“I knew I should have never introduced you two.”
“Too late for that now, stud,” April said with a wink.
Sarah just gave me a smile. I knew she understood. Wolves were passionate creatures, and it showed up in everything that they did. Sometimes it slipped out in their language. If a few little f-bombs made you blush, then you’d never survive a pack function. That and the hundreds of naked people walking around would totally blow your mind.
“How do we survive something like that?” I asked.
“Well, you should be able to use your magic to create a cushion of air, and then you make it dense and kind of push against it. Think of creating a magnet with the ground so instead of hitting, we are slowly repelled until we get down safely. I don’t have magic, so I’m just piecing this together from what your father said. I’m sure you kids will figure it out.”
“How high are we doing it from?”
“I’d say at least five hundred feet.”
This just kept getting better and better. So we were supposed to jump out a plane, no parachutes, land in a hot zone full of demons, close the portal, and then what? Fight our way back to the front lines? That was going to be a hell of a day, and if any of us lived, one hell of a story. Now I just had to figure out how not to die falling from five hundred feet while we were going at least a hundred miles an hour.
“It’s going to take a while for the plane to get here, so you have some time to practice.”
She said it with a smile, but all I could think of was screw all of that noise. I don’t want to jump off of high things and try not to get hurt. I mean, couldn’t we just get a tank or something and roll through the demons until we reached the portal? If we couldn’t get a tank, maybe we could get a Hummer with a snowplow on the front of it. We could just ram through them. Problem solved.
“Come on, Jackson,” Marcus said.
He walked to the side of the building, and there was a ladder going up to the loft space at the top of the warehouse. From there, it would only be about forty feet to the ground. High enough to break a leg but not high enough to die, hopefully. Marcus started climbing the ladder, and the rest of us followed him.
Looking down from this height, I didn’t want to jump. I was going to have to get over it because we would be at least twenty times higher when we had to do it for real. Marcus climbed up on the railing and looked down. The guy was fearless when it came to his magic. Maybe it was just that I hadn’t been using mine as long as him, but nothing about this made me feel comfortable.
Marcus jumped off the edge. He fell rapidly to the ground, and at the last second, something shimmered beneath his feet, and he hit the ground hard and rolled away with a grunt. Man, if Marcus couldn’t do this, how in the hell was I going to do it? April jumped up on the railing, and I had to hold myself back from trying to pull her down. She would be pissed that I didn’t believe in her. What she didn’t understand was that couldn’t have been further from the truth. I did believe in her. It was more like I didn’t believe in myself, and I was projecting.
She jumped, and I ran to the railing to watch her land. She fared a little bit better than Marcus had. She managed to slow down quite a bit, but bounced back skyward at the bottom and then fell to the ground. She got up and dusted herself off.
April looked up at me. “Come on, Jackson.”
There was no way I could let my fear hold me back. Not with my lady down there looking up at me expectantly. I stood on the railing, wobbling a bit, not quite ready to make the leap. Looking down at my little redhead, I couldn’t help but think this was the last time I was going to see her.
“You want me to push you?” Britta asked.
“No fucking way.”
“Then you better jump soon.”
Well, jumping sounded better than being pushed. Not doing either and crawling back into bed with April sounded even better. Enough stalling. I shoved my fear to the side and felt a calmness wash over me. My gift swirled around me, ready to be called upon to do my will. I thought about what my mom had said and what I had seen from Marcus and April already. Then I stepped off the side and started falling.
The sense of calm I had been feeling vanished as I started to fall. This wasn’t that high, so I only had a few seconds to pull myself back together. Just do simple steps, Jackson. You got this. I expanded the shield underneath me and focused on making resistance with the air rushing up at me. My descent started to slow, and as I drew closer to the ground, I tried to push air downward, creating more resistance. I hit the ground slowly as if I had just taken a step off of a curb.
A huge sigh of relief escaped my lungs. Now I just had to do it a few more times and then mentally prepare myself to do it from a moving plane. I waited for Britta to hit the ground before I started to climb the ladder again. She landed pretty hard but was okay for now. When I got to the top of the ladder and climbed into the loft, April and Marcus were in a discussion about what had worked. I told them about what I did, and they told me their plans, and we started to come up with a better strategy.
When Britta joined us, we told her our ideas, and she nodded. Without a word, she ran to the edge of the loft, vaulted the railing, and went crashing down toward the ground. The three of us ran to the edge only to see her already running back to the ladder.
“That worked perfectly!” she shouted up at us.
Not to be outdone, April ran toward the edge of the loft and used the railing to push herself even higher into the air before falling. She landed just as softly as Britta had. Marcus went next, and I followed. After a few more attempts, everyone had it down.
My mom walked under the loft and shouted up. “Jackson, grab Britta and jump off only using your power.”
I held out my hand for Britta to join me on the railing. I was pretty sure my mom was going to see if I could hold her and still cushion our fall. She didn’t have the gift, so she would be relying on one of us to carry her down. Britta stepped up and wrapped her arms around me. I hugged her tightly and jumped off the side. We landed nearly as softly as I had alone. I pulled away from Britta almost instantly, but her hand lingered on my arm for a moment.
