by Joyee Flynn
“Those not in the first wave are armed and ready to shoot anything that comes back through. Don’t get itchy trigger fingers because depending on how it goes, one of us will come back to tell you when you can come with metal and weapons. If you start to tire from your gifts, come back through the portal. There is no shame in that. Don’t die because you were stupid. There are more than enough able to fight, and there are more to help tonight than just fighting.” He nodded to the Queen.
“Asterio, count it down,” she said, standing off to the side. He counted back from five, and when he hit one, the room flared with a curtain of light and away we went… Into hell.
* * * *
Ronan
“Why are we in a fucking cage?” I growled after we went through the portal, looking around. We were in a massive ballroom, just as Cyrus had described.
“Oh shite. This is where they’re keeping the humans,” Rian roared. I realized he was right. There were massive cells all over the place full of humans. The portal had opened so some had gone right into two different cages and some had not. “Back through the portal! We need to get these cages out of the way when we clear out!”
“Get back through and we’ll move them,” Maverick ordered as Asterio was already shooting fire at the demons who had been in the ballroom. I didn’t even have time to look.
“Come with us,” I said to a few humans. “We’re here to help but ya have to come now!” I waved to them as Ronan picked up a few children. They nodded and ran after Ronan and the others who ended up trapped with us. I ignored the tight feeling of going back through the portal.
“What happened?” Elena Marius asked as we landed back in the warrior compound. “Why are there humans here already?”
“The ballroom is full of cages of them,” I answered, wondering how long we had to wait for Maverick to move the cell. “The portal opened into a few of them so we walked right into it and were trapped. We had to come back so they could move it before we could go back through.”
“So there’s only a third of them on that side fighting?” she gasped.
“Aye,” I whispered.
“Oh fuck that,” she snarled and stepped through the portal.
“I hope they moved the cage,” I mumbled as we followed after her. A blink later and we were back in the ballroom, the Queen having come as well. Holy fucking shite! There were demons everywhere! I hadn’t even seen how many before because I was a little busy ending up in a cage, but now it was almost overwhelming. I mean, they were like fucking rats in a sewer.
“Shield!” Baylor bellowed, right before a demon let go an energy blast aimed at us and the portal. I threw one right back, canceling it out. But he wasn’t the only one who could do it.
“Drain them,” Victor growled as flames shot from his hands. I focused on the closest ones, because we found with Virgil and Clove’s help we could do up to ten. Then I moved onto the next group.
“To the left!” someone shouted. I had just enough time to see a massive energy blast and fireball coming our way when someone threw a sheet of ice at it, blocking it and putting out the fire.
“Mother, get the fuck out of there!” Victor bellowed.
“Not likely,” she snickered and threw ice at a few more demons, knocking them over like bowling pins.
“He’s not here,” Digger called out. “Osvaldo’s not here!” His job had been to track the man as soon as he could get a safe moment to try and get a lock on him, having better control of his gift than we could. “Switch to guns and get the others in here!”
“Ya got the fire energy blasts?” Rian asked me.
“Maybe? I felt the energy but I wasn’t really focusing,” I answered honestly.
“Let’s try it anyway. It’s taking too long to drain and then kill,” he yelled back. I nodded and thought of what I had felt. Sure enough a fireball formed from me hands and shot from them. “That’s fucking badass.”
“Aye, it is.” I kept shooting them, making sure to hit the targets as I glanced around to find our das. And then I saw one take claws to the shoulder by a demon. “Da!” Rian’s head snapped towards me and saw as I did. We were over there in a flash, fire shooting from our hands. “I got it! Get them back through the portal!”
Rian lifted our da, Michan, who was injured, over his shoulder while our other da, Manus, followed after, looking like he could be pushed over by a feather. I would have yelled at them for not having gone back through sooner, but from the piles of ash on the ground it had been obvious that demons had cut them off from the group. Bastards.
