by SGD Singh
Nidhan reached out to Lexi, but she raised a hand. “Don’t. Just. Fucking. Don’t.” She kept her eyes on Asha who saw them fill with pain for an instant before Lexi shoved her survival pack at her chest so hard, Asha stumbled back.
“Guess I won’t be needing this after all.” Lexi stalked to the stairs, glaring at Jax, who stood pale behind Kelakha.
Nidhan looked at Asha, and his expression might as well have shouted, What the hell?
“She’s in charge,” Asha told him, pointing at the stairs. “We’ll be back within twenty hours.”
Nidhan shook his head in disbelief, then motioned move out. Kai, Kenda, and Koko moved silently toward the stairs, glancing once at Asha in unison as if for signs of insanity. Ariella rushed to Ursala, kissing him fiercely, before sprinting up the stairs after them, leaving him frowning at his shoes.
Seconds later, Nidhan thundered back down the steps and into the room, and Asha felt herself enveloped in his massive, crushing embrace.
“Be careful, little sister,” he said, his deep voice full of emotion. “And don’t worry. Lexi will get over it. Eventually.” He paused. “You should probably keep Jax away from her when you get back, for a little while, at least.”
Nidhan turned to Aquila, Kelakha, and Ursala, pulling all three of them into a group hug before nodding to Avinash and disappearing up the dark stairwell.
Asha turned to Jax. She had no idea what she was walking into. “Last chance, Jax. Nidhan can take you wherever you want right now, with enough money to start a life. Just say the word.”
Jax looked pale, but she shook her head. “No. If you need me to bring this savior dude back, I’m coming.”
Asha turned to Kairav, glaring a warning. “Kairav?”
But the Asian beauty just raised her chin and grasped her husband’s hand. Avinash’s Werewolf eyes shone in the dim light.
“Okay, then.” Asha looked around the room.
She raised her arms, jewels sparkling on her spread fingers.
She heard Jax gasp as Asha felt her eyes begin to glow brightly and Kelakha turned protectively toward the civilian.
Asha smiled. “Let’s go then.”
The floor began to shimmer.
Chapter 15
Still unable to believe Asha had left them behind, Nidhan followed Kai’s voice into the convent, where the three brothers had settled their bedrolls on the sanctuary. They were eating sandwiches Nidhan assumed they’d made from the food in the church’s kitchen. Kenda tossed Koko a bottle of water and lay down, smacking Kai on the knuckles with his Iroquois ball club when his brother tried to take his sandwich.
Ariella glanced up from her seat on the sanctuary steps, and Nidhan jerked his chin at her questioningly. She paused in cleaning her trishula to point up.
Nidhan climbed the winding stairs to the roof.
Lexi stood leaning against the side of the bell tower, gazing out at the baking desert, her arms crossed. Her blonde hair rose in the breeze, but she didn’t move it off her face or acknowledge his presence, although Nidhan knew she had heard him.
He wrapped his arms around Lexi’s waist and pulled her against his chest. “You know Asha had a good reason,” he said softly.
Lexi made a noise of contempt, but he felt her relax as she leaned against him.
“You can kill everyone who shows up tonight. I promise the rest of us won’t interfere.”
Nidhan could tell Lexi was smiling in spite of herself.
“Who knows? Maybe we’ll get to see more carnage than Asha anyway.” He moved her hair aside and kissed her neck, instantly distracted by her velvet skin. “They just have to sneak in, grab a skinny little Seer, and vanish into a portal. How boring is that?”
Lexi shrugged.
“You know Asha. She’ll want to save all the monsters, anyway.”
Lexi sighed. “They’re going to an Underworld. Do you realize how rare that is? And we got… left. Fucking left.”
Nidhan tightened his arms around her. “She wouldn’t have left you if there wasn’t a good reason,” he said again.
“Yeah. I guess…”
“You know. You know her better than anyone.”
Lexi looked up at the sky. “Three more hours of daylight.” She turned and planted a kiss on Nidhan’s lips, wrapping her arms around his neck. “You’re right.” She sighed. “Let’s go bark orders at people and get ready to kick some scum-sucking Familiar ass.”
