“Famine,” the demon hissed. “I feed from my victims and their strengths become mine. And you have very strong friends, Rylee.”

The ground rumbled and I knew we were in deep shit.

Across from us, Jonathan stumbled to his feet, his hands searching for something. He grabbed a stick and scribbled into the sand as I lay incapacitated, watching Fanny and Rylee dodge each other’s blows.

Jonathan looked up, his eyes catching mine. “The only way we all survive is if you kill the demon.”

“No fucking shit, Sherlock,” Rylee screamed at him as her left foot touched the water.

“You have to pull her guts out, along with her tongue!” the kid yelled, looking at what he had written in the sand. “That’s the only way.”

Rylee nodded. “One eviscerated demon, coming the fuck up.”

My whole body convulsed as the demon pulled on my strength. I fought her, did my best to hold back. If she got a hold of my abilities with Spirit, we were done.

I reached for Spirit and threaded it through my body, using more of it than I’d done in a very long time. It took everything I had left to lift my head. This was a long shot, but I had to try.

“Fanny. Stop.”

The demon froze, a shocked look on her face. Spirit roared through me, the strength of it making my words a physical weight that even the demon could not deny.

“What have you done?” she growled at me, shaking as she tried to throw the bonds I’d laid on her.

I wet my lips, tasting the salt of the earth below me. “Give me back my strength.” Spirit flooded my words with power and with them, Fanny did as she was told, though she screamed the whole time. She fell to her knees and Rylee didn’t waste any time.

With two quick swipes of her sword the demon’s belly was open. Rylee booted Famine in the chest, knocking her to her back as I stood and made my way to her side.

Together, we pulled the demons stomach out, except that it wasn’t a stomach like any creature I’d seen. Tiny balls, like glowing orbs rested within her body cavity.

Rylee pulled one out and looked at it. “Other people’s energy.” She crushed the ball in her hand and it zipped away while Fanny cried.

With each orb we crushed, her body became frailer until she was a skeleton with a taut covering of skin barely holding it together. Her red eyes flickered dimly. “I hate you, I hate all of you on this side of the Veil.”

Rylee leaned over her. “Any last words before I cut out your tongue and throw it in the flames?”

Fanny glared at her. “Your daughter will die in your place and it will be your fault.”

With a vicious jab, Rylee drove her sword into the back of the demon’s throat and slid her blade across. Half Fanny’s jaw and her tongue flopped out. Rylee picked it up and took it to the brazier, tossing it in.

Fanny writhed at my feet, her eyes wide with shock. “She isn’t dead yet.”

“I know. I’m going to remedy that.” Lifting her sword high above her head she paused at the zenith. The blade began to glow with a pure white light, like with the last horseman, Pestilence. The glowing sword lit up the cavern as if there were no other torch’s lit. Rylee drove it down with enough force that it buried through Fanny’s heart, all the way to the hilt.

With her hands still holding the handle, Rylee whispered softly. “Go to where you belong. Wherever that is.” The softness in her voice surprised me.

Peta’s voice caught me off guard. “That is the only way to truly end a demon, Lark. They only know hate and death and fear. You must be the antithesis of that. You must kill them with love. You could do it, if you were trained. That is another strength of Spirit.”

I turned to see my familiar a few feet away, sitting on her haunches. “So I see you listened as well and stayed where you were told to.”

The cat shrugged. Felines, they always did what they wanted, regardless.

“But why is it so hard to kill these demons?” I asked.

Peta let out a soft meow and shifted to her housecat form. “Let Rylee hear me. She needs to understand.”

That surprised me; not that Rylee needed to understand, but that Peta would allow her voice to be heard by anyone who wasn’t an Elemental. I beckoned Rylee.

“Peta wants to talk to us both.”

Rylee’s eyebrows shot up as the rest of the entourage came running onto the sand. Peta, though, didn’t move, her green eyes unblinking as she watched us.

I put a hand on Rylee’s shoulder and let a trickle of Spirit run through her, opening her to Peta’s voice.

My cat nodded and then began. “The demons you face, they are more dangerous because as long as there is war, famine, death, and pestilence in this world, they have a place to draw power from. It is the only reason you were able to kill the first two; famine and pestilence. They can be isolated. Death and War will wait for you on the battlefield, where each kill that happens, each fight that occurs, will feed them. And in turn, they will feed Orion’s strength.”

Rylee let out a slow breath. “I think I can stop Orion. But I need to get close to him.”

“Wait,” I held up a hand. “Peta, since when do you know so much about demons?”

Her eyes were sad. “I was alone a long time, unable to find you, but knowing you were out there. You told me to be ready when you came back. That we would have more strife ahead. I went to every library in the elemental world and learned. Five years in each family and five spent in the human world learning. There was more on demons than I’d like, but I am glad for it now.”