The Sweetest Burn (Broken Destiny #2)(58)

"One more step, and I'll finish the job I started with your shadows," I warned.

He smiled, so satisfied and chilling that I knew my bluff has failed. "If you could, you would have already done so." 

I refused to be deterred by how easily he'd called my bluff. He's only one demon, I reminded myself, spinning the sling faster. And without his shadows, he was no bigger than an average man. I risked a quick glance behind me. Grins began to wreath the faces of the demons and minions who'd chased me. Shouts rang out, and I recognized enough Demonish to know that they were suggesting different ways to kill me.

Not today, I thought fiercely, about to turn back to Demetrius and lash him with my sling. Then something in the sky caught my eye. The crowd didn't see it. They were all facing me.

A large form swooped down behind them and began ripping a path through the center of the murderous horde. Glowing, red eyes appeared between the bloody row, and a fierce surge of pride coursed through me. It was Brutus, plowing through the crowd with incredible velocity, his granite-hard wings cutting down everything in his path as if it was grass and he was the lawn mower.

"No!" Demetrius roared.

I ran toward Brutus, not caring that I was also heading toward the remains of the bloodthirsty crowd. Nothing short of a surface-to-air missile could stop Brutus.

His head and shoulders were so large, I hadn't noticed Adrian crouched behind him until his arm shot out, hand extended for me to grab. I reached up-and a horned demon lunged at me, knocking my hand away. In the same instant, he grabbed Adrian's arm and yanked. With Brutus's continued velocity in the opposite direction, Adrian was ripped from the gargoyle's back.

Multiple shouts sounded as Adrian fell into the crowd. I rushed toward him, but then was snatched up as Brutus's wild grab for me sank his claws into my shoulders. I screamed as those claws dug deep, hauling me above the crowd. Brutus tried to grab Adrian next, yet he had already been swarmed. Denied of their chance to watch me get murdered, the minions and demons tore at Adrian with all of their unspent vengeance. His arms flashed in a flurry of ferocity as he fought them, but in moments, he was overcome. There were simply too many of them.

"No!" Demetrius shouted again. "Stop!"

I thought that furious roar was directed at me. Brutus was beating his wings, but we were flying right at Demetrius, and even without his lethal shadows, we were low enough that Demetrius could reach me with one good jump. I braced myself to fight. To my complete disbelief, Demetrius ran right past us, throwing himself into the group that surrounded Adrian.

"Get your hands off my son!" he howled.

My own screams drowned out everything as Brutus shifted his grip, his claws tearing out of my flesh as he dropped me, only to grab me in a firmer grip a second later. In this new position, I was able to reach for the harness around his neck, and I hauled myself from his arms up to his back. My shoulders flamed from the multiple puncture wounds and the added agony from the hallowed sling being activated, but I gritted my teeth and wound the reins around my fingers.

Pulling up meant fly higher, pulling down meant dive, and pulling straight out meant cruising. Adrian hadn't taught me what position meant murder all the bad guys, but I intended to find out.

"Come on, Brutus," I yelled. "Let's do this!"





  CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE

I PULLED UP, and Brutus began to blast us into the sky. Even though I was in a frenzy to get back to Adrian, we needed the velocity. Once we were about a hundred stories up, I turned Brutus so he'd have plenty of space to circle back around to the remains of the crowd, and then I yanked the reins down.



       
         
       
        

Brutus dove so fast that it looked like the ground was rushing upward to meet us. At the last moment, he leveled out and headed toward the crowd without me even needing to steer.

"Good boy!" I shouted. "You know exactly what we're doing!"

Then, I tucked my head behind his bulky shoulders the way Adrian had. Otherwise, at this speed, I'd decapitate myself when Brutus collided with the crowd, and I wanted other peoples' heads to roll, not mine. Right before we hit, I gripped Brutus as tight as I could and braced for all I was worth.

Despite that, when Brutus plowed into the minions and demons, the impact almost knocked me off his back. Blood spattered me and countless thuds felt like they were rattling my bones as body parts were sheared off from the bladelike effect of his wings. If I didn't trust him so much, I'd worry that Adrian would inadvertently be cut down, too. But I did trust Brutus, so I held on for dear life as the gargoyle hacked his way through the crowd.