“Good, you should be able to carry me down.” She looked at Britta’s hand and let out a huff. Britta dropped her hand from my arm right away.
Two small thuds sounded behind us as Marcus and April hit the ground. April came up beside me, and I pulled her into a hug. She gave Britta a tiny bit of a death stare, and the look she shot at my mother wasn’t much better. For my mom, it had all been practical. Britta was closer to her in weight, so she asked me to jump with her. For the girls, it didn’t have anything to do with practicality.
“Everyone ready to go?” Sarah asked, ignoring the little drama bomb that was unfolding. She didn’t wait for an answer, but instead turned and started walking toward the door. The sound of an airplane landing came from outside.
“Dude, this is going to be awesome,” Marcus said, hitting me on the shoulder before following my mom.
“See you guys on the plane,” Britta said as she walked by.
I pulled April into a tighter hug and gave her a kiss. When we broke apart, she rested her head on my chest.
“I hate seeing you with her,” she whispered.
“I know you do,” I said, kissing the top of her head.
“Just promise me, no matter what, you’ll never cheat on me, but especially not with her.”
I waited for April to look up so she could see into my eyes. “I promise.” I pulled her in closer and kissed the top of her head, letting the smell of her hair wash over me. This was where I wanted to be, and who I wanted to be with. Nothing was going to change that. “No one is going to take you from me.”
“Damn straight,” she said, pulling away and smacking me once in the center of the chest. “Let’s go kill some demons.”
“As you wish.”
We ran outside, and the others were already on the plane. I mean, I guess you could call it a plane. It
had two wings and a propeller on the front. It wasn’t what I was expecting. The damn thing must have been held together with duct tape and a prayer. It looked like there would be barely enough room for all of us to squeeze inside, let alone sit down. The good news had to be that we wouldn’t be in it for long.
April climbed inside, and I followed. As soon as we were all wedged into the space, the plane circled and took off. My mom and Marcus were wearing big smiles; Britta looked to be lost in her own thoughts. I gave April’s hand a squeeze and flashed her a big ass smile. As long as we hit the ground alive, then we had a chance to win. If we could seal the portal, all of this would have been worth it.
CHAPTER 21
JACKSON
“We’re two minutes out,” the pilot shouted over the roar of the propeller.
He was pushing the plane hard, but he needed to. Since we had left the warehouse, several airborne demons had tried to strike us out of the air. None of them had managed to hit the plane yet, but if they came in greater numbers, there wouldn’t be much that we could do.
Marcus still looked excited about this. April was quiet, but the set of her lips told me she was determined. Britta kept darting her eyes over to me and then looking away. I wasn’t sure if it had to do with that lingering touch on my arm or if she was afraid. I really hoped it was the latter because there was no chance for her with me. I was with April now. Some other part of me had already claimed her as my mate.
The airplane rolled and started to dive lower. There wasn’t much to see out here but sand. How did the pilot even know we were getting closer? Then I saw Marcus raise his hand and point out of one of the windows. Now that I knew where to look, the portal was easy to see. The red light flickered across the sand, lighting the area around it for about a mile. It was a little scary to think that it had been there for months, and Adam had managed to keep it out of the news. It just went to show you what a little money in the right places could do for you.
“One minute,” the pilot shouted.
My mom moved forward toward the door. “Marcus, you’re going first. Then April and Britta. We will be out of the door right behind you. It’s the exact same thing as the warehouse, just a little bit higher, and we’re going a lot faster.”
She slid the door open, and the wind tore through the tiny compartment. April gave me one last look as she moved into place behind Marcus. Britta kept her eyes focused on me. What in the hell was she thinking? It was over between us, and even if it weren't, I would never fully trust her again. If she kept it up, I would have to pull her aside and tell her to cut that shit out.
Maybe now that she and her sister were with us, Adam would let me move someone else onto the team. Britta could go with Squigs, and we could keep Nitro. Anything but this weird shit. We were about to jump out of a plane, and she was making moon eyes at me while standing behind my girlfriend.
“Go!” my mom shouted.
Marcus jumped out of the plane without any hesitation. Three seconds later, April was on his heels. Britta licked her lips and then jumped out. I moved up into the doorway, and my mom wrapped her arms around me.
“You know you’re going to have to nip that in the bud quickly.”
“Tell me about it.”
Before she could say another word, I threw us out of the plane. We would have only seconds before we hit the ground, so I shoved the thoughts of my now rapidly-spinning-out-of-control love life to the side and focused on what I needed to do. The ground rushed up so quickly that I almost thought the spell hadn’t worked. Then the air that was whistling past us faded away as my magic took hold to slow us. Right before we landed, my mom let go.
She hit the ground a half second in front of me and was already changing. I would never get used to her going from the woman she was into the massive beast. She turned toward me and let out a howl into the night. She was ready for a fight. She pulled the massive katana from over her shoulder and started moving towards the portal.
The fact that I might be able to turn into a werewolf wasn’t lost on me. April and my mom seemed to think it was a forgone conclusion. I wasn’t so sure, but it made some sense. Would I be even bigger than her? It was just hard to imagine the change and what it would be like. For now, I couldn’t worry about it. We had a job to do.
