Bloodline World Seven Book Bundle: 7 Books from the Bloodline Awakened Series and Scarlet Dragon Saga

by J. P. Rice

  Mike and Aka Manah jostled with each other until the demon started to get the upper hand. He twisted Mike around, so his back was facing us. With the Chieftain blocking her target, I assumed Cheryl would wait until Mike came back into view.

  I took a quick peek at the rest of the action and turned back to Cheryl. As I was standing behind her, I didn’t know if she knew I was there. The small woman made sure no one else was watching. Her right hand slung forward and she launched her attack.

  The pink flames with silver particles streaking through them careened across the yard and made contact with her intended target. Aka Manah’s back. The feminine fireball crashed into his thermal suit and tore right through it, then it broke through his ribcage and burrowed into his chest cavity.

  As the demon fell to his knees, the pink fireball busted through the front of his ribcage, exited his body, and grazed the top of Mike’s shoulder as it continued on its treacherous path. Aka Manah’s final screams were followed by his limp body collapsing into the snow. Buckets of black blood gushed from his ghastly wound, staining the snow below.

  Mike grabbed his bleeding shoulder, but he looked like he would survive.

  I turned back to Cheryl, who was nodding with her eyes narrowed and a vengeful grin on her face. My girl. Good for her. Good for her.

  It hurt our cause. Sort of. I wasn’t used to wishing death upon the people I was fighting with.

  When I turned back to the main attraction, all hell had broken loose. The hellhound kept disappearing in the dark shadows and reappearing just before he attacked. Darkwing reanimated right in front of Bruceras with his mouth wide open.

  The animal sank his teeth into Bruceras’s calf. The devil bellowed into the night sky, then focused his attention on the hound. He dropped a closed fist that hit the hellhound right between the eyes. He stunned the hound, who backed away, then charged at him again.

  This time Bruceras was ready. He lifted his foot back and booted the lunging hound on the side of the head. The animal flew through the air, spinning around like the propeller of a helicopter. Darkwing landed in the snow and didn’t move. As an animal lover, I wanted to set Bruceras on fire, but I would have to wait until later.

  Cheryl and I had to jump into the fray at some point. The demons were busy enough that I’d bet they were unaware if we were even still alive. It wasn’t like they were going to call for us to help. As far as they knew, our magical skills were so limited, we wouldn’t be much help at all.

  Mike ducked a fireball from Asmodeus and ignored it as it sailed by. Then it crashed through a window on his house and he whirled around, eyes wide. Another fireball hit the side of his house, sending wood splintering in every direction.

  The flames stuck to the house, and like napalm, the fire ran slowly down the siding. First smoke billowed from the initial impact, then the fire started to spread.

  Mike ran up to his porch and screamed at the open door, “Get Dante and get out here now.”

  Dante? My mind immediately went back to the waste dump at the Red Cavern. After Vlad the Impaler had come back to life, he’d warned me, “Hug the ground or Dante will kill you.”

  Was Mike’s son named Dante? He’d never told me the boy’s name, but Dweezil had said that the child was a bugul. A full-fledged demon. Why did Mike have a demon at his house? I still wasn’t exactly sure what Vlad’s cryptic message about Dante meant, but I stashed it away in the memory bank for later.

  I focused back on the insanity. Bruceras unleashed a wild right punch that connected on the chin of the tall black man. The impact lifted the human off his feet, his head snapped to the side violently and he fell face first into a pile of shoveled snow.

  Mike rushed in to avenge his fallen comrade, engaging Bruceras in battle. Alayna and Kovana were pestering the two other devils. Aka Manah was dead, Mike’s friend was knocked out and the hellhound hadn’t moved in minutes. Cheryl and I stood on the sidelines, biding our time.

  Three on three with two watchers. A large woman raced out the front door with her hair on fire. I’d seen my daughter’s hair do that before in the Red Cavern when we were practicing magic. I became mesmerized as she ran right at me. She ran slowly because of the pregnancy and I thought she was crazy for getting involved.

  I wasn’t going to fight her, but I also wasn’t going to let her kick my ass. She heaved a wave of magic at us, but I saw it in plenty of time. Before it arrived, something blasted me in the shoulder, spinning me around. How had she camouflaged her magic?

  Enough of this bullshit. I heard her heavy footsteps closing in over the grunting and cursing coming from the men. Even though she was running slow, she was so close that I didn’t have time to turn around. With my back to her, I planned to unleash a high leg kick and smash her in the nose to put a stop to this.

  As she closed in, I kicked high in the air, aiming to make contact with her forehead. Instead of bone, I hit something that gave way, and she screamed like the wind had been chased out of her. By the time I turned around, Mike’s girlfriend was rolling on the ground, holding her belly and writhing in pain.

  My heart fell into my boot. Did I just do what I think I did? My body went numb and tears rushed to my eyes. Why did she have to jump into the air at the last moment? That didn’t make any sense.

  I didn’t have much time to feel awful because Mike sped toward me with the quickness of a vampire. His first punch landed just below my left eye and sent me backwards. Vision in my left eye faltered, but using the other, I saw another big fist coming at my face.

  Chapter 23

  This punch landed on my nose and I staggered back, dropping to one knee. One more sledgehammer punch to my jaw knocked me onto my back. The kid pounced on me and whaled away.

  I could have attempted to defend myself. Put my hands up to cover my face. Tried to wrench him off me. But I didn’t. I sat there and took the beating. I deserved it.

  Mike’s bloody knuckles hammered down on me. One or two more punches and it would be lights out as my vision swirled. A sudden force lifted Mike off me. Cheryl?

  By the time I could see again, Bruceras was standing over me holding Mike off the ground. When my scattered head put the puzzle together, Bruceras had two hands wrapped around Mike’s neck. The devil extended his hands above his head. Using his size advantage, Mike couldn’t reach Bruceras’s face.

  Mike’s arms flailed away to little effect and he switched his attack to a series of unsuccessful kicks. Come on, Mike. I didn’t want a man I hated to kill someone I liked. That wouldn’t be fair. The young man’s face turned the color of a beet and a waterfall of drool spilled over his bottom lip.

  I had a choice to make. I could let Mike die, something I didn’t want to happen. Or I could kick Bruceras in the balls and cause him to drop the kid. It would end the mission, and the people of Pittsburgh would suffer longer, but I couldn’t let Mike die. As much as I hated to admit it, the kid was destined for something great.

  He was a good guy. One of the purest souls I’d ever met. How could I allow something like that to be destroyed? He was just a stupid mortal human who thought he could run with the rest of us. He was out of his element. Dying at the hands of one of the most illustrious supernatural figures in the history of the world was nothing to be ashamed of. He put up a noble fight.

  No. I couldn’t let it end like this.

  I stretched my leg and lined up the good old crotch shot. Then I would have to explain it was just a reflex. And a one, and a two, and a...

  A shrieking howl that sounded like it had originated in the depths of hell nearly pierced my eardrums. I turned to the noise. A small figure emerged from the burning house and onto the smoke-filled porch. As the small body descended the porch steps, I noticed something in his right hand.

  “There it is,” exclaimed Bruceras, tossing Mike aside and gravitating toward the little being. The devil walked slowly. “Give it over and you won’t get hurt.”

  The boy I assumed to be Dante slid the glove over hi
s right hand. A collective gasp came from the other devils. Bruceras spoke calmly, “Don’t worry. He doesn’t know the words to activate it.”

  I couldn’t hear it, but I saw the kid’s lips moving, and suddenly, our fearless leader had a hitch in his step. He wasn’t walking with confidence anymore. The boy’s lips stopped moving and he held the Devil’s Glove above his head. That’s when everything changed.

  Chapter 24

  A wave of heat rippled against my face as the boy’s body turned to fire. Then he grew and grew and grew and grew until a thirty-foot-tall flaming beast stood before me. His body maintained the shape of a person engulfed in flames. Fiery horns sprouted above his enormous head as he roared into the night sky.

  By the time the transmogrification had reached completion, I stared in pulse-pounding fear at the thirty-foot flaming beast standing before me. The rumors were true. I wanted to run but the soles of my boots were glued to the ground.

  Dante took one step forward, shaking the ground beneath me. Bruceras threw Dweezil toward the newly formed beast, turned tail and ran away. Cheryl sprinted after him.

  Asmodeus and Astaroth cursed at Bruceras and Cheryl as they hightailed it toward the driveway. The two remaining devils nodded to each other and charged at Dante.

  Vlad the Impaler’s words rang in my ears. “Hug the ground or Dante will kill you.”

  Dante drew his mighty arm back and it swished through the air.

  I dove face first into the snowy, muddy, bloody battlefield and covered the back of my head with my hands for good measure. I heard a rippling whoosh and a burning sensation traced over my back and rumbled over my locked fingers.

  I didn’t know if I should look or not. Raising my head carefully, I saw pieces of the two devils strewn all over the snow, a shower of dark blood staining the pure landscape. Dante’s single slap had shredded two of the most respected demons in history. Holy fook.

  Had he killed Dweezil too? I stared at Dante, who turned and took off for the back yard, his thundering steps shaking the earth and burning house. I had the chance I needed and darted for the driveway. I noticed Dweezil about twenty feet ahead, running for his life.

  Trying to avoid the messy shrapnel that still twitched with signs of life, I weaved left and right. With my eyes focused on the ground, something rammed into my side. I groaned as the wind rushed out of me.

  I toppled over and put my hand down to spring back up when something clubbed me in the side of the head. “Don’t move or I’ll kill you,” a familiar voice said. Little did this person know that I already felt dead from this experience.

  I rolled onto my back and stared up at the Sphinx. I remembered I was still in male form with a battered face. She wouldn’t recognize me. But then she might kill me.

  “Mike. I got one of them,” Kovana yelled back to the house.

  “Junipher? Is that you?” she asked in shock. “I can see through your glamor magic. Your face is bruised and lumpy, but it’s you.”

  “I’m working with the Red Cavern.” I tried to explain, “Things got messed up. I’m so sorry.”

  Mike came storming over with hellfire in his eyes, different from the fire overtaking his house in the background. He wanted to kill me, and I couldn’t blame him. I wanted to kill me right now.

  Kovana said, “It’s Junipher. I can see through the illusion.”

  In my own voice, I said, “Mike, I am so sorry. You know I wouldn’t do this on purpose. The demons made me. I can still get the Harp if I go back.”

  “You wrecked my fucking life.” He shook his head with tears in his eyes, blood still leaking from his shoulder. His light facial hair was matted with the dark blood of his enemies. “Did you tell them I lived here?”

  “What?” I asked and almost couldn’t believe he would accuse me of that.

  “Did you fucking tell them where I lived?” he growled, the rage in his voice growing thicker.

  “No,” I answered. “I didn’t even know what was going on until we got here. They knew you lived here. They were after Dante and the Glove.”

  Mike thought long and hard, rubbing the healthy, manly beard on his chin. Now wasn’t the time for a peach fuzz joke. If the verdict were up to me, there would be a rope around my neck.

  “Let her go,” Mike said mercifully. And with those three simple words, he turned and ran back to the carnage surrounding his burning house.

  I couldn’t believe it as Kovana backed away. As I got up, I said, “I promise I’ll make this up to you.”

  She stared into my eyes, her normally angelic face now painted with demon and human blood. “I think we should go our separate ways. Get your sorry ass out of here.”

  I sprinted down Mike’s driveway trying to catch up to Cheryl, Dweezil and Bruceras before they left. What had I just done? I’d been thrown into the situation and the devils would have done this without me. But I could have run away. Even though I hadn’t attacked anyone on Mike’s side, I also hadn’t stopped any of the devils before Dante showed up.

  Tears that felt like fire streamed down my cheeks, burning the awful memories into my hippocampus. Why had his girlfriend attacked me? I didn’t want to hurt her. I really didn’t. I couldn’t believe I’d ended up in this situation.

  Regardless of whether it was my fault or not, Mike’s house was burning to the ground. His son had saved everyone’s lives, but now ran the risk of going insane. His friends were injured badly, and his girlfriend... Fook. I didn’t even want to say it. That part hurt the most and made me feel like a monster.

  I just wanted to get the Dagda’s Harp from the Red Cavern. How had everything spiraled out of control so quickly?

  The rumors of the Devil’s Glove were true. Two devils had attacked with all their might, and it had no effect on Dante. He had ripped them to pieces with a simple swat of his hand. If Merlin obtained the glove, my life would be over.

  My face hurt from the beating Mike had administered, but it paled in comparison to the mental agony. The whole thing had happened so fast, I still hadn’t processed everything. Bruceras’s plan had been as bad as I’d originally thought. His side had lost two devils and a Chieftain, a hefty price for the Red Cavern.

  Considering they had just executed Vlad, the devil count was dwindling by the day. Why had Bruceras underestimated Mike? Perhaps Dweezil was correct in his assessment of Bruceras that he had given up. The devil would have plenty of explaining to do when he returned to his home. I planned to keep my mouth shut.

  I’d seen a devil run away from a battle. If I uttered a peep of that to any of the demons, Bruceras would have me killed instantly. Even though the devil had lost his way, pride still ruled the demons. Respect would cease if they found out their fearless leader had run from any fight, no matter what the circumstances.

  Headlights crept over the ridge below. Fook. It had to be the authorities. Bloodied and battered and dressed in all black like a burglar, I wasn’t going to be able to talk myself out of this one. I shielded my eyes from the bright lights. Sure as shit, the vehicle slowed down as it approached.

  “Let’s go. Get in,” a familiar voice called from the passenger window.

  Cheryl. Holy shit. I’d almost missed my ride. When I thought about it, I wasn’t sure if that was good or bad. Regardless, I opened the back door and jumped into the Escalade, claiming a seat next to Dweezil. I barely got the door shut when Bruceras hit the gas, jerked the wheel and performed a shady three-point turn, running over the frosty high-grass on both sides of the road.

  He straightened out the vehicle just in time. Flashing lights appeared at the bottom of the hill. The bouncing beams of light indicated that the authorities were hauling ass up the rocky incline. We drove in silence with my heart pounding in my throat.

  I could usually normalize something like this because it was just part of the job. Beings got hurt. Some died. Why had a mortal human involved himself in this game?

  Justifying my actions proved to be impossible. Mike and his friends were good
people. I wasn’t.

  Bruceras pulled onto the side of the road and let two cop cars race by. As their flashing lights disappeared in the rearview mirror, more appeared straight ahead. We turned onto the main road and I saw several firetrucks headed toward Mike’s. I hadn’t wanted to ruin the young man’s life. I really hadn’t.

  And my troubles in the Red Cavern were just beginning. Perhaps this chaotic situation would present an opportunity to snag the Dagda’s Harp and get the fook out of the demon underworld.

  Chapter 25

  Something shook me awake. Before I opened my eyes, panic streaked through me. I had witnessed a devil running from a battle. It was only a matter of time before I was silenced so I couldn’t spread the story. Cheryl too.

  I opened my crusty eyelids, and Dweezil’s face appeared a few feet away. A raging pain centered in my jaw from the beating I’d taken.

  He said, “You need to get up now.”

  It appeared Bruceras had sent Dweezil so we wouldn’t suspect anything out of the ordinary. My mind started to devise a way out of the Red Cavern.

  He woke up Cheryl, who stretched out and yawned. She crawled over to a wall and leaned back against it.

  I sat up as Dweezil said, “You two have been selected to go on another mission.”

  Well, that changed everything. At least we weren’t getting the Vlad treatment just yet. It still smelled like a setup.

  “Oh, another great honor,” I said sarcastically. “What did we do to deserve this?”

  Dweezil opened his mouth to speak, but words failed him. I could tell Bruceras throwing him to the enemy had rocked his world. I decided to be sensitive with him.

  “Are you all right?” I asked in a gentle tone. “I know that last trip didn’t go exactly how you would’ve liked.”

  He turned sharply to me, tears welling up in his eyes. “I’ve served him for fourteen years. Nobly, humbly. With never a whisper of doubt. I was proud to serve him. Honored, really. I would have gladly died for him. But it would have been my choice.”