Battle With Fire

by Breene, K. F.

  Another spell bore down on them, magic shredding their skin and stabbing down through their backs. The creatures howled, and the one nearest me lunged forward, hands out to grab. I erected a wall of air and then sliced through its neck with an air blade before lighting it on fire. I had the feeling that Penny and Emery were going to dispatch the other ones, so I’d better get all my rage out now or I’d lose my chance.

  The howl turned into a scream, cut off quickly. Magic kept stabbing the three others, much more gruesome than my approach, though I couldn’t put my finger on why. Green blood welled up and flowed over, dripping onto my porch. The creatures jolted and spasmed, curled down and then rolled over, shaking with the continual onslaught of magic.

  “All right, then.” I put my hand on Penny’s shoulder. “You good?”

  Tense, she broke my connection and stepped closer to Emery, laying a hand on his broad back. Apparently, Penny wasn’t the one I needed to worry about this time.

  “Hey,” she said softly, and Emery shuddered as though coming out of a trance.

  He scrubbed a hand over his face, and the magic dried up. The creatures stopped shaking.

  Make sure they are dead, Emery thought to me. Thoroughly dead.

  “Yup. I’m on it.” I picked the creatures up with air and moved them down to the grass so I wouldn’t get any more green blood on my porch—ew—and lit the three they’d taken down on fire. The one I had killed was currently a blackened ball of soot—it wasn’t coming back to life, and if it did, it wouldn’t be very effective without extremities. Or a head.

  “Didn’t like the look of those, huh?” I asked Emery lightly as he stared down at the burning mess of magical creatures.

  “That message was personal,” he said in a hollow voice. “They know I’m here.”

  “Wait, wait.” I put out the flame, squished the creatures’ remains into pieces to make sure they were thoroughly dead, and then ushered Emery back into the house. “Darius should listen in.”

  I closed and locked the door behind us. The tampering hadn’t gone on long enough to do much damage to the ward, but sometimes a lock helped people feel safer. Especially people who had tramped though the Realm without a door to lock for so long.

  “Why would the elves send a personal message to you?” Penny asked as we climbed the stairs and met Darius in the hallway. Frustration and annoyance boiled within him—he didn’t like standing on the sidelines. “You’re not really one of the focal points of this thing. Also, why was it a personal message?”

  “After my brother and I played that practical joke in the elves’ castle,” Emery said, “they sent those things after us. When I was on the run a couple years later, they were constantly on my heels, it seemed like. They’re easy to kill, but they can eat through a ward pretty fast. At least the kind of wards that I used to build back in the day. Ours are better and much stronger now. I’d wake up as they were eating through, sometimes almost too late. I lost a lot of sleep because of those things.”

  “What were they?” Darius asked.

  “Snellax, cave dwellers.” Emery ran his fingers through his tousled hair. “The elves treat them like hounds. They didn’t use illusions to hide them in the Realm, but then they didn’t need to.”

  “Reagan, secure the house and then put some coffee on,” Darius commanded softly. “Penny, help her.”

  I frowned and turned toward the stairs. Nothing had been left open but the back door, which was now locked, and we were religious about closing all the blackout shades and curtains before bed. He would know that the downstairs was safe for him. It meant he wanted a moment alone with Emery.

  “He does that sometimes,” Penny said quietly as she followed me through the house, double-checking everything. I actually wanted to go outside and survey the grounds, as well, see if there was anything lingering in the area. Maybe something had been watching, and it would now skulk away to make its report. “He has flashbacks to those days on the run, or something triggers a memory and he loses himself a little.”

  I nodded as I entered the kitchen and pulled out the coffee pot. “Makes sense. He had a hard life there for a while.”

  “Yeah,” she intoned. “I don’t see why the elves would pick him out of the lineup, though. Like…why specifically mess with him, you know? Why not you? Or me? Or Roger and the fae?”

