Archer yelled something, but it was drowned out by a deafening roar that left my ears ringing. There was a flash of orange as a fireball sailed past me, lighting up the face of what only could have been described as a fucking hellhound. Its eyes were massive and red, a huge jaw with long yellowed teeth dripping putrid saliva as it shrieked at me.
Damien's fire hit it square between the eyes and it let out a choked yelp, but that didn't keep it down for long. It sprung, and Lyla shrieked. A blast of air hit me like a ton of bricks, and I flew backwards. I landed against soft leaves, and barely had time to register that a tree branch had reached out to break my fall before the hellhound regained its footing.
I lashed out with my hand as it dove for Archer, roots tearing from the earth to try to trap it. It chomped down on the thick wood instead of his leg, a sharp crunch reverberating in the thick night air. Archer rolled out of the way and crab walked backwards as I leapt to my feet, sprinting towards Damien and Lyla.
I could almost feel the monster's breath on the back of my neck as I ran, its grunting seeming to encompass all of my senses as I imagined it tearing the flesh from my back.
"DUCK!" Lyla screamed, and I dropped to the dirt, covering my head, intense heat rushing over my back as if a dragon blew over it.
The hellhound shrieked and I flipped over just in time to see it go up in flames. It reared up, but Lyla fanned Damien's flames with her wind, giving it enough oxygen to become almost a wall of fire. My mouth dropped open as the inhuman screams died out, and the thing fell into a clump on the forest floor.
Archer doused the flames so we could get a better look at the charred creature. I trembled as we approached it, not one hundred percent certain it was dead. As I got nearer though, I got sure. I'd gotten more used to being able to feel the life of the plants around me that it wasn't too big of a stretch to sense that this thing didn't have any life pumping through its veins anymore.
"Do you think this was Cloud Boy's pet?" Damien asked with a raise of his eyebrow.
Lyla shrugged. "Best guess, really. It's too big to be a regular wild dog of any kind, look at it."
"Didn't realize this demon had fucking minions," I muttered.
Lyla took my hand. "We got it, didn't we?"
"Yeah, we did," Damien agreed, a grin erupting on his face. "Did you see that? Come on baby light my fire!" he sang, and I couldn't help but let out a hysterical guffaw.
Archer snorted. "Well? Do you think there will be more?"
"Bring 'em on," Damien said.
Lyla punched him in the shoulder. "Don't say shit like that," she scolded, and then squeezed my hand. "Come on babe, you're with me. I kicked Damien's ass with that circumcision joke, he's no match for this gross-out master."
I kept pace with her, though I couldn't help looking over my shoulder to make sure that the guys were following, the demon wasn't moving, and there weren't more ready to charge after us. Lyla chattered away, telling some convoluted story that I had a hard time following—likely in an attempt to distract me from being on high alert.
It wasn't working.
I think she knew that, on some level, I wasn't listening—maybe it was her way of distracting herself, telling the story, and taking comfort in the fact that I would know if something was trying to sneak up on us.
The closer we got to this thing, the harder it seemed to want to thwart us. I didn't understand why it wasn't just coming after us directly—why not just hide Marius somewhere and then come after us? Why all the games? How sentient was this thing?
"Guys," I said, stopping short. Lyla immediately stopped her diatribe, cocking her head to look at me with a questioning gaze. "I think I should go to sleep. I need to ask Marius some questions."
"I thought you were too wired," Archer said.
I took a deep breath. "Did any of your weed survive this far? Maybe I can smoke myself into a coma."
"A little bit," he replied. "But I don't know if you being high is a good idea given our situation."
"Why, because I'd be stumbling and paranoid?" I shrugged, trying to look nonchalant even though I was freaking out inside. "Probably the worst idea ever. But I need to risk it. Plus, Damien can just piggyback me if shit goes down."
The blonde puffed out his chest, looking more than a little smug at my insinuation of his manly strength.
"What do you want to ask him?" Lyla piped up.
I took a deep breath. "I want to know how smart this thing is. If he's a fully formed person, with essentially a human brain, then what kind of brain does this demon have?" I shrugged. "I just... I was wondering why it hasn't just hidden Marius somewhere safe and come to kill us. Why all the games? And really, given our abilities... not the most effective roadblocks. I'm wondering how smart of a being it really is. Because if we're smarter..."
Archer nodded as I let the insinuation hang in the air. "Then that gives us a distinct advantage."
"And you think Marius will have the answer to that?" Lyla raised an eyebrow.
"Well, it's worth a shot, isn't it?" I sighed. "I mean, we can theorize all we want, but underestimating the thing's intelligence could be a really big mistake. If he doesn't have any answers for us, then we continue as we were... but if he has some insight, if he knows something, or if spending time with it over the last little while has given him some kind of knowledge... I feel like it could change the game considerably. Not only give us better odds, but maybe even give him a chance to live through this."
Archer clenched his jaw. "Saph... I just want to make sure that you've thought about all the angles," he began gently.
I couldn't help the sudden rush of anger that flew over me. I knew that I wasn't the strongest of the quartet, but I was starting to get really fucking sick of everyone talking to me like I was a child. It was time for me to buck up, or I was going to go insane.
"If we know that Marius needs to die to kill the demon," Archer continued, "then it's likely that if we kill the demon... he won't survive."
I pursed my lips, my anger forgotten. I blinked at him, and then swallowed, hard. "I hadn't thought of that." I said hoarsely. "But thank you for pointing it out. I'll keep that in mind." I took a deep breath and squared my shoulders. "Now. Let's get me fucking stoned."