Flame & Fury Chapter 1

CHAPTER 1: A New Battle

Daphne peered with caution from behind a wide oak, straining to perceive the two black blurs that had vanished farther into the woods over a minute ago. Nothing.

There was no need to track down the dyszoons herself. While they might flee to regroup, the evil creatures never abandoned a fight for long.

“C’mon…” Daphne muttered, ears still ringing with their shrill screams. She bounced on her cold feet, hoping this would help warm them up. “I know you’re coming back.”

The woods were awakening with the sunrise. Less than an hour ago, she had been half-asleep in a turbulent dream when she sensed the dyszoons come through the Veil. After a hasty change of clothes, Daphne had stumbled into her car and sped to the familiar woods surrounding Laurel Road.

Doubt increased with each uneventful minute. Was waiting the wrong choice? Should she go after the dyszoons?

Daphne hesitated to move. Banishing dyszoons back to Hell had become routine enough that it almost felt easy, but the two she was facing here were different—just blocking them had winded her.

There was little time to dwell on this new problem. First, she needed to get through the battle.

Daphne was beginning to think she had no choice but to go after the dyszoons when a distant, frigid scream pierced her bones. They were back.

“Okay, you can do this,” she muttered with a nod of resolve. Her heart fluttered in response.

Daphne leapt out from behind the tree, a vulnerable move she would have hesitated to make even a month ago.

A shapeless black mass the size of a bowling ball rushed at her face with terrifying speed. Caught off guard, Daphne screamed and clumsily struck out with her mind. The dyszoon veered into the nearest tree and flew away, leaving the bark torn apart.

Winded, Daphne leaned against the oak for balance. The impact had been like two bulls clashing heads, one made of steel. Panic that had crept in at the first exchange of blows was creeping into her lungs. It was Halloween night all over again. She wasn’t strong enough.

But the many battles over the more than four months since that night had sharpened her abilities. She couldn’t have lost all of that progress overnight, which meant these newly arrived dyszoons were somehow more powerful than the rest.

A brush against Daphne’s mind gave a moment’s warning as a black blur streaked past her right elbow. She straightened, but the dyszoon had already flown out of sight toward the road.

Another blur passed—the missing second dyszoon. Unlike the other, it circled back to attack. Daphne pushed down her panic. These dyszoons might be stronger, but to defeat them, she would just need to strike hard at the right moment. Easy.

A blaze of shadow reached for her, and Daphne met its blow. The dyszoon bounced away, the teeth-clenching impact making her stagger again. A second presence stroked the back of her mind. Without thought, she turned to deflect the other dyszoon, which had decided to rejoin the fight.

Shaking, Daphne held her balance. The creatures were attacking from different angles, and each blow held them back for only seconds. She spun back and forth to deflect them, gasping with the effort.

Worry sank deeper into her skin like the damp cold. She was weak, so weak, against these dyszoons. How long could she really hope to fend them off? 

Even in the midst of battle, Daphne recognized the danger she was in. The dyszoons’ evil presence was bringing her worst thoughts to the surface. They would seize on any weakness, heighten any despair.

She yelled and struck harder at each dyszoon, relieved to see them pushed farther into the trees. In the pause, an ignored sound from the road drew her attention.

Voices.

Two middle-aged women walked briskly along the road, visible through the bare trees. Daphne’s instinct was to hide, but she was deep enough in the woods to be difficult to spot.

One of the dyszoons rushed her. Distracted, she defended herself too late. It blasted against her weak barrier, pushing her backward onto the dead leaves.

Dazed, she sat up and threw out another defense just in time. The dyszoon shrieked as it flew off, though the sound was chillingly gleeful. It rushed her again, spreading out like dense black smoke against the invisible barrier. Daphne grimaced as she held it in place.

In a corner of her awareness, the women chattered brightly in the early morning as something sped in their direction.

The other dyszoon.

Bright panic blinded her. Her worst fear, that the creatures would harm someone else, was moments away from being realized. If the dyszoon reached the women before she could stop it—

The dyszoon near her pummeled her shield, knocking her backward. On the ground, she held it off, only inches from her face. Daphne squeezed her eyes shut in revulsion. Its evil seeped through the barrier like poison.

There was no time to waste. She sped a phantom hand outward, sensing her way to the dyszoon closing in on the women. The other half of her attention strained to keep up a shield as the creature above crashed into it repeatedly, its scream full of wrath.

The other dyszoon was approaching the road. She struck.

It ran into the ground with a shriek, skidding leaves in its wake. Daphne severed the hand and hit back just as the dyszoon threw itself at her barrier. It soared away with a surprised scream.

Daphne struggled to sit up. The dark mass rushed at her.

“No!” she blocked. It was toying with her, drawing her attention from the other dyszoon as it moved toward the defenseless walkers. Then her worst fear would be realized.

The women would feel pain explode wherever they were struck, the cause unseen. While dyszoons couldn’t damage humans the same way as their surroundings, they could still injure. The dyszoon would attack while it had strength, torturing them on every side, perhaps enough to kill them.

The dyszoon near the road swung around. Daphne reached out an invisible hand in desperation, but the creature by her attacked. The hand crumbled.

Panic rose with each blow. After months of keeping the dyszoons from harming others, here was finally a battle she couldn’t win. The dyszoon would keep her distracted until it was too late.

No! she screamed silently, pushing it far into the trees. In the pause, Daphne reached through the woods and struck the other one.

The creature veered off course. It would be delayed only a minute.

The nearest dyszoon pounded her barrier much like bulls charging one after another. As Daphne withstood its attacks, a realization electrified her. The only way to save the women was to defeat this dyszoon first. And there were only seconds to do so.

Daphne pushed outward. The dyszoon billowed like a dark storm cloud, and she attacked it again.

I will never—

Her blows came heavy.

Ever—

Its resistance felt weaker that time.

Let the dyszoons hurt someone—

The other would reach the women any moment.

Again.

Daphne dealt her final blow. The dyszoon shattered into a black cloud.

She whipped a phantom hand through the trees. The creature was just feet from the road—

The hand struck like a lightning bolt, and the last dyszoon dissolved instantly. It was gone.

Daphne’s knees wobbled, and she propped herself against the nearest tree, not wanting to lie on the wet ground voluntarily. She ran a hand through her dark hair, startled when dead leaves fell out of it. The oblivious women’s voices carried on, fading as they crossed the road and headed in the other direction.

Her eyes closed. That was too close. It was the closest call she’d had so far. Usually, there was little traffic on Laurel Road. The women were ambitious walkers.

The battle over, Daphne realized how cold her feet were. She checked the time on her phone—thirty minutes until school started.

A full day ahead. Weariness swept over her. The memory of the dyszoon strikes pounded faintly in her temple. Or, more likely, that was the start of a headache.

Daphne opened her chat with Claire to warn the psychic. They could discuss the battle and why these dyszoons were so much stronger than—

A chill cut through her as if winter had returned with the flick of a switch. Terrible silence encased every leaf, pushed into her veins, stilled her heart—

“No…” Daphne bent over, clutching her frozen head. It couldn’t be—

Sound exhaled over the stirring trees. Daphne unstuck her feet and sprinted to her car. The women were distant dots in the rearview mirror. She fumbled with the key. No, no, no.

The car started. She drove the last mile toward the Veil, stunned out of all thought except denial.

She reached the hillcrest and parked, staring aghast at the black circle in the sky that was the Veil, the portal that made it possible for dyszoons to travel from Hell. Since its expansion on Halloween, she and Claire had handled the creatures like clockwork as though nothing would change.

Now, the Veil had doubled in size.