I shot fireball after fireball as we backed up, nailing one or two demons at a time. They’d screech and turn to ash within moments. We made it to the portal and Rian set Da on his feet and our two fathers went through together. Once they were safe, we went back to it.
“We need the cages out of the way! They’re hiding behind the humans,” I told Rylan as they came in through the portal.
“Can you blow a hole through the wall of the castle?” he asked us. We nodded as we kept shooting fire. “Can you bring the cages closer?”
“Why the fuck didn’t we think of that?” Rian growled.
“We’ve been busy,” I defended. Then again, yeah, that would have worked. “I’ll get the hole.” I focused on the nearest outside wall of the ballroom and sent several of the biggest energy blasts I could. I blew a massive-size hole in the fucker within minutes.
“We’re covering you!” Rylan yelled as he kept shooting. I nodded, trying not to notice that Bevin was there, gun drawn and looking sexy and badass. Later, I reminded meself. I used me gift to pull the empty cage they’d pushed to the side out the hole. Then I did it with the other one, knocking a few demons out along with it. Go me. By then Rian had pulled a cage of humans closer. Caven was there to rip the door off.
“If you can walk head through the wavering air,” he yelled to them. “I promise it’s safe. We’re here to help!” No one hesitated that time, knowing we were the better option. Several wolves went into the cage to get those who couldn’t stand on their own and carry them through the portal. Once it was empty I threw it through the hole and Rian pulled another one to us.
“This is way better than the original plan,” Caven said brightly.
“Glad you like it,” Rylan snickered. “I’m useful at times.”
“Shut it and shoot,” Vega growled. I kept taking out demons as fast I could, but as soon as we turned one to ash it was like two more sprang up in its place. “We’re going to run out of ammo.”
“No shit,” Bevin and Rylan said together.
Suddenly two demons leapt from off the fucking wall, having climbed up it like damn cockroaches, and were about to claw up Vega and Clove when a wall of ice formed out of nowhere, and they crashed into that instead.
“I’ve got wood, Councilwoman,” Vega said as he stared at Elena Marius.
“Really? How about just thank you?” she drawled. I watched as she turned and shot ice out of her hands, and it traveled along and decapitated three different demons.
“We know how to do that,” I purred. Yeah, that was hot. And it was easier to deal with than fire. Because, pun intended, that shite was hot. And we couldn’t risk burning humans. I kept shooting, turning to Virgil. “Help your mother. I can keep going all night.”
“Already was,” he chuckled.
“Rock on then.” I shrugged as they emptied the next cage. I tossed it out the hole, and we continued on that way for what seemed like forever, though I know it had been more like ten minutes and two more cages.
“It must be you two,” someone snarled loudly. I had just enough time to duck and roll as someone practically flew by me. He landed easily on his feet and I was looking at almost the spitting image of Cyrus Diaz… If he’d had red eyes.
“Which one are ya? Dumb, dumber, dumbest? But one of ya a girl, right? Hard to tell which when ya a demon. Ya all look alike. One already be dead from what I hear,” I taunted, trying to keep his attentio
n on me because he was standing between Elena Marius and the rest of us. So she was alone against the demons in front of her and that wasn’t good. None of us should be on our own with these overwhelming numbers. “Ya brother be looking for ya.”
“I will bathe in your blood, Irishman,” he said in a thick Spanish accent.
“Ya off ya nut, shoibag,” I snickered. “Ya kill me and ya gotta deal with me ma. And that woman is scarier when she’s pissed than ya’ll ever be.”
“Then I start with Elena Marius rather than finish with her.” He gave me a wide smile and darted over to her, grabbing her around the throat just before I could get to her. He clucked his tongue at me. “Too slow, Irishman. Her mate killed my brother. He will wish he took his own head instead of Aemilio’s by the time I’m done with her.”
“Fucking try it,” Elena snarled and shot ice into his foot. The demon roared in pain and squeezed her throat hard enough that his claws dug into her neck.
