Fear began as a trickle in her veins that swiftly became a torrent that had her strength faltering.
Cal and his brothers moved so their backs were to each other as the daemons closed in, and Cass wrapped an arm around her, tucking her close. She could feel Cass’s nerves. Her fear. It fuelled Marinda’s own and no matter how fiercely she fought it, the doubts began to crowd her mind.
They were outnumbered ten to one.
The threads of her hope began to unravel again.
How could they possibly win now?
Chapter 34
Adrenaline surged through Cal, pulling power in its wake as he faced off against the horde of daemons, his back plastered against Esher’s and Daimon close to his side.
He flicked a glance at Marinda, checking on her. Cass protectively clutched her with one hand and twisting crimson and aqua orbs spiralled around the other as she held it in front of her, casting colourful light over her long black dress.
He caught the fear in Marinda’s violet eyes.
The doubt.
She thought this was bad?
He smiled at her, wanting to show her that he had lived through worse. She looked at him as if he had gone mad.
Maybe he had, because he was facing fifty powerful enemies and he had never felt more alive. With his brothers at his side, and Cass and Marinda on the field, he felt as if he could take on everything the enemy had to throw at him.
“Get that open,” the necromancer said, his golden gaze leaping towards the gate.
Marinda moved before Cal could even think about trying to stop the wraith as he appeared out of a portal near the gate, one of the furies dangling from his left hand.
He shoved her towards the other furie and turned on Marinda, his voice a low snarl as he spoke to the two women huddled together behind him.
“You heard him. Open it. Now.” Eli raised his hands towards the portal and the five orbs of light brightened again and began to stretch, growing pointed and flaring at times, as if they wanted to elongate into violet-green beams.
“Damn it,” Cal growled. “Esher, shut him down.”
“Take five, beast. This is my dance.” Cass held her left hand up, earning a growl from Esher as he stared over the heads of the daemons crowding the square between him and the wraith.
The witch raised her right hand, palm facing the gate, and uttered low words. Whatever she was doing, it was working. The five points of light dulled and flickered, almost fading entirely before they sparked back to life.
“Oh, don’t be such a bothersome creature. Fighting me really won’t get you anywhere.” She cast a cold smile at Eli.
“You’re telling me,” Daimon muttered.
Cass glared at him.
The witch hurled her left hand forwards and the orbs that had been swirling around it flew at the wraith, still spiralling around each other. They raced past Marinda as she charged at him.
Cal didn’t get the chance to see if they hit their target.
Three daemons lunged for him, stealing his focus. He hit them all with a blast of wind, knocking them back into the others, and looked at Daimon.
“We have to stop them from opening that gate,” he bit out, unable to focus on it as he commanded the air, using rapid blasts of it to keep the daemons at bay. “Care to volunteer to assist your new girlfriend?”
“The only girlfriend here is your one,” Daimon snapped. “You go.”
Shadows danced around the feet of the daemons.
Shadows Cal didn’t like.
The necromancer wanted them to get close to him and his brothers so those shadows would have a chance to seize hold of them. At close quarters, they wouldn’t be able to evade them.
“Just try to close it, will you?” Cal barked as he used his wind to knock several daemons back.
“Fine, I’ll try.” Daimon launched shards of ice at the daemons and Cal hit them with a burst of wind, sending them rocketing towards their targets.
Only one of them hit a daemon, sending the female to her knees as she cried out and clutched the clear blade protruding from her shoulder.
Shadows snapped at the rest, knocking them off course.
“He’s worse than Keras,” Esher grumbled beside Cal and raised his hand.
When he closed it into a fist, three daemons went down, violently convulsing and foaming at the mouth.
Esher leaned forwards and exhaled hard.
While his brother loved to use his command over water to explode daemon hearts, it took its toll on him and required a great amount of strength.
It didn’t stop Esher from lifting his head and sending another four daemons to the ground.
