by Amy Sumida
He lifted his chin and stared me down.
“Two stars shining for justice?” I lifted a brow at him.
“It's a common saying.”
I barked a laugh, then clamped a hand over my mouth, much as he had done once. “Damn it, Star! You knew about this prophecy. That's why you saved me. Not because I was some kind of pure soul.”
Star let out a long sigh. “I suspected the prophecy might be about you, and I didn't want to risk your death.”
I sighed deeply. “Fair enough.”
“You're not angry with me?”
“No. It makes more sense now.” I shrugged. “You barely knew me and yet you gave me part of your magic to save my life?” I shook my head. “That was bothering me. I didn't buy that pure soul crap. It's pretty, but not real. Not good enough for a Lord of Hell to weaken himself.”
Star snorted. “It's pretty and real. I didn't lie to you, I just failed to share my prime motivation.”
“Well, as far as prophecies go, it's not so bad.”
“Not for you, maybe,” he grumbled. “But if you die, all the Demons may go with you.”
“How?” I scoffed. “Prophecies are strange beasts. You only know what they really mean after they come true. I'll admit that it's likely about me. But all of that rising and kneeling crap? Who knows what it really means? I honestly don't care.”
“You don't care that you could kill my entire race?” Star growled.
“I don't care about the prophecy,” I clarified. “Of course, I don't want to hurt your people. But I'm immortal, Star. My death isn't likely to happen anytime soon.”
“Hopefully never,” he muttered.
“So, Varcan's after me because he thinks he'd have the Kings of Fairy, the King of the Fairy Underground, and the King of Hell in his pocket if he had me,” I mused. “Four kings; that's a hell of a hand if you'll excuse the pun.”
“Yes,” Eladeb said.
I winced, having forgotten about him.
Astar's stare settled on the other Demon. “You need to get more details out of him, Seren, and then we're going back to Earth to catch his captain, reclaim Lucifer's dagger, and end this threat against you once and for all.”
“I'm good with that.” I turned toward Eladeb.
Chapter Fifty-One
The sayadi geared up, and we laleked to Drostan's house, Eladeb in tow. It was my first purposeful lalek, and I was a bit nervous, but it was very similar to twilighting, just with the addition of heat. Astar explained that Demons were formed of Fire, as humans were made from Earth and Water, and Angels from Air. The Twin Gods liked to work with the elements. So, a lot of Demon magic stemmed from fire. Which, he theorized, was why his magic was settling inside me so well. I had fire-based magic that made it feel right at home.
My husbands came rushing out of Drostan's house as soon as we arrived, along with my guards, who escorted the Demons across the ward. They gave Eladeb funny looks when I pulled him through the ward, but didn't gape at him until after I told them who he was and what I'd done to him. Astar had to endure some glares as I told my team what his had been up to without us, but everyone got over their irritation fast when I added that Varcan would be bringing a battle to us that very night. They were itching for some action.
Eladeb had spilled his guts. Not only did I know where Varcan had been hiding out, but I also knew exactly where he was keeping the antidote in that hideout. While Varcan surrounded Drostan's house to force my surrender, I'd be in his new place, stealing the antidote that would make my surrender unnecessary. The problem was how to get the humans away from Varcan and his men so they didn't kill the humans before we could cure them.
“Can't you guys just lalek the humans somewhere safe?” Killian asked. “Get 'em in a safe room, where Varcan can't order them around, and start dosing them?”
“Varcan must have close to a hundred humans by now,” Astaroth said. “I have only ten sayadi. That means around ten trips, which would give Varcan time to start killing those left behind, or even setting them against each other.”
“What if we use darts to shoot the antidote at them?” Extinguisher Lance Sloane asked.
“Again, that doesn't take care of the problem of Varcan having access to them,” Star pointed out. “We need to find a way to instantly separate them from him.”
“A ward,” Tiernan said. “We set another ward several feet beyond the first, one that allows humans past it. The humans walk through, but the Demons can't follow.”
“How do we stop them from leaving once they're past the ward?” Nassar asked.
“Can't one of you put up a containment field?” Tiernan asked.
“Can't one of you just twitch your nose or wave a wand, Legolas?” Apitron shot back.
“Legolas was an Elf,” Tiernan and I said together, then Tiernan grinned at me.
“And nose twitching is for genies, dumb ass,” Conri said.
Raza growled at Con.
“And genies are fake Djinn,” Conri hurried to add.
“And wands are for witches,” Daxon drawled. “Storybook witches.”
“And even though my husband has a pretty scar on his face, he's not Harry Potter,” I added.
“And—” Conri started.
“Okay!” Apitron cut off Conri. “Way to ruin a joke.” Then he muttered, “Fucking fairies.”
“No, we cannot put up a hakhil that large,” Astar dryly answered Tiernan's original question.
“I can manifest a wall of firethorns,” I offered.
“Around a perimeter that extends several feet beyond the house?” Daxon asked dubiously.
I scowled; it was a very large house.