  “We don’t know that they haven’t gone after Roger and the fae.” I pulled down the coffee filters. “Let’s hear what Darius has to say. He probably knows something he didn’t fill us in on yet.”

  The coffee had started to percolate by the time Darius entered the kitchen with Emery, both of them with hard expressions.

  “Verdict?” I asked.

  Emery quietly pulled out a chair and sat next to Penny, who started rubbing his back.

  “It could be the elves,” Darius said, pulling open the pantry door. “They have a history of mental warfare. They know Mr. Westbrook’s weaknesses, and it is a small thing to send a warning. But there are other creatures who would wish to unsettle Emery, and Penny with him. Vlad, for one. Possibly a mage who is dissatisfied with the new order. Without more information, we can have no way of knowing who sent those creatures, or if they were even meant for him. Someone might’ve just wanted to check the strength of the ward.”

  I leaned against the counter, studying him as he pulled out ingredients for sandwiches.

  “What aren’t you telling me?” I asked, crossing my arms over my chest.

  He put bread onto the counter and pulled open the refrigerator door. “I have nothing concrete, but it seems it has begun.”

  “It… Meaning the start of the war?” I asked.

  “This is the first attack, and it was mild. There will be more, each more intense than the last. That is a guess, but…”

  “It’s a good guess,” Emery said, and I pulled mugs from the cabinet.

  “The elves have had watchers that Roger and Romulus haven’t disbanded,” Darius said. “They reported back, obviously. Now the elves are stepping up their game. That, or Vlad is. I have word that he is ready for Lucifer to say the word, and then he’ll move his forces to the Underworld. Goblins, trolls, some minotaurs—there are many from the Realm that have already headed down there. Vlad will pull more of them still. A great many want to see the elves torn down.”

  “And there’s the problem. If we tear down the elves totally, then who would take their place?” Penny asked in a small voice.

  I poured two cups of coffee and delivered them as Darius answered.

  “That is the question. Vlad is hoping to climb atop that throne himself, of course.”

  I huffed and poured a cup of coffee for myself, though I kind of wanted something stronger now. In my heart of hearts, I was hoping Lucifer’s forces would be evenly matched with the elves, and I would be free to tear down that damn castle brick by brick. I’d get my revenge and wouldn’t have to get between two forces that obviously needed to duke it out. But if Lucifer had more power, and he decided to take the world for himself—or worse, the vampires…

  “I hate that I am thinking of siding with Roger,” I muttered. “Kinda.”

  “Just think,” Penny said before sipping her coffee. She winced at the heat. “Your dad could take over and put you on the throne instead of Vlad.”

  Shivers racked me as Emery and Darius’s gazes slid my way. No one said anything.

  And now I knew what people really feared. It was just that no one else had had the balls to say it outright.

  “What’s next?” I asked Darius, picking up my cup. I didn’t intend to dignify that with a response. “If this is starting, we’re in the wrong place. We need to get to Roger.”

  “Yes. I was thinking the same thing. Callie and Dizzy will be en route soon. We need to get the dragons and head to the unicorns’ territory immediately, the Island of Eternal Light, before Vlad is called down to the Underworld. He’ll try to take them. They are herd animals, and they trust him. If we aren’t there firs
t to give our testimony, they’ll likely follow him.”

  “And paradise will await them down below, compliments of my father,” I said, feeling urgency take root. “Lucifer won’t take kindly to me heading into the Underworld to lure them back.”

  “He said he wouldn’t trap you down there, though,” Penny said.

  I smirked. “You don’t really understand the guy we’re dealing with. He’s not like Roger—he’s not hero material. He won’t harm me, but if I tried to mess up his plans, he would have no problem stuffing me away in luxury while he handled what needed to be handled. That should remind you of someone else we all know, and a certain desert island we all spent time on…”

  “And all this time, we didn’t realize you had daddy issues,” Emery said, his good humor thankfully breaking through the black mood those things had put him in.

  “Yeah, right?” I took another sip of my coffee. “The things we learn about ourselves.”

