All Wounds by Dina James Page B

demon boy.”
    Billy snarled, his warped face contorting into an even more fearsome shape. He reached with one of his clawed hands for the demon holding Rebecca and tore her from its grasp with the other.
    “Get out of here!” Billy yelled.
    Rebecca screamed again as Billy hurled her through the air by her arm, over his head and away from him and the demons. She landed hard against the floor, but was somehow unhurt. She looked up to see Billy leap with a vicious growl upon Armaros, his dangerous wolf ’s jaws snapping shut on the neck of the demon.
    All the lights in the bathroom exploded, drowning the room in instant darkness. Rebecca broke into a sweat as she scrambled to her feet. She’d seen the door next to her somewhere! She didn’t have time to think as she let out a frightened squeak.
    Darkness wreathed in flames was bearing toward her. Eerie candle-flame eyes grew ever larger as the hellhound moved with frightening speed, chain flying behind it illuminated by the fire-tipped ridge of hair along its back. Rebecca did the only thing she could think of and ducked as the hound leapt toward her. The hound crashed hard into the wall behind her, vibrating it and shaking the door loose from the top hinge. The door folded in on itself, blocking the exit. Even though she could see light from the hallway now, there was no way she could get out of that!
    A yelp and a low howl reached her ears.
    “Billy!” Rebecca screamed.
    She heard another snarl, but couldn’t see if it was Billy. It was so dark!
    Or, at least it had been for a moment. The hellhound against the wall started to get up, glaring at her with scarlet eyes as its flames burned brighter.
    “He is dead,” the hound snarled as it rose. “As you are soon to be.”
    “No!” Rebecca managed as she took a step back, shaking her head.
    The hellhound laughed, showing its teeth. Rebecca was again reminded of a shark’s mouth, only in the darkness she could see the fire burning in the back of the thing’s throat, making the serrated teeth glow white-hot. She remembered looking up at Lord Notharion and something inside her told her what she needed to do. She looked the hellhound directly in its’ candle-flame eyes and made herself keep at it, though it was hard.
    “You won’t hurt me,” she ordered as firm as she could. “Try it and...
    and you’ll answer to Lord Notharion.”
    A yelp echoed through the small tiled room again, recalling the hellhound’s attention. It left Rebecca and bounded in a smooth leap back toward the fray. The lights flickered and Rebecca glimpsed a patch of dark brown fur in the middle of a writhing mass of gray and black and flames before the entire room once again went black.
    Silence fell with an abruptness unlike anything Rebecca had ever experienced. She listened hard for any kind of noise and didn’t hear a sound.
    She remembered what the hellhound had said about Billy being dead, and what Billy had said about six against one. Was he...?
    “Billy!” Rebecca screamed again.
    Silence answered.
    “BILLY!” she yelled again, as loud as she could. Her bottom lip trembled and she caught it between her teeth, biting it hard as her eyes started to burn with tears. “ANYONE?!”
    “Not so loud, Bit,” came a weak voice in the dark near her. “I ain’t got nothin’ left to fight another bunch, and demons come out in droves. Really lucky it was just Armaros and his little gang of wimps, though you know he probably called for backup the second he got jumped. C’mon, before there’s more or they get their act together.”
    Strong furry arms wrapped around her. Rebecca hugged the form hard and choked back a sob. She was such a baby. Maybe she wasn’t brave enough to be a Healer. The lights flickered as though in agreement and tried valiantly to stay on.
    “Hush up now,” Billy said. “You know how to ride piggyback, don’t you? Do that while we get out of here. They’re already starting to figure themselves out,