Sloth (The Damning Book 4)

by Katie May

  back inside the van. But alas, they were gone, and it was up to me to be her

  knight in shining armor.

  Though…

  I was beginning to suspect she didn’t need anyone to save her. If

  anything, our girl saved us way more than we saved her. If the look she threw

  me was any indication, the same thought had crossed her own mind.

  I wasn’t ashamed to admit that my girl was a badass. Some people

  seemed to believe that the men needed to do all the saving, but I didn’t

  believe that. Sure, I wanted nothing more than to protect Z and hide her away

  from the world, but I knew she was more skilled at fighting than any of us.

  We were princes, for fuck’s sake, while she was a skilled assassin with more

  kills under her belt than any of us could comprehend.

  That didn’t change the fact that she was fucking sick and looking weaker

  by the second.

  If saving her life meant throwing her over my shoulder and tying her to a

  tree, then that was what I’d do.

  “I can fight,” Z insisted. “I feel fine.”

  “Fucking liar,” I snapped, and she bristled.

  “Fuck you.”

  “Aww. You offering?” I tossed her a taunting smirk, but whatever retort

  rested on her pretty lips died the second the dragon flew lower into the

  clearing. This close, I could see its underbelly was a soft, milky color that

  was in direct contrast to its rippling green scales.

  “The stomach,” Z and I said at the exact same time. We also gave each

  other simultaneous death glares, so I called that winning. Totally couple

  goals.

  “Aim for the stomach,” Z elaborated, twirling a dagger around in her

  hands with an ease that left me baffled…and a bit horny, if I was being

  honest with myself. Though this was definitely not the time to be thinking

  with my cock.

  “This should be fun,” Ryland mused with a dark chuckle. His shadows

  wrapped tightly around him, hoisting him a few feet off the ground where he

  hovered. “I haven’t had to kill anyone in a few months.”

  “Damn, Ry,” Z scoffed. “Are you trying to make me horny before a

  fight?”

  “Are you greedy for more, little dove? Did I not satisfy you when I

  fingered you to completion? Does the thought of me killing someone turn

  you on?” Amusement laced Ryland’s tone.

  “It does,” Killian and Z responded at the same time, Kill’s voice a screech

  as he felt her lust, while Z’s remained calm and confident.

  Wait? Fingered? Completion? What the fuck did I miss?

  Leave to save your mate, and you miss out on everything, apparently.

  Fuck them both.

  I rolled my eyes at their banter, jerking my chin in the direction of the

  monster still circling overhead. I didn’t understand why it wasn’t attacking.

  Maybe it was waiting for—

  “Guys.” Jax’s voice was soft, barely audible, but before I could respond

  to him, Z began to speak.

  “What the fuck is the dragon doing?” Her nose crinkled as she squinted

  up at the monster.

  “Guys.”

  “It doesn’t want to kill you, Z,” Ryland reminded her gently. “It wants to

  capture you.”

  “But it still doesn’t explain why—”

  “Guys!”

  We all turned to look at Jax, but the vampire’s gaze wasn’t on it. It was

  fixed on the forest surrounding Paco’s cottage…

  And the dozen monsters surrounding us.

  At first glance, I thought they were wolves or maybe oversized dogs. But

  when they took a step forward, their movements eerily synchronized, I

  realized they weren’t dogs or wolves or anything I’d ever seen in the flesh

  before.

  They were hellhounds.

  Motherfucker.

  Their fur was coarse and a dark, onyx black. It covered their slender

  bodies, patches of fur missing and giving them a savage, untamed look. Red

  eyes peered back at me, the malice in them unmistakable. The longer I stared,

  the more I began to believe that the flames of the Underworld itself lurked in

  their irises, the red shifting and contorting like fire.

  “Welp…” Z licked her upper lip. “This just got more interesting.”

  “You don’t fucking say,” I sniped, my eyes shifting from the hellhounds

  to the dragon and then to the woman who’d become my entire fucking world.

  Cocking an eyebrow, I asked, “And I still can’t convince you to run and

  hide?”

  She gave me a droll look. “Maybe you should be the one hiding, Bash-

  hole. Heaven knows you don’t know how to use the…” her eyes moved from

  the blade in the waistband of my pants to my cock, “stick you were given.”

  I rolled my eyes. “A sex joke at this time? Really? Real fucking mature.”

  “You love it.”

  I really do.

  But before I could do something fucking ridiculous, like declare my

  undying love for her, the monsters charged. It was almost as if their minds

  were connected, as if they were waiting for some unseen force to give the

  command to pounce.

  The dragon twisted in the air, coming straight towards us, as the

  hellhounds burst from the trees with malevolent growls.

  Ryland curled the shadows further around his body, shooting up into the

  sky, and I watched as a blade materialized in his hand. I was forced to look

  away when a hellhound lunged at me, its fangs sharp and dripping saliva. I

  called on my power, growing it from a tiny orb to a brilliant ball of light, and

  threw it at the monster’s face. It yelped in agony, my green fire licking at its

  fur and skin, until it fell to the ground in a charred and smoky mess. The

  whole exchange only lasted a few seconds before I was turning again,

  searching desperately for Z.

