Darius readjusted his stance.
Nikolaos ambled along the low stone wall that separated one plot of land from the next. He wore a black uniform that blended into the shadows surrounding him, and an expression I could only describe as victorious. I growled beneath my breath. When I got the chance, I would knock that smirk right off his face.
“I thought you said he would never start a war against The Three,” I said, not caring if the psycho heard me.
Niko smiled, answering for the Destroyer. “This is not a war—”
“Then why is he here?” I asked, indicating with a jerk of my head.
“He’s always wanted to see your home. Was it his fault it couldn’t support the magnitude of his presence?”
My gaze flashed to the Destroyer and back.
“These Fallen are not here on the command of the Destroyer,” Nikolaos continued. “They are mine. They follow my orders.”
“And what orders are those?” Fiona asked.
His eyes narrowed at my aunt. He projected his voice. “These witches are an abomination. Willingly participating in a rite with another Fallen in hopes of receiving powers and protection.”
“Bailey didn’t participate in that rite,” I said. My eyes flashed to Jonathan’s mortal wife.
“No, but she seeks after your demon, doesn’t she?”
“It was my idea.” Roslyn roughly pushed past me. “Most of them didn’t know. I demand you release these women immediately.”
“Ah, here she is. The witch who started it all. And you’re wrong. The witches you see here knew and understood.”
Roslyn’s mouth opened and closed like a fish. Her face drained of all color. “This is not what I wanted.”
Nikolaos shrugged. “You wanted help to become more powerful. Well, look at what you’ve done. Only true power could take down the mighty Three.”
“Is this the power you sought, Nikolaos? I thought you said his price was too high?” Laith tucked Roslyn behind him. “He is the master deceiver. He’ll trick you like you did this witch.”
Nikolaos’s smile faltered. His eyes shifted in the direction of that devil. “I didn’t trick her. She asked for more power and the Destroyer gave it. There are consequences. This…” he indicated to the line behind him. “All of this is within the rules of engagement. They compelled the devil and are now under his power.”
“And your consequences, Niko?” Elisa asked.
A slow smile spread upon his lips. “There won’t be any, Elizabeth. We have come to an understanding. Without me, the destruction of The Three would be impossible. I know you. How you think and operate; therefore, I am indispensable to his… organization.”
“Everyone is dispensable in his organization,” Laith spat, earning a glare from his former brother. “The second I kill you and your girlfriend, he’ll pull out his forces. Your crusade against The Three will be over, and he’ll forget you ever existed.”
He held Laith’s stare. “You may be partially correct.” His eyes found mine. “But he’ll remember me. He remembers your personal demons, doesn’t he, Ava? In fact, I bet he’d take them back if you asked real nice.”
My fists tightened. “That won’t happen.”
He hummed, scanning our group. “Violet won’t take that offer, I know, but I don’t see your boyfriend here.”
Laith threw his arm out at the same time I seized Darius’s hand to hold my Guardian back. A feral growl ripped through my mate’s lungs.
Nikolaos laughed. “Oh, that struck a nerve.”
“What do you want, fallen Guardian?” Darius asked through clenched teeth.
At the head of the circle, Nikolaos prowled the line of his Fallen. Lessers snarled, hungry to attack, their sight trained on the mortals that cowered behind us.
Nikolaos cocked his head to the side. “Surrender.”
Fiona twitched. “Surrender? How well do you know us, Niko? We’ve fought more than this and succeeded.”
He waved his hand in annoyance. “Yes, I was there. Mortal wars are nothing compared to the number you face now. I have a Fallen for every individual here, on top of countless ready lower demons.”
“And we will destroy them as we have the others,” Laith said. Even though his voice was confident, his soul told me otherwise. They all prepared to die, but they would fight until their last breath, taking out as many demons as they could.
Nikolaos’s strange blue eyes roamed my face. “Give me the Demon’s Eye, and I will spare your life, Ava Matthias—and the lives of most of these witches.”
The line of Fallen sneered, baring their teeth, eager for the order that would kill thirty innocent witches. The demon controlling the fate of Bailey grabbed her by her hair, wrenching her head back. To her credit, she didn’t cry out, but tears leaked from the corners of her eyes.
I anxiously shifted to the balls of my feet, gripping my knives in both hands. I drew power to me and could feel Fiona doing the same. Readying her throw she took mental aim, homing in on the demon that held Bailey.
“Last chance.” Nikolaos smiled, holding out his hand to me.
A thread of consciousness stretched through the distance that separated us and touched my mind. Jonathan’s soul opened to me, and in that instant I felt hope. I connected to Fiona, and she adjusted her aim.
I narrowed my eyes at the enemy. My smile mirrored his. “Go to Hell, little Nikki.”
From behind the line of demons and witches, Jonathon moved, thrusting his knife between the ribs of his mortal wife’s captor. The tip stuck out from the Fallen’s chest; he burst into a pile of ash and wasted soul.
Simultaneously, Fiona and I threw our weapons. A gleam shone from the blades, but it wasn’t the moon that gave them