She alternated elbows until her entire body was out of the pit. Smoke clung to her body and drifted up from her like a smoking corpse. Yet she wasn’t a corpse.

“Siradu shika gh’daburem!”

The demonic words registered in her mind. Abby didn’t have time to try to understand the words because just then the demonic spell entered her body like a bomb and tore her insides to shreds.

“AAAH!” Her piercing screams tore through the night.

The spell...whatever it was...the queen had put something evil inside her. Agony engulfed her. She clenched her gut as she fell to the side curling into the fetal position. Right before she squeezed her eyes shut she saw the queen ever so slowly crawling towards her, one unsteady tug at a time.

The pain was the most intense feeling she’d ever felt. Like hot acid being poured inside of her. It kept filling her chest cavity and when that wasn’t enough, she felt the molten-hot sensation pour into one leg then another. She just knew that if she sliced open her thigh right now some awful black tar substance would pour out.

Something was happening to her. She couldn’t control herself anymore. Her body shook in violent seizures. No matter how many times she told herself to keep her eyes open and do something—she couldn’t. Pain overtook her. She couldn’t move, not even to save her life.

That rib-crushing, skin-squeezing pain covered her everywhere spreading like lava until it enveloped her in darkness.

She stopped being aware of much of anything then.

She could no longer hear the sounds of war taking place with Alrik. Was he dead? Were they all dead? Maybe that’s why she couldn’t hear anything.

No, that couldn’t be right because she couldn’t hear the crackling of the fire either or her own breathing. As she strained to hear, a soft high-pitched ringing started in her left ear. Her head twitched at the sound or at least she thought it did.

Were her eyes open? All she saw was black. Black nothingness.

Maybe this was death. Maybe she’d finally died.

No!

Her body jolted, this time she knew she’d actually jerked because she felt her heart jump too.

She needed to find Alrik. He needed her help. She had to finish this.

She struggled to become aware, to come back to consciousness. She felt her body swimming as if floating listlessly beneath the surface. She swam towards that surface, each swipe of her arm through the murky area around her like trying to move through molasses. Finally something gave. Like a bubble bursting. She broke through.

Then, her eyes opened.

A gnarled creature glared in her face.

No, not a creature. The queen. Or, what was left of her.

Her face, colored in black ash and rosy burns grinned like a wild beast above her. Only the whites of her eyes and teeth could be seen among the fleshy red welts of the burns. In some places along her skull where there’d once been glorious hair, skin had melted to reveal the hot red layers of fresh skin beneath.

The queen held Abby by her shirt.

Abby screamed at the sight. Then she reacted and sent her fist fly up. She caught the queen’s chin with a satisfying crunch of bone.

The queen fell off her and Abby moved. The spell the queen had casted on her hadn’t lingered any longer. The intense pain had faded but she still felt weak as a kitten and feeble. Each motion felt sloppy. Even her punch felt like she couldn’t have hurt a baby. Nevertheless, this was her last chance and Abby wouldn’t fail. Not for her Alrik.

She and the queen rolled. Abby landed another punch square across her jaw. The queen’s skin was still hot and the warm, gooey texture of her flesh made her skin crawl.

The queen’s hand, now nothing more than skeletal bones and raw tendons, climbed over Abby’s face. The warm sticky feeling nearly made her vomit but she held her gut in check.

Still the queen managed to grab a fistful of her hair and pull—hard. Abby grunted through the hair-tearing pain as she reached up to dislodge the hand.

She grabbed hold of the queen’s burned, gnarled hand and yanked her fingers backward, hard. The queen exhaled a garbled shout of pain.

Abby heard a sound so lovely then she could have wept tears of joy.

“Abbigail!”

Never would she have thought that hearing him yell her name could make her smile.

She looked to the side and saw such a beautiful sight she lost sight of what she was doing.

Alrik came rapidly down the slope, Aidan and the rogue demons following behind him. He looked battle worn, but so strong and stunning.

I love you, she thought.

She made a mistake. One she didn’t realize for all of the three seconds it’d taken her to turn her head and look up at him. That’s okay it was worth it.

A blade slid into her chest so near to her heart. Her eyes, still locked on Alrik’s face, flared in surprise. His dark eyes flashed then he roared and charged forward.

Abby looked down to see a knife sticking out from her chest. Blood oozed from the wound. Why was she so slow to act? She should be moving, acting now. Doing something. But what?

The queen’s distorted face smiled up at her. “I win,” she hissed.

Abby jerked at her words. Pain started numbing her like icy water filling her veins. “No you don’t.”

Abby pulled the blade from her own chest. It took her two tries for her strength was fading fast, and the skin of her chest caught the blade as if it didn’t want to let it go. Finally, it came free. She palmed it in two blood-covered hands and stared into the evil eyes of the person who’d started this all.

“He wins,” Abby said.

Then she slammed the blade into the queen’s neck. The amount of blood that spurted from the wound almost seemed fake like something you’d seen in a horror movie. But this wasn’t a movie and she’d really just shoved a dagger into another person’s neck. Well, she’d also nearly burned the demon bitch too, so. Whatever.

Abby fell off the queen. She hadn’t meant to but she had no control over her body. With each breath she took, more blood seemed to gurgle from her chest with a wet plopping sound.

Alrik’s face swam before her. She smiled and reached for him. He grabbed her bloodied hand and ran a calming hand over her hair. A sigh escaped her it felt so nice. Whatever spell the queen had made him drink was gone. He had returned to his normal self.

“What have you done?” he asked in a hoarse voice.

She started to speak but was surprised to find she had to swallow a few times first. Her tongue felt heavy and dry. She needed some water. “I beat her. I killed her. Right?” God, she’d better be dead. Abby didn’t know how many more times she could kill her.

Alrik leaned over her. It wasn’t until that moment that she realized how cold she was. A shiver passed over her. His cheek pressed against hers, and then he kissed her. Even his cheek felt burning hot. She tried to purse her lips to kiss him back but couldn’t.

“Yes, you killed her.” Why did he sound so funny?

“What’s...wrong?” She had to swallow again. Damn, her throat really hurt. After she felt better, she was going to really live in to him for choking her.

Her head rolled to the side but she didn’t remember doing so.

Something was wrong.

It didn’t dawn on her until then.

It really hadn’t. She’d been so overjoyed to see him again—alive and strong.

So what the seer said was true. She would die. She actually was going to die now. Tears filled her eyes and spilled down her temples.

I don’t want to die.

A sob climbed up her throat but she held it back.

Both of his hands covered her cheeks as he kissed her again. “I love you so much,” he said, his eyes closed and his voice breaking.

He repositioned her so she lay in his lap. She sighed. This new position felt nice—much warmer and she got to be closer to him. His hand slid over her wound and she winced. Yeah, it hurt. He pressed hard to it.