“Camran and Gordan will help you, Your Majesty,” Nightblade said. “They both have Earth-based mórs and can build barriers.”
“I can help as well, Your Highness,” my guard, Ennis, added. “My quake mór can be used to move anything made of rock or soil.”
“Perfect. We should be able to manage it between the four of us,” I said. I looked at Star to add, “Then your sayadi will have time to move the humans somewhere secure. Perhaps to that warehouse of Drostan's. We can have extinguishers waiting there to administer the antidote and take them home afterward.”
“We can do that,” Star agreed.
“We'll need a fairy to wipe their memories,” Lance said.
“Ainsley, you go with the antidote team,” I said.
Ainsley nodded.
“And when the humans are safe, we slaughter that bastard and his men,” Raza snarled.
“Agreed,” Astaroth said with a wicked twist of his lips.
“What about him?” Killian motioned toward Eladeb.
Wayne held up a hand and grinned. “I've got an idea.”
Chapter Fifty-Two
I couldn't go after the antidote since I'd be needed to hem the humans in. Plus, everyone thought it was better to have me there to rile up Varcan. So, Astar would be going after the antidote while his people transported the humans. Varcan's hideout would probably be empty during the attack, but you never know, and I didn't want to send someone in alone. Astaroth, however, didn't need backup; I trusted him to look after himself. If a Lord of Hell couldn't go on a solitary mission, he didn't deserve the title—Astar's words, not mine.
A couple of extinguishers had to make a run to the St. Louis Council House for extra firepower to deal with Demons. Extinguishers don't usually use guns; combustible weapons aren't a good idea against enemies who can work fire magic, and they certainly wouldn't be a good choice for fighting Demons. Except that we'd be behind a ward. Demon magic wouldn't be able to pass through the ward, but bullets would. This was a rare opportunity for us to effectively use firearms of all kinds. We could shoot at the Demons from the safety of the house and not worry about our weapons being used against us. The bullets wouldn't kill the Demons, but they should slow them down long enough for us to get out there and finish the job.
There was a short discussion on wearing gas
masks to avoid getting stoned by brimstone breath. But Star said it was rarely used in battle. It was too difficult to direct the breath accurately while fighting and too easy to stone someone on your team. So we decided the masks weren't worth the hassle of wearing them.
By the time the sun set, we had a new ward laid ten feet out from the first and every room on the second floor was loaded with several types of firearms and boxes of ammunition. We were all excited to use them. There was just one problem.
“You'll have mere seconds to shoot them,” Astar warned us. “As soon as they know you're firing on them, and they can't stop you, they'll put up their hakhils.”
“That's why we start shooting as soon as we see them,” I said to everyone. “We don't give them a chance to speak, just shoot. Hopefully, the gunfire will drive the humans forward and through our ward.”
“And if it doesn't?” Wayne asked.
“If it doesn't, we keep to the plan,” Killian said. “We go out there and slaughter the Demons before they recover.”
“And hope the humans don't turn on us,” Daxon muttered.
“We can push them between the two wards if we have to,” Tiernan said. “If they turn on the Demons trying to lalek them, the Demons can either restrain them or leave.”
Tingles rushed over me, and I spun toward the backyard.
“They're here,” Killian sang in a Carol Anne voice.
Chapter Fifty-Three
There was a lot of cursing as we ran for our posts. Thankfully, we'd been having our conversation on the upstairs landing. Also thankfully, Varcan's army was piling out of a fleet of white vans, parked along Drostan's winding driveway, and they seemed to be sticking to the backyard. We moved everyone to windows facing the back, sending half our forces downstairs, and still had time to aim as Varcan and his men herded the humans toward us.
“They're already crossing the ward,” Daxon noted.
“Astar, go!” I shouted, but the Demon Lord was already gone. Through my comm unit, I said, “Hold. Wait until the humans are clear of our line of fire.”
Varcan was gleefully directing the humans to form a living shield in front of his men, never suspecting that he was sending them to safety and our vantage points allowed us to shoot right behind them. He waved his men over to him and then took a megaphone from one of them.
“Now!” I shouted before Varcan could speak.
Everyone started firing at once. There were so many of us at the windows, even with sending people downstairs, that we had to double-up, with some people crouching and others standing above them. Varcan and his Demons went down under a hail of gunfire, every single one of them dropping. The humans, under the influence of Demon Newt, didn't panic exactly, but they did stumble forward, away from the chaos behind them. As soon as they were all through the ward, I dropped my gun and focused on corralling them.
Camran, Gordan, and Ennis were with me so we could coordinate our barriers. Since they were in the backyard, we didn't have to make such a large circle. Instead, we formed a crescent-shaped wall of thorns, vines, and stone around them, curving out from the main ward around the house. I decided against setting my thorns on fire since it might scare the humans when all we needed to do was keep them from returning to Varcan.
“Go! Go! Go!” I heard Lance shouting through the comm unit.