Nidhan grinned, then felt his eyes widen in alarm. “Wait. Should we be making out in a church?” He glanced behind himself but found he didn’t want to move his arms from around her.
Lexi laughed, wiggling her hips. “We’re not technically in a church. Besides, did you know the Christian wedding includes a big smooch? It’s actually part of the ceremony.”
“What? Inside the church? No way I’m believing that.” Nidhan narrowed his eyes at her suspiciously, then said, “Kai found food.”
“I’m serious. In front of all the friends and family. So this is good practice for us.” Lexi grinned, lowering her voice. “And now… you may kiss the bride.”
“All right, first of all, stop messing with me. If that’s true, which it obviously isn’t, we are definitely not having a Christian wedding. I don’t care what your dad says.” He kissed her hands, one then the other. “Let’s have an Infernal Guard wedding.”
“And what is that, exactly?”
Nidhan shrugged. “There must be something, right? Like a… I don’t know.”
Lexi shoved him and crossed her arms in mock indignation. “You’ve put a lot of thought into the wedding, haven’t you?”
Nidhan laughed, grabbing for her, but Lexi spun out of his reach.
“C’mon, Lexi. We can still practice kissing!”
She pointed at him. “Oh ho! So you do want to kiss in a church!”
Nidhan felt mortified. “I… no. I just… oh, shut up.”
Lexi’s smile was mischievous as she slowly began unbuttoning her uniform. “And what else would you have me do? In a church?”
Nidhan lunged at her, lifting her into his arms. “I’m taking you downstairs. Now.”
“Take me! I like the sound of that.” She went suddenly limp in his arms and Nidhan stumbled, cursing. Lexi wiggled in his grasp and Nidhan staggered into the walls of the stairwell more than once, which only made Lexi laugh harder.
Ariella lay her weapon down and stood, her expression full of relief, when the two of them burst out of the stairway.
Lexi clapped her hands once, her voice echoing through the church. “Oy! Wake your asses up!” she shouted.
“Shit, Hewitt!” Kai mumbled, getting slowly to his feet while his brothers swore. “Way to abuse your power, man.”
The five of them gathered around Lexi at the base of the steps and she led them back outside stopping in front of the crumbling storage building.
“All right,” she said. “Nidhan, park the jet around the east side of the building, facing the road. They know we’re here, so there’s no reason to hide our big guns. Kai? You’re on provisions. We want food in two hours. Ariella. Weapons. These nuns must have something for security other than dogs, living out here in the middle of nowhere. Make sure.” Kai and Ariella nodded and Lexi said, “The two of you will be here, in the unlikely event that anything gets past us. Kenda, get the truck and be ready to patrol the perimeter. I want any and all vehicles carrying Underworlders taken out before they know what hit them. I’ll signal Koko and Nidhan. Any questions?”
No one said anything. Koko yawned and Nidhan grinned, giving Lexi a lazy salute.
“Good,” Lexi clapped again, checking the time. “We have two hours of sleep, people. The fun starts at dusk.”
Kai headed to the kitchen, and Ariella went to search for weapons in the monastery’s basement. Lexi found a pew in the church and lay across it, throwing an arm over her eyes.
After coordinating with Kenda, who left to drive their Humvee out of the jet, Nidhan leaned over the b
ench, and kissed Lexi, startling her into laughter.
“I’ll take first watch,” he told her.
Lexi made a sleepy noise, and Nidhan leaned over again until his forehead touched hers. “Do you even know how awesomely, astonishingly badass you are? And so, so beautiful, it’s killing me you’re not already my wife…”
Lexi smiled up at him sleepily. She glanced around. “So… a church wedding then?”
“I would marry you this minute.” He kissed her more deeply. “Except there’s no priest.”
“Koko is a priest. Didn’t you know that?”
Nidhan burst into laughter. “See you at breakfast, gorgeous.”
Lexi smiled, throwing her arm back over her face. “He really is, though,” she called after him.
Chapter 16
Nidhan wouldn’t get a chance to eat the nuns’ food.
