Yeah, that was freaking fun.

Turns out that, while he can gas out a room, Khrene has some serious skills with hand-to-hand as well. He backhanded one demon, who went down snoring, followed by another, which he pounced on. I don't know exactly what he did, but he stood up and the demon was sleeping.

Nee was blasting demon after demon with acid and glue and something that made them unable to stand. Arveya wrecked all, literally exploding demons with her blade.

Cole spent the majority of the battle having muscle spasms. Granted, he did manage to hypnotize one into beating up another. Props for that.

HYPNOTIZE IS NOT SPELLED WITH AN S. SHUT UP, COLE.

Kel and I went back-to-back, a double-dagger wheel of death.

Within a few seconds, all the guards were dead.

"Wow," Nee said, looking at Khrene. "I thought that your attacks were all-or-nothing. Like, you could attack everyone, but it would KO your allies, too."

He chuckled. "When you have an ability like mine, you learn fine control very fast. I can choose exactly which area of my arm I use, and how much. Not many of the other demons know that. However, I still have to be careful when I use it. When I attacked the first one, I simply released a small amount at the same time that I hit him. It's an easy technique - a quick strike to make my opponent gasp, and then a small release while they're still inhaling."

"WASTING TIME!" I exclaimed. "We need to move."

In reality, though, I was doing it for Khrene. I didn't know why he seemed so embarrassed to talk about his powers, but his mind was shying away from it and his voice was slightly pained. I don't know why I cared, considering that he'd tried to kill me before, but now I understood that it was an act. He had been acting when he'd tried to kill us. He glanced at me gratefully.

"There are a few ways out from here," Khrene said. "There's the front door, although I expect that that will be guarded. There's the garbage chute, although that is likely guarded as well, considering that there is only one way out. And..." He paused, trailing off.

"What's the deadly one?" Cole asked with a sigh.

"Out the window," Khrene said, smiling sideways.

"Sure!" Arveya and I said. Cole turned a delicate shade of pink and looked away.

"Aren't we thirty feet or more up?" he asked.

"Try ninety," Khrene said, grinning.

"No way," Cole peeped, all color draining from his face.

"I can do it," I said. "I can lower him down, then myself."

"Alright," Arveya said. "I can bring down Kel. Nee can go on her own."

"Fine with me," Kel rasped. Nee jumped.

"What about you?" I asked Khrene. Arveya snorted. She evidently didn't trust him at all.

"I have tricks," the demon rumbled. "I'll manage."

I sent Cole out the window. He whimpered the entire way down, trying not to panic. I did not think he was acrophobic. Weird.

Arveya sprouted wings, grabbing Kel by the elbow. She flew him down to the ground.

Nee gulped a grayish-green potion, then jumped. She bounced when she hit the ground, going like a rubber ball for ten seconds until she stopped. She belched loudly enough for me to hear her from the window.

I jumped, catching myself with my telekinesis. I reached the ground pretty fast, then turned around to see if Khrene was following.

I was not expecting to see him parachuting out the window.

He had flipped his robe off and over his head. (thankfully, he was wearing pants and an undershirt.) He used it as a parachute to float to the ground. I thought I saw something flash through the air behind him, but then it was gone.

"Impressive," Nee said, whistling. "Now for God's sake put your shirt on." The demon chuckled, but automatically yanked his robe back on.

"Let's get moving," I said with a grunt.

We ran for it, dashing into the night. The realm was alight with screaming, the sound of tortured souls and angry demons. It was enough to freak anyone out, but I was so adrenaline- high that I didn't even notice.

After a period of running, Khrene held up one hand.

"We can stop here," he said. Good thing, too, considering that Nee was dragging Cole by his shirt collar. Cole was wheezing, his arms still spasming slightly.

"You mean for the night?" I asked. "Or for now?"

"For the night," the demon replied. "I'll take watch."

"I can!" Arveya burst out indignantly. "Just watch me."

"You haven't slept in 48 hours," Cole grunted. I gave him a sideways look. "You were unconscious," he told me. Ugh. I hate it when I miss things because I was knocked out. (if I haven't said that once, I've said it a million times.)

We really just ended up flopped in a pile for warmth, Kel and Arveya on top of Cole on top of Nee and I.

Liyz, squished in the Demon Realm, ready for another trek through hell.