The Ultimate Sacrifice, Talia Jager [novels to read .TXT] 📗

couldn’t move. I stood there shaking uncontrollably. My friends joined me outside and, grabbing me, rushed back to the car.

“Good job, Kassia!” Zane hollered.

“Thanks.” I smiled, proud of myself. The minute I leaned back against the seat, I fell asleep. Fighting demons took a lot out of me. I was exhausted.

We got a hotel room that night. Daxton and Zane studied the maps, trying to figure out which mountain to try first. They were in an intense discussion. Auralee and Noe were watching TV. Mira was in the bathroom taking a shower. I was sitting on the floor, leaning up against the bed, just thinking. I had taken off the dagger and was fiddling with it.

“Think she’s okay?” someone asked.

“I think so.”

“She’s been quiet lately.”

“We all have been. It’s different now.”

“Wish it could go back to how it was.”

“I think we all do.”

That was an understatement. I’d do anything for all this to go away, for Mira not to have been raped, to not have killed people, and to not have demons chasing us.

“She’s making me nervous playing with that dagger.”

Suddenly, the dagger was ripped out of my hand and slammed down on the nightstand. “Hey!” I glared at Noe.

“You’re making us nervous.”

“Sorry…” I looked away, my eyes moist.

“Let’s play truth or dare,” Auralee suggested.

“Seriously?”

“Yup.”

“Um…okay.”

She talked us all into playing, although the guys didn’t look very happy about it. “Just play,” Auralee said. “It’ll get our minds off things.”

“Whatever.”

It was fun to play, but I wouldn’t say my mind ever wandered away from reality for long. It brought me back to the dorm rooms and how much fun we had just being kids. We ended the night with a gigantic pillow fight, all of us collapsing on the beds with feathers everywhere.

After the laughter subsided, Noe asked, “Kassia, can I play with your hair?”

“Yeah!” I always enjoyed having someone do my hair.

I sat on the bed, and she brushed and braided it.

The boys laughed. “Oh Zane, can I do your hair?” Daxton batted his eyelashes.

Zane laughed. “Oh yes, please do.”

We shot them looks and stuck out our tongues. “Oooh, real mature.” Daxton smiled.

“Maturity is out the window tonight,” I replied. “Screw maturity.”

“Oh, in that case…” He rushed over to me and kissed me hard on the lips.

“Hey, I’m trying to do her hair!” Noe yelled as I laughed.

Mira flipped through the channels until she found a cartoon. We all sat on the beds eating candy and laughing at the TV. It felt good to let go and relax. It was like we were letting our inner child come out for a while. If only it could stay like that.

We all accidentally fell asleep that night. A scratching sound on the door woke me up. My head snapped up, and my eyes opened wide as I stared at the door. My dagger was still on the nightstand. I was pretty sure I could get to it fast, but if there was more than one demon, I’d need help.

Quietly, I elbowed Mira, who was asleep next to me. “Shhh,” I told her and pointed to the door. She kicked Zane. Soon everyone was awake, and we all clutched the daggers in our hands. Zane crept close to the door. He raised his eyebrows and looked at each of us, silently asking if we were ready. We nodded in response.

Quickly, he unlocked the door and yanked it open. Two small cat-hound demons jumped back in surprise. Zane and Daxton thrust their daggers into the demons’ bodies, and we watched as they writhed around a bit before going limp.

We watched as they looked down the hall. Their eyes suddenly widened, and they hurried back into the room. “There’s more, lots more.”

“Outside too,” Noe said.

“Shit.” Mira paced the room. “What are we going to do?”

“Fight and run.”

“We shouldn’t have missed this,” Mira chided.

“You know what. If I die today because I was having fun last night and had the best sleep I’ve had in weeks, then so be it,” I said, trying not to let them know how terrified I was.

We were on the bottom floor of the hotel. “Let’s go out the patio door,” Daxton suggested.

We threw our backpacks on our backs, clutched our daggers, and went for the back door. The second we were out, the smell of sulfur stung my nose, and demons lunged with their claws out. I got the first few with my dagger, but then I planted my feet.

Zane shouted, “Mira, stay near Kassia. Keep them off her while she takes them down. The rest of us stay in back of her.”

I felt a demon-cat on my leg, tearing through the skin before I heard Mira stabbing it. I concentrated on killing the ones in front of me. Every now and then, I’d feel pain cut through my body. After all the ones were dead, I let the power go and turned around. There were still quite a few left, but it was too risky to use my gift. Still clutching my dagger, I leapt at some of them, stabbing them. I yanked one off of Mira and another off Auralee. Noe was doing a good job keeping them off her.

