𝔸𝕧𝕒

Zane and Asmodeus continue to struggle against each other—their grunts and heavy breaths punctuated by the sounds of every object they break along the way.

I pull Kami's weakened body up onto the couch as she wheezes, then lift Kieran up into a nearby desk chair. For magical beings in extraordinary shape, they're both a lot heavier than they look.

Either that or I'm way more out of shape than I thought.

Let's go with the 'heavier than they look' theory.

A vibration shakes the room and knocks me over. My balance was already pretty terrible, but the residual effects of alcohol are not making anything easier.

I turn to see Asmodeus land a heavy blow to Zane that sends him backward, his head snapping hard against a concrete post. In a flash, I feel a cold hand around my neck, pulling me back into a firm body.

Asmodeus laughs softly as his lips just barely touch my ear. The feeling of his breath on my neck sends chills throughout my body and I feel nausea wash over me.

"Don't fucking touch her, Asmodeus," Zane growls.

His eyes are as vibrant green as they've ever been but the black smoke around him masks any other expression. There's a slight quiver to his voice that most people probably wouldn't notice, but I recognize as fear.

"A little late for that, isn't it Zane?" he asks. "Or did you not have a chance to watch our little video?"

Video?

Oh god. That was Asmodeus.

I kissed Asmodeus. On video.

I want to wash my mouth.

Is there such a thing as mouth sanitizer?

"I swear to god, you touch her again and it will be the last bloody thing you ever do," Zane snarls.

"Well, I was going to kill her..." Asmodeus says, his claws extending slightly into my skin. "But now I've got a better idea."

Zane is seething, but Asmodeus has the upper hand now and he knows it.

Asmodeus reaches into his pocket, keeping one hand around my neck. He pulls out the vial he took from Kieran and pops the cap off.

Lethe.

The stuff that made Zane forget me. The stuff that I suggested they use.

I mean, sure, that's not good. But lethe is temporary.

Right?

The smoke around Zane dissipates just enough that I can see through it.

"Don't," he says to Asmodeus. It's not his usual threatening tone, but rather an almost pleading one.

The way Zane is reacting makes me think this isn't nearly as harmless as I had hoped.

"You prefer I kill her then?" Asmodeus asks.

"No, please," he begs. "I'll do whatever you want."

"Ahh, sweet Zane," Asmodeus says, holding the vial to my lips as I close my mouth tightly and struggle unsuccessfully to free myself from his grip. "This is what I want."

In a split-second decision, I go for the only thing that makes sense to me at the time: I elbow him in the stomach.

I seem to have caught him by surprise, as the bottle is jostled from his hand to the floor. The liquid splashes onto my face and mouth in the struggle. I quickly spit and sputter in an attempt to avoid swallowing any.

"Oh Ava," Asmodeus says with a sigh. "Usually, I would appreciate that kind of foolishly brazen move from someone so weak. But you've ruined a rather delightful plan, haven't you?"

"Fuck you," I snap.

Was that a smart thing to say to an all-powerful demon?

No.

But I just said it.

"I'm not bloody kidding, Asmodeus," Zane says in a rough, low voice. "Let her go. You've got me, you can have your fun. She never wronged you."

"Ahh, but you forget one thing," Asmodeus says. "Why hurt one of you, when I could hurt both of you?"

An unbearable pain shoots through my leg as a grotesque crack echos through the air. I scream and collapse to the ground and watch as Zane does the same.

Tears flood my eyes in an instant as my heart thrashes against my ribcage, trying to wrap my head around what has happened. I grasp my calf with my hand. The bone is unmistakably snapped in two. The thought alone has my stomach reeling.

Asmodeus stalks over to Zane until he is hovering above him. Zane lies on the floor, the thinning smoke revealing his battered and bruised frame.

Asmodeus laughs and kicks Zane in the stomach as he lays on the floor.

This is it. We're going to lose.

I glance over to Kami. Her eyelids are fluttering as she struggles to maintain consciousness. As our eyes meet, she mouths the word "go" and looks out to the balcony.

Our building has a fire escape. Is that what she means?

And then what? Leave Zane and her and Kieran here to be tortured by Asmodeus?

She can't possibly think I'd be okay with that.

I drag myself closer to her. The couch has now collected a pool of her blood and she's tightly gripping her abdomen. Kieran is still unconscious in the office chair next to her.

"What do I do?" I whisper.

"Run," she wheezes. Some of her words are obscured by her weakened voice, but I manage to make out bits and pieces. "You're... human... you're the... get out... You are not a threat."

"I can't," I say. "I won't leave you. Any of you."

Being the weak one isn't usually a positive, but in this moment I know what she means. Asmodeus has spent most of the night ignoring me, when he wasn't using me as a prop. If anyone could slip through the cracks, it would be me. I'm human, a particularly weak one at that, and now I have a broken leg. I couldn't be less dangerous to someone like Asmodeus if I tried.

But maybe that's the point.

I'm the only one who can slip through the cracks, because I'm the only one he doesn't think he has to pay attention to.

Zane attempts to fend off Asmodeus, but seems to be weakening by the second.

"Why are you so hung up on Ilen, anyway?" Zane asks. "You were nothing but a pathetic fucking stalker to her!"

Asmodeus growls and pounces onto Zane, striking him again and again.

Zane is goading him. He knows we've lost and he's making sure I have a chance to get away.

Screw that.

He wouldn't leave and neither will I.

I tug myself up onto the couch and over to Kieran, who is still slumped in the office chair with a knife duct-taped to his hands.

Asmodeus stands up over Zane and turns back to look at me for a moment.