Everyone ran from the house, the sayadi laleking to the humans while the rest of us went for Varcan and his men. I could have laleked down there, but I didn't think my husbands would be cool with me jumping ahead of them to face a group of Demons by myself. So, I just ran.
Humans started to vanish as I circumvented the barrier around them and shot toward the groaning, bleeding Demons that spotted Drostan's lawn. I sent vines ahead of me, intending to wrap Varcan in them as an extra layer of security. But my thorns bounced away from him, curling back on themselves as a golden sheen glistened in the air around Varcan.
“They've got their hakhils up!” I shouted. “Fall back!”
We couldn't do anything to the Demons with their barriers in place. We needed the sayadi to take them down, and the sayadi were busy carting humans to a warehouse where, hopefully, Astar was waiting with the antidote. We'd been banking on the bullet wounds keeping the Demons prone long enough for us to kill them, but now we'd have to wait behind the ward.
That being said, we'd planned for this contingency, so our group smoothly spun and retreated as Demons started to get to their feet with malicious grins. Unfortunately, we hadn't planned on being so far from the second ward at the time. Most of us wouldn't make it to safety; we'd have to fight, even if it was mostly defense. And that was just the first hiccup. Cut off from their master, the humans started to grow agitated, that feral side-effect of Newt taking hold. They roared in fury, pushing against each other and slamming into the ward that protected the house.
“Come to me!” Varcan shouted at them.
The humans spun and ran to the barriers, clawing and tearing at thorns, earth, and rock. Some crawled onto others to try to scale the walls. People screamed as they were crushed or torn by my thorns.
“Fuck!” I hissed even as I threw up a wall of firethorns to block the blast of fire one of Varcan's Demons sent my way.
“Not her, you fool!” Varcan shouted at the Demon. To me, he said, “Come to me, Seren, and this stops now.” He held a hand out to me expectantly. “I will administer an antidote to the humans and draw back my forces. Everyone lives.”
I ignored him and pulled my sword. Varcan's men ran for us, but they couldn't attack without dropping their hakhils; the containment field worked both ways. So, every time they shot a stream of fire or swung a sword, there was an opening. Getting past it before they replaced their shields was tough, but once they were fully engaged in one-on-one combat, their hakhils were dropped fully. And we had a trump card to play.
Raza roared as he shifted into his dragon form, the sound of it deepening and magnifying as his vocal cords shifted. He spread his wings wide and stretched his neck, chest puffing when one of the Demons dared to launch fire at him. He lowered his magnificent ebony head, with its crown of horns, and roared a warning at the Demons. Their paltry fire magic was like a ray of sunshine for a dragon.
Meanwhile, Killian's giant snake body burst through his clothes, auburn scales gleaming as he lifted his head and bared his venomous fangs. His coiled tail unwound and lashed out, knocking Demons away from our team. Their hakhils were merely protective bubbles; apply a strong enough force, and the bubbles moved, taking their passengers with them. And a monster snake can apply a lot of force.
My chest filled with pride as I watched the Beast Brothers move forward to finish the fight, working in perfect harmony.
But the Demons, even those knocked aside by Killian, only laughed. Laughed and shifted. In seconds, the backyard was full of monsters just as large as my beasts—giant creatures straight from Hell. Horns and fangs, barbed tails and scales, claws and fur. These beasts knew no genus or race. They were demented conglomerations of animals both real and imagined. Nightmare creations. As if the Sluagh had been super-sized.
“Dear God,” I heard an extinguisher whisper.
Massive heads lifted, terrifying shrieks rumbling out of long throats to lift the hair on my arms. My belly clenched with fear as one of them dove for Raza and took him down, tumbling with him into the trees. Trunks creaked and exploded as my beautiful crimson dragon wrestled with a monster from Hell. Two more creatures jumped on Killian, claws clicking off his scales. Kill's head shot forward and his fangs sank into a furred hide, but then he was screaming, releasing his hold as the second Demon sliced off the tip of his tail.
“Killian!” I shouted.
“Get behind the fucking ward!” someone was shouting through the comm units.
I ran forward instead, casting my firethorns over one of the Demons who was on Kill. Around me, hunters and extinguishers went flying as Demon beasts played with their food. And the humans weren't faring much better. Sayad
i soldiers were laleking them away, but they had to fight for every human they took, and several laid unmoving on the ground at the edges of the writhing pack. But I couldn't focus on anyone other than my husbands.
Tiernan and Daxon flanked me. The Tromlaighe took down a monster before it reached us, sending the beast screaming to the ground to claw at its own eyes. The Shadowcall was busy helping Raza, binding his opponent's arms so my dragon could gore its belly open. Other hunters rallied around us, sending their magic out to push back the monsters that now filled the rolling expanse of Drostan's property. But the extinguishers had nothing to fight the beasts with. Pyrokinesis was useless, there was nothing to apportate, and using a sword against these creatures would be like trying to stick a toothpick into a tiger. So they ran, and we tried to cover their escape.