“Dial it back,” Daimon snapped. “I can’t protect you and close this gate. These goddesses are stronger than I anticipated. They’re fighting me.”
“Fuck off,” Esher barked. “I can handle it.”
Five daemons rushed Esher as he struggled to recover.
Cal sent them ploughing into their comrades with another blast of wind that ripped the arm off one of them.
Esher shot him a black look that dared him to mention that he couldn’t handle it and he’d had to save his ass.
“Mari,” Cal hollered as she leaped backwards, evading the wraith’s blade. “Can you help close that gate?”
She didn’t hesitate.
She nodded, her beautiful face set in grim, determined lines as her violet gaze darted from him to the gate. The colours of it washed over her as the central purple disc flashed and another ring formed. The wraith’s spell had faded thanks to Cass, but the gate was almost open. The power of it hummed in the air, echoed in his bones, and he drew on it, using it to bolster his strength.
He was going to need it.
Cass attacked the wraith head-on, hitting him with a blast of magic that singed his coat and had him tumbling across the flagstones, leaving a trail of smoke and embers in his wake.
Maybe having the witch on their side wasn’t such a bad thing.
Her ice-blue eyes shot to Daimon as he grunted.
Cal’s gaze leaped to his brother too.
A shadow twisted around Daimon’s leg, had ripped through his long black coat and cut into his black jeans.
Cal hurled a blast of air at the necromancer, hoping it would distract him enough that Daimon could break free of the shadows.
Cass went one better.
Fist-sized orbs of fire shot down from the sky like a meteor shower, shaking the ground as they struck it and filling the night with the shrieks and bellows of the daemons unfortunate enough to be hit by one and survive the blow.
The necromancer shot forwards, as swift as his shadows had been as he dodged each fireball, moving so fast it looked as if he was appearing and disappearing.
“Cass,” Marinda cried.
The rain of fire ceased as Cass switched her focus back to Marinda.
Cal growled and broke away from Esher, throwing himself into the wall of daemons between him and Marinda as the wraith lifted her feet off the ground, his grip on her throat tightening.
“Mari,” he breathed and fought the daemons as they crowded him, punching and kicking, using his power to fuel each blow so they were deadly.
More daemons poured in to fill the gaps. The necromancer. He must have ordered them to shore up the wall between him and the wraith, slowing him down.
The gate flashed again as Marinda struggled.
The wave of power that washed over him had his stomach sinking.
The gate was open.
He focused on it, but he couldn’t convince it to close.
Half of the daemons launched at it, lashing out at the rings. They blackened wherever the daemons touched them, sparking violently. He had to stop them.
“Cass!” He pointed to the daemons. “Get them off… no… don’t! Help Marinda.”
He couldn’t risk Cass’s magic damaging the gate. The daemons were aggravating it, but the damage they were doing was minimal, caused by it reacting to the
m. Cass’s magic was strong. If she attacked the daemons, there was a chance she would harm the gate too.
Things hadn’t ended well when Keras had accidentally damaged the twin gate in Seville. Cal had been forced to seal it, shutting it down entirely, and it had taken a lot of blood and several days to recover from the ordeal. He couldn’t imagine how long it would take Ares to recover if he had to seal the Paris gate.
“Get them out of here.” The necromancer.
Cal’s eyes shot wide when he realised the Hellspawn was talking to the wraith. A portal formed behind Eli, the dark cloud boiling outwards, violet and green lightning chasing across it as it expanded.
He couldn’t let Eli take Marinda.
If the wraith got her through the portal, Cal might never see her again.
Several daemons between him and Marinda dropped, grunting as they hit the pavement, and then exploded, showering the other daemons in foul black blood.
Esher snarled as he ripped at others with his claws, rending flesh and spilling more blood, his face a black mask as his eyes remained locked on the wraith.
His brother wanted payback too.
Had a personal beef with Eli.
Cal used that to his advantage, working beside him to fight through the wall of daemons.
