Demonata #7: Death's Shadow by Darren Shan

Author:Darren Shan [Shan, Darren]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 0101-01-01T00:00:00+00:00

We make our way down through the levels of the hospital. The air throbs with the screams and

moans of people who were struck by glass shards when the windows shattered. We spot some of

them as we descend. They’re milling around helplessly, while nurses and doctors try to calm and

help them.

49

I spy a demon on the fifth floor, chasing a man with a cast on his right leg. I look at Dervish,

silently asking if we should help. He shakes his head. “We can’t do anything,” he wheezes. “I’m

running out of strength. We need to save our energy—we might have to use it to break free.”

“We weren’t sure you were going to recover,” I tell him as we stumble down the next set of

steps.

“Maybe I wouldn’t have. But they made the mistake of opening a window too close to me. The

magic flooding through hit me like a wave and revived me.”

“Magic brought you back to life?”

He nods. “And it’s keeping me going. Which is fine. But when the window closes, I’m toast.

That’s why we have to get out of here. The demons will have to return to their own universe or

perish when the window shuts, but there might be soldiers or werewolves waiting to move in.”

We trudge on in silence, Dervish panting, struggling to support Sharmila. His legs are shaking

badly. Even with all the magic in the air, he can’t last very long. He might drop before we make the

ground. If he does, I’ll have to leave him. Sharmila too. I’m not a coward but it would be foolish to

stay. In desperate times you have to act clinically. Dervish and Sharmila understand that and would

only curse me if I let myself be slain for no good reason.

As we come to the second floor I spot a lizard-like demon slithering through the door from the

stairs. I motion for Dervish to stop and we wait until the creature has passed. As we come abreast of

the door, I glance through the circular window. There are two more demons with the lizard. One

looks like an anteater, only it’s bulkier and has several long snouts. The other is some sort of

demonic insect with a heavy golden shell, the size of a large dog.

As I watch, they kill an elderly woman and a nurse, then claw open a door and slip into a ward

out of sight. Dervish has moved on, but I remain where I am, a wretched feeling in my gut.

“Hurry,” Dervish huffs. “We’re nearly there.”

“Dervish…” I say hesitantly.

“What?” he snaps.

“There are three demons.”

“So?”

“They’ve gone into the maternity ward.”

Dervish shuts his eyes and sighs. He looks more like a corpse than one of the living. I think he’d

be happier if he was dead. I wait for him to say something, but he only stands silent and

unresponsive.

“The babies,” I whisper. “We can’t let them slaughter babies.”

“We should,” Dervish croaks. “It’s the first law of being a Disciple—if you don’t stand a decent

chance in a fight, run.”

“I’m not a Disciple.”

“I am.” He pulls a weary face. “But to hell with it.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.