DAEMONEUM

by Laney McMann

  “Yeah?” She glanced at him. “Well, sounds like he found you here.”

  “He did.” Cole ushered her up the steps.

  Chapter 22

  “Verona,” Lindsey said, taking in the landscape around them. “I love Verona.”

  Giselle tightened the straps of her backpack, eyeing Danny. “Are you sure Cole’s here or did you track his shoe this time?”

  “He’s here.” Danny touched his neck. His hawk lay flat against his throat again, dormant as it had always been. He wasn’t sure what he’d done to make it appear in miniature and act as a guide, but he knew Cole hadn’t lied when he said Danny would be able to find him anytime, anywhere, he needed. Landing in Verona was proof alone.

  Giselle turned her gaze toward Lindsey. “Okay, you see where I am. Now you can go back to Boulder.”

  “Huh?” Danny glanced between the two of them.

  “I’m not leaving, G.” Lindsey adjusted her backpack. “We’ve already gone over this. Which direction, Dan?”

  He tilted his head toward the town at the bottom of the hill. “I don’t really care what’s going on with the two of you, honestly, I don’t, but whatever it is, figure it out. We have more important issues to handle at the moment.”

  “I told you it was a bad idea if you came,” Giselle said, staring at Lindsey. “You already got hurt when the tunnel collapsed on you, and I know you’re not fully recovered. I can handle this. Danny and I can handle this.”

  Lindsey shook her head. “Not saying you can’t. I’m only saying I’m coming. We can either stand here and argue about it again, and get nowhere, or we can accept it. Either way, I’m not leaving.”

  “And I’m not standing here.” Danny started walking.

  Giselle released an overly exaggerated breath. “Well,” she shouted after her brother. “Do you know which way?”

  “That way.” He pointed down the hill. “Toward town. We’ll follow the crowd of people walking around down there. Looks like some kind of festival.”

  Heru stalked through the underbelly of the amphitheater, tapping the wings on his throat. There were benefits to having a network of informants all over the globe. The message he received in response was in correlation with his informant in Ireland. The ancient monastery Skellig Michael had been hit two hours prior to the newest attack on Silbury Hill in Avebury, Great Britain. There were a hundred places he needed to be at once.

  Reminding himself that Cole’s safety was the priority, Heru checked his watch for the time and continued his descent through the ground floor of the arena.

  He’d been to the Fondazione Arena di Verona many times in all his years. The opera was lovely, and a good distraction for Kadence, plus it was the perfect backdrop to get lost in so they could be on their way to the next destination. But it wasn’t the most important reason they’d come.

  Tracking down several flights of worn, ancient, stone steps that had likely never been updated since the amphitheater was built, Heru stood in front of an arched doorway plastered with signs and yellow caution tape.

  Do Not Enter was the header over the door. Several two by fours had been nailed across the opening to keep people out. All the boards were painted with similar warnings: Danger. Floor May Collapse. Ceiling Unstable. No Admittance.

  Heru ducked his six foot tall frame underneath the lowest board with some difficulty, but he’d managed to do the limbo well enough in his day, so shimmying like a crab backward wasn’t out of the question. He shifted his body sideways and underneath the two by four and onto the other side of the blocked doorway.

  The view from his vantage point was reminiscent of a coal mine shaft—a massive circular tunnel of dirt with several fallen boulder-sized stones and a mismatch of rotting lumber. The amphitheater had been renovated years ago, but not all of it was able to be repaired. Clearly, this is where the updates had stopped.

  Picking through large fallen rocks, he made his way down the tunnel, dress shoes kicking up dust. The underground chamber was silent and still. He could pick up no traces of vibrations in the air or energy of any kind. Coming to the tunnel’s end, Heru opened his hand and slowly waved it through the air with a trace of purple-blue corona from his fingers. Nothing. No crackling of negative electricity. No shimmers of faint energy. The Leygate, which had once opened up below the old church years ago, was gone. With an exhale, he placed his hands on his hips. Plan B.

  Candles were in full luminescent glow as Kade and Cole made their way back into the amphitheater, Cole’s arm snug around her shoulder.

  “Beautiful,” he said. “I told you.”

