Danielle Ellison: Salt

“Stay calm, Pen. It’s invisible,” he says.

He counts to three, and then pierces the emptiness with his dagger. Nothing happens at first, then there’s the unmistakable cry of a demon. The grip loosens and I jump toward Carter. We stay long enough to see it materialize—even in its true form, it’s white like the floor, only more defined.

I pull a dagger from my sock and then change my mind. Carter looks at me, but I stare down at the demon. If Kriegen was right, then I’m more powerful than I know. I take a step forward and the demon looks up at us, eyes wide. I twist my hand around in the air, gathering the image in my head. The demon gasps for breath.

I don’t speak the incantation; I don’t even think it. I picture the demon turning into guts, and the demon on the ground convulses. Carter pulls me back, the look in his eyes alarmed, but says nothing as we take off down the hall. I don’t see any more markings. We burst through a set of doors, the only barrier between us and the way out.

In front of us, guarding the way out, is Kriegen in her black demon form from the woods. Slick and black with deep-green eyes and claws. Behind her, more demons than I can count. I don’t even want to try. They’re like a huge rainbow of impending death, and they’re all staring at us.

“I hope you’re not in a hurry to leave,” she says. Her voice sounds a lot like it did when she was in the human body, except now I can pick up on the traces of demonic noise now, an accent from hell. She snaps her fingers and all the demons take a step forward. I tighten my grip on the dagger.

“Whoever kills them gets their power.”

They all charge at us.

Carter runs forward into the throng of demons, blade slashing and blood splashing. A second later I charge after him, a dagger in my left hand and one of my guns in the right. I slice through two demons before another jumps me from behind, snaking one arm around my neck. Instinct and practice take over; I jam my elbow into the demon’s stomach and twist away when its grip loosens. I shove my dagger into its stomach before it can grab me again. It falls back too quickly to pull the dagger out. Crap.

Before I can even move, another demon pounces, tackling me to the ground. My entire body feels the impact. I scramble to stand up, but the demons hold me down. They pin my arms as I kick, thrashing wildly to get them off like Ellore taught me to. One of them, a shade of deep purple and covered in sharp barbs, inches closer to my neck, sharp teeth smiling and ready to bite. The other demon, a putrid orange with a hulking bulbous body, presses down on me. My gun digs into my lower back where it’s tucked into my waistband, useless. A dagger hides in my boot and my bra, but I can’t get either while the orange blob clutches my arms. I’m trapped, my heart hammering against my rib cage. There’s no way out, and needle-sharp teeth are inching closer.

Or not. I have another weapon.

I close my eyes and pull in the magic from the void. It comes quickly and when I open my eyes, I look at the demons. I think they feel the sudden rush of magic because their eyes widen before they’re flung across the room. I use the free second to reach for the gun and the dagger in my boot. I may not get another opportunity.

I run through the crowd of demons, nearly tripping on a couple that are convulsing on the floor. I glance around while I run and spot Carter across the room, as a demon explodes. He shakes guts off of him and turns his attention to another.

Another fugly thing seizing my arm. I pull the trigger on my gun. A loud bang fills my ears as blood pours from the demon. It stumbles back, pauses, and drops to the ground, writhing in pain as the salt pellets dissolve inside it. I turn away from the sight and Carter catches my eye. He slices and stabs with his dagger, leaving a wake of blood and death following after him. But there are too many. They swarm like insects, crawling over one another as they try to claim their prize: us. This won’t work. We can’t last much longer like this.

And then I see it.

Above me there’s a landing, and right beside that landing is a ladder built into the wall. It’s old, pieces missing, but it goes up. I slide my gun and dagger in my pocket and start climbing. I’m halfway up when it starts vibrating. Demons are following me, but I’m almost to the landing. I climb faster and pull from the void to coat the ladder in salt. It takes a lot of focus, but I eventually hear them scream as they fall down to the ground. Awesome. I’m getting the hang of this.

I toss myself onto the landing and pull the gun out of my pocket. From up here, it looks like we’re losing. And we probably are, since it’s two to one hundred. But there are lots of demons still on the ground, and even more that are splattered against the walls. I kneel down and aim the gun.

I search for Carter first. Three demons are hauling him away, moving quickly with their prey. I don’t want to hit him. Maybe if I use the void, my aim will be perfect. I focus, connecting with the gun and the magic. Carter is on the other end of the room, but he’s slicing through a demon, so I start shooting. I take out ten more, ten demons sprawling to the ground, when a hand pulls me up. It’s Kriegen.

“Creative, kitten,” she says. I aim the gun at her and pull the trigger.

Nothing happens. I’m out of pellets. Shit.

She laughs. “Did you know those things only hold about fourteen? I did the math.”

Stupid math! Then she lurches at me. I lose my balance and start to fall from the landing. Carter screams my name; I hear his voice around all the noise, and I am falling.

I brace myself for the landing, but it doesn’t come. Instead, the magic bubbles up without my really thinking, and I’m suspended in midair. Kriegen lets out a yell, and I picture myself landing on my feet. The magic listens, and in seconds I’m on the ground. A little dizzy, but in one piece. Alive.

When I land, a demon charges at me. I didn’t expect it and I get a claw to the shoulder. Quicker than me, Carter slits its neck and pulls me into the nook of this wall.

It’s barely big enough for him, but I squeeze into the small space next to him.

“You’re okay?” Carter asks.

I nod. Around us, the demons are still rabid. Some fight one another like they didn’t notice we were gone. Good. Let them take one another out.

“We’ll never survive this,” Carter says. His voice is low, but as soon as he says it I agree. Deep inside, I know he’s right. I don’t know how we’re going to get past them all. It almost feels like every demon ever made is crammed into this space. I’d be flattered if I wasn’t terrified.

“I won’t go down without a fight,” I say. If they want me, fine, but they are going to work for it. I’ll go down a legend. At least, in my own head.

Carter leans his forehead against mine. “Together then?”

“In a blaze of glory, and all that.”

“Let’s tear down the place,” he says. He takes my hand, and then I know what we’re going to do. Just like the alley where we first blew up the windows.

We both move out of our safe nook, and as soon as they see us again, the demons all come charging.

I focus on the void, and let it fill me up. I try to see everything in my head—my magic bursting forth like sunrise or fireworks on the Fourth of July. I want them to feel it all. I want it to knock them off their feet and destroy whatever makes them demons.

Carter’s hand is squeezing mine and then there’s a movement that breaks my concentration, but it doesn’t stop us. The magic rushes into the void and out of the void and through me. It claws at my stomach, burns in my throat. A dark light pours from my fingers, from my pores, and then stretches out into the room.