Half an hour after she fell asleep, Lexi woke to the sound of his voice bellowing in rage. In an instant, she was sprinting for the church doors, followed by Kenda and Koko. The haunting shriek of a black kite bird filled the air—long, short-short—as Ariella circled past her head.
Witches.
She heard the screech of a red-tailed hawk—short, short, short—as feathers flashed beyond the courtyard.
Lexi, Kenda, and Koko shifted mid-run, bursting into the air to Lexi’s furious white tailed eagle’s battle cry.
Nidhan staggered, struggling in apparent agony, just beyond the convent’s front gate. Seven Witches surrounded him, and an eighth lay dead at his feet. Lexi made a noise she didn’t know eagles could make when she saw his bleeding nose. A Witch with curly red hair pointed her hands at him, laughing at his attempts to fight her as she giggled through an incantation.
Then three things happened at once.
Lexi shifted as she fell from the sky to land behind the Witch, her sword flashing, sending red curls floating through the air as the Witch’s head fell to the dirt. Three Witches screamed in rage, lunging for Lexi. The remaining three Witches raised their arms, hissing an incantation that caused a cloud of black smoke, thick as night, to cover the scene in darkness.
Lexi barely had time to register Nidhan collapsing to the ground before her own head filled with agonizing pain. Shifting, the pain disappeared as she rose, and she dove again, this time alongside Kai, Koko, and Kenda, four birds of prey shifting again in a blur of steel, leaving three headless Witch’s bodies twitching in the darkness.
Ariella joined them just as a Goblin, who Lexi recognized instantly as Mamono, stepped forward into the false night. The famous Goblin stood in front of the remaining Witches and smiled wickedly as his eyes met Lexi’s.
Outdoing his photographs, Mamono was as wide as he was tall, covered in tattoos. He was the only Goblin in recorded history who never attempted to look respectable, instead going for the “scary Yakuza boss” look.
As the five Jodha lunged forward, Mamono winked at Lexi and raised what looked like a silver saucer, and golden light flashed against the darkness. Lexi’s scream never made it past her throat as she felt herself thrown back against the wall. She collapsed to the ground, unable to move anything but her eyes, unable to feel anything at all.
She could see Ariella to her right, and one of the triplet’s legs beyond her. Turning her eyes as far as they would go, Lexi saw Nidhan still lying at Mamono’s feet, and her mind filled with a tangle of cold dread and impotent rage as she watched Mamono point the strange instrument at him. Golden light wound around Nidhan’s still body, and the Tvastar—her fiancé—began to float off the ground. Mamono gripped his weapons belt and jerked Nidhan’s floating figure toward a hole in the ground that hadn’t been there twenty seconds before, and Lexi couldn’t even scream as tears of frustration filled her eyes.
One of the Witches sauntered across the darkened ground to crouch in front of Ariella.
She reached a hand to The Guard’s cheek and cocked her head, frowning. “We don’t have time to play with you right now,” she said softly, pouting like a child. “But I hope I see you soon. I’ll be waiting.”
“Let’s go!” Mamono called. “This one will do splendidly.”
The Witch made a sound of irritation and ignored him. She kissed the air at Ariella and, reaching a hand as if to caress her cheek, the Witch scratched three deep cuts down one side of Ariella’s face with metal-covered nails, laughing as Ariella’s eyes filled with fury.
She licked her nails lazily and stood. “The pain will come later. I promise.”
The Underworlders disappeared into the ground, and the darkness of the false night evaporated in the desert breeze, leaving Lexi, Ariella, Kai, Kenda, and Koko frozen against the wall in the bright sunshine.
Lexi closed her eyes as tears she couldn’t feel continued to spill down her frozen cheeks.
Chapter 17
Hours or maybe seconds later, Lexi became aware of three shadows moving across the parched earth until they shaded the faces of the five frozen Guard and she raised her eyes to the most strangely beautiful beings she had ever seen.
Their clothes looked like they were made of thick, layered silk of a texture she had never seen before. They were a strange design, like a futuristic Japanese kamashimo. They were young men, not much older than herself, and didn’t seem armed, although there was something warrior-like about them. A military bearing… and something else.