"Don't think I've forgotten about your girl, Zane," he says with a smirk, before focusing again on Zane. "I still have a lot of ideas for her."

A thick cloud of smoke suddenly launches Asmodeus back, falling to the floor just a few feet in front of me. He rises to one knee and growls in response, his back to me as he faces Zane.

If I'm about to die, I hope they cut this part out of my obituary.

I leap to my feet. The immediate excruciating pain in my leg sends shockwaves throughout my entire body, but I'll be damned if a little pain stopped me now. With all the effort I can muster, I wheel the chair holding Kieran's unconscious body at full speed toward Asmodeus. The knife in Kieran's hands plunges into Asmodeus's back.

Asmodeus turns around to look at me, almost offended at the audacity of my attempt.

"Really?" he mumbles. With no further sound or spectacle, Asmodeus shudders and falls onto his chest and his body immediately crumbles to ash.

The pain suddenly overwhelms me and I crumple onto the ground.

Oh yeah, that's right.

Broken. Friggin. Leg.

ℤ𝕒𝕟𝕖

I examine Ava's swollen and bruised face and I can't help but cringe knowing that, at least for a moment, she thought it was me who did that to her.

She has deep scratches across her neck and her poor leg is swollen and stark white---you can tell it's broken just by looking at it.

"I'm so sorry," I say. "It wasn't su-"

"Go kiss Kami, already," she interrupts.

"But I promised you."

"Oh my god, life and death here, Zane," she says with a smile.

I give her a quick kiss before moving over to Kami. She's unconscious but her heart is still beating softly.

I place a long kiss on Kami's lips before stepping away. Slowly, she begins to regain color as her wound begins to heal.

"You with us, love?" I ask.

"Shit... What the hell happened?" she asks, shooting up in her seat,. "Did you get him? Asmodeus? Is he dead?"

"I didn't get him," I say, looking over to Ava. "She did."

I can't help but smile as I look at the very tiny woman who just managed to defeat one of the world's oldest and most powerful demons. If I wasn't certain it would get Ava killed, I'd have all the details printed on the bastard's gravestone.

Here lies The Almighty Asmodeus. Killed by a tiny human girl with a wheely chair.

"You're kidding me," Kami says. "Oh my god, Ava, you are such a little badass but that is soooo not what I meant when I was telling you to go. I meant to get the heck out and save yourself!"

"I know," Ava says, groaning as I help her into the armchair. "But I wasn't going to leave you guys here to die."

"Well, I guess I'm grateful," she says. "Even if that was a totally insane thing for you to do."

"Um, guys?" Kieran's voice calls from behind me, coughing between breaths. "What did I miss?"

"Ava killed Asmodeus," Kami shouts.

"No shit?" Kieran says. "Sweet! Who's Ava again?"

Kami and Ava both laugh as I walk over to untie Kieran.

"Is that going to wear off soon or does he just not know who I am anymore?" Ava asks.

"It'll wear off," Kami explains. "It's hard to say when, but eventually he'll get his memories back. Lethe is real tricky and it affects everyone differently."

"Is that why you were afraid of me having any?" she asks, turning to me.

"Well, with humans the effect is permanent," I say.

"Oh. I guess I'm glad I didn't know that at the time."

"Oh, hello there, gorgeous," Kieran says as he eyes Ava.

I rip the duct tape off Kieran along with a fair amount of his arm hair as he throws a bunch of expletives my way.

I smirk to myself before grabbing the key to Kieran's cuffs and unlocking them.

"So what was the deal with the 50-Shades schtick?" Kieran asks. "Kinky post-murder after-party?"

"No, you were the murder weapon," Kami says.

"Sweet," Kieran says. "Like... Mrs. White in the library with the sexy demon?"

"Yeah, except instead of a sexy demon it was you," Kami teases.

"That was hurtful," he says, holding a palm to his chest.

"How are you doing, love?" I ask Ava, who is lying quietly in the armchair.

"I'm okay," she says. "Really tired and my leg is definitely broken. I should probably go to the hospital."

Fuck.

I'm such a prat.

Of course she needs to go to the hospital. I've gotten so used to her telling me that she was fine that I started to forget what the hospital was even good for.

"Sorry love," I say. "Kami, get your keys. She needs a hospital."

"Oh, of course," she says. "Ava, do you want me to grab anything for you or you want to just go?"

"Could you grab me a change of clothes?" Ava asks. "I've got a lot of blood on these. I'm not even sure what is whose."

Kami runs to the bedroom to grab Ava some clothes while I stay with her.

"Are you okay?" she asks.

Leave it to Ava to ask if I—the self-healing Immortal—am okay.

"Yes," I say. "As long as you're okay, I'm okay."

"That's good," she says. "You're not quite so smoky anymore."

I chuckle at her description.

"Yeah, decided to quit," I say. "Heard it was bad for you."

"That was a really lame joke," she says with a bit of a giggle.

"I'm so sorry I couldn't protect you," I say, the words pouring out of me faster than I can even think them. "I should've known he would've done something like that. I hope you know that I would never, ever hurt you."

"I know," she says with a smile. "You're the only one who took so long to figure that out."

"Not sure if I can say the same for you, though," I say. "Turns out you're a pretty vicious killer."

"Yeah, you better watch out. I'm a demon slayer."

"Yes you are, baby," I say with a smile.

Ava's expression softens for a moment as she looks at me. Her eyelids flutter and her skin goes pale.

"Ava?" I ask. "Are you okay?"

"I... I'm not sure..." she stutters. "I don't feel..."

"Baby?" I ask. "Talk to me."

Her eyes lock into a far-off stare and her eyelids begin to droop.

"Wh-...Do I know you?"