  But I didn’t have to worry. My girl moved like a shadow, ducking and

  dancing and weaving between the beasts. Her blades glinted in the sunlight as

  she sliced at one hellhound, ducking just in time as another one lunged over

  her head. She grinned manically, a fire entering her eyes, and threw one of

  her blades, landing it cleanly in the beast’s stomach.

  Satisfied that she could handle herself, I conjured up more flames and

  began to shoot the hellhounds at random. My eyes flickered towards my

  brothers fighting for their damn lives.

  Killian was wielding his blade with a hesitancy that didn’t surprise me.

  What did surprise me, however, was how good he appeared to be with the

  dagger, despite his limited training. With his sizeable bulk, it only took one

  stab to incapacitate a hellhound, and with the speed and flexibility associated

  with all incubi, he made the fight into a dance. With a little training, Killian

  could go from being an okay fighter to being a great one. Of that I had no

  doubt.

  Z would probably come in her pants if she watched him fight now, that

  kinky shit.

  Jax was also holding his own, zipping between the monsters with a burst

  of his vampire speed and lunging at their throats. His canines were extended,

  the tips dripping red, but he didn’t appear to actually be drinking the blood of

  the beasts. Instead, he ripped at their throats, eliciting pained cries fro
m the

  monsters, before darting away.

  A shout dragged my attention towards the sky, just in time to see Ryland

  tumbling free from his shadows, falling towards the ground.

  “Ryland!” Z screamed, and I called on my magic, forcing it forward so it

  caught him mid fall. His mouth dropped open as he stared at the cloud of

  green that had captured him, but he immediately snapped it shut when the

  dragon dived in his direction. I didn’t know what the fuck happened, but it

  was obvious Ryland was weak. Even when he tried to call on the shadows,

  they burst to life and then immediately stuttered out.

  I raced forward at the same time Z did, but before I could even think to

  use my magic, she was lunging forward, her blade extended. She jumped

  onto the green cloud I’d created for Ryland and used the momentum to jump

  even higher, slicing at the dragon’s sensitive underbelly. The creature roared

  with agony, spinning in a wide circle, before hurrying back in Z’s direction.

  “Z!” I bellowed, racing forward. I shot rapid fireballs at the monster’s

  belly, one after the other, but it didn’t appear to do a damn thing. Sure, it hurt

  the little fucker, if his pained cries were any indication, but he didn’t slow

  down. His clawed talon reached for Z—

  Until it was immediately blasted away by a wall of water.

  Dair appeared on the opposite side of me, standing on two legs and a look

  of concentration on his face. I watched in fascination as he molded the water

  into a makeshift spear and solidified it until it appeared to be made from ice.

  And then he stabbed it into the dragon’s chest.

  Another roar left the magnificent creature’s throat, and I felt a surge of

  anger ripple through my system. This monster…

  It was innocent in this war. It had no idea what the fuck it was doing, only

  that it had to follow Aaliyah’s bidding. And now we had to kill it, kill this

  glorious beast, or risk our mate’s life.

  I combined my magic with Dair’s, throwing everything I had into killing

  the dragon. Hit after hit. Cut after cut.

  “How the fuck is it still flying?” Dair demanded, his blue eyes glinting

  with his power.

  “No fucking clue.”

  “Paco don’t like intruders!” The long-haired mage appeared on the front

  porch of his house, his eyes filled with rage. He clapped his hands together,

  his magic cackling around him, before he shot it outwards in a sonic burst.

  The remaining hellhounds whined before falling to the ground, one after

  the other in a domino effect. I had no idea if they were dead or simply

  unconscious, but I didn’t care enough to ask.

  When Paco’s magic reached the dragon, the monster roared, writhing

  madly, before its black eyes fluttered shut and it fell from the sky.

  Directly where Z was standing.

  I screamed at her, but she easily rolled out of the way when the creature’s

  ginormous body collapsed on the asphalt, cracking the road and sending me

  falling onto my ass.

  Paco offered us a slanted smile, as if he hadn’t just used magic even my

  own father wasn’t capable of.

  “Come inside.” Paco crooked his finger in a come-hither gesture, his cock

  flapping madly in the breeze. “Paco helps.”

  Ryland materialized at my side, the shadows once more concealing him

  from view. But his pained grunt when he moved let me know he didn’t get

  off scot-free.

  Instead of questioning my brother, I nodded towards Paco ambling back

  into his house like he didn’t have a dragon and a dozen hellhounds in his

  front yard.

  “What the fuck is happening?” I queried, watching in my periphery as Z

  staggered to her feet, her face even paler than usual. Fear tightened my throat

  until even breathing felt impossible.

  “I don’t know.” Ryland shook his head slowly. “But if your friend was

  able to wield that much magic…he might be able to help us save Z’s life.”

  ELEVEN

  LUPE

  “W here the fuck are you going?” I hollered, barreling in the

  direction of my brothers.

