As Grant hit the ground with a bone-jarring impact, Kaletherex screamed. The demon's arm was rent from wrist to elbow and the wound poured thick, viscous black blood and steam roiled up like a volcano.
Dragging air into his protesting lungs, Grant grinned. His every nerve was amped, his eyes alive with power. He saw everything. He had wounded it! Deep down, he hadn't really believed it was possible.
Don't let it get to Cassie, the voice in his head hissed. If it gets her soul, its power will be unstoppable for a moon's turn!
People struggled to fight their way out of the cavern, but the throng was bottlenecked at the narrow passageway. Gunfire reverberated through the chamber, and Elijah still hid by Cassie, sheltering by the stone altar where she lay bound.
Grant ducked under the sweeping arm of Kaletherex once more and rolled nearer to her. “Cut her free!” he yelled. “Get her out of here, it's the only chance we have!”
He moved again, drawing Kaletherex aside, and dashed forward once more. Red hot talons raked across his back and he ducked and slashed out with the knife. He yelped in pain, but felt the blade slice through the demon's flesh once more. Kaletherex shrieked, its gashed thigh bleeding and steaming.
Grant turned to face the demon and Kaletherex halted, staring hard at the knife that had so painfully wounded it twice. The creature tensed and began to circle, not quite fearfully, but carefully.
“Not so fucking harmless, am I?” He wished he felt as brave as he sounded, but he was beginning to worry. Kaletherex was now wary of him, but clearly the wounds Grant had inflicted were far from grave. He'd imagined that a single drop of Ma Withers' potion would, he didn't know, melt the beast like the witch in The Wizard of Oz. His own wounds pained him, draining the energy from him. Could he at least keep Kaletherex at bay long enough for Cassie to get free?
And then he realized what Kaletherex was doing. The beast was circling toward the altar. It wanted Cassie. Grant moved to intercept the beast, and it roared as it stalked closer.
From the corner of his eye, he saw Elijah sawing at Cassie's bonds with a pocket knife. And behind Elijah, Cliff Stallard appeared, rifle raised.
As Grant was about to call out, Amos emerged from shadow and put his rifle to the back of Cliff's head and fired. Cliff's face vanished in a scarlet explosion. A wave of satisfaction washed through Grant, but it was short lived. More shots rang out and Amos's chest burst in twin sprays of blood.
“Amos!” he cried out, his voice echoed by Elijah, who saw his father fall. Cassie rolled off the altar, her bonds cut, as Kaletherex rushed Grant again.
This time, Grant was too slow. The demon's claws raked across his arm, tearing the knife free, and the force of its charge sent him hurtling backward. He flew through the air and hit the ground hard, the air leaving his lungs in a rush. He pushed himself up on his elbows and watched helplessly as Kaletherex charged in for the kill.
Suddenly, the demon froze, flailing its arms around its face as if swatting flies. Grant was suddenly aware of the continued gunfire, and realized the demon was caught in the crossfire between Elijah and whoever had shot Amos. Unlike the wounds from Grant's knife, the bullets did little more than annoy the demon. It turned and charged what it believed were new attackers.
A familiar voice screamed, “No! I'm on your side!” Moments later, Jesse Stallard's broken body flew from the darkness and landed with a wet smack next to Grant.
Grant gazed dumbly at the shredded corpse, unable to summon the strength to fight. He realized the power of Ma Withers’ protections at the sight of how utterly Jesse had been destroyed by one of the demon’s blows. But even so, the moments of his life were numbered by the seconds it would take for Kaletherex to find and kill the other shooter. Then it would come for Grant.
Someone poked him. Grant looked around, but no one was there. The invisible hand prodded again. He remembered Josiah's finger tucked in his pocket.
You gotta finish this, boy. This ain't no time for dancing. The voice said. Kaletherex has its vessel on this earth, and I have mine. Don't forget, I am with you!
A strange calm rose up through Grant, wrapping him in warm detachment. He reached into his pocket and pulled Josiah Brunswick's finger free, gripping it for strength, and hauled himself to his feet. He didn't turn and run, but searched around for his knife. He found it nearby. His fingers closed around the hilt, and he turned to see Kaletherex impale Sheriff Barton on a stalagmite.
“Grant! Come on!” Cassie, leaning heavily on Elijah, was hobbling toward the passage leading out. “We've got to get out of here.”
“You go.” Wrapped in the void, he scarcely recognized his own voice. “I'll be there soon.” The lie left his lips smoothly, and he felt not a pang of regret as he positioned himself in the path of the demon. He would die here, but Cassie was going to get away. His sacrifice, and Amos's, would not be for nothing.
Kaletherex seemed to move in slow motion as it charged. As the beast loomed over him, massive arms wide, Grant let himself be gathered up in its crushing embrace. The heat of the demon's body burned where it touched his skin. Distantly he heard Cassie scream. His flesh blistered, he smelled his hair burning, and the pain, both agonizing and enlivening, pulsed through him. It was all a faraway thing, and he pushed it aside as he stabbed the demon in the face and neck with the tainted blade, keeping its fanged jaws at bay. His blade bit through infernal flesh and bone again and again as the demon howled.
Grant's strength waned with every blow, but he could feel the demon flagging as well. He yelled as he poured the last of his strength into his attack. He buried the blade halfway to the hilt in Kaletherex's skull. The demon's hellish roar struck him like a blow and he lost his grip on the knife as it thrashed about. Grant bounced against the cavern wall, scarcely keeping his feet.
But it wasn't a killing blow. Kaletherex, the bowie knife jutting from its forehead like a twisted unicorn, was still very much alive, and very angry with its tormentor. As the demon stalked forward, the voice came again.
That's not the way, boy. I told you, I am with you.
“What do you mean?” he cried, wondering if Brunswick could hear him. “Tell me what to do! The only thing about you that's with me is this damn finger!” The finger writhed in his grip, as if struggling to reach the demon. “The hell with you, Brunswick,” he muttered.
Kaletherex was almost upon him, jaws open wide, ready to devour him. “And the hell with you!” He looked down into the gaping, tooth-filled maw of the demon and laughed maniacally. “Remember Josiah Brunswick? Here's what's left of him, and I hope you choke on it!” He laughed again and thrust the writhing finger deep into Kaletherex's throat.
That's the way, boy! The voice was exuberant, yet already distant, fading.
Kaletherex roared around Grant's hand in its throat and slammed its mouth shut. Through the pain and stench of burning, Grant vaguely registered his arm as it was severed below the elbow and disappeared into the huge, black beast.
The demon screamed and staggered back. Grant stared wide-eyed at the stump of his left arm, not bleeding, already cauterized by the hell-creature's furnace bite. Kaletherex roared, clutching and clawing at its throat and stomach. Some people still ran and screamed, though there seemed to be hardly anyone left in the cavern but the dead and the gibbering mad.
Pain lanced through every atom of his body, but Grant ignored it. He stumbled to his feet as Kaletherex fell to its knees. The demon swung blows left and right like a drunk swinging desperate punches as the strength left it and its hold on the mortal realm wavered. Its presence shifted and morphed, became gossamer and unreal. Grant grabbed the Bowie knife, yanked it free of the beast’s skull, and stabbed and slashed, again and again, until it felt as though he was swiping through nothing but air. With a soul-rending roar of agony and despair, Kaletherex folded in on itself and fell away from the world.