Tain faced him without fear—Kehksut was an Old One who predated the Immortals themselves, according to Adrian, who had hidden himself until he’d grown strong enough to defeat them, and now Tain looked him in the face without flinching.
Maybe Kehksut did his job too well, Leda thought, even as another wave of the demon’s dark magic sent her to the ground. She tasted mud as she fell face-first.
She looked up again in time to see Tain lift his hand, white magic dancing in it. “The air-witch wants my brothers free to choose. So they shall be.”
Leda expected the demon to slap aside the magic Tain threw at the glow surrounding the Immortals, but Kehksut stepped back, wings folding. “It doesn’t matter,” he boomed. “I like a challenge.”
The light around the Immortals splintered and fell in shards. The four brothers sprang apart and looked around, warriors responding in an instant. Hunter’s green gaze took in Leda on the ground, Kehksut towering over them all, and Tain glowing like a god.
“Well, hell,” Hunter said. “Looks like the party started without us.”
Hunter wanted to shout with the burst of magic that surged through him. The demon had finally showed his true face, not the dark-haired bondage woman or the gloating man who’d killed Hunter’s wife, but his true, ugly, son-of-a-bitch self.
Hunter swept up his sword and felt a pull of satisfaction when it burst instantly into flame. With a roar of rage, he launched himself at the demon. Kalen, at his side, snatched up his spear, white light glowing from its tip, and joined him.
They were stopped by the downward blow of two short, bronze Roman swords, the pair of weapons infused by so much magic that it sent both brothers staggering. Tain faced them, tall and straight, his eyes blazing blue fire.
“No,” he said clearly.
“Why the hell not?” Hunter yelled at him. “Get out of the way. It’s time for revenge.”
“No, my brother. It is time to die.”
Tain swept his sword in a large arc. Darius tried to dive beneath his reach and bowl him to the ground, but Tain sidestepped, and Darius danced to his feet, off balance. Little brother Tain had grown strong indeed.
Hunter was dimly aware of Valerian in his dragon form swooping in from above, two werewolves coming in for the kill, and a bubble of magic in the darkness that enclosed two witches, a slender woman with strong life magic in her, and Mukasa.
Leda lay curled on the ground, blood on her face, and a groth demon cowered next to her. Hunter tasted the tang of death magic on Leda’s aura and realized she’d bonded with the groth demon to open the ripple and reach the Immortals.
Leda had been free of the death magic, clear of the demon, and yet she’d pulled the darkness into herself again to break the barrier and come after Hunter. Hunter knew what that sacrifice had cost her, and his heart swelled with warmth.
Kehksut grew taller, his winged form growing until it blotted the light. The giant demon stretched out his hand, palm up, and the life magic receded from the world in a rush.
The blue magic bubble surrounding the witches dissolved and blew away, exposing them to the blackness. The pretty, petite young woman—wood nymph, Hunter registered—spun around like a leaf in the wind, then crumpled to the ground and lay still. The vampire that ran to her, his darkness increasing as the life magic vanished, let out a stream of death magic at Kehksut, but Kehksut barely noticed.
Valerian gave a startled bellow, then he plummeted to the ground from about a hundred feet up, landing with a rumbling crash. Valerian, like the wood nymph, was a creature of life magic, his magic allowing him to take human form, but he wasn’t human and never had been. Now his dragon magic died with the loss of life magic, and Valerian likely was dead too.
Sabina ran to him, her howl enough to break anyone’s heart. Hunter heard echoing howls up and down the green, Sabina’s werewolf family coming to join to fight. Another wolf, this one black, rushed to Darius’s side. She flickered in and out of her wolf shape, unable to hold it.
And Leda . . .
Leda tried to rise, her body weakening as her magic left her, the demon magic that twined her not enough to keep her alive. On the other side of her, Samantha rolled to her feet, face pale, her death magic strong enough to keep her standing.
Christine and Amber held hard to each other’s hands, trying to chant life-magic spells, but they couldn’t raise any magic between them. Even the half-Sidhe, Mac, was weakening. He looked less like a teenage kid and more like what he was, a seven-hundred-year-old demigod. A dying one.
