Obliteration

Chapter 13

"This will be our last gas stop. I see a hotel across the road that we can stay at for the night."

It's Landon who says this because it's currently his turn driving. We switched every couple of hours to make it easier. The last stop was two and a half hours ago. I'm currently laying half asleep on Julian's shoulder, while Addison and I talk telepathically.

When Landon pulls into the deserted gas station Quinn and Kayla practically fight their way out of the car. They both fall to the ground nearly crying,

"Ugh land! Finally! I'm out of the horrible moving contraption!"

As they hug the ground the rest of us get out a stretch our stiff muscles. We grab our daggers and separate to get what we need. We use the bathroom, grab some food, and then start to gather by the car to leave. Just then a familiar, creepy car pulls into the gas station. The Demons.

We weren't sure it was them, but since they've followed us for nine hours it was a pretty safe bet that it was them. We figured out that they have an Illusionist with them that make them look normal to the Normals whenever needed. Otherwise questions would've been asked a long time ago.

"What do we do?" asks Quinn. She hates fighting. But sometimes, like right now, it seems unavoidable.

"Take out your daggers"

I say as I see the Demons get out of the car. I can hear rather than see my friends pulling their daggers out of their pants.

There's seven of them, that's probably all they could fit in the car, and they approach us as a group this time. They stop about fifteen feet in front of us.

"Give us the girl and nobody gets hurt." the one that seems like their leader says. How cliche of a line, in a different situation I would've laughed.

Addison.

I call out to her in my head hoping she can hear me, but I don't dare give myself away by looking at her.

Tell the others to stay behind me, outside of my line of vision. I'm going to have to Obliterate them if they attack. Tell Julian that if they attack he needs to Illusions us all invisible. Hopefully nobody will get hurt.

"I will never help you guys and your evil plans" I yell out loud. "Ever. I don't want to hurt anybody."

I feel the back of my shirt move like somebody is pulling on it and I know that it's Landon telling me that they all got Addison's message.

The leader made a move, jumping at one of the girls, Addison I think. I could see my arm disappear as Julian Illusioned us all. But when I look back at the Demons I realized our plan wasn't perfect, because they also had an Illusionist hiding them.

I hear a loud bang and see a dent made in the ice container on the gas station wall. Addison stands up looking flustered, Landon must have Pushed the Demon off of her before it completely disappeared.

Addi! Tell Landon to Push the Illusionist, distract it so he loses his Illusion.

Addison has a good idea of where each Demon is from where their thoughts are coming from. I can tell she is helping Landon by telling him where he should Push. Pushing air wasn't very effective against the Demons, so landon starts
throwing the bags of ice from the cooler as hard as he can.

It works to distract the Demon Illusionist because the next thing i know I can see one of them charging right at me. I duck out of the way and turn to fight it, but in the process it is grabbing at my arm with surprisingly sharp nails.

When I take a better look at them I realize that they've been sharpened into such a point that it's become a weapon. I also see long black hair coming from it head and I realize that it must be a woman, or it once was before it's body turned on it. She stands three feet from me and we circle each other, waiting for an attack from the other.

I notice out of the corner of my eye that everybody is in attack mode, fighting like it's a war. Landon must still be keeping their Illusionist distracted because everyone is still visible, and then I realize that all of us are, too, so Julian must be fighting and unable to help us. I decide that if I'm going to win this fight I need to attack first, and that's what I do.

I lunge at the Demon woman, grabbing at her shoulders while simultaneously taking out her feet, effectively throwing her to the ground. She digs her nails into my thigh and scrapes all the way down my leg, and i feel my skin going with it.

I can't hear my screams in the heat of the moment but I know that they're there. Using my other leg I kick the Demon in the face and back away. I pull out the purple ribbons of my Control from my brain and set the on her, and i don't stop until I know that she's dead.

I only have a second to look around at my friends all fighting before I realize that the numbers are off. There were six of us and seven of them. Where's the seventh one? I got the answer when something tackled me from behind.

Just like our last encounter with the Demons they don't try to kill me, rather they try to knock me unconscious so that I can't use my control while they take me. The problem I had now was that it was on my back and it was bigger than me. I couldn't fight back.

"Mara!" Kayla yelled.

Last time I looked she was still struggling with her own Demon, she can't worry about me! I was trying my hardest to escape the Demon but it was impossible. I stopped fighting it and instead focused all of my energy on my Control.

I couldn't see the Demon on my back but just the presence of Obliteration would weaken it enough for me to escape. Just as I saw the purple ribbons I felt the Demons attack lessen and I was able to turn my body to face it.

With the full force attack of my Control the Demon didn't stand a chance, he fell completely limp over me and I pushed him away. When I stood up I saw that everyone else had killed their Demons. My group of friends stood before me covered in blood looking completely defeated.

Wait... Not all of my friends were standing before me.

"Kayla!" I yelled.

I looked around and saw her laying only twenty feet from where I had my fight with my Demons. She was on the ground not moving. I ran over to her and saw that she was covered in blood, she had a horrible wound in her stomach.

"Kayla! Open your eyes, please, please open your eyes."

I'm on top of her crying when I feel hands pull me away. Julian holds me while Quinn tries to keep me calm, if she didn't I could lose control and hurt everybody. This is all my fault.

"She's alive" says Landon, "she's just hurt really bad."

"We have to get out of here." says Addison "I can Hear people coming. I think the gas station owner called the cops."

Landon picks up Kayla and we all get in the car. Addison drives and we all sit in silence. This is all my fault.

She was distracted by me when I was trapped under the Demon. It made her weaker and the Demon she was fighting had an opportunity. It was all because of me.

Oh my god. I can't do this. I can't do this. Please be okay. Please.

Addison pulls over to the side of the road and tells Quinn to drive. She pulls me out of Julian's arms and holds me close. She pushes one thought into my mind over and over again.

It's not your fault.