Enjoying Life with 3 Dogs, 2 Kids & an ADHD Husband.

Okay, so today I’m posting a cut scene from Demon Guard.  I actually ended up going in a whole different direction with the plot.  I hadn’t even remembered it until about two hours ago, when I dug it up in all it’s unedited glory.  I did spend some time trying to revise it a bit– because, hey, how else was I going to procrastinate working on REAL scenes?–but it’s still mighty rough-ish.  Maybe I can find a home for it in my sequel. *snicker*  Hey, a girl can dream, right? 

Anyway, here’s the set-up.  Summer (the MC’s) old friends Kat and Allie go to spike demons in a parking lot to join the Academy, only–they’re not the meek little Stage Ones they’re supposed to be.  Rather, it’s an ambush, with three fully embodied demons waiting to attack.  Kat and Allie are captured.  Summer and her friends Cody and Shade try to fend them off and save the girls, but will their efforts be enough?  Read on:

When I was only a few feet away, I tossed my spike to Cody, who immediately feinted left.  The demon followed the spike with hate-filled eyes.

It was all the opportunity I needed.  I launched forward, whipping my leg around when I got within striking distance to do a foot sweep.  Whack!  I caught the demon above the ankle, with just enough force to make him stumble.  As he toppled forward, his grip on Kat loosened, and Cody jumped him from behind.  The spike glinted in the sun as it arched to pierce the demon’s skull.  His scream rent the air while he tumbled to gritty asphalt, Cody clinging to his back, Kat crashing down beside them.  I rolled and grabbed her around the waist, hoisting us both to our feet so we could leap back and out of danger.

Several yards away, Shade wrestled the lone demon into a headlock. His spike flashed.  Then, he hefted up the demon and tossed it good twenty feet across the parking lot.  I felt my jaw go slack. What the hell?  But I didn’t have time to ponder that physical impossibility.  We had a third demon to take down. 

The remaining demon’s brawny arm still circled Allie’s neck, her feet dangling a foot off the ground. Her ragged gasps for air grew weaker. I raced toward her and, out of the corner of my eye, saw Shade do the same.  But even though I was sprinting, I felt like I was moving in slow motion. Like I was trying to force my way through hip-deep sand.  My heart thumped in time with my footsteps as I struggled to reach her in time. 

The demon gripped Allie on one side of her chin. Metallic fear coated my mouth while a scream of terror echoed through the parking lot. 

Mine.  

Allie’s tear-filled eyes pleaded with me.  My body responded, and a new burst of strength powered me forward. But I was too far.  Too late. Helpless to do anything other than watch.

A quick jerk of the demon’s wrist.  A crunch of snapping neck .  “NOOOO!”  The tortured howl burst from somewhere deep within me.   Allie’s eyes flickered once, twice—and then their light dimmed to a sightless stare.  Seconds later, her limp body slumped in a heap at the demon’s feet. 

            Everything after that was a blur.  I dove for Allie’s body while Shade tackled the last demon.  I shook her, laying my head over her chest to see if any air was going in.  Nothing.  Utter stillness.  Tears filled my eyes, even though I’d known before I checked it was futile. 

People with broken necks didn’t breathe.

            As I laid there with my cheek still pressed to her chest, the warmth of her body felt both familiar and cruel.  I caught Kat’s horrified gaze from across the lot.  Fuzzy little black dots danced in front of her face.  I prayed for darkness to take me, to give me a brief respite from the pain crushing my heart.  But fate had no such kindness in store.  Though the parking lot wavered like a mirage, it never disappeared entirely.

Neither did the body of the dead friend cradled in my arms.