What Lies In Me

Chapter 11

A knife pierces my left shoulder as I am flung back and to my right. I land with a thud against a row of shelves, and some books topple down onto my head. Tony is frantically pulling on my arm, trying to get me further away from Aranunna, but I can't think. I've been stabbed. I can't take my eyes off of the knife. It feels cold, and my arm feels misplaced. Blood is leaking down from my shoulder onto my hand.

Tony follows my gaze, and reaches over me, yanking the knife out before I can stop him.

"Kyyaaagh!" My pent-up breath I had been holding in bursts out as a gasp of pain.

"FOCUS!" Tony yells.

Shaking my head, I reach back onto the shelf and pull myself up with my good arm. My legs are shaking. I begin to heal my shoulder. My heartbeat resounds in my ears.

I'm going to have to fight. I was not ready for this.

Tony backs up to where Jackson and Sadie are. Jackson is prepared with a knife, and Sadie took the book from me when I fell. I think Tony just saved my life, pulling me away from the knives. I'm not wasting that chance. I wasn't ready for this, but that doesn't matter. I need to protect myself. I need to protect them.

"Guys, we're not dealing with a human here. Run outside, I'll follow you as soon as I can. Don't fight, go."

"But-" replies Sadie.

"JUST GO!" I yell.

My arm restored to full function, I reach back and press my bloodied hand against a bookshelf, forming and peeling the wood off of it. It changes shape according to my will, just in time for Aranunna to come around the corner, brandishing more knives.

I pull my newly-created wooden shield in front of me and hear three knives embed themselves in it. Two of the knives poke through the shield, one narrowly missing my hand. I yell and rush forward to bash at the man with the shield, but he is not there. Instead, he is behind me again. I whirl around and begin to back away, keeping the shield between us.

Nicking myself on the hand with one of the knife points, I form the knives that are buried in my shield into small shield spikes. That will lend me a little bit of offensive maneuverability. Not that I'm in a great position to attack. I am still facing off against a demon, after all. His movement is so fast it almost seems instantaneous. I need to stall.

"So, why me, huh?" I ask. "Why am I like this? How can I do this? And why do you all want me dead?"

Aranunna scowls. "We don't all want you dead. And that is the problem. Overall, it really would be best if you would just die."

"But then-" My words are cut off by yet another knife flying towards my face. The shield takes the blow as I duck behind it, dropping to one knee. I can't just keep letting him toy with me. To defend myself from someone like Aranunna, I'm going to have to take a gamble.

Another knife hits my shield. I can't see the demon, but poking my head out around the shield could be fatal. Perhaps that is the point of these knife attacks. He probably doesn't want me to be able to keep track of him. I suppose it doesn't matter either way. I need luck to hit Aranunna, not vision. Guessing at his next position, I spin around and sweep my shield out behind me, and feel a satisfying push of resistance. I look up to see Aranunna on the other side of my shield, bleeding from a gash on his right arm. A snarl twists his lips.

"You really like popping up behind me too much," I say. "It become less surprising each time."

Without a word, the demon pulls out a glistening, silvery sword, and swings it at me. I hold up my shield, but he cleaves it in two, and it falls to the floor, useless. The tip of the blade whips upwards and stops next to my throat.

I freeze. Neither of us moves at all, aside from our heavy breathing. My mind races. The tip of his sword is right next to my throat. Why hasn't he killed me yet? Why is he hesitating? I look up at his face, and receive a stone-cold glare in return. What is he waiting on?

"Go on," he says. "Try to escape. Where is the tenacity you had moments ago? Fight to your last breath. Don't let the blood running through your veins run cold so easily. If I am going to kill you, you will die like a warrior!"

As the demon finishes talking, he looks down at me with a sneer. What an arrogant demon. Do you want glory? Do you want a worthy opponent? I'll fight. I will continue to fight you, and you will regret allowing me to get up.

I breathe in, collecting myself, and then act. As quickly as my hands can move, I grasp the sword by the blade. The sides sink into my hand, cutting them down to the bone. Gritting my teeth, I envision my goal, and jump up towards Aranunna's head.

The steel of the sword disconnects from the hilt and molds itself around my closed fists. As focused as I am, I can feel my hands already beginning to heal as my right knee sinks into Aranunna's ribcage. The remnants of his sword jab into my chest, but I ignore the pain as we both tumble to the ground.

As soon as we hit the ground, I begin to swing my fists of steel. Punch after punch I send driving towards the demon's face. I'm not a professional boxer by any means, but I am angry. Adrenaline pumps through me; I can taste copper in my mouth. I will do some damage.

Aranunna throws me off, but I immediately spring back towards him, swinging a punch at his ribs, then another at his face. Scowling, he backs up slightly, plants his feet, and catches one of my fists. I punch at him with my other hand, but he deflects that off his arm, blocking me while holding my other arm in his vicelike grip. I can't get him to let go. Struggling to free myself, I put one of my feet on his chest and try to push a kick through him. He simply grabs my leg.

Aranunna's face, now covered in bruises, is contorted with anger. Lashing out, I strike at him again with my left hand. It doesn't matter how angry he gets, I have to get free. My left hand connects, and then the world loses all sense of direction. Everything whirls around me for a second, and then a solid blow knocks the breath out of me, and I sink to the ground.

Gasping for breath, I look up, and see Aranunna on the other side of the room. He just tossed me over here like a sack of garbage. As I struggle to stand, he begins to walk towards me again, reaching into his coat to pull out yet another weapon.

No, that's it. I have had it with fighting demons for now. Turning around, I find a window very conveniently placed on the wall behind me, and without hesitation, punch through it and jump out of the building. I and the shards of broken glass all fall about ten feet, and I hit the ground. Pain lances up my legs as they absorb the shock of landing, and I tumble to the ground to lessen the pain. Bits of glass catch in my clothing and scratch my skin. Scrambling to my feet, I sneak a glance back at the window that I just leapt out of. There is no indication that there was ever a hole in it. The glass on the ground around me has disappeared.

Immediately, before the pain can set in, I stumble away from the building and whip out my cell phone to call Jackson. He picks up before the first ring finishes.

"Jackson, I just dove out of a window. Drive over to the side of the building. Hurry!"

"Got it," he replies. "On my way."

I hang up and look back. Aranunna hasn't followed me yet. I shake off my makeshift steel gloves and quickly begin to heal the cuts on my chest, arms and legs. It won't do me any good to try and run if I'm bleeding.

Jackson's truck comes around the corner just as I finish healing myself. It slides to a halt in front of me. Sadie opens the doors for me when I reach the truck, urging me to get in. I jump into the backseat with her, and Jackson drives us away from the parking lot. Aranunna is nowhere to be seen.

"What took you so long?" I gasp.

"My fault. I was still in the library, watching to see what was going on from a distance," Tony answers. "I had to run to the truck."

"Are you ok?" Sadie asks. "I didn't see what happened, but you look hurt. Do we need to go to-"

"I'm fine." I breathe out a reply. "Just a little banged up. I got off easy, somehow. He could have killed me."

Sadie places her hand on my shoulder, and relief colors her face.

"I'm glad you're alright. I didn't want to lose you."

I lean back in my seat and smile. "I'm glad you didn't have to." Allowing my muscles to relax, I close my eyes and rest.