maddock pleaded through the chaos.

“I’m stuck!” I shouted, desperately trying to pry my foot free, but the more I pulled, the more the jagged wood cut into my skin.

Even if I could run, I would never leave them to face the Voro-Kai alone.

I’d spent my whole life running, but here, I would stand my ground and fight beside the bravest warriors I’d ever known.

Dyani and Minroe still fought their demon.

Minroe, small and nimble as she was, ran and dropped to her knees.

She slid between the Voro-Kai’s legs, winding the rope through its ankles.

When she emerged from the other side, she threw the rope to her sparring partner.

Dyani caught it and ran around the creature in the opposite direction, tangling its legs.

And with a swift tug, the beast toppled to the ground.

The bitten roared in frustration as it scented my blood, too, its eyes snapping to mine. Its guttural snarls sent bolts of fear up my spine as it dragged its massive body toward me inch by inch.

“The heart!” I yelled to the former lovers. My pulse pounded in my ears as the beast writhed closer, wrenching its head and dragging itself toward me despite its wounds. Its eyes locked on me, black, hungry, and primordial.

Dyani cartwheeled over the tied demon to straddle it and plunged her Ever-burn blade into its heart. Silver motes engulfed her as I whipped around, not even able to wipe the tears from my eyes. There was still one more demon to face.

I gripped Mithrion tighter.

The beast swarmed my vision as it stood to its full height, baring its razor-sharp teeth. I raised my star-blade, but before I could strike, Rowen’s rope snapped around its neck. He pulled back, stopping the beast mere inches from my face.

“ Take. ”

Minroe darted low to the ground, slamming her blade into its foot as Dyani grabbed hold of its arm, straining to pull it back from me. It took all three of Luneth’s fiercest warriors to hold the Voro-Kai at bay.

“Do it, Keira,” Rowen grunted, his body straining as he held back the demon. His muscles flexed and glistened with sweat as his heels dug into the ground.

My face reflected in its pitch-black eyes. I was close enough that, for a chilling moment, I could see Erovos watching me through the creature’s eyes.

“You’re looking well, little light,” the creature warbled in a disturbing mix of speech and growls. “So well that I can practically taste you. It’s making my mouth water.”

Revulsion twisted my face. “We’re ready for you, you sick fuck,” I seethed, channeling my rage as I gripped my blade tighter. Mithrion glowed and surged with Light, growing brighter as if in direct response to the darkness before me.

The beast’s black eyes dipped to my blade, and my grip tightened on the hilt. The swirl of first-light extended and glowed up my arm in refracting halos. “You may have pretty weapons, but you have nowhere near the numbers to defeat my brood.”

Before Erovos could utter another word through his shadow beast, I plunged Mithrion deep into its chest. The beast erupted into black motes that whirled around me as a high-pitched shriek punctured my eardrums and drilled into my skull.