Collide by Alyson Kent

Author:Alyson Kent
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: urban fantasy, paranormal romance, north carolina, tengu, vampires and undead, fantasy adventure novels, teen fantasy book, mystery adventure action fantasy, teen and young adult fiction, teen 14 and up, ayakashi

Chapter Ten

There was the sound of flapping wings. A heavy weight slammed into the Oni from the right and violently ripped his hand from my hair when we were both flung to the ground. I wasted no time in scrambling away on my hands and knees as the sound of flesh hitting flesh invaded my ears. All I could think about was reaching Maria, who lay small and huddled on the ground, unmoving save for the gentle rise and fall of her chest as she breathed.

I was too scared to move her because I didn’t know if she had just hit her head or if she had damaged her neck, so I crouched down by her head and turned my attention back to the vicious fight behind me. The sounds had changed from that of flesh hitting flesh to clashing steel, and as I stared at the impossible scene before me I realized why.

A tall, lithe man was fighting the Oni with a long, curved sword (“katana” my mind whispered) that he wielded with amazing grace and precision. He danced and blocked all of the swings the Oni made with his knife. He countered strikes with his own blade and took swings at the Oni, who managed to avoid them due to his speed, though it looked like each strike came closer to hitting the mark.

Now, a man fighting a mythological being in a moonlit forest with a katana would be enough to send anyone screaming for their sanity, but my sanity had packed up its bags, boarded a train, and waved a cheerful goodbye from the window as the train pulled out of the station when I finally allowed myself to process the fact that the man wielding the katana had a pair of wings on his back. Wings. Big, feathery wings that shifted and flapped every now and then to help him avoid an attack, and at one point he actually lifted fully off the ground to miss a particularly vicious gut swipe by the Oni. As he moved and took a swing of his own, I saw claws instead of hands outlined in the pale light.

I dearly wished I could have joined my sanity on that train.

There were no words exchanged between the two combatants, and their deadly dance was enough to mesmerize me and keep my mind slightly off the fact that my entire body ached. I kept one of Maria’s limp hands tight in my own.

There came the sound of a sickening squelch, and bile rose up in my throat when I saw that one of the Oni’s arms had been severed and was lying on the ground as dark liquid spurted from the stump. He roared and charged the winged man, who took advantage of the uncoordinated lunge and shoved his katana forwards and then up, burying it into the Oni’s chest. He let out a strangled gurgle before he began to vanish, melting away in the darkness in a way that reminded me

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