Milayna (35 page)

The two groups stared at each other. I wasn’t sure how long we stood silently staring at each other. It could have been seconds—it could have been minutes. It seemed like hours. The longer we stood there, the bigger the lump in my gut grew. Something was going to happen. I could feel it. It swirled in the air. A whispered threat. A promise. And the most worrisome, it showed on Chay’s face. He knew. He could feel it. His arm and neck muscles were corded, and tension rolled off him in waves.

My heart was skipping every other beat. It was almost like it had forgotten how to beat. I felt hollow. The beats of my heart echoed against the empty walls of my chest.

I saw it. A pretty blonde shifted her weight. Her tell.

They ran all at once. We braced ourselves and readied for the attack. They came at us in a “V” formation or what looked like an arrow. It wasn’t a random free-for-all like usual, but a planned attack—with a specific goal.

“What the hell are they doing?” Chay yelled.

Jeff watched them and shook his head. “Dunno.”

They got closer and closer, still in formation, running at us in eerie silence. They ran across the sidewalk and on to the yard.

“Get in front of Milayna!” Drew yelled.

Chay didn’t question Drew’s order. He reached out and pulled me behind him just as the lead demi-demon, Edward, plowed into him. They both landed hard on the ground, fists flying.

The second line of demi-demons attacked, and then the third… I paced back and forth, feeling useless as I watched my friends fight while I did nothing.

“Dad! Let me help them!”

He shook his head and blocked me from leaving his and Chay’s dad’s protection. “They were aiming right at you tonight, Milayna. You aren’t going out there. In fact, I should take you home.”

“No! That’d put Mom and Benjamin in danger if one of them went to the house after me. Not to mention, I’d have no protection there. This is my fight. This is where I belong.” I flung my arm toward the vicious fight between my friends and the wicked-assed demi-demons.

My dad turned toward the fight just as the demi-demons broke through our line of defense. The demi-demon tackled my dad. I ran to help when someone grabbed my arm and pulled me to a stop.

Turning, I looked at the guy that held me. I didn’t know him, had never seen him before that night. I was distracted when he backhanded me across the face the first time. The second time he raised his hand, I was ready. I blocked his blow, jabbing the hand on my other arm into his side. He roared in pain and swung at me.

Holy freaky angel powers, Batman!

His swing came at me in slow motion, like time had slowed. I took advantage of the warning and kicked his arm away, getting in a palm-heel strike to his face, slicing open his lower lip. Blood dripped down his chin; his lips stretched into a slow smile when he wiped it away with the back of his hand. His teeth were stained pink, and he spat out a wad of blood and saliva. I watched it leave his mouth, and move, little by little, through the air and land next to my foot.

I was stupefied. Everyone around me was on slow motion, but I was on real time. I had absolutely no idea how I managed to tap into the power, but it was definitely one of the better powers I had, especially during a meeting with the demi-demons.

I was deep in concentration, fighting off the attacks of the demi-demon in front of me. He was relentless, coming in with jabs and punches one after another. All in the same slow motion as the others. I deflected his hits easily.

The sound of the others fighting was deafening. The groans of pain as flesh hit flesh, the smack of fists as they made contact, the howling of frustration when a blow didn’t connect.

Between the sounds, the demi-demon I was fighting, and my fascination with my newly discovered power, I didn’t sense the person behind me until it was too late. They wrapped their arms around me in a bear hug, pinning my arms to my body. I stomped on his ankle, and his grip released long enough for me to wriggle free, only to be hit hard across the jaw, sending me backward into the second demi-demon’s grasp. My concentration on my power slipped and time jumped back to normal speed, jolting me like I’d been in a speeding car and someone slammed on the brakes.

The demi-demon lifted me off the ground and carried me to the center of the yard. The earth started shaking, a mound grew until the dirt gave way, and the pit opened up.

Oh, shit. Again? Really?