  “It is.” She stared in awe at over a thousand flickering flames.

  Cole led them to their seats, again excusing himself to fellow patrons with every step he took. Sometimes, Kade thought, it was hard to see him as the badass fighter he was, the Alpha Primori, the only one with a red corona—besides her—the most powerful of all colors. Except for the time he’d met her “father” and had spoken so formally, she hadn’t seen him in an element of all etiquette and no fight. She loved the different sides of him, but this side was maybe her favorite.

  Settling in their seats, they overlooked the wide-open stage below just as the opera began, and Cole’s arm wrapped firmly around her hips. The music, accompanied by the candle light and the star-strewn sky above, was breathtaking. Cole had told her he wanted her to write a list of all the things she’d never done, places she’d never been, and as she looked over at him in that moment, she realized he’d already shown her the entire world.

  “What?” He grinned.

  “Thank you.”

  He bowed his head slightly. “You’re welcome.” Cole tugged her closer. “Do you understand any of it? It’s Italian.”

  Kade nodded. She didn’t have to understand the words to understand the emotion. “It’s lovely, but … sad.”

  “Most operas are. Tragic love stories.” He kissed her temple, and with a quick flick of his wrist, touched the side of his neck again. His entire body went rigid.

  “Cole?”

  “Shit,” he whispered and grabbed her hand. “Get up. Now.” He glanced overhead where the stars twinkled in the dark sky.

  A shudder erupted through Kade’s shoulder blades. She immediately stood up, and Cole shifted his body in front of hers, ushering them both down the aisle, giving his usual apologies, but the audience, it seemed, was over it as he blocked their view to the stage.

  Kade kept his pace as they cleared the aisle and started down the stone steps. She heard the sound before she saw anything. A whoosh. The unmistakable sound of wings. She had hoped, just for tonight, she and Cole could have this moment. Especially after their argument. Clearly, that had been an utterly stupid thought. Trackers track, and just as Heru said, the hunters found their prey. Her.

  Cole cursed under his breath, a noise she’d strangely missed, and gripped her hand with iron force. “One night,” he said, hustling them down the steps toward the under-cavity of the amphitheater again. “One damn night without interruption was all I asked for. One.”

  “You weren’t alone in that thought,” Kade said, her heels clacking against the old stone.

  Someone screamed behind her, from the higher rows they’d just fled.

  “Just go, Kade. Don’t look. Just keep moving.”

  She glanced up, she couldn’t help it, and instantly regretted it. Everywhere in the sky were dark wings. Gargoyles. Hundreds of them. Her jaw prickled—the monster in her, always on stand-by, edged its way to the forefront of her mind. “I thought gargoyles weren’t that dangerous,” she said, breathing hard, not realizing how far up the amphitheater their seats had actually been. It seemed odd that most of the opera-goers seemed unruffled, perhaps because the night was so dark they hadn’t seen the flying intruders.

  “I never said that.” Cole rounded the bottom step and came to an immediate stop on the lower level of the arena. Kade halted beside him.

  Shadows amassed like sentinels, at least t
hirty of them, their bodies nothing but smoke except for the milky white eyes and silver teeth. Kade kicked off her high-heeled shoes. Her instinct was to fight, unafraid to show herself anymore.

  Cole let go of her hand, and she heard the distinct faint sound of his weapons brush against his skin. He had released the crystal telums he always kept on him from his inner shirt sleeves to rest hidden against his palms. Kade patted her waist slightly, feeling the small outline of her crystal she’d wedged into the material of her dress.

  “Boys,” Cole grinned, stance proud, “bad timing. There’s a crowd of people here, or didn’t you notice?” The smart-ass tone that Kade had grown to love so much but hadn’t heard lately, rang out. It made her chest swell with love—and pride. Everything about Cole exuded confidence and heat. “And you made my beautiful girlfriend here take her pretty shoes off.” He shook his head.

  One of the Shadows stepped forward. “We haven’t come to fight, only to give you a message.”

  “You brought a lot of damn protection for message delivery.” He didn’t shift his stance.