  “We’ll head out tonight.” Darius piled turkey onto a sandwich. “We’ll use today to get everything in order.” He placed the other slice of bread on top, cut it, and delivered it to Emery.

  “What sort of trek are we going to face once we’re in the Realm?” Emery asked.

  Darius was silent for a moment. “We won’t take the longest and safest route to the unicorns, because the journey would sap the dragons, and they’d likely be tired by the time we reached the portal closest to the shifters’ territory in the Brink. My reports seem conclusive that the elves are watching that portal closely. They aim to prevent anyone from using it.”

  “We’ll need to fight our way out?” I asked.

  “Yes, it seems so,” he answered softly. “When we leave, we will likely have to fly over camps containing the enemy. If their fliers are faster than the dragons, we could be arriving to a host of waiting enemy, ready to attack.”

  “Their fliers aren’t faster than dragons,” Penny said, “especially because they won’t see us coming. You can ride with me, and Emery can ride with Reagan. Our spells will keep us mostly hidden. If they do happen to see us as we fly over—sometimes our invisibility spells don’t work for all creatures—then we’ll burn them all. Or Reagan, you can kill them horribly. When we get to the portal…” She shrugged and finished her coffee. “Well, at this point, we’re no stranger to fighting our way out. That’s not the problem.”

  “And what is the problem, Ms. Bristol?” Darius asked.

  Penny looked at me. “How to get Reagan to go along with the Seers. I get the feeling she’s not going to like what they have to say.”

  Eight

  “Charity’s vision changed again,” Emery said as we got out of the taxis in front of Roger’s secret hideaway in the woods, which had also become the dragons’ secret hideaway. He studied a text message as Darius opened the front door with a key Roger definitely didn’t know he had. Given he didn’t need a key to open locks at all, I had the feeling he was silently boasting. “It seems this time you aren’t in the picture at all, and neither are we. The Seers are feeling very grim, even the Red Prophet. In the vision, the fae and shifter forces are overwhelmed by demons and vampires.”

  We’d managed to get our affairs sorted in record time, probably owing to our constant on-the-go status for the last bunch of months, and got in a decent-sized nap before we loaded into Darius’s private plane to head out here.

  “I’d thought the fae’s quest visions or whatever didn’t change,” Penny said as we walked into the wide hallway and headed out to the backyard. “Hers seems to change at the drop of a hat.”

  I checked the knives strapped to my leg and adjusted the pouch around my waist, holding a plethora of spells in casings.

  “When are you going to give up that fanny pack?” Emery asked with a groan.

  I held out my hands, looking down at it, then scowled at him. “How dare you,” I said dramatically. “Show respect for the pouch. It is a pouch. Not a fanny pack.”

  “Do you know what the difference is?”

  “Delusion,” Penny supplied. “That’s the difference.”

  “You don’t even need it,” Emery continued, obviously having quite the grudge against my useful bodily attire.

  I patted it. “In case I need spells, I got spells. Stop being jealous.”

  He rolled his eyes. “Your horrible fashion sense aside, the Seers think the Underworld magic is messing with things.” Emery tucked his phone away. “They can’t get a reading on Lucifer. Not even when he went to your house, Reagan. Karen thinks he is changing the game, and Charity’s visions are changing with it. His magic defies the use of Sight, apparently. That’s what Karen says, anyway.”

  “I wish my magic would defy Sight as well,” I grumbled, spying Cahal seated at the patio table with an open book. Darius had gotten in contact with him a few days ago, because of course he’d known how to do that, telling him to stick to the Brink in case we had to make a move. He’d made a follow-up call shortly after the attack this morning. Clearly Cahal had wasted no time. “Well, look what the cat dragged in—if it isn’t the great painter himself.”

  Cahal picked up a unicorn bookmark from the patio table and fit it into the pages before closing the book and looking at me. “They had a right to know what the elves did to you.”