But instead of throwing me down into the abyss, which they could have easily done, they held me beside the hole, pressing down on my shoulders and forcing me to my knees.

I felt nauseous. I knew what was at the bottom of that pit. And I knew my time was running short. I wasn’t a cat. I didn’t have nine lives, and I was kind of fond of the one I had. I tried to work up enough spit to swallow and ease the burning in the back of my throat, and I screamed for someone to help me, but they were all involved in their own fights. I saw Chay glancing at me before he took a hard blow to the side of his head.

I knew no one was going to come to my rescue. I was on my own. I took a deep breath and remembered what one of my many self-defense teachers once told me.

“Being scared is a powerful emotion. It is only crippling if you let it be. Channel it. Rewire your brain to read being scared as being pissed the hell off. It’s okay to be scared, Milayna. It’s normal. It doesn’t make you weak. You can use it to make yourself stronger,” he said, and then he worked me over on the mats, teaching me move after move until they came naturally to me. And he taught me something else—there was no such thing as fighting dirty when your life was at stake. Use what you could, do what you could to survive.

I closed my eyes for a minute and pictured myself in that gym with my teacher, hearing him tell me to do whatever it took to survive, and the butterflies in my stomach and the hollowness in my chest abated just a little.

The first thing I saw was the glowing, yellowish-orange light coming from the bottom of the hole. Then I saw them. Gray arms dusted in a fine sheen of ash. They reached out and planted themselves on the ground, hefting the demon halfway out of the hole. He had two horns, curled like ram’s horns. They looked like wood that had its bark scraped off.

Its black fingernails dug into the ground as it pulled itself up and halfway out of the hole. It pinned me with its black-eyed stare.

“You can’t trust humans to do a demon’s job, even if they are half demon,” it hissed through needle-like teeth that gleamed white.

It pulled itself further out of the hole, and I knew if I was going to survive the night, I’d better do something. Fast.

Do whatever it takes to survive. There’s no such thing as fighting dirty when your life is at stake.

I turned my head and bit the arm of the demi-demon holding my arms against my body. I clamped down and didn’t let go until I tasted his sickening thick, warm blood. He screamed in pain and let go of my arms.

I landed a palm-heel strike in the middle of the demon’s face. Its head bounced backward, its black eyes registering surprise. Swinging my legs around, I scrambled up from the ground. I gave the demon a roundhouse kick to the side of the head. It grabbed my ankle, and I fell on my side with a cry.

“Tsk, tsk. We know all about your little fighting games. We’re prepared.” The demon shook his head at me like he was disappointed. “I thought you’d be more of a challenge.”

I pulled back my free leg and jammed my foot into the demon’s arm. It bent downward at an odd angle, and he lost his grip on me. I scrambled out of his reach. I feigned a right, but jabbed a left. The demon pulled himself out of the hole further to hit me behind the knees and I went down again, but not before I gave him an okay kick to the head. He slid down the hole until just his head and shoulders were above ground, his arms still reaching out. I rolled to my back and gave him a quick kick to the forehead. His head snapped back. He lost his grip and slid down the side of the pit with a shriek of profanities.

Thank God I didn’t take piano lessons.

Turning, I helped my dad with the demi-demon cornering him between the house and the porch. I jabbed him in the side, grabbed the back of his hair, and yanked his head back. Raising my knee between his legs, I nudged him.

“Apologize to my dad.”

He didn’t acknowledge me. I rammed my bent leg upward. He shrieked in pain. I let go and he fell to the ground, curled around himself.

“You should respect your elders,” I said and walked away, looking for a place I could help.

Someone touched me lightly on the arm. I turned quickly, ready to defend myself. Chay grabbed my wrist as my fist flew toward him.

“Milayna, it’s over,” he said quietly and kissed my fist.

I looked around. The demi-demons and Evils were running in all directions. The dirt was shifting and filling the pit. The only evidence that anything had happened was a mound where the pit had been.