“I’m the only weapon they have against ya da. Take me instead,” I said loudly, getting his attention back on me. I just needed to make sure if I did what I wanted, he wouldn’t tear out her throat. “Take me and we’ll go see Cyrus.”
“I am already here,” Cyrus said from behind me. “Hello, Pablo. You should let go of my madre.”
“She is not your madre,” the demon hissed, shaking Elena. “We are of the same madre.”
“And yet you betray her by being the one thing she would not become,” Cyrus replied calmly. “You dishonor her.”
“She chose her god over life with her family,” Pablo spat out. “She still would have chosen this or forgiven me for my choice over yours and your disgusting mating.”
I wasn’t ready for what Cyrus did next, especially in the middle of all this death and fighting. He threw back his head and laughed. “You really believe that? You think Madre would have approved of you becoming a demon, killing, raping, and torturing humans over my being gay and accepting the mate fate gave me?”
“I know so and Father would never forgive you after Aemilio’s death.”
“Well Desmond Marius did not kill Aemilio. I did. I captured him, tortured him for the information we needed, and then beheaded him. It was me.”
“How could you do that to your own brother?”
“My family is dead,” Cyrus bellowed. “There is only a demon before me and the devil who animates his body. But if you think the power you gained was really worth your soul and so much better than my sins as you see them, then fight me now. Or are you too scared? Are you still little Pablito who needs Father to protect him from everyone else?”
The taunting worked because he tossed Elena to the ground and went to strike out at Cyrus. I was quicker, shooting a fireball at his chest and sending him back against the wall, screaming in pain before he started to burn to ash.
“Thank you, Ronan,” Cyrus whispered. “I do not know if I had the strength to kill him. He was still my brother.”
“I get it. Don’t let anyone know I was the one who let Elena get hurt and we’ll call it even,” I said easily. He nodded and moved over to her, lifting her easily into his arms.
“I could have used the heads-up there was a demon behind me,” she bitched, her throat raw.
“I didn’t want to bring ya to his attention or distract ya from the dozens in front of ya,” I said with a wince.
“Good point. Okay, forgiven,” she groaned in pain. “We’ll talk later.” She patted my cheek and I wasn’t sure if it was a talk I’d like or not. Another thing to deal with later.
“Where have ya been?” Rian bitched as I got back to me position to help with the last cages.
“Ya don’t even want to know,” I grumbled. “Later.”
“We didn’t miss much not being allowed to be warriors I’ve decided.” He shot me a crooked grin. “This would get old.” He was so full of shite. We were having the time of our lives… In a crazy, twisted sort of way.
“Yeah, this is not what being a warrior has been until recently,” Vega drawled. “It’s normally chasing a demon down for days or weeks to get your ass kicked and hopefully not die after battling it with a sword. Life has really gotten interesting the past couple of years.” His gun clicked instead of firing the next round when he pulled the trigger. “I’m out!”
Caven just ripped open another door to the cage. “I’ve got more.” He turned to pull a clip out of his pocket and a human escaping bumped into him. I shot some fireballs at the demons to the right creeping closer, taking out several. Thank god there finally seemed to be less or at least they were fleeing. But maybe that wasn’t a good thing? No, definitely not. Then we just had to chase them down.
“Alpha!” someone shouted. I glanced back just in time to see a demon jumping from the ceiling with a sword… Straight for Caven. I shifted me body, trying to get me aim lined up in time, but I wasn’t going to make it. A blur darted in front of me and knocked Caven out of the way, taking the hit instead. I fired at the demon and ashed his ass.
“Fletcher,” Caven cried out and dove on his knees next to the man who saved him. “No!” I closed me eyes for a moment, hating what me brain interpreted at what I’d seen. The demon had taken Fletcher’s head. “No!”
“Caven, come on, we can mourn later,” Vega said firmly, grabbing his arm.
“No! I was supposed to protect them!” Caven snarled, shaking in anger.