Portals formed to his left and right, more of the wretches pouring through them to shore up their numbers.
“Gods damn it,” he growled and looked to Daimon.
Daimon was fighting the necromancer, using walls of ice to block the shadows the male kept throwing at him, keeping the Hellspawn busy.
Buying Cal time to reach Marinda.
“Fuck,” Esher bit out as one of the Erinyes leaped into the portal nearest Eli.
Cal was about to step when Marinda clamped both hands down on the wraith’s wrists and the portal behind Eli started to close.
She was siphoning the daemon’s power.
Eli released her throat and tried to get her hands off him, but she held on, her violet eyes narrowing and glowing brighter. The wraith slammed a fist into the side of her head, knocking it to her right, and she grunted, shook off the blow as she released one of his wrists and hit him with a punch of her own. His head tipped backwards as her fist cracked against his nose. Black poured from it and Eli bared his fangs.
Cal summoned the air, gathering it above the daemons and fighting the drain on his strength, forcing himself to keep going. He unleashed it in a devastating sweep that sent them all flying, tumbling out of the way.
Esher launched for the wraith, his claws growing as he barrelled towards the male.
The second Erinyes dived through the shrinking portal just before it closed and disappeared.
Eli backhanded Marinda and she cried out, the sound tearing at Cal’s heart as she slammed into the ground and bounced across it. He changed direction, rushing to check on her. She was already pushing onto her feet by the time he reached her.
Daimon suddenly flew between them, crashed into Cass, and sent her flying over the edge of the hill with him.
“Go,” the necromancer barked.
Cal’s gaze leaped to Eli.
A portal started to form again.
On a vicious snarl, Marinda shot past Cal. She kicked off, cracking the flagstones, and leaped at Eli. The male didn’t have a chance to brace himself. Marinda slammed into him, knocking him down, and the portal closed again as she seized his throat and pinned him to the ground.
The necromancer appeared beside her, grabbed her by her nape and hauled her off the wraith. He lifted her before him, glared at her, and hurled her. Cal’s heart lodged in his throat as she sailed towards him. He pressed down with his boot and launched upwards, realised he wouldn’t be able to jump high enough and stepped to intercept her.
He caught her and stepped again, landed a short distance from the gate and sank to his knees.
“Cal?” Marinda’s soft voice and the gentle touch of her palms against his cheeks had him nodding, trying to show her that he was fine.
The drain on his strength was temporary, but if they didn’t end this soon, it would take him longer to recover, and that would leave him open to attack.
Daimon reappeared, a very angry Cass in tow. She muttered things at his brother as she swept ice flakes from her black dress.
Ice flakes that looked a hell of a lot like handprints on her waist.
His white-haired brother didn’t look at all apologetic about where he had chosen to hold her during the teleport. In fact, Daimon’s blue eyes were bright, flecked with white, and his pupils were dark pools. If Cal had to name that look, he would call it hunger.
Beyond Daimon and Cass, Keras appeared in a swirl of black.
The second his oldest brother touched down, shadows raced across the pale ground, shooting towards the daemons. Screams filled the air, monstrous shrieks that pierced Cal’s ears as the wretches went down, frantically clawing and trying to escape Keras’s shadows.
The necromancer flicked Keras a glare.
In a battle of shadows, Cal wasn’t sure who would win.
Valen landed in a blazing flash of lightning that struck outwards across the terrace, hitting several daemons. They exploded and Cal pulled Marinda close to him and twisted, shielding her with his body as pieces of daemon hit him.
“What’d I miss?” Valen grinned at him as Cal scowled in his direction, a split in his lip opening. His violet-haired brother reached under his left arm, grabbed two small throwing knives and casually tossed them without looking. They both hit their target, sparking with lightning as they embedded between the eyes of two daemons who had been rushing towards him. “I’m certainly getting a workout tonight.”
His golden eyes glowed, the dark bruising around his left one only making it appear even brighter.
