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neck. After a long moment, he withdrew. Andi took a
deep breath, appreciating the ability to do so.
    “I can breathe.”
    “Mmm,” Toryn acknowledged.
    With the barest smile gracing her lips, she
mused, “That didn’t seem like the actions of a big, bad demon.
Maybe you’re really—”
    “The next time you panic, I will leave you to
die.”
    “Aaand there you are,” she quipped.
    Turning to face the direction in which the
first hell hound came from, he warned, “More are coming. We must
leave.”
    Andi immediately lost her smile and followed
Toryn swiftly through the ever-winding tunnels, not understanding
in the least how he knew where they were going just by listening to
voices. Every step looked the same as the last, and every tunnel
smelled just as bad.
    As they remained as quiet as possible, she
tried not to think about the possibility of being a demon. She
mentally filed through her day planner for the next week, arranged
a few schedule changes, and listed the pros and cons of her
lifestyle. Of course, that last activity led her right back to the
demon question, which led to a whole slew of other questions.
    If I’m a demon, can I opt out of being the
office’s Christmas party coordinator this year?
    Finally, they emerged from a portal in the
middle of the woods and only two scrawny guards stood in their
path.
    “Halt!” the smallest one yelled.
    Andi balked, “My grandmother’s taller than
you. Get out of our way.”
    But these guards, no taller than four feet,
must have been quite different from the pushover they left in their
cell. These little men possessed swords and the power of ten men as
they assessed Andi’s rude comment.
    The elfin-figured guard to the right laughed
and addressed the spherical guard to the left. “She wants us to
move? Us ?” Losing all semblance of humor, he turned to Andi
and bore his teeth. “My grandmother eats bigger things than you.
But I’m not as picky,” he hissed, springing at her.
    Toryn whispered, Cannibals , in her
mind before snatching the portly guard by his neck and squeezing
until something crunched and popped. Andi was knocked to the ground
by the other guard and rolled past in a headlock as the stocky
figure began to slump, gasping the last air his lungs would ever
feel.
    “Get off!” She pushed at the thin creature
with little effect. It snapped its teeth in her face. “I’m not
dessert, you little bastard. Let go of me!”
    Without thinking this time, the heat
spontaneously erupted from her core, causing the cannibal to run
for the safety of the woods as it yelled, “Beware! Fire demon!”
    “Well that settles it,” she sighed, “I’m
really a demon.” Standing, she asked, “Does that mean the rest of
my family are demons, too?”
    “Only a small percentage of the female
populace of a blood lineage can create fire. Males may develop
other powers, but it is rare.”
    “Damn, that explains it. My nieces act like
little demons half the time.” She noticed the wan color of Toryn’s
face. “What’s wrong?”
    He wavered on his feet and she rushed to his
side, using her shoulder propped under his arm to stabilize
him.
    “Those cannibals were goblins. Their bite is
like snake venom to demons.” He pulled at his dark cloak, exposing
a view of his hard chest that made Andi’s breath catch. A mound of
vicious red tissue blemished his otherwise smooth flesh. “I was
bitten during a fight two nights ago.” Allowing the material to
fall back into place, he turned to show Andi the hanging meat on
the back of his upper arm. “And another just now.”
    “What?” She tried not to start
hyperventilating again. “What does that mean?”
    “We need to leave before the little one
brings more of his kind. It will not be so easy to escape the
cooking pot a second time. Not…” His eyes closed for a moment.
    She shook him. “How do we get out of here,
Toryn?”
    “To the west,” he pointed, barely audible.
“There will be a circular home of