Unmasked by Kate Douglas Page A

fast, ignoring her agonizing pain as she skipped around behind the demon and slashed the backs of both legs. His left leg buckled, but she’d missed the tendons on the right.
    Howling, Yush turned way too fast and reached for Addie. Her foot slipped in a puddle of her own blood. She went down hard, well within the demon’s reach. Her head hit the side of the cabinet as she tried to catch herself. Lights exploded behind her eyes.
    Something screamed. A long, loud scream of demonic attack. It’s over, she thought. Her mind was too scrambled to transport, she couldn’t get her balance, her back felt shredded, and her right arm was totally numb. Blinking, she forced herself to focus on the huge demon looming overhead.
    Ukopach clung to the beast’s shoulders. Somehow he’d found enough energy to take on his video demon shape—brilliantly colored and perfectly formed—and buried his sharp little fangs in Yush’s neck, where he clung like a burr as the demon tried to dislodge him.
    No matter how Yush twisted and turned, Ukopach hung on.
    As if his attack had broken their stasis, the other demons in the room abandoned their human avatars. Human bodies collapsed all around as, swirling into a thick, black mist, the small demons banded together and surrounded Yush. Addie scrambled out of the way as her head began to clear.
    Amazing. They’d taken on shape and form the same as Ukopach. There were at least a dozen of the brilliantly colored video demons attacking the huge creature, snapping at it with sharp little teeth and drawing blood on every pass. The vast numbers of vicious little demons had Yush totally confused. Screeching, flailing at attackers too small and quick to catch, he flung himself about the makeup trailer, crushing chairs and tables, knocking out windows and leaving a trail of foul, dark green blood that steamed and hissed wherever it fell.
    And suddenly Jett was there, holding her close and moving her even farther away from the battle. Locan slipped in right behind him, kissed Addie’s cheek on the way past, and stood in front of Yush. “Clear,” he shouted. “Move away from Yush.”
    The tiny demons scattered, Locan raised his sword, and, before Yush even realized he was no longer under attack, Locan swiftly beheaded the monster. His horned head rolled across the trailer and came to rest in front of Ukopach.
    It was half again as tall as the tiny demon, but that didn’t seem to matter a bit. The rest of the creatures gathered about the trophy, cheering and giving each other high fives—or threes or sixes as the number of digits warranted.
    “Well, that’s certainly a first.” Addie slumped against Jett as blood loss and burnout from the adrenaline surge met in the middle. “I’ve never been cheered by demons before.”
    “Neither have we.” Locan examined her bleeding shoulder and badly injured back. “Jett, let me clean up here. Get Addie home so the wounds will heal. Then both of you come back here and we’ll figure out how we’re going to get these little guys back into their video game.”
    “There’s something I have to do first.” Gasping against the pain, Addie struggled to stand without falling. Jett steadied her with a firm grip on her left arm and helped her walk across the room to Ukopach. She knelt down and held out her hand. He grabbed on with his tiny fingers and squeezed.
    “Thank you, Ukopach. You were very brave, and you saved my life. You and your buddies. You’re an amazing little demon and I appreciate your help.” She glanced at the others standing silently by Yush’s severed head. “I appreciate every one of you. Thank you all.”
    Ukopach’s eyes went big and round and he stood very straight as the other video demons gathered close. “You saved all of us from Yush and Moloch.” He grinned at her, displaying a mouthful of tiny fangs. “One good deed always deserves another.”
    Addie tried to figure out if that was a good or bad thing. Then the world went