Overhead, thunder rumbled.
Rain lashed down.
“Keep them busy,” Keras barked and everyone rushed to obey that order, leaving him to deal with the gate.
Daimon, Cass and Valen went after the daemons.
Esher was still trying to get close to the wraith. Whenever he managed to get near him, shadows drove him back. His brother was right to be wary of them.
Cal pushed to his feet.
Marinda looked up into his eyes, her black-ringed violet ones filled with malice, a hunger that had him shaking his head.
She didn’t give him a chance to tell her not to do it.
She shot past him and yelled a battle cry that got the attention of her target.
The necromancer looked at her, his golden eyes shining as he slowly smiled. He wanted her to try to fight him.
Because he wanted a chance to get his hands on her.
Two of the Erinyes had escaped. The necromancer just needed to get hold of Marinda and he would have all three of them.
She sprinted past Esher who watched her go and the shadows the necromancer had been using parted to allow her through. His brother tried to follow but the shadows closed behind her and snapped at him, forcing him back.
Esher growled low and stepped.
Crazy bastard.
Cal stepped with him the second he realised what he was going to do, and that Marinda would probably kill the necromancer if he didn’t stop her. Cal had been all for that before, when it had looked like the only choice he had, but now his brothers were here. There was a chance they could capture the necromancer and get the location of Calindria’s soul from him.
Cal landed behind the necromancer as Marinda ran at him, keeping his focus ahead of him.
Leaving his back wide open.
“Go. Now!” The necromancer tossed a look at Eli.
Eli slashed at Esher with his blade, driving his brother away, and nodded.
Rather than attempting to form another portal, Eli broke right, running for the gate.
Esher’s eyes blazed crimson and narrowed as he roared, the sound pure fury as it rocked the night.
“No!” Daimon bellowed and stepped, appearing behind Esher a
split-second too late to grab him.
Esher was already racing after the daemon.
“Close the gate!” Cal hollered.
Keras’s face darkened and he held both hands out in front of him, but nothing happened. “It’s resisting me.”
Had the Erinyes done something to it?
“Esher, don’t.” Daimon stepped in front of Esher just as the wraith leaped into the gate.
Esher swept his right arm out and hit Daimon with a backhand that sent him shooting across the square.
Cal lunged for Esher, unable to believe what he had just done.
Esher gave him a cold look, one that stopped him dead.
That wasn’t his brother.
That was the other Esher.
The one driven by a need to hunt, to kill. Nothing Cal or any of his brothers could say would reach him, and he would fight them all if they tried to stop him.
He felt cold, useless as Esher leaped into the gate.
“No,” Daimon breathed as he appeared next to Cal. His ice-white eyes locked on Cal’s. “You should have stopped him!”
“There was no stopping him and you know that,” Cal countered, squaring up to him, aware his brother was hurting, fearing for Esher just as he was and that was the reason he had lashed out.
Esher had crossed through the gate without an amulet to protect him from the gatekeeper on the other side, and against the wishes of their father.
This was Cal’s fault.
He should have messaged everyone and woken Esher before rushing after Marinda. He should have waited for his brothers before he had attacked the enemy. He should have done a thousand things differently.
He couldn’t let Esher go after the wraith alone.
“I can get him back.” Cal jerked back as someone seized his arm.
Keras looked down at him and solemnly shook his head. “Let him go. He’ll return to us when he’s ready.”
If he survived the hunt and the Underworld.
A bright blue burst of light off to his left had his head whipping that way.
Marinda nimbly dodged the shadows that shot from the ground, driving her away from the necromancer. Another flash of light had half of a shadow figure melting away, only for it to reconstruct itself. Cass launched another attack at it. The twisting orbs shot straight past the figure as it shifted left, curved around and came back at it. It hit the shadow in the back, blasting right through its head.
Calistos: Guardians of Hades Series Book 5 Page 33