I could hear the wail of a siren in the distance

***

We sat around the kitchen table. My mom and Mrs. Roberts made the six of us a snack. They hovered like two mother hens, making sure we ate, that our cuts were cleaned and our bruises iced. It must’ve been hard on them watching us fight and not being able to help. Demi-angels had superior strength to humans, even if a human was schooled in martial arts and self-defense like my mother and Mrs. Roberts. There was really nothing they could do but watch from the sidelines. As strong, independent women, it was a position they both hated but had learned to live with, if not accept.

“Milayna, what are you doing? Do you have a headache?” my mom asked when she walked by.

I dropped my hands from where they pressed on my temples. “Um, no… I was just trying to make that spoon move.” Everyone in the room looked at me like I’d lost my mind—I probably had. Chay pursed his lips to hide a grin. “Dad said we can sometimes sense what other people are thinking. Not read minds, but feel what they are thinking or feeling. Well, that’s happened to me twice now.” That got everyone’s attention.

“What are you talking about?” Drew scooted his chair closer to me.

“I was fighting this demi-demon idiot tonight, and everything was normal. He hit me, I hit him, blah frickin’ blah. Then it was like someone slowed time down. I could see his movements in slow motion, giving me time to prepare myself for the block. It was wicked cool, like I could sense what he was thinking before he threw his punches or kicks.”

I took a drink of my Coke and sat up straighter. “And the night we found out Steven changed? Well, I felt what everyone in the room was feeling. All I had to do was look them in the eyes and it was like we connected somehow. It felt like static cling sparking between us.” I moved my fingers to imitate little sparks in the air, moving my hand between Chay and me.

“Somehow, the person’s feelings were communicated to me through that connection. Like, when I looked at Chay, I could feel the electrical current connect to him, and I felt a sense of calm, strength, a sense of bonding to the team, and I felt… I felt… well, that’s all. When I looked at Steven, he only held eye contact a second or two and the emotion I felt the strongest was uneasiness. There was no tie to the group. Otherwise, I felt nothing.” I let my hands fall. “That’s when I was fairly certain he’d already changed. And it turned out I was right—well, the electrical current was right. Whatever. Anyway, I thought since that power was showing up, maybe I could get a handle on this telekinesis thing we’re supposed to have. I can’t seem to get it to work when I want it to, but it shows up anytime Chay and I… well, whatever.” I shrugged a shoulder, wishing I could suck those last words back in.

“Anytime Chay and you what?” My dad lifted an eyebrow.

I gave him a quick smile, the tips of my cheekbones burning. Chay wouldn’t make eye contact.

“Yeah, good luck. I’ve been trying forever and nothing,” Drew grumbled. He spun his plate around on the table and scowled.

“Well, we need to work on developing our powers. I know I have them, but I don’t know how I made them work. I mean, I tried to get the emotional electrical current thing. Sometimes it’s there and other times, nada. And we all have telekinesis that we need to learn how to work. Because this can’t go on.” I pushed my plate away. “The fights are making us weaker. There’s no way we can keep fighting and be able to fight off Azazel and his demons too.”

The group murmured their agreement.

“Dad, there has to be a way of killing them.” I looked at my father, who had one hip leaned against the countertop and his arm around my mother’s waist.

“Milayna, we can’t kill the demi-demons. They’re half human!” he said in horror. His eyes wide.

“Not them, Dad. Geez. I meant the demons. How do we kill them? How do we protect ourselves from their strength?”

“We fight like you did tonight. You use what you learned in your training. It’s no different. That’s why your mother and I have tried to train you in personal defense and fighting skills almost since you were able to walk. And you rely on your teammates.”

Except the thing I’m defending myself against is a demon with flaming hot skin who’d like nothing better than to throw me into the pit of Hell, and one of my team wants to help it do that.

“Well, there is one other thing,” Chay’s dad said from the corner of the room. He looked down at his hand and rubbed it with the fingers of the other.