Hunter raised his sword again, its flames pale against the darkness. “Let me do this,” he said to Tain. “He killed my wife, my children. Don’t you get it? He was after us even then.”
“It doesn’t matter,” Tain said.
“It does matter,” Adrian said, his cobra-sword glinting in his hand. “Join us, and we’ll defeat him. It won’t take but one swat from all of us to kill this fly.”
“So you’ve said,” Tain answered. “But I don’t want you to kill him. I want you to die with me.”
“Screw that,” Darius growled.
Tain sent a bolt of magic at Darius that swept him from his feet. Adrian started for Tain, but Tain lifted his swords and held him back, Hunter and Kalen as well. He had the strength of all of them put together now, this little brother they’d tried to protect when he’d been a fledgling.
Kehksut rumbled like a small earthquake. “They have no choice. One way or the other, all will die here. It has begun.”
He moved his vast fingers and a rent appeared in the air. More darkness poured through it, and with it, demons. Stoked on death magic, they swooped through and fell on Leda’s little army as did the hellhounds that streaked toward the werewolves.
Hunter ran to Leda and turned to fight. Leda lay helpless in the mud, her magic dying with her. Hunter stood over her, hacking and slashing at demons, enjoying it when his sword went cleanly through them.
His rage wound higher. Tain protected Kehksut like a dog guarding his master, but Hunter would take out Kehksut if it was the last thing he did. If Hunter had to slice Tain into little pieces to do it, so be it.
“Hunter.”
Leda’s voice was weak, her touch feather-light on his bare ankle. He dropped to one knee beside her, breathing hard, his sword going slack in his grip. He brushed her hair from her face, his heart aching.
“Leda, sweet baby, I’m sorry.”
Leda tried to push herself up, her tone urgent. “Don’t worry about me. Gather your brothers. The key is five. Kali told me. Five warriors, five witches . . .” She trailed off. “Five points of the star . . .”
Hunter pulled her against him, his sword point-down in the mud. “Don’t leave me yet, Leda. I want to sail around the world with you in your boat; you and me and the sun and sea.” His laugh came out hoarse. “Mukasa will want to come with us.”
Leda tried to push him away. “Go. Do it, Hunter.”
“Let me get you safe first.”
“Hunter, would you go! There’s not enough time.”
Hunter sensed a shadow above him and looked up to see Kehksut towering over them. The demon gazed upon them with eyes as black as the depths of a well, death magic in its abyss.
Not enough time. The words pounded through Hunter. Just as with Kayla, there wasn’t enough time with Leda. The demon was taking everything away from him again.
Hunter surged to his feet, a berserker yell leaving his throat. His sword burst into flame, the fire hotter with his fury. Hunter leapt over the body of the gibbering groth demon and launched himself at Kehksut.
“Hunter, no!”
It was Adrian shouting at him now, Adrian trying to hold him back. Kehksut reached out a giant hand, ready to crush Hunter’s bones.
“Come on!” Hunter raged at the demon. “Come and get me, you son of a bitch.”
Adrian and Kalen each grabbed Hunter by an arm and yanked him out of the way of Kehksut’s lowering fist. Hunter cursed and yelled. Ke
hksut laughed a loud, ringing sound, and floated back to watch his demons and hellhounds wreak havoc.
Hunter fought his brothers. “I could have had him! What the hell are you doing?”
Adrian’s grip bit down. “Listen to me. Darius told me about Leda’s dream. I understand now. I know what we have to do.”
“So do I. Kill that damn demon.”
“No. We save Tain.”
Hunter jerked free. “You’re crazy, you know that? Demon dies, world is saved, end of problem. If Tain’s sucked away, it’s his own damn fault.”
“Shut up and listen for once,” Kalen said, voice harsh. “We join together, all five of us, or we’re screwed. It’s the only way.”
“Five,” Hunter said. He stopped, his heart pounding.
“Five,” Darius said, wiping blood from his face. “That’s what Leda told us. The goddesses came to her, even Cerridwen. We have to do it.”
A lesser demon swooped out of the darkness. It saw Leda lying helpless, and with a delighted cry, sprang on her. Hunter launched himself after it—and was stopped by his three brothers.
“Let me go. It’ll kill her.”
“We join,” Adrian snapped. “We have to. Choose, Hunter. You run over and fight with her now, we might not have another chance.”
You will be forced to choose a path, the Undine on the island had said. Walking either one will be painful for you, but you must choose. Kali had repeated the warning in almost those same words not hours later. In the end you must decide or die.
Hunter had assumed the choice would be between staying with Leda or leaving her to search for his brothers. That hadn’t been as difficult a choice as this, because there’d been a chance he could return and be with her.
But this was the real choice. He could save Tain, but Leda might die.
“Adrian, don’t make me do this.”
“You have to,” Adrian said, his dark eyes haunted. “We all have to make the decision. Me and Kalen, Darius and you. We’ve found our mates, and now we have to let them fight alone.”
Hunter swallowed a sob that threatened to cut off his breath. “You’d better fucking be right.”
“I am,” Adrian said, and in his eyes, Hunter saw understanding, and the same kind of pain.
“All right,” Hunter said, barely able to get out the words. He turned resolutely away from where Leda desperately fought for her life and raised his sword. “Let’s do this.”
Chapter Twenty-Four
As Leda kicked and fought the demon who’d attacked her, she saw Hunter start for her, bent on rescue. No! she wanted to cry out. Do what the goddesses want!
Hunter was pulled back by his brothers, though he struggled. Next thing Leda saw, they’d gathered into a circle of four.
Relief. The only way to stop this destruction was to have Hunter and his brothers come together, to fuse their magic. That was what the goddesses had meant, she was sure of it.
Leda desperately chanted a spell, trying and failing to find a breath of clean air to help her. A tiny spark of blue magic crackled in her hands, and she pushed at the demon with it, which made him jump. He was a lesser demon, like the groth demon, still strong but not as intensely magical as an Old One. But strong enough. He threw off her magic and came at her with claws, ready to rip out her throat.
The demon was lifted off her suddenly, a knife ripping through his heart. Ricco the vampire, his Armani suit stained with blood, tossed the demon aside and lifted Leda easily to her feet. His strength had grown as the life magic receded, and Leda thanked the goddesses he was on their side.
Leda looked to where the four Immortals had gathered in the heart of the grove, in the center of that sacred space. White light glowed around them again, but this time the light was different. It pulsed with life magic in spite of the drain, repelling the darkness around it. Leda heard their voices as they argued, then the bubble of light grew opaque, obscuring them.
Kehksut merely watched, as though curious about what his pet Immortals were getting up to. Leda sensed the demon was in no way worried.
“Terrific,” she said out loud.
Ricco pulled Leda out of the path of another attacking demon, and dispatched that demon with another blow of his knife. “Come on, witch. Time to fight. If we keep Amadja away from Darius and his brothers, we might live to see another day. Or night, in my case.”
Be good to my son, Kali had said.
Leda drew a breath. She grabbed Ricco’s hand, letting the darkness the groth demon had given her swirl and grow inside her. If darkness was winning, she’d use it to give the bad-ass demon a taste of his own medicine before she went out.
Ricco grinned, his fangs sharp. “Atta girl. Now you know how good it can feel. Let’s rock and roll.”
Adrian drew his brothers together to form a circle. They needed powerful magic, the most powerful the Immortals had ever done. He understood Hunter’s anguish, because Adrian felt it too—had felt it the night of the Calling spell when Amber had lain dead at his feet. His fault, he’d known. He could have sequestered Amber somewhere safe while he went after his brothers himself and solved this problem. Selfishly, he’d wanted to keep her with him, and she’d paid the price.
Adrian also knew if they didn’t complete this spell Amber would die again, this time forever.
The tears on Hunter’s face struck him through the heart, but he firmed his resolve. “Let’s do this,” he said, echoing Hunter’s words.
Hunter threw him a baleful look. “Darius, you stand next to me. No way am I putting my hand on Adrian’s ass.”
“When are you going to grow up?” Kalen growled at him.
Hunter gave him a shaky grin. “What for?”
“Fine by me,” Darius said, sliding in on Hunter’s right. “Hunter’s tatt is too close to his cock for my comfort.”
“Hey, the ladies have always liked it.”
Darius shot back, “If you want to compete about whose tatts can win over the ladies, I win.”
“Right. You and the macho Bocca demon on your chest.”
“Can I pay you two to shut up?” Kalen snarled. He stepped next to Adrian and placed his right palm on the tattoo on Adrian’s hip.
Darius closed in on his left and covered the tattoo on Kalen’s thigh, while Hunter slid his hand under Darius’s hair and found the pentacle on the back of Darius’s neck.
“We’re good to go,” Hunter said. “All we need is baby brother.”
White magic began to move through Adrian, Immortal magic building stronger, and they hadn’t even closed the circle. Adrian reached out with a tendril of that pulsing magic and wrapped it around Tain’s wrist.
Tain whirled around from where he watched the battle from Kehksut’s side, his blue eyes searing. “No.”
“Yes,” Adrian said.
Tain swung back to Kehksut for help, but the demon stepped away from him, amused. Kehksut was waiting to see what they’d do, unworried. That didn’t bode well.
Adrian tightened the tendril on Tain unmercifully and yanked his brother to the circle. He slapped his hand to Tain’s cheek at the same time Hunter hauled Tain’s hand around and forced it to the tattoo on Hunter’s lower abdomen.
Something clicked in every Immortals’ mind, the circle closing.
Complete.
Tain started to scream, and then Hunter picked up the cry, then Darius, then Kalen, then Adrian, all the way around the circle . . .
Hunter’s body ripped with sensations pouring through him, as though something tore him apart and compressed him at the same time. The outline of his pentacle tatt, covered by Tain’s hand, burned like hellfire. Hunter felt every hurt, every fear, every cut the demon had made on Tain—seven hundred years of agony. Hunter experienced Tain’s fear, the hollowness of his despair, and his lingering hopes, which were snuffed out one by one.
No wonder Tain had gone completely insane. No one could experience this and not go crazy, not even an Immortal. The pain and insanity tore through Hunter unti
l he screamed with it too.
He felt Kehksut’s interest sharpen, but the demon still held back, waiting to see what the Immortals would do. Hunter thought grimly that Kehksut wouldn’t have to do anything—the brothers were busy ripping themselves apart for him.
Pain flowed from his hand into Darius’s pentacle tattoo, and through Darius’s body like an electric current, to be emptied into Kalen. Darius cried out in anguish, his eyes shut tight, fists balled, jaw clenched.
Next Kalen threw his head back, his shout of pain cutting the night. Adrian groaned when the pain reached him, but he had the presence of mind to collect the life magic as it flowed through all of them and feed it back into Tain.
Around and around it went. Tain’s darkness flashed through Hunter again, which went into Darius, and on around. Tain’s suffering was divided and absorbed by each brother, before their own clean life magic fed back around the circle into Tain.
Hunter knew he could escape the agony if he wanted—all he had to do was rip Tain’s hand away from his tatt and dive out of the circle. He could break free and not have to relive every second of Tain’s pain.
But he didn’t. Hunter kept his grip firmly around Tain’s right wrist, his own hands slick with sweat, pressing Tain’s palm hard against his tattoo. Just as firmly he pressed Darius’s neck, and Darius, in turn, held his ground, keeping his hold on Kalen.
They each stayed put, each screaming in pain and loneliness and despair, drawing it out of Tain, sharing it between them. Five Immortals, Leda had said. Five points of the star. A beginning.
Hunter suddenly found himself on the ground on his knees—all the Immortals had fallen, the pain driving them down. He resolutely did not let go of either Tain or Darius.
“I can’t . . .” Darius said, out of breath.
“You can if I can,” Hunter growled. “Don’t let me one-up you.”
“Never,” Darius ground out. “Never, never.”
Tain was kneeling next to Hunter, face gray, his voice hoarse. “Damn you all,” he whispered.
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