Abby relaxed against him, trusting him with her weight. His voice, deep and lolling, sucked her into a trance. Everything that was happening went to the back of her mind—the wind blowing, the leaves rustling and swaying in the breeze. Even the light above and sound of lapping water over rocks faded leaving only them. Alrik and her.

At his request power surged up inside her as if obeying a master. Warmth heated her like a blanket. It pressed up from deep in her belly, spread to her chest and out through her arms, and then shot from her fingertips. The invisible force showed no color, no sound, but in her witch’s eye she watched the vibrant billowing reds, oranges, and blues spew from her fingertips. The fiery power arched through the air and reached the fire. One spark flared while another burst. Then in a small explosion, the wood caught flame all at once, crackling and radiating heat.

Abby was slow to come out of the trance she was in. When she did she felt no heat at her back but her smile grew and grew at the sight of the fire.

“I did it! Alrik, I did it!” She jumped and performed a fist pump at her own awesomeness. It almost didn’t seem real. She headed for the fire and felt the real heat of it. She couldn’t stop smiling. She did this. She actually made fire just with her powers.

Then it dawned on her—a strange feeling. It was like one of those times where you realize that something is off belatedly. In this case, Abby turned around slowly.

She saw Alrik facing the lake, then as her gaze passed him, and her own eyes widened. Her lips parted and a scream tore from her throat.

“You have got to be kidding me,” Alrik muttered.

Alrik’s gaze locked on the giant beast lumbering out of the water. The middle of the lake rippled and bubbled like boiling water. With a mighty splash, the water exploded out at once from the rippling circle, raining heavy water droplets around it. A grisly creature started to appear. First a head, a mighty, round glob of flesh the color of sick green and cream mixed together. The flesh looked lopsided and pliable like putty. The creature’s eyes came into view. They were yellow orbs that instantly narrowed on them.

The creature slowly lifted up to its incredible height. Water cascaded down the jaheera demon’s torso like a waterfall; water churned and swished around the demon’s legs making noise like a boat crashing into waves. It kept lifting itself up until it towered over the lake like a colossal monster.

It stood as if they’d disturbed it from a deep sleep. However, Alrik knew that water was not deep enough to house such a creature, and he knew just what kind of creature this was. These kinds of creatures did not dwell idly in lakes.

Abbigail’s terrified scream notified him, and the rest of the rift, that she just saw the jaheera demon too. Alrik planted his hands on his hips and considered things for a moment. Well, he tried to but that woman had a pair of lungs on her like no other. No one could think over that noise. Turning to her, he shushed her. She snapped out of her scream and blinked at him, then her eyes widened and jaw dropped. She looked cute like that, even as she looked at him as if he was crazy.

“Silence, woman, I’m thinking.”

“You’re thinking right now? At a time like this! There’s a freaking giant thing coming out of the water like some kind of Cthulhu monster. I really, seriously think it’s about time we got the hell out of here, Alrik!”

Damn her. He leveled his gaze with her and once more said, “Krishnoe. Silence, please.”

Her jaw worked side to side but she quieted down and stepped up beside him. When her hands shot out to latch onto his arm, he had to stifle a smile. Her touch made him stand a little taller knowing she needed him, wanted him, to protect her.

His gaze fell back to the lake. This was curious, indeed.

A jaheera demon spawning now? They came from a layer in the rift deep below where he and Abbigail stood. A place where no light or goodness shined through. It was where they belonged and stayed. The only times the jaheera parted from their ancient home was for a bigger purpose. There was no question who’d sent this jaheera demon to them now.

“That’s a jaheera demon. They come from the rift far beneath us,” he informed Abbigail, “but they never come up here. They can’t. They are bound to their rift by ancient shahoulin magic.”

“Then why’s it up here right now? And why the hell aren’t we running?”

“The jaheera are said to be quite slow. It’s almost pathetic really. Once in an age they were the largest creatures down here, they consumed all beasts and grew in magical power and strength. However, their power was their downfall. My people, the shahoulin, locked the jaheera in magical cages beneath this rift when they turned to harm us. It would take a mighty power to break one from that cage.”

“Your mother,” Abby said.

“Oh, absolutely.” Again, he loved her intelligence. She knew hardly anything of his world yet she caught on quickly.

“What did you mean when you said they have power? What kind of power?”

He shrugged. “I’m not sure. I’ve never actually seen one before and I’ve never fought one. It’s said they can cast magic like you and I, that they have old, dark magic. Obviously they are quite physically strong.”

“Being the size of a small mountain I’d think so.”

All too quickly, the demon finished rising to its massive height. It looked so tall that if it reached its arm up it’d touch the hazy clouds above. The demon’s torso and head showed while the rest still stood below the water line. Water lapped at its disgusting body and Alrik could just make out greenish hue swirling in the water around the demon as its toxic skin contaminated the lake.

Alrik hadn’t been alarmed at first. The demon was some distance away, and besides, they were slow. They had to be for such big beasts, but he quickly learned he was wrong, very wrong.

The demon opened its jagged mouth and let out a horrendous, ear-piercing bellow that shook the trees and jolted the earth with a rumbling quake. He and Abbigail turned away at the sound. She punched her hands over her ears. The awful noise tried to puncture his eardrums.

Then the demon started moving towards him. One stocky limb lifted above the surface, kicked forward then drove through the water with loud booming steps that sloshed the water like a hurricane.

Alrik took a step back, his arm swiping at Abbigail’s and pushed her behind him. He’d been wrong. It didn’t move slowly at all. The beast moved its massive body fluidly. In what must have been two or three steps it arrived at the lake’s shore.

“Dear God,” Abby gasped. Her fists squeezed his arm in warning.

Alrik agreed. Just as he latched onto her hand and prepared to run, the demon opened its mouth and from between ragged, yellowed teeth spewed noxious green spittle. The wet spray was accompanied by a bellow of sound that spewed the green substance against the trees and ground.

Alrik had only a moment to see the green spittle sizzle and smoke against what it touched, before he grabbed Abbigail and ran for it.

They sprinted hard up the slope. Again, from behind them, he heard the bellow and the wet spewing sounds of the demon’s toxic spit falling on the forest around them. Water sloshed as the demon came on shore. The odor of burning trees and grass mixed with something he didn’t recognize, but his instincts told him not to let the green spit touch him.

Just ahead of them trees bowed as the green liquid touched them. They withered down as if acid had been poured on them until nothing was left but a stump of a tree popping and sizzling up in smoke.

“We got to move!” Alrik roared, for the first time since seeing the jaheera feeling real panic.