“Shit. We need to get him back through the portal. He’s never lost someone when he’s been in charge before,” Vega explained. I nodded and focused on Gabriel’s face, using Digger’s gift. I found him and darted over to him.
“Caven needs ya,” I said as I helped his group and sent several fireballs out, speeding up the process. “Fletcher died saving his life and he’s not handling it well.”
“Fuck! Caven,” Gabriel choked out and spun on his heel, racing off.
“What happened?” Victor asked me. I told him and he shook his head as we kept firing. “I’m glad Fletcher showed he was a good person after all and did right by his Alpha and the wolves. He was a dick when he showed up here. But it sucks it turned out that way. Damn. I really didn’t want us to lose anyone. Poor Caven. Not easy to lead people into battle when they don’t all come back.”
“Ya speak like ya know,” I hedged.
“I do,” he replied darkly. “I know from too many times.”
He didn’t say anything and I didn’t push. Wasn’t me business and I wasn’t sure I really wanted to know. We kept going until all the humans were free. Then it was much, much easier to take out the remaining demons. Rian, several of the fae, and I just constantly shot fire until they were all ash. I was one big puddle of sweat, but they were all dead… And that’s all that mattered.
“Found the witches,” one of Barnabas’s guards, Spike, said with a smile. “One bitch has a big mouth on her. She’s going to be fun to interrogate. Oh yeah. I feel for whoever is going to be in charge of that.”
“Cool beans,” I panted, me body shaking.
“You okay?” Victor asked me.
“I think I found me limit as to where we can get tired,” I answered. “Or maybe just not used to rotating between gifts? I’m just exhausted.”
“I think it’s the rotating between them,” Rian agreed. “Normally we just play with one for a while. And we haven’t even done that in a long time. Switching back and forth be harder than I thought it would be. Too much concentration.”
“We’ve got it from here. Get back through the portal and get some blood,” Victor ordered. We both nodded. Yeah, wasn’t going to argue with that. Besides, I wanted to see that Bevin was okay with me own eyes. We headed through the portal and glanced around.
“Holy shite,” Rian gasped. I couldn’t find me voice so I simply nodded. There were over a hundred humans being helped by various members of the coven. It hadn’t looked like that many in the ballroom, but then again we were in one part of it and pulled cages to us. “This will take weeks to sort through.”<
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“Aye.”
“You’re alive!” Bevin squealed before launching himself into me arms. I caught him with a grunt and buried me face in his neck. “I love you, Ronan. I love you both. I was so scared. When I saw all those demons and how many you were up against I just wanted a moment alone to tell you I loved you. I’m so sorry I didn’t tell you sooner.”
“Oh, me heart,” I whispered, a thrill running through me at his declaration. “Ya needed more than a day to figure it out. There’s nothing wrong with that. We understood.”
“I know, and I know I’m being silly but I had to tell you,” he rambled. I inhaled his scent and me fangs slid out, scraping against his neck. “Are you okay?”
“Thirsty and ya were hot shooting all those demons, me heart,” I growled.
Rian moved closer and surrounded Bevin from the other side. “Aye. Ya aim perfect, so focused and hard-core. I was so turned on.”
“Really?” he gasped and then yowled as me twin kissed the other side of his neck. “Okay then. Bite me and fuck me.”
“Not just yet,” I chuckled. “We’re a little tired.”
“I thought you guys didn’t get tired from using your gifts like other vampires?” he asked, his tone concerned as he slid down me body and out from between us. “Then we need to get you sitting down and rested.” He took both our hands and led us to the bleachers. “Sit.” We both did, smiling as he raced off and found us some blood.
“We found happiness in the form of a little margay,” Rian said with a sigh.
“Aye, that we did.” I held out me fist and he pounded it. “That we did.”
Our mate came back with our ma, and they fussed over us, making sure we got enough to drink. Then we insisted on seeing our das. Riley hadn’t gotten to our injured da yet so we healed him since the doc had showed us how earlier and then jumped in where we could for the next hour.