Their eyes were like lizards, jagged vertical pupils splitting them, and, strangest of all, their skin seemed to shine like gold.
The truth hit Lexi then, and might have knocked her over if she’d been able to move.
Upperworlders.
The one standing at the center studied Lexi with eyes like green turquoise. A puzzled expression crossed his perfect features as he tilted his head, his blond-black hair moving in a breeze she couldn’t feel. When he spoke, his voice was like warm music, and Lexi would have gasped if she could. He said something in an otherworldly language to the other two, who nodded, and the three Upperworlders reached within the folds of their shirts. A moment later, they held silver discs identical to the one Mamono had used on them, pointing at each of the frozen Guards in turn.
Feeling rushed back into Lexi’s body, and without pausing to think she jumped to her feet, ignoring the tingling in her legs, her revolvers in her hands as fast as thought. She rushed to where Mamono and the three Witches had vanished into the ground, the sound of her friends’ footfalls close behind her.
There was no sign of a portal.
Lexi shook her head as tears of frustration welled in her eyes once again. She didn’t recognize her own voice when she said, “He’s… gone. They took him.” Lexi wiped the back of her hand across her eyes.
“We’ll get him back.” Ariella touched Lexi’s arm. “If they wanted him dead, they would have just killed him.”
Lexi looked around in disbelief, wondering if this were all some kind of insane joke. But no, Kai, Kenda, and Koko looked at the ground with glum expressions. Half of Ariella’s face was covered in blood, but she didn’t seem to notice. Lexi watched the three Upperworlders examine the dead Witches. The one with bright red, yellow and blue hair, like a scarlet macaw, leaned to touch each of them with something silvery-blue, his pretty lips moving, and a moment later, the Witches burst into flames.
As if suddenly remembering the presence of the Jodha, the Upperworlders turned in unison to look at them. They approached Lexi, their movements gliding, like they walked on air, and the two groups faced each other as the sun began to set, bathing the scene in warm orange light.
The blond took a step forward, gazing so intently into Lexi’s eyes that her friends moved to stand protectively around her. Lexi stood straighter, feeling her hands tighten on her revolvers. As he gazed at her, his pupils grew round, giving the impression of completely black eyes.
He began to lean toward her, and Lexi froze as her friends raised their revolvers at the three strangers.
Everyone waited, completely still, not breathing.
Next to her, Ariella hesitated, her weapon still trained on the blond Upperworlder. “Lex?”
With no warning, Lexi smashed her forehead into the Upperworlder’s perfect face with a satisfying crack, and he fell, sprawling across the dirt. Before anyone else could move, her foot was on his chest, her two revolvers aimed at his forehead. He didn’t take his eyes from hers as his form shimmered, revealing enormous wings that perfectly matched his hair, gold and black speckled feathers overlapping in astounding beauty.
His two companions lunged forward, but the blond Upperworlder raised a hand, hissing something at them, and they froze, gawking at Lexi, before they took an almost reverential step back.
Kai and Kenda got between them and Lexi, crossing their arms, their smiles as intimidating as snarling tigers.
“Lexi?” Ariella whispered again, sounding shaken.
None of her companions had ever seen her this upset. Because she had never been this upset.
“You want us to kill these guys?” Koko asked from behind her.
The Upperworlder with rainbow hair laughed softly, and the other stared blankly at Kenda.
Lexi looked down at the blond Upperworlder silently. She was shaking with rage, but he lay completely still, meeting her gaze and making no move to get up. Lexi shoved her foot against his chest, but replaced her revolvers. She pointed a shaking finger at him as the other two Upperworlders rushed to help him up. He waved them away impatiently, getting to his feet and dusting himself off with easy, elegant movements as he spoke quietly to them.
This is impossible.
Without looking back, Lexi strode into the church.
Moments later, she watched from the upstairs window as the Upperworlders walked around the building. Kai, Kenda, and Koko followed them closely, watching them with the hungry smiles they knew irritated people.
The new arrivals didn’t seem to notice, and stationed themselves in the courtyard in front of the crumbling building, like golden sentinels in the fading light.