Free Night of the Living Demon Slayer by Angie Fox

to discover where they'd taken Carpenter—without getting captured myself.
    I focused my power and used it to open myself to the danger ahead. My demon slayer senses craved anything that could drown me, burn me, chop me into fish bait, or leave me at the mercy of a crazy voodoo bokor. It was a pain-in-the-butt power, but one that would serve me well now.
    I wasn't startled at all to discover they were all around me.
    Fine. We'd do this the old-fashioned way. I skirted past the smaller island and rounded it toward the land bridge. There I saw a fleet of pontoon boats tied together. They stood mostly empty for now.
    I slowed my engine, attempting to sneak past…
    "There she is!" Shouted a man on the shore.
    I froze.
    A red flare arced over the water and landed five feet in front of me, hissing as it sunk into the bayou.
    "Go, go, go!" I heard more of them yelling as they loaded into the boats. Engines flared to life.
    I made a U-turn as fast as I could without tipping and opened up the motor, cursing myself that I didn't have any spells with me. I could really use a Mind Wiper, or six.
    Demon slayer weapons weren't made for boats.
    The wind tore at my hair, the hard water slapping the hull and lurching the boat with bone jarring impact. But it didn't matter. I wasn't going fast enough. The roar of their boats grew louder. They were gaining on me.
    The high-pitched whirr of an engine seared my ears as one of the pontoons drew up on my right. I drew a switch star and fired it into the hull. It sliced through it like paper and I realized with a start that this was the first time I'd ever fired while moving.
    But the boat didn't slow down. In fact, it drew closer. And my switch star didn't boomerang back to me. It must be behind me. If it did arc back this way, I hoped to Hades it didn't slice through my motor.
    The nose of the ship next to me dipped and I heard the whistle of my weapon directly behind my head. I ducked, grabbing it out of the air, the handles almost too hot to touch. I sheathed it as the boat next to me spun out.
    With both hands, I banked hard left, nearly flipping over.
    The out-of-control boat smashed into the pontoon behind it, tipping it and dumping my attackers into the murky swamp.
    Waves rocked my boat. I clutched the motor handle, said a quick prayer, and steered toward a dark, narrow inlet. I had no idea where I was, where I was going. My demon slayer instincts screamed to turn around and dive into the mess behind me.
    But all the heroics in the world wouldn't help Carpenter when I was outnumbered and on the run. I had to be smart about this or neither of us would make it out of here.
    I slowed, knowing it was dangerous, but I had to figure out where I was. I turned down another tight tributary. The canopy of trees above blocked out the moon, leaving me in almost complete darkness. That was fine. If I couldn't see, neither could they.
    Water lapped against fallen logs and trees. Insects buzzed all around, their chorus broken by bird calls and bullfrogs. It was the most crowded, loneliest place I'd ever been.
    No telling how many miles of swampland they had out here, but it had to be a lot. Something splashed into the water next to the boat and I steered away from it, keeping as far as I could from the towering cypress trees, and wincing as water dripped onto my cheek and down my back.
    The air felt hot even for night, the humidity stifling. I spotted the outline of something coming up on my left and nearly swooned when the familiar shape of the old shine shack came into view, the one Carpenter and I had passed on the way in. I used it as a beacon as the channel opened up.
    Another island loomed ahead. I allowed myself hope as I picked up speed. This had to be it.
    I wiped my forehead in relief as I saw the run-down dock we'd used earlier in the night. I tied up the boat, and ignored my sea-weak legs as I ran for my bike.
    It was still there. Thank heaven.
    I rode it like an insane Red Skull back to the