“Fuck!” Conah curses
We’re too close to the Keep now. I need to get closer, higher, so I can see the spot I want to land when I jump.
“Get us up there.”
Conah rises until we’re too close to the belly of the beast and then he breaks cover, coming up on its left flank. This must be the blind spot.
I need to see the top of its head, so I crane my neck trying to get a lock so I can jump. The dagger Conah gave me burns a hole at my hip. I’ll only get one shot at this.
“Let me go higher.” Conah says. “We’re fine, it’s preoccupied.”
The demons are doing a great job of keeping its attention on them by weaving back and forth in front of it. Any minute now it’ll spew more flame. The Keep is minutes away. I can see it growing larger. I can see the dark mass of troops on the eastern side of the wall.
Conah rises, and the golden scaled back of the beast is so close I could reach out and touch it. Instead I focus on the head. The spot I need to land.
“I’ve got it.” I take a deep breath, ready to jump, when the Dragomite makes an awful screeching sound and turns its head to look right at us.
“Fuck!” Conah cries.
His wings flare as he catches the air, to drag us away from the beast as its head snaps forward and its jaws clamp on the spot where we’d been moments before.
I feel the air heat up. “It’s about to spew.”
Conah dives, sudden and fast like a bullet aimed for the ground, and the air above us erupts in blue flame. Conah changes trajectory away from the eastern side of the Keep which is mere seconds away. Behind us the Dragomite is back on track focused on its main target—the troops—as it revs up for another flame shot.
“It’s too late,” Conah’s voice is saturated with devastation.
“Like fuck.” I close my eyes, visualize the top of the Dragomite’s head and make the jump.
I land on hard ground and a gust of air slams into my chest almost knocking me off my feet. I drop, so I’m flat against the surface of the beast’s scaly scalp. It roars and shakes its head from side to side.
Not shaking me off bitch.
I grip a scale with my left hand and haul myself forward, sweeping my free hand across the scales to find the soft spot. Bingo. The Keep is seconds away, and the troops scatter.
Now.
I have to do it now.
I grab the dagger from my waist and slam it into the Dragomite’s head all the way to the hilt.
The beast gives a strange squawk and its wings stop beating. For a moment, we’re suspended in mid-air and then we drop like a fucking humungous rock.
Oh fuck. I need to jump.
Nothing happens.
Shit.
Fuck this place.
Chapter Thirty-Nine
Fee
The portal spat us out on the outskirts of forestland and directly into an abandoned camp. Fires had been snuffed out but the rocks surrounding each pit were still warm.
There’d been troops here not too long ago.
“Imperium is a few miles west of here,” Azazel said. “We can be there in minutes if we fly.”
“Go ahead,” Samael said. “I’ll follow behind with Lilith and Keon. We must keep our queen safe.”
Lilith clung to him like a child, her gaze fixed on his face as if it was the center of her world.
If the Keep was under attack, then we needed to get there fast to help in any way we could. Samael and Keon would keep Lilith safe. We took to the skies, and with Azazel leading the charge, flew west. It wasn’t long before the air on the horizon turned black with smoke.
Oh shit.
Imperium was on fire which meant Mammon had begun his attack on the Keep.
Azazel picked up speed and Mal and I kept pace while Samael and Keon lagged behind with their precious cargo.
Imperium unfolded below us, riddled with fire and swarming with demons on the run from charging troops. The Keep’s walls rose up beneath us, battered and bruised. The ground was charred and abused.
“Look!” Azazel pointed east.
I followed his gaze to see a mammoth creature flying toward the Keep.
“Conah!” Mal pointed at another figure.
I spotted the golden-haired Dominus, wings pinned back, as he flew away from the beast, but there was something in his arms. Someone.
A new feeling urgency bloomed in my chest and frantic moths beat against my ribcage.
I’d only felt this way a handful of times in my life, and all when Cora was in trouble.
Cora.
Oh fuck. It couldn’t be.
We were closer now, close enough for me to make out that his cargo was female with blonde hair
It was Cora!
And then she was gone.
“Mal!”
“There!” He pointed at the beast, and I spotted my friend atop it.
What the fuck? The beast stopped beating its wings and began to fall.
“Cora!” My scream was ripped away as I picked up speed toward her.
Why wasn’t she jumping? Oh fuck, maybe she couldn’t. I wouldn’t make it on time, Unless… I accessed the urgency inside me and hit blur-mode. I’d never done this before. I didn’t even know if it was possible, but the world slowed down around me, and then I raced toward my friend.
I caught sight of Conah on the far side of the beast, hands outstretched as he tried to reach her too, but without blur-mode he would fail.
I wouldn’t.
I reached her a second later and wrapped my arms around her, pulling her off the beast.
She let out a yelp.
“It’s me. I’ve got you.” I slipped out of blur-mode and hugged her to me as I rose up into the air.
“Fee? Oh god, Fee!” She wrapped her arms around me and squeezed as we hovered above the falling beast and then an awful crash filled the air as the monster hit the ground.
“What are you doing here?” I held her tighter as Conah joined us.
“Fancied a vacation,” she said dryly. “Always wanted to slay a Dragomite.”
“The catch up will have to wait,” Conah said. “We have serious incoming.”
Azazel and Mal joined us as I followed Conah’s gaze over the Keep and toward the mountains to see a wave of darkness rolling over the plains toward us.
“What is that?”
“That,” Conah said, “is Mammon’s army.”
* * *
We hit the ground running, and Azazel and Mal immediately set to barking orders.
“Gather the troops. Hold the line!”
I caught sight of Asmodeus amidst the troops, hair billowing in the breeze as his orders were carried off by the wind.
The wall to my left was decimated, the town around us was in carnage. Death, blood, and screams rent the air, smoke stung my eyes, and this was just the beginning. This monster, this Dragomite, and a small troop had done this, but Mammon’s army was on the way.
“How many men do we have?” Azazel demanded of Asmodeus.
“Not enough. Not nearly enough.” His expression was grim.
The sound of sirens sliced through the cacophony, and the thunder of hooves followed in its wake.
Azazel turned to me and grabbed my shoulders. “Go. Get to safety. Now.”
I shrugged him off. “Like hell. I’m fighting.”
He opened his mouth to argue but Cora flicked her wrist and a ball of lightning appeared in her hand. “My jump power may be temperamental here, but I can still blast a hole in a demon. We got this.”
There was no time for him to argue with me. He knew it. I knew it.
“All hands on fucking deck,” Mal said. “Fee, Cora, stay close to the Keep and get out if things get hairy.”
And then with a roar the first wave of Mammon’s army hit us.
Chapter Forty
Lilith
Samael lands on his balcony, cradling me to his chest. He came for me. He’s here. He’s whole, and I can’t believe how full my
heart is.
I will forgive him any transgression. No secret will turn my heart against him.
He carries me into his bedchamber and lowers me carefully onto the bed. “My love, you must rest.”
The tenderness in his tone melts me. “I will regain my strength soon.”
He kisses my forehead and then makes to walk away.
I grab his wrist. “Where are you going?”
He frowns down at me. “To fight. We are under attack.”
Panic squeezes my heart. I’ve only just got him back. “We have troops for that.”
He blinks slowly. “Have I been gone so long that my warrior queen has become simply a queen?”
Shame pricks at my cheeks and that makes me angry. I pull myself up to my full height, tall for a female demon but still minute in comparison to the love of my life.
“I am not weak. While you were in your delirium, I ran this world. I built an army worthy to fight any foe. I am Lilith, queen, ruler, destroyer, and creator.”
His smile is soft and wistful, and he gently strokes my cheek. “You are beautiful in your passion my love. But no matter how high we rise, we must always be prepared to fall with those who fight for us, for if we do not, what are they fighting for?”
His words, although uttered softly, have a bite which brings the sting of shame to my neck.
Have I changed so much?
“You are weakened from your ordeal,” Samael says. “Rest, and I will fight for the both of us.”
“No.” I grasp his hand. “We fight together.”
“Are you sure?” he asks.
The thrill that comes before a battle sizzles in my veins, and I realize how I’ve missed this feeling. “More than sure.”
A wickedly delicious grin spreads across his face, and my core contracts with need. I’ve missed him, the real him, more than I can express.
“In that case, let us wreak some carnage, and by the end of this day we will have Mammon’s head on a spike.”
“Now that, my love, is a plan.”
Chapter Forty-One
Grayson
The sound of war filters into the foyer. The doors have been barricaded, and its only Uri’s presence and the knowledge that he can get us out if needed that keeps me sane.
Fee is out there somewhere.
At least she isn’t here.
At least she isn’t outside.
A guard runs into the foyer, “The Dragomite is down but Mammon’s army approaches to the east.”
“We can’t hide in here and do nothing,” Hunter says.
He’s right. This is Fee’s world. Her queen and her kingdom are in danger. “We need to be out there.”
We both look to Uri.
He nods. “We go out, and we fight alongside the demons.”
He holds out his hands. Hunter and I take them and the world splinters before we materialize into chaos.
Blood and ash coat the air and for a moment, my brain is overwhelmed, and then the thunder of hooves rips through the screams and the bellows. Huge lizard-like beasts ridden by demons and daemons of all colors sweep over the land. The glint of metal, the clink of swords, the rage of battle cries, and the boom of cannons batters my senses.
The air erupts with the sound of gunfire, and demons topple off their mounts and a shockwave of power hits me in the chest, throwing me back.
The world is a buzzing, muted place.
I look up at the Keep behind us to see bodies falling. The gunmen are down. Whatever that blast was took them out.
Hunter grabs my arm, his mouth moving with words, neck veins bulging, so I know he’s yelling, but I can’t hear a damn thing, and then the sound comes back on as if a switch has been flipped. The world is screaming at me along with Hunter.
“We have to move!”
Uri is beside us as we head into the fray. His hands light up and two swords of light appear in them. He falters for a moment as if shocked by their presence, and then a grin splits his face. In the next instant, he’s head-to-head with a huge purple daemon who looks as if he could bench press a gorilla.
We’re surrounded by the enemy and my Loup rises to the surface.
I let it out.
* * *
Cora
Take that bitches.
God it feels good to have control over something once more. The electric power within me is darker here, more potent, and the blasts blow holes in Mammon’s minions. I stay close to Fee, watching her back as she cuts a swathe through the enemy troops with her scythe.
Man, she’s good with that thing.
Shit.
I duck as a blade whizzes past my ear then lock gazes with the red-faced daemon who flung it at me.
He bares his teeth, and I stride forward unperturbed. “Didn’t anyone teach you it’s rude to throw knives at hot ladies?”
He pulls another blade from the holster at his waist and I wag my finger at him before blasting him with a ball of lightning that takes off his face.
Dick.
Fire cuts across my arm, and I spin to find another dagger-throwing wanker. He’s not alone. He has two friends with him.
Shit. It looks like the ranged weapon crew have found me. Silver blades fly my way.
Too many. Too quick.
My body goes into auto-mode, blasting and dodging, but there’s no way I can evade every blade, but then light blooms behind my attackers and slices across their throats.
Heads roll and Uri grins at me, his face spattered with blood.
Hell yes!
He nods and spins to counter a fresh attacker.
Fee? Shit. I search for my friend, but I’ve lost her in the chaos. Fuck. I blast my way through, searching, heart pounding. She’s alone. I was meant to have her back.
Then I spot her through a gap in the wall of bodies. She decapacitates a demon with a battle cry and ducks to avoid the slice of another demon’s blade, but she doesn’t see the threat at her back. A pale green daemon wielding a mace is almost on her.
Oh fuck.
I try to jump to her and fail.
She’s too far to hear me cry out, but I do anyway. “FEE!”
* * *
Hunter
“FEE!”
I hear her name as I claw off a demon’s face. Fee? She’s here? The connection inside me, the power that binds me to her, snaps taut.
She’s here.
My body turns as if propelled by a magnetic force, and I find her through the crowd. My heart leaps at the sight of her and then I catch movement at her back and ice fills my veins.
I surge forward with a roar of rage, knowing with every fiber of my being that I won’t make it to her in time.
* * *
Lilith
The stench of blood is an aphrodisiac and the wet thunk of my blade burying itself in the enemy is a balm to my battle-hungry soul. Samael and I fight side by side and back to back like a well-oiled machine, as if it were only yesterday that we fought the hordes. As if we never stopped.
The pain, the loss, the waiting is over.
We’re together again as it should be.
He is mine, and I am his. There will be no one to come between us.
We spin and lock gazes for a moment and a carnal heat flares between us, the white-hot kind that will be assuaged once the battle is done. The kind that will tear cries of release from my throat. It burns through my veins and lends my limbs strength.
And then his gaze slips form my face to a point over my head.
“Seraphina!” he cries.
I catch the glint of a blade to my left and counter. A fresh wave of demon’s attack.
“Samael!” I urge him to focus.
But my love is no longer by my side. I whirl and slice and stab and search for my husband.
I spot him between evasive maneuvers and evisceration. He’s a battering ram, forging his way through the enemy toward the woman with Eve’s face. I see the daemon behind her, a Macer, able to flatten a lesser demon with one blow. I r
ecognize the threat, but none of that matters All that matters is that he chose to save her.
He chose to save her over helping me.
Something dark and dangerous blooms in my chest.
No. This cannot stand.
It won’t.
* * *
Fee
“FEE!”
Cora? I spun on my heel to search for my friend as the ground beside me erupted upward from an epic blow.
Fuck!
I leapt away from the monolith at my back. If I hadn’t moved. If I hadn’t... Oh god.
I brought my scythe up to block the daemon’s blow, but the force brought me to my knees. There was a resounding crack and then white-hot pain stole my breath and trapped my scream in my throat.
My leg. I couldn’t move. Oh fuck.
I looked up to see the huge, metal-spiked ball whizzing toward my face. They say when you’re about to die your life flashes before your eyes, but for me, in that moment, there was nothing but an achingly deep sorrow at having to leave my loved ones.
“No!” A roar of rage shattered my eardrums and then the ball was deflected by a huge silver sword.
The daemon spun to face its attacker.
Samael stood over me like a dark, avenging angel.
“You want to a fight?” Samael boomed. “Then fight someone your own size.”
It was such a schoolyard thing to say, but fuck, did it bring tears of joy to my eyes.
The daemon attacked, and Samael countered easily, his blows matching the daemon’s in power and intensity.
“Fee!” Cora hauled me up.
Pain spiked up my leg, and this time my scream found purchase. Samael was visible through my tears. The daemon was powerful but clumsy and Samael was formidable and swift. He fought smoothly, his moves packed with power and surety. The daemon had no chance. Samael kicked it in the chest then sliced his sword across its throat.
Reaper Unleashed: Deadside Reapers: Book 7 Page 21
