Not to be left out, I charged into the mix, sending another Akh I recognized from Caleb’s warehouse into Ryan’s outstretched stake with a roundhouse kick.

“Now that was awesome,” Ryan said, as the Akh burst into dust in front of him. “I always hated that guy.” He spun around and went charging after a Gelal that had Brent backed into a corner. I felt like a proud mama for a moment, watching my boys sticking up for each other.

I heard a female shriek from the other side of the clearing, near the exit.

“Look what I found,” screeched an Akh.

He stood over Katie Summers, clacking his taloned nails together. Katie screamed again, throwing her arms in front of her face as she lay on the ground.

“Looks like a tasty treat,” said the Akh.

“Stop him!” I shouted at Slade, who was closest to them.

Slade jumped into action, knocking the Akh away from Katie with the swing of one of his tattooed arms. He reached out to help Katie up, but then a Gelal jumped on his back and knocked him to the ground. Slade tried to roll away. Before he could, the Gelal pinned Slade down by sitting on his chest, and the Akh who’d tried to attack Katie grabbed him by the face with his long talons.

“Don’t look him in the eyes!” I shouted.

But it was too late, the beast had locked eyes with Slade, trapping him in a motionless trance. The Gelal, teeth bared, went for Slade’s neck. Before the beast could bite, I threw my stake like a javelin across the clearing, and it skewered the Gelal in the back. It burst to acid on top of the Akh.

The Akh scrambled off of Slade. It screeched like an injured bat as it scurried away into the cornstalks and disappeared into the maze.

I ran to Slade and pulled off my jacket. I used it to wipe the Gelal acid from his arms. He blinked at me, moaning as he came out of the trance. I was about to ask him if he was okay when I heard another shout from Daniel. This time I knew it was from pain.

I spun in Daniel’s direction and watched as his stake fell from his hand. He clutched at his right shoulder, where his silver-bullet wound was exposed by a gash in his shirt. A Gelal stood in front of Daniel with blood dripping from its claws. The demon had raked its claws over Daniel’s already-tender wound.

Daniel tried to crouch to snatch up his stake, but he was too slow, and the Gelal kicked it away. The stake went flying into the depths of the cornstalks. The beast lunged at Daniel, and Daniel dropped his hand from his bleeding shoulder to grab the Gelal by its shoulders. I could see the pain on Daniel’s face as the two grappled in hand-to-claw combat. For the first time in this fight, Daniel, weaponless and injured, actually seemed vulnerable.

I reached for my own stake with the intention of throwing it to Daniel, but found that it had almost completely disintegrated, lying in a pool of Gelal acid.

“Heads up!” Talbot shouted. He elbowed an Akh in the face and then flung his sword at Daniel with all his might. It sailed through the air, spinning point over hilt, toward Daniel’s face.

I was about to shriek, but Daniel whipped out his left hand and caught the sword in midair by its handle. In a move just as quick, he brought the blade down on the neck of the Gelal and lopped off its head. He spun away from the spray of green acid, and I felt my jaw drop as I watched Daniel, with moves fluid yet forceful, slice through three more demons before they even had time to react.

“Wow,” I said, my heart beating quickly in my chest.

“That was killer,” said Ryan, watching with just as much awe as Daniel finished off a forth demon.

The other monsters in the clearing hadn’t failed to notice Daniel’s prowess with the sword, and I watched as the four remaining Akhs and two Gelals backed away. They clawed their way into the wall of cornstalks and disappeared. I could hear their footfalls as they ran at top speed through the stretches of the maze.

“Should we go after them?” Zach asked. Ryan and Brent looked just as eager to pursue their old gang mates. Slade, looking a bit dizzy himself, sat on the ground next to Katie, his hand on her back as she held her head between her knees like she was trying not to pass out again.

“No,” I said. “I don’t want you getting separated in that maze with them.”

“Aw, come on,” Ryan said, practicing swinging his stake the way Daniel had handled the sword.

“My guess is that they’re already gone by now.” Talbot lifted his cowboy hat and wiped his forehead.

“All the same,” Ryan said. “If we chase them, they’ll be less likely to regroup and come back.”

“Fine then,” I said. “Zach and Ryan, you two can go. Stick together and be safe, all right?”

Ryan and Zach went after the probably-already-long-gone demons, whooping and hollering like a couple of lost boys chasing pirates. Brent groaned about being left behind.

“I should go with them.” Slade stood, but he didn’t seem the most stable on his feet. But maybe that’s because Katie was clinging to his legs for support.

“You can stay,” I told Slade. “Looks like Katie isn’t letting go any time soon.”

She looked at me then with eyes that still made her seem a bit dazed and confused. Her mascara smeared in long streaks down her face. “Grace? Is that you? I thought you weren’t coming to the party.”

I sighed, relieved that she obviously still wasn’t quite with it if that was her biggest question. Maybe she wouldn’t actually process anything that had just happened. “I changed my mind. Can’t pass up a good party.” I shrugged.

“This was some party,” she said slowly, bobbing her head up and down. She seemed positively high. “Wait, why did you follow me out here? Did you … kill … that guy who was trying to make out with me?”

Uh-oh.

Daniel stepped forward. He tucked the sword behind his back, but he couldn’t cover up the bloody tear in his shoulder. “I think someone may have slipped something in your drink, Katie. We followed you to make sure no one took advantage of you.”

“Daniel?” She leaned forward, squinting at his eyes behind his mask. “You came, too? I thought you had pneumonia?” She tapped her fingers against her forehead like she was trying to think really hard. “Did you just chop off some guy’s head?”

Brent busted up laughing. I gave him a quick glare.

“Okay,” I said. “I think Katie’s had enough partying for one night.” I motioned for Slade to pick her up. “Take care of her, will you?” I asked him.