Page 5 of One Bad Knight

My boots fell silently on the rose-colored carpet as I went farther into the house. The kitchen sink was filled with dirty plates, and the scent of roast chicken still lingered in the air.

As I ascended the stairs, that hot buzz persisted, and I caught a whiff of sulfur. Evidence of the demonic presence.

Down one end of the hall, a door stood open to an empty master bedroom with an absurd number of decorative pillows on the bed. On the other end of the hall, there were two rooms caddy-corner to each other. One was open—a little boy’s room, covered in spaceships and dinosaurs, while the closed door had a big sign with pink, curvy letters announcing it was “Cecilia’s Room” and to keep out.

I unsheathed my sword from my back before my boot slammed into the door. It crashed open. My eyes instantly watered while the carpet squished noisily under my boots. The room reeked of gasoline, burning my nose and throat. A young boy and an older girl with matching brown eyes and the same straight blond hair sat tied up on the bed. Clean white socks had been shoved into their mouths; their red-rimmed eyes overflowed with tears.

Someone had used white spray paint on the rose carpet to make a pentagram with several glyphs. The children were about to be sacrificed.

As soon as they saw me, the two children screamed through their makeshift gags.

Something struck me on my back, sending me staggering a few steps as the pain cut through my ability to breathe.

My hand caught her wrist before the next blow. I turned to face the children’s mother, who wore yoga pants and an oversized tee that declared it was Wine O'clock Somewhere. Dyed red hair was cropped in a short, sharp haircut, and she held the weight of a woman who put everyone else’s needs before her own.

With a twist of her wrist, I forced her to release the little league bat.

Her words came out as the inhuman hiss of a demon. “Yous will die. In the name of Azgexin.”

I twisted the possessed woman’s arm further, forcing her onto her knees.

“Get out of this woman,” I demanded.

Lips stretched up on either side of the woman’s face, far past what should have been possible, nearly reaching her ears. It made for a bone-chilling grin. “You knows I can’t. Once wes are ins, we can’ts get outs. And I likes this one.”

It was true. Once a demon possessed a person, it couldn’t leave the vessel on its own.

Recognition sparked on her face. “We knows you. Dark son of the Light. If you wants me out, you have to send me back.”

My spine stiffened. The glittering in the woman’s dark eyes told me the demon knew far too much about me.

“You can’t gets me outs, can you? We all knows you aren’t like the others. You cannots use your power. You are the broken boy, the bad one, the dark one.”

I twisted her arm harder, earning me a pained grunt from the demon inside. Muffled cries rose from behind me.

To the children, I was still hurting their mother—even if she had been about to sacrifice them to the demon overlord Azgexin.

My fingers tightened on my sword as my teeth ground together.

The demon was right. My power had never been strong enough to exorcise the dark spirits back to the Stygian. Not to mention when I could harness my magic, it was shaky at best, working in short, unreliable bursts. If I were one of my brothers, they would have been able to do it. Jettison this fucker out of this woman’s body and send it back to the hell dimension it came from.

But they weren’t here. I was.

“Release the woman,” I demanded again with a snarl. “Or I’ll chop her head off and suck your disgusting fucking essence into a vacuum cleaner where you can spend eternity trapped in a bag of broken Cheerios and cat hair.” That wasn’t exactly possible, but demons weren’t the smartest. It also couldn’t know I was bluffing.

The mother was trapped in the demon’s hold. If I killed her, the demonic spirit would only spiral out and find another host. The woman would be dead, while the demon went free. It’s what made these spirits one of the nastiest to deal with.

“I’ll kills you and I’m taking those two withs me.” The hate-filled eyes pinned the children behind me, that terrifying grin still in place.

“You won’t kill anyone,” I promised. “We are going downstairs, and someone else is going to come handle you.” I knew who to call. I’d tie her up in the kitchen or living room. And then one of my brothers would show up and do what I couldn’t. And I’d be long gone before they got to the house.

The woman narrowed her eyes. “Nos, I have a better idea,” it rasped in delight.

Red pin pricks ignited in her eyes. Her skin turned almost unbearably hot under my grip.

Fuck.

The demon was going to burn through the woman from the inside out, setting her ablaze. With the carpet soaked in gasoline. If the demon caused the woman to combust into flames, the entire room would ignite like a powder keg. I wouldn’t have time to get myself out, much less the kids.