  “Language!” Killian chastised, but he was

  immediately shushed and reprimanded by Bash for giving away their

  location. Growling, I began to move faster, skirting a corner just as all six of

  my best friends ran out the door.

  “This isn’t funny!” I resisted the urge to pout like a petulant child. I

  wasn’t one, despite what my father believed. I was ten, dammit, and it was

  about time I proved to both of my parents that I could be responsible and

  mature.

  But I was getting really annoyed with my friends running away from me.

  “It’s a game!” Devlin called, his face peering around the corner of the

  hall. His violet eyes sparkled with mirth, but that only exacerbated my

  annoyance and rage.

  “Games are for babies,” I said with a huff of irritation, but I continued to

  prowl towards them.

  “Don’t be an ass hat, Lupe!” Jax’s head appeared around the corner

  next, his brown hair sticking up in all directions. Like me, Jax was a nerd at

  heart, preferring to spend his time face-first in a book. It made him horribly

  inept at talking to girls, especially Maggie, who we all knew he had a crush

  on. But Maggie was going to be my girlfriend. Jax could have Sasha, the

  daughter of that nice human maid.

  “Don’t call me an ass hat, ass hat!” I retorted bitterly. I quickened my

  pace, my legs already longer and wider than those of my brothers at my age.

  “Then stop being an ass hat!” Jax snapped.

  “Everyone, stop saying ass hat.” Bash’s face appeared next, followed

  immediately by Killian’s. Those two were inseparable. It made me a little bit

  jealous that they’d declared themselves best friends. We weren’t allowed to

  pick favorites. I liked them all equally.

  “Y-yeah!” Killian’s stuttered with a decisive head bob. “Only ass hats

  say ass hats.”

  Bash gave our friend a long look, his hand creeping up to pinch the

  bridge of his nose. “Dude.”

  Dair’s head poked above all of the others, his blue eyes sparking and

  golden hair framing his cherubic face. Everyone always said that Dair was

  the prettiest of us all, a fact that we teased him mercilessly about. Who

  wanted to be the pretty boy? Girls didn’t like pretty, they liked sexy men with

  muscles, which fortunately, meant me. Killian would probably be sexy when

  he got older, but as of now, his body was slender and lanky, his reddish-

  brown hair a little too long and flopping constantly in his eyes. It was a

  source of contention between him and his father. Mr. Incubus wanted Killian

  to cut his hair, but Kill refused, preferring it long. He told me once that he

  wanted to grow it out and then donate it to humans who developed a sickness

  called cancer. I thought that idea was preposterous.

  As if his parents would ever allow him to do that.

  “What game are we even playing?” I folded my arms over my chest

  bitterly just as cold shadows caressed my neck. I spun in alarm, raising my

  hands to defend myself from the unseen foe, when Ryland’s dark chuckle
>
  greeted me.

  He was perched on the windowsill a few feet above the ground, his eyes

  flashing through the darkness that obscured his features from view. He

  smiled, the shadows lifting to reveal pearly white teeth, before they

  disappeared altogether. His smooth, unblemished face stared back at me.

  “If you don’t want to be ‘it’ anymore, I can do it,” he offered with a

  nonchalant shrug. Indignation immediately filled me. I knew he didn’t mean

  it as an insult, but it almost felt as if he was mocking me, as if he was saying

  that I couldn’t handle being “it.” I knew it was probably my wrath rearing its

  ugly head, but either way, I lifted my chin up stubbornly and gave him a

  fierce glare.

  “I can do it.”

  Ryland’s lips twitched, the only indication I’d done exactly what he

  wanted me to. Dammit.

  “Tell me the game we’re playing!” I demanded, annoyed at all of them.

  “Hide and seek or—”

  “Lupe!” All of us stiffened at the familiar baritone voice, though I didn’t

  think any of us had ever heard such rage before. It permeated my very soul,

  leaving ripples of apprehension throughout my body. Goosebumps emerged

  on my arms as I turned towards the figure barreling towards us from the end

  of the hall.

  My father, followed by over a dozen attendants and guards, each of them

  with wide, terrified eyes, stalked towards me. Someone tried to speak to him,

  but the look he threw her was capable of frosting over glass.

  I swallowed down the lump in my throat as I waited with bated breath for

  him to approach.

  Despite his reputation, my father had never laid a hand on me. He didn’t

  need to.

  He had enough humans at his disposal to never run out of punching bags.

  “Dad?” I cleared my throat as his vitriol filled eyes landed on me.

  “What’s going on? Where’s Mom?”

  One of the attendants began shaking her head at me in warning, but

  before I could comment on it, Dad grabbed my arm and began to drag me

  down the hall after him. We passed my friends, all of whom stared at us with

  mouths agape, before they soon disappeared far behind us.

  My shorter legs hurried to keep up with his brutal, demanding pace, but I

  didn’t dare ask him to slow down. I’d never seen my dad so out of sorts

  before.

  Normally, his facial hair was immaculately groomed, but today, it seemed