Part 21 (1/2)
No time to get this wrong!
He wiped out half the glowing symbol, realized it now looked sort of like the word go...
Palm against gla.s.s. A louder crack. More screaming.... and went with plan B. The rune on his left hand grabbed ghosts. Ghosts were energy left over when flesh rotted. Therefore, the rune should allow him to grab this energy.
Grab it and throw it.
The glowing blue go hit the demon between the shoulder blades and sucked into the scaled skin with a disconcerting sizzle.
The demon spun around...
H.
... s.h.i.+fted its weight onto two different legs...
0.
... and charged.
M.
Tony didn't have to keep throwing the letters. The demon charged through them, no longer sneering, clearly intent on ripping apart this puny mortal who dared to interfere.
Puny mortal? Where the h.e.l.l had that come from?
Sizzle.
Sizzle.
Sizzle.
Too close!
The world had not gone into slow motion. Too bad because he could have used a bit more time. Eyes locked on the charging demon, his breath coming fast and shallow; he was only going to get one chance. Panic lending speed, more focused than he'd ever been in his life, he scrawled the last letter in the air.
E.
Not so much a sizzle as a ZAP. Like the world's biggest bug hitting the world's biggest bug zapper.
The impact threw Tony backward as the demon flared a brilliant lime green and disappeared, leaving nothing behind him but a piece of smoking pavement and the smell of charred fish. It was over before his a.s.s. .h.i.t the parking lot; a large, deep puddle absorbing most of the impact.
”What was that all about?”
He could feel power racing over his skin as he peered up through the afterimages at Leah. ”You're welcome.”
”It was kind of hard to see what you were doing...” Her voice grew shriller with every word. ”... but those weren't the right runes!”
”They worked.”
”They shouldn't have!” Tony would have shrugged, but his shoulder hurt way too much and, from the line of warmth dribbling down his chest, he had a feeling the bandage had come loose. He should have felt like c.r.a.p, but he didn't. He felt invincible. It was like the way he knew where things were when he reached for them except... more. He knew where the whole world was. He knew where he was in the world. No. More still. He was the world. Just him, no backup singers.
It was the most incredible feeling. There was nothing he couldn't do, and no one could stop him. Without really thinking about what he was doing, he healed the puncture wounds in his shoulder.
And was amazed by the new and exciting levels of pain.
”Sonofaf.u.c.kingb.i.t.c.h!”
Then world was a big ball of rock again, and his place in it involved a puddle and a parking lot.
”Tony!” Leah was right in his face. ”What did you do to the demon?”
”I told it to go home.”
Her mouth opened and closed a couple of times. She took a step away. ”Go home?”
”Yeah.” Even on the lower mainland, October rain was cold. As the water soaked through the cheap polyester, his b.a.l.l.s tried to climb up and sit on his lap. ”You said it yourself, the demons don't belong here. I sent it back where it belonged.”
”It's not that easy!”
”It is if I want it to be.” Teeth clenched, he checked to make sure his arm still worked, then he got to his feet. ”This is my world, not his.” No need to define the p.r.o.noun. ”He may need to slaughter whole villages and draw complicated esoteric symbols, I don't.”
Rain ran under his collar and down his back. ”Intent is nine tenths of the law.”
”No, it isn't!”
”It is,” he repeated slowly and deliberately, ”if I want it to be.” He could feel the world waiting for him. What was it Leah had said earlier? He was the round peg in the round hole and, here and now, it was a perfect fit.
She shook her head, rain flinging from the ends of dripping curls. ”It isn't...”
”Is.”
”No.”
”He's telling the truth.”
”Who the h.e.l.l are you?” Leah snarled as Kevin Groves and her umbrella emerged from behind a parked van and joined them.
Tony smiled. This might be fun. ”Leah Burnett, Kevin Groves. Kevin is a reporter for the Western Star.”
”The press? You brought in the press?” She grabbed a double handful of white and red and yanked the umbrella out of the reporter's hands. ”This is mine! Why does he have it?”
”So my hands were free and I could save your a.s.s. Again.”
”Save my a.s.s?” Her eyes widened and her posture changed subtly, her focus s.h.i.+fting from him to Kevin. ”From a special effect?
Don't be silly.”
”It wasn't a... a special effect.” Kevin scrubbed his palms against his suit. Kind of pointless given that the suit was soaking wet, but Tony had to admire the fact that he was still thinking for himself. No other straight boy had managed as much when Leah turned it on.
”Of course it was.” She moved a little closer. Tony amused himself by watching Kevin's Adam's apple bob up and down as he reacted to Leah's proximity. ”What else could it have been?”