  “Why? What possible good can it serve?” I glanced at the tree line, not seeing the dragons. “Where is Archion, do you know?”

  “They are hunting, and then they will digest so they have energy for what’s to come,” Cahal answered. Darius had filled him in on our plan, such as it was, instructing him to tell the dragons if he got here first. “And the good it serves is to let your friends know what the elves are capable of. If they did that to you, they have done it to others.”

  “Many others,” Emery said.

  “It’ll also help them understand the risk that you might lose your mind and kill them all,” Cahal continued.

  “Kill everyone and take the throne, huh, Penny?” I raised my eyebrows at her before turning back to Cahal. “Apparently that is one of the worries.”

  “A worry born of ignorance—they didn’t see you in the Underworld for long,” he said. “The Realm is not your home. You’d be miserable there, and you’d make the world worse.”

  “Super. Lovely to have you back,” I said. I took a deep breath of clean mountain air to try to still my nerves. It didn’t work. “So the dragons are up for joining us in battle?”

  “Yes,” Cahal answered. “I hear Lucifer visited you?”

  “Last night, yeah. He was easy and charming and ready to compromise.” I sat down to keep from pacing.

  “I think I will make us a little something to eat while we wait,” Darius said, and disappeared into the house.

  “He backed down, then,” Cahal asked, studying me closely.

  “Not about killing all the elves, but…” With the help of Penny and Emery, I went over the meeting from the night before, not glossing over any of Lucifer’s reactions or words.

  When I finished, Cahal nodded as though a question had been answered.

  “What?” I asked. “Good, bad…?”

  “Good, for both of you, I think. He tried to be overbearing, you rebelled, and now you both know where you stand. If we weren’t about to head into a large battle that might change the shape of two worlds, I’d say great things came of that meeting. As it is…we’ll see what happens.”

  “Yeah,” I said softly. “And everyone wants a slightly different outcome.”

  “That’s how it always goes, Reagan,” Emery said. “And no one will get exactly what they want.”

  I looked at Cahal, tempted to ask about the last heir. Then…I decided against it. The guy had been tortured. The angels had come down to help him—the angels! They’d clearly been on his side, and Lucifer obviously had a soft spot for his blood relations, including my half-brother. Bottom line: it was drama I didn’t need to know about. It was a past that still haunted Cahal. He’d never been anything but good to
me and my friends—his ghosts could remain private.

  Two hours later, the dragons returned, leaving us only a few hours to get to the Realm before sunrise. The urgency to get moving cut into my joy at seeing Archion again. The more I thought about it, the more I suspected that the visitors earlier had been a bad omen. Darius was right—more would come, not to mention we were fighting the clock when it came to those unicorns.

  There really are unicorns? Archion thought as we lifted above the trees and headed toward the portal. Emery sat behind me, hands on my shoulders. He was clearly worried about maintaining contact to hold the concealment spell.

  Yep. They are a bit bigger than a horse.

  What is a horse?

  Oh yeah. He was quite sheltered when it came to the Brink.

  You’ll see. Roger the shifter might have one.

  I tensed as we neared the portal, reaching back to touch Emery’s knee for no reason. Penny and Darius fell in behind us on Saphira, and I assumed Cahal was taking up the rear on Coppelia. He didn’t have a mage friend to cloak him with an invisibility spell, but thanks to his shadow magic, he didn’t need it.

  The elves’ fliers are no match for a dragon, Emery assured me as the portal clawed at me, checking my magic and sucking my energy. The orange world of the Realm waited just beyond. Fairies and phoenixes and lamassu—none of them can compete with a dragon. They won’t even try, especially if Lucifer’s heir is riding on the back. They’ll know you can slap up solid air and cut them down, no problem. Save your anxiety for when we need to cut through the elves’ forces to get through the portal near the shifters.

  Wise words from a guy who would know.

  I nodded, though he probably didn’t see, and thought to Archion to pull back a bit and wait for Darius to take the lead. He knew the way.