Devon's blade was still descending.
His legs refused to move.
Heat crawled up his spine, heavy and wrong, dragging his limbs down as if the very air had thickened around him. His gaze remained locked on the steel cutting through the candlelight towards his neck.
He forced his muscles to move, but the surge inside him twisted against his control.
A pulse tore through him, sending all that heat crashing into his chest.
For one breath, Gabriel felt nothing but the thump of his own heartbeat.
Hanitz planted his feet in the ground, cracking the floorboards beneath him. The shock of the impact shook the contracts hanging on the wall.
And lunged. He wasn't going to make it.
Gabriel's eyes widened, just slightly, as all his senses snapped back all at once.
It was too late, Devon's blade came down with full force.
The edge bit into the fabric of the demon-eyed adventurer's shoulder.