Suddenly, there was a demon near me. I could feel the air around me turn cold before I could see him. When he came into view, my eyes widened. He looked like a deformed human. There was no fat on his bones, and his skin was translucent. He was frail looking. His head was too big for his body, and he had only a few strands of hair.

I screamed.

Although weak looking, when his hand clamped around my wrist, it was strong and powerful…and cold. His touch sent a chill through my body that I’ll never forget. Before I had stopped screaming, Mira had plunged her dagger into his heart. He sunk into the ground, his vacant eyes never leaving mine for a second.

Just when I thought we were done, five giant demons stepped out of the woods behind the hotel. I could feel the blood drain from my face. Death felt like it was only a moment away. I was completely terrified. These beasts had almond-shaped eyes that I didn’t dare look into. A low growl came from one of them, freezing me in place. I bit my lip so hard I tasted blood.

“Shit,” someone swore under their breath. Their fat bodies were lined up and coming right at us. Thankfully, they were slow, and it gave me a few seconds to think. I quickly realized if I was to use my power, nobody could be fighting them, or I’d hurt them too. My power by itself wasn’t strong enough to take five giant demons down at the same time. Mira was the only one immune, but I couldn’t let her go out there alone.

Daxton turned to me. “This is going to sound crazy, but it’s the only shot we have.”

“What?” I was all ears.

“Kassia, you have to use your power while we try to stab them. The second we feel pain, we will retreat. If we can get in a couple of stabs, it might weaken them enough for you to take them down easier.”

“You’re right, it’s crazy.”

“Noe?” He looked at her.

“Go,” was all she said.

He rushed at one of them, stabbing it in the side before I could refuse. Mira ran at another. “Aw, hell…” I planted my feet again and closed my eyes for a second, trying to find the energy to do what I needed to do. I was tired. My body wanted to rest after all the demon killing it was doing. Opening my eyes, I faced the huge demons. Their soulless eyes were a freaky red color. Staring at them, I released the power. I tried to focus it above the heads of my friends, right at the demons’ eyes.

The demons that had been injured swayed quicker than the ones that hadn’t, but I couldn’t get them to fall yet. They might have been slow, but they were strong. Noe kept dashing back and forth from behind me, stabbing one and then retreating. Auralee copied her, but the boys were hardheaded and tried to stay at it. I couldn’t tell if they were in pain, and it was distracting me. I couldn’t stop to find out. I knew I almost had it. Thankfully, Noe and Auralee saw it too, and they each grabbed one of the guys and dragged them back.

With them out of the way, and Mira repeatedly attacking, it didn’t take too much longer for the demons to go down. As soon as they were melted into the ground, I collapsed.

It was a few minutes before anyone spoke. “Shit, Kassia, you can really hurt someone,” Daxton mumbled, still rubbing his head.

I turned my head toward him and muttered, “Sorry.”

“You idiots had to stay out there so long. What were you thinking?!” Mira yelled, protectively kissing Zane’s head—which he was loving.

“They weren’t thinking. They were trying to be brave,” Auralee defended them.

“It worked,” Daxton said proudly.

“I could have killed you,” I stated.

Zane placed his hand on my back. “You didn’t.”

“I couldn’t stop,” I said weakly. “The power takes over completely until the threat is gone.”

“Yeah, the threat.”

“I can’t seem to distinguish what’s a threat and what’s not when we’re battling something.”

“I bet you can. I bet you just have to focus harder,” Daxton said.

“Don’t you think I’ve tried?”

“We better go,” Mira suggested. They all stood up, but my body wouldn’t let me. I was physically drained. “Are you coming?”

“I can’t get up.”

A concerned look crossed her face. “Are you injured?”

“Just really weak.” Fighting to stay conscious, I blinked my eyes a few times.

Daxton and Zane walked over to where I was lying and looked me over. “Nothing we can’t fix in the car.” Daxton scooped me up and carried me to the car, kissing me the whole way there.

Noe and Auralee were the least injured. After putting some Band-Aids on her cuts, Noe started driving. The rest of us helped each other get patched up. I put the faerie salve on some of Mira’s deep cuts. Only one of my cuts was deep and needed the salve. I didn’t want to waste it on the smaller ones. The guys had some wounds on their arms that we bandaged up, but I was more worried about their heads. Both of them continued to complain about headaches.

I dug out a bottle of ibuprofen and insisted they both take a couple. I worried that I had caused some permanent damage. They shouldn’t have gotten in the way and I should have known better than to let them. I swore not to let it happen again.