  “The Patriarchae sends his regards,” the Shadow said, his form shifting between human-like shape and smoke, something Kade had witnessed Kyle do weeks ago—before Cole killed him.

  “Tell him I return the salutation and compliment him on his cloaking ability,” Cole smiled.

  The Shadow smiled back. “Primori, you all use big words. Your hierarchy won’t protect you much longer. We understand the Eldership wants you.” It turned its milk-white eyes toward Kade.

  She didn’t speak.

  “Even your Primori cannot protect you from his own kind,” it said, directing its words to only her. “The Eldership will come. They cannot be outrun.”

  Cole took a step forward, into the Shadow’s space. “What do you want?”

  “We are here to offer you something you need,” it said, ignoring Cole’s offense, gaze still trained on Kade. “We, and we alone, can protect you from the Eldership. Whatever you may believe, we do not wish to harm you. You are one of us—“

  “Shut up,” Cole seethed. “Not another word.”

  The Shadow’s gaze went to Cole and back to Kade with an obvious sneer. “We can offer you protection the Primori cannot.”

  “Are you deaf?” A flash of silver-white light shone in Cole’s hand.

  The Shadow stared at him, eyes deadly. “We outnumber you,” it said. “We could take her if we chose.”

  With a motion too fast to track, Cole swiped his hand to the side, the crystal telum aimed at the Shadow’s throat, and a black talon encircled his wrist, lowering his arm.

  A hushing sound fell over the horde, and Kade stood beside Cole—as the Devil God, his wrist held in her taloned hand. Wings rose high above her head, spikes covering her face.

  “You could try to take me,” she said. “I promise you won’t get far.”

  The Shadow took in her form from head to toe with hunger in its white eyes.

  “I don’t need your protection.” She let go of Cole’s wrist. “Tell the Patriarchae that.” From the corner of her eye, she saw Cole grin.

  “We done here?” he asked. “If, like you said, you only came to deliver a message.”

  The Nefarius’ white-eyed stare remained glued on Kade’s wings, and moved to her face, the spikes protruding from her jaw, underneath her eyes, and temples. “I will deliver your message, but know we will see one another again. You may have fooled some of the Primordial into believing you are one of theirs, and an angel’s wings you may possess, but you have the face of a demon. The Eldership knows what you truly are and wants you destroyed—your Primori cannot stop them. We will not allow the Eldership to take you. You will join us of your own freewill or by force. It is only a matter of time. You have no other choice,” he snarled. “You belong to us.”

  A chill rolled across Kade’s shoulders, and she didn’t flinch to stop Cole as he buried his telum in the Shadow’s throat, killing it where it stood.

  As one unified front, the Nefarius converged like a black haze. Kade swiped her arm through the air. A blast of laser-red light took two of the assaulters out in one shot, exploding their wispy forms like shards of glass in midair. A flash of blades shone in her periphery, and Cole stabbed his crystal telums into a third Shadow’s neck, spilling silvery blood on the ground.

  “Stay behind me,” he shouted, blades spinning like nunchucks in his hands as he sliced them through the air deftly.

  From all sides, Shadows converged, some on foot, some flying overhead. Appearing solid one minute, they disappeared into vapor the next, not around Kade, but around Cole. They were avoiding her, concentrating their effort on him. And like a swarm of hornets, they were everywhere.

  Kade took flight, white angel wings wide, and twisted her body in midair, flashing both hands out ten feet from the ground. Red light erupted from her palms and ricocheted off the interior concrete walls careening in different directions, shattering several airborne assailants.

  “Get down!” Cole shouted.

  Landing at his back, Kade rammed her crystal into the neck of the Nefarius he didn’t see behind him. “I’m helping you.” The assailant dropped at her feet.

  He eyed the fallen Shadow. “I see that.”

  The gleam of blades careened from her right, and Kade whirled, telum raised. Danny stood a few feet away, blocking Cole from the oncoming attack. Two more Nefarius hit the ground by his hand, silver blood spilling.

  “Miss me?” Danny grinned, taking down another assailant with skillful agility.

  “That was fast,” Cole said, barely out of breath, “Thanks for the warning.”

  “Welcome.” Dan's blades cut through the air. “The gurgulio flying over the arena kinda gave your location away.”

  Cole ducked out of the way of his Beta’s blades like they’d choreographed and memorized each other’s next move. He shoved Kade, not too lightly. “Stay back.”

  More Nefarius dissipated into nothing but sheer mist overhead, and Kade realized that Giselle and Lindsey were on the other side of the assault. The Primordial were systematically surrounding the Shadows in circular formation like a well-trained fight team. Giselle caught Kade’s gaze for half a beat, moonstone telums spinning in her hands like she was a natural-born ninja. Her green eyes widened.

  “Holy crap,” she shouted. “Is that you, Kade?”

  Kade grinned. Giselle and Lindsey had never seen her transform into the Devil God.

  At the far end of the underbelly of the amphitheater, gargoyles descended from the dark skies en masse near the entryway. Taloned feet hit the sidewalk, black, bat-like wings spread wide, fangs bared. Kade shouted for Giselle to turn around, and took flight.

  Cole yelled, but she’d already blasted two of the gurgulio out of the entrance in quick succession just like she’d hit the targets with Cole, keeping the rest from the entering the fray.

  Cole yelled, “Please stay out of the way.”

  “You need me!”

  “Kade—”

  “We’ve got it,” Lindsey shouted, manning the entrance to the amphitheater, palms blazing with yellow, sizzling energy.

  Kade landed next to Cole, who wiped silver blood from his telums onto his gray dress pants and shoved the blades under his sleeves, heat and red waves of light rolling off him.

  “Duck!” In a wide circular arc, Cole swiped both of his arms through the air. They hit the ground, as a tidal wave of red light extinguished all but one of the remaining Shadows in one shot.

  “Are we done now?” he yelled, and eyed the gargoyle horde at the far side of the lower level of the arena. Their dead lay on the ground among them. Lindsey stood over them, Giselle at her side, blades in her hands. “I was told this was message delivery,” Cole shouted. “So much for that.”

  “I will deliver the message,” the last remaining Shadow said, clearly shaken by his fallen brothers, his form flickering between human shape and smoke. “But know,” he looked directly at Kade, “we a
re the only hope you have for survival. You will die by the Eldership’s hand if you stay with the Primori.” He turned, disappearing into thin air.

  The gargoyle followed suit, taking flight with their dead comrades in tow into the night sky.

  Kade heaved a breath. “Cole?”

  “Don’t listen to anything from them,” he said.

  “Nothing but liars,” Danny agreed, “always scheming.”

  The sound of clapping made Kade turn on the spot. “Not bad. I would have done it differently, but not bad at all.” Heru made one final clap with his hands, walking out of a dark corner in the amphitheater.

  Cole picked up Kade’s shoes off the ground. “Nice timing. Are the gurgulio gone from above the audience?”

  “I apologize. I was taking care of something. And ya were doing quite well on yar own. Just playing around a bit from what it looked like.” Heru grinned.

  Cole shrugged. “I’ve been a little itchy doing nothing. Might as well make them think they have a chance. Makes it more fun.”

  Kade glanced at him. “Fun?”

  He grinned without response.

  “The gurgulio are gone. The crowd believes it was part of the show. Large bats or something, I heard someone say.” Heru crossed his arms over his chest and glanced at Danny. “Why are ya here?”

  Danny groaned and rolled his eyes, walking over to his sister and tugging her by the arm toward the entrance of the amphitheater. “Let’s make sure the threat is gone.” They made their way toward the street. “You’re welcome,” he shouted.

  “Thank you,” Cole yelled.

  Heru shook his head and glanced at Kade. “I wondered what ya’d look like in true form. I’m impressed. Ya sent a chill through the Nefarius. Have to say I’ve never witnessed that until today. And ya have some fight in ya. Good thing.”

  “Please don’t encourage her,” Cole said.

  Kade shifted into her human guise, an arm on Cole’s shoulder to steady herself as he slid her shoes onto her feet. “I didn’t mean to do it. Not to fight, I meant to do that, to shift, I mean. I didn’t mean to shift.” She felt sick, dizzy, flustered, high from the fight, and a little nauseous. “It just happened.”