Dread filled the room, submerging me and Lucas in a sea of despair. “We’re trapped,” he fretted, drowning in anguish. “If another demon comes out of her, we’re dead.”

“No,” Robyn denied, her face etched in pain. “Not this time. This time is different. I’m sure it’s an actual baby.”

Robyn and I locked eyes for the first time without cruel intentions. Her emotions were exposed, as were mine, I’m sure. We could both feel the truth: she was giving birth to Lucas’s child.

“Lucas, stay here and help her deliver the baby. I’m going downstairs to deal with the demon. It’s the only way any of us are going to survive.”

“I can’t let you do that. I—”

“Lucas, please. This is my desire. My dream. I have to do this. I need to do this.”

He opened his mouth to decline, but chose to nod in acceptance. “Alright.”

Our lips locked together before an ear-splitting cry from downstairs shattered our embrace.

“I’ll win, I promise. I love you.”

“I love you too, Ali.”

The creature’s shrill grew louder the moment the door opened. Standing at the top of the stairs, I looked down at the demonic figure and decided to take the boldest option available: charge at the demon head-on.

With adrenaline fueling my actions, I sprinted down the stairs and flung my chakram in hopes of an easy victory. Instead, the creature absorbed my weapon and leered, ready to retaliate.

It began its ravaging assault by thrusting its talon-like nails at rapid speed. I avoided fatality by ducking and dodging, but the tips of its claws grazed my skin repeatedly. The demon refused to cease its offense, proving that it was faster and more relentless than my last adversary.

After a continuous pursuit, it halted and distorted its head in a semicircle angle. I used this time to generate a collection of light energy in my hand and discharge a powerful radiance.

Nothing happened, though. Figures. The demon stood unruffled with its mouth opened, almost as if it was smiling at my futile attempt.

Thrown off guard by its expression, I stupidly took my eyes off its tentacle-like arms, which wrapped around my body and lifted me in the air. With lightning speed, it swung me against the walls of the house, blood spurting on the floor from impact. No longer could I feel my arms and legs. I was paralyzed both in body and mind.

Unable to fight back, I could do nothing to prevent being through the glass window of the house to the outside, where I laid hopelessly. My hollers of pain went unheard. The shards of glass impaled into my arm went unseen.

I was alone in this battle, just like I asked to be.

It would’ve been easier to remain on the ground and accept defeat, but thoughts of my friends, family, and Lucas forced me to keep fighting. My life meant something to them. I couldn’t let it end here. Not like this.

Get up, Aliyah. Get the hell up.

The demon made its way out of the house. My hands scraped against the concrete to drag myself away from it. A yelp from across the street halted its pursuit, the passerby choosing to take out their phone instead of running the hell away. Now was not the time for this.

The person pointed their phone at the demon, much to my dismay as I could tell they were taking multiple photos of me and the creature. The individual scampered off just as people began coming out of their cars and homes to observe in shock and fear.

The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.

This was it. The moment I knew was coming, but never wanted to happen. Whether I survived or not wouldn’t change the fact that people were going to know the truth about the world. About the curse. About the demons.

About me.

I endured the agony of standing up and released a beam of light at the demon. The attack regained its attention, but failed to do any damage.

Onlookers expressed their displeasure with terrified screams, their phones raised to either record or take pictures. Someone shouted they had called 911, but I couldn’t worry about that now. My biggest challenge was right in front of me, staring me down with an empty heart.

I generated a chakram and hobbled toward the demon, slashing away in hopes of hitting a weak spot. It countered with its whip-like tentacles that crippled me further. All I could feel were my limbs desperately trying to function again.

My feet flew off the ground after a hard swipe to my chest, my back hitting the concrete hard. The demon followed up with a kick that sent me rolling on the ground like discarded trash, deeming me unworthy of its rage.

And maybe that was true, because I could feel my life fading away.

But just when I thought it was the end, an object from above hit the demon on the side of its head. It was Lucas’s guitar.

“Ali.” I looked up at his bedroom window and saw his face. “Don’t give up,” he cried out. “You got this.”

You got this.

You know what? He was right. I did have this.

“I am not going to lose to you,” I assured the demon, my aching bones struggling to stay sturdy as I stood back on my feet. “You hear me? I am not losing. My dreams are my reality, and the reality is, I’m gonna protect everyone in this city from monsters like you. My light is stronger than your darkness.”

An abundance of light energy formed around me. My entire vision became black and white. All color was lost except the demon’s red eyes.

What’s happening? I asked myself, though now was not the time to worry about the strange phenomenon. The creature’s sudden screech meant it was ready for the final round.

I braced myself when out of nowhere, a giant ring of light manifested above the demon’s head. It dropped down on the fiend and shrunk in size, creating a bind so tight that not even its slim body could slither out.

To my surprise, the demon was completely immobilized. Two large chakrams generated in both my hands, their power surging through my body.

In a relentless sequence, I launched both chakrams at the demon repeatedly due to the weapons manifesting again and again after they were thrown. The onslaught brought the demonic entity down to its knees, allowing me to walk over and grip its face before releasing all of the light stored within me. The luminescence liberated the area from darkness, engulfing the street in a dome of purity and light.

When the blinding illumination faded, my vision returned to normal. The demon was no more. The absence of strength caused me to fall to my hands and knees. It took all the energy I had to crawl back inside Lucas’s house and make my way to the top of the stairs. When I did, the whimpering sound of a baby made my heart skip a beat.

Using the knob on his bedroom door as support to stand, I turned it and stepped inside. My eyes then landed on a newborn crying in Lucas’s arms.

“Ali,” he called out with tears. “You did it. You saved us.”

“And you saved the baby,” I acknowledged with a smile.

I looked at Robyn, who laid unconscious with blood painting the towel around her bottom half.

“We need to get her to a hospital,” I said to Lucas. “Now.”

☾☼☽

Several hours passed before Lucas and I received confirmation that Robyn and her child were going to live. After the two of us were medically cleared, we took the elevator down to the first floor of the hospital and stood inside the doorway of the entrance. Outside the glass doors were officers waiting to take us to the police station for questioning, and I could sense the days of keeping my life a secret were over.

“Lucas, I’m scared,” I confessed. “People took pictures of the demon and recorded me using my power. What happened isn’t gonna pass as some online stunt. It’s real, and it’s gonna go viral. Our lives won’t be the same after today.”

He shrugged with a smile. “Ali, after what I saw you do, I think we could take on the world if we had to. We’ll figure it out, I promise.”

Looking down at my hands, I addressed him with another concern. “The light that defeated the demon was something different. What do you think it was?”

“I wish I knew. Your eyes were glowing white, and when I mentioned it to Robyn before she passed out, she said you’d win because you had gone beyond the boundaries. Whatever that means.”

Of course. Leave it to Robyn to still be keeping secrets.

“Well, whatever it was, I’m glad it happened and we’re both still alive. I love you, Lucas.”

“I love you too, Aliyah. C’mon, we’ve got dreams to chase. Together.”

We pushed open the doors and stepped out to a new world. A new life. The winds of jubilation breezed through the air as Lucas and I walked together to the police car. The ever-haunting nightmare of the Shadows had been subdued for now, but in a city where dreams become reality, endless possibilities were on the horizon.