We’d been noticed. I heard Chaz call something out, and the daemons in the valley turned toward us. Some started loping toward us, long legs covering the ground, while others stayed back over Rosa’s corpse.

I raised my arm and focused my will. A beam of intense light swept across the front of the oncoming beasts, blasting them into bloody, singed bits. A good start.

“Done with the fireworks?” Pater asked.

“Just a moment,” I replied. Chaz was still in sight, and I was pissed.

I aimed and released my hatred and wrath. The beam was pencil-thin, pure white light. Chaz flung his arms up and somehow managed to project a shield, intercepting it. The deflected force of the beam boiled the air around him, scarring the landscape. I could feel his shield failing. The daemons around him died or fled. The force of my righteous fury fell upon him and pressed him backwards.

The fireworks in my skull forced me to my knees. Marcus – Marcus had called me Dave. I knew despair for a moment before I passed out.