Free Unnatural Souls by Linda Foster Page B

chest. And then the
pressure was gone. There was no pain, just a buzzing of
electricity, of power that shot outwards.
    A brilliant blue light illuminated the
entire street for a split second before fading into a soft glow. A
glow that covered my hands.
    None of this had slowed the demons
down, though, and when I looked up, I saw snarling faces and
grasping hands. They weren’t going to let me get away. They were on
me. And before I could move, one of them reached out, grabbing my
arm.
    I swung out at him without thinking,
my hands still glowing.
    As my fist flew forward, I felt an
object materializing inside it. Then a second object appeared in my
other hand. It all happened so fast that I didn’t have time to
think—I just grasped hold of them. When I did, I felt my power
coursing through my hands … and then through the weapons
themselves. Suddenly I could see them, the moonlight glinting
across a shining blue blade, and what I’d originally meant to be a
punch to the demon’s gut ended up being much more.
    A blade, driven right into its
belly.
    Shock rocked through me and time
seemed to slow, my heavy breathing deafening in the now silent
alley. All the demons had stopped in their tracks.
    The monster in front of me looked down
to where my hand was. I ripped the blade from his gut and he
glanced back up, his eyes and mouth going wide. A moment later, he
turned to dust. Just like when Kali hit a demon with her
hellfire—or when Michael slashed at a demon with his
blade.
    The other two demons were still frozen
in place, staring at where their friend had once stood.
    I just gasped and stared at the blades
in my hands with awe. This was it. I’d actually succeeded. My
weapons. My angelic weapons were here … and they were glorious. I
wanted to scream, to run to Michael and demand that he save Ash
immediately. Three months, but I had done it in the end. I’d
achieved all my powers, and I’d finished in time. My heart was
overcome with joy.
    The sound of footsteps broke me out of
my excited stupor, though, and I remembered that as thrilled as I
was, I still had two demons left. And they clearly had no intention
of letting me go. They were no longer looking at where their dead
friend lay, ashes on the street. They were looking at me. And
running full speed toward me.

 

     
     
     
     
    ALSO, THEY APPEARED to be pissed.
    “ You’re going to pay for
that,” the first one growled.
    When it darted toward me, all of the
training Kali had given me rushed to the front of my mind. Thank
goodness she hadn’t waited for me to be able to call a weapon to
myself before teaching me how to use one. We had practiced
hand-to-hand combat, and we had practiced with blades, too. Those
lessons were second nature, now, and I hurled myself into a fight I
knew with every ounce of my being that I could win.
    He threw a punch at my
face, but I ducked to the side, tucking one blade into my belt as I
went. When I stood up, I grabbed his arm and dodged his next blow,
then yanked him past me with the hold I had on his arm. The
momentum of his body caused him to stumble off balance, swaying
forward, and I quickly swung my free blade around, bringing it down
in the middle of his back. There was a sickening sound, the feeling
of driving a knife through a body, but I pushed past my revulsion
of stabbing something—even if it wasn’t human. This was for my
life, I reminded myself. This was for Ash .
    I could hear the demon gag, blood
coming out of his mouth and splashing onto the pavement. Within
seconds, though, he was dust.
    I made a mistake then, and paused with
my back to the last threat, both shocked and elated at this quick
success. So I wasn’t ready when the third demon tackled me from
behind. We went flying forward, toward the wall of the alley. I
instinctively released the blade in my hand, knowing that if I fell
on it I’d be done for, and it went soaring down the street into the
shadows, the clinking of metal on asphalt echoing