Marcus, April, and Britta caught up with me, and I was happy to see that they were all safe. Sarah was ranging ahead of us. The portal couldn’t have been more than a quarter mile away, and yet the area was relatively clear of demons. Maybe they hadn’t noticed our stealthy entrance. I hoped the pilot made it back. He risked a lot to bring us out here, and the return trip without magic was going to be rough.
I pulled out my swords, and April did the same. Britta already had her guns in hand, and Marcus was never without his staff. We started to slog through the dry sand toward the portal.
Marcus looked at me with a huge smile. “Dude, that was awesome. I wonder how high we could actually jump from and not get hurt.”
“I think I’d prefer to stay grounded,” Britta said.
“I thought it was kind of fun,” April said.
I gave her a quick look. I was pretty sure she had hated it but just didn’t want to side with Britta on the issue. All of them looked toward me, wondering what I would say. “It was over so fast; I guess I would have to go higher to find out if I enjoyed it.”
“Right on!” Marcus cheered.
Britta looked down at the ground. When her eyes came up, they might have been a little moist. She turned away from us, pretending to scan the desert in the night. It had been such a simple comment and the truth. Did she expect me just to back her? If anything, I would have sided with April. There just weren’t enough hours in the day for me to try to figure out what was going on with her. We needed to get to the portal and close it.
A group of demons appeared at the top of a small rise in front of us. They tittered and growled. We couldn’t make out much of their features. The light from the portal was shining behind them, leaving them covered in shadows. The size of their leader’s body was massive, dwarfing even my mother’s in beast form. They waited for us at the top of the rise, knowing that the higher ground would give them an advantage. It didn’t appear that they had any weapons with them, but their claws would do the trick.
“All right, guys, this is it. We make it to the top of that hill, and then we close the portal. Let’s show these demons what we’re made of.” I looked over at my friends, but they were more than that now. They were more like family. Whatever weird shit was going on with Britta, I still wanted her to come out of this alive. Marcus was like my brother, and April was the most precious thing in the world to me.
All of them nodded in turn. Each of them was ready to do whatever was necessary to make sure we won the day. All I wanted was to close the portal and get everyone home safely. I held up my hand, signaling that everyone should charge on my mark. Just as I was about to drop it, I felt the sand under my feet start to move. I jumped back as bullets from Britta’s gun thundered into the sand where my feet had just been. A scream came from the ground, and the earth stopped moving.
That was when I noticed trails in the sand moving toward us on all sides. One of the demons wasn’t doing a great job staying hidden. I could see its scorpion-like stinger weaving through the sand like a shark’s fin above water. “Britta, see what you can do about the sand demons.” Her guns roared to life at my command. She worked them like a heroine in an action movie.
I watched her for a moment as she dropped the clips from two of her guns at the same time and simultaneously slapped two more into place. So she wasn’t just a pretty face after all. The demons continued to fall under the barrage of her bullets, and we started to run up the hill. Britta moved into position behind us, covering our backs.
The demons in front of us tensed as we came at them. Only one of them moved forward to meet our charge. As soon as he was clear of the portal’s light, I could see him for the first time. He was huge, at least ten
feet tall, and covered from head to toe with ropy muscle. The demon’s head looked more like a lizard’s, and its mouth was lined with rows of sharp teeth. The fading light glinted off his scaly skin. He was completely naked, and his two-pronged penis bounced as he ran down the hill. He let out a roar of challenge as he came straight at me.
My swords were ready as he closed the gap between us. I called on my gift to shift the ground underneath him as he ran. He stumbled at the same moment my mother barreled into him from the side. I turned for a second to see them flying into the sand fifteen feet away, already locked in a fierce battle. They rolled down the hill gripped in each other’s arms. Britta moved in their direction instantly. Knowing that she had Sarah covered made me feel better, and I turned back toward the demons above us.
Two of them unfurled their wings and took flight. April’s arm flashed out to the right of me, and one of her daggers tore through the membrane of the creature’s wing, forcing it back to the ground. That left one in the air, and I hoped Marcus could handle it. The two demons left in front of us were still huge but nowhere near as large as the one my mom decided to tangle with.
I called on my gift to augment my strength as I charged forward. The demon in front of me jumped into the air at the last second, coming down at me from an even greater distance. Instead of meeting his charge, I threw myself flat on my back against the hill. The demon sailed over me, and I leaped to my feet, bringing my swords down into its back. The demon screamed and tried to turn around, but my swords stopped it from moving.
I pulled one of my swords free, using the other one to control the demon’s movements. It twisted and writhed in front of me, breaking free at the last second. The strike I had aimed at its head missed as it turned. I rolled forward with the strike, conceding the higher ground but missing the claw that was aimed at my chest.
Swinging my blade back at the demon’s legs, I rose, trying to regain my balance. He easily avoided the strike by jumping back, but it allowed me to climb to get back into position and establish my balance. The demon roared, and for the first time, I really had a chance to look at it. It was wiry, thin, and quick. I almost thought of it like a ferret or a mongoose but with scales instead of fur. Its tail didn’t scare me, but the extra reach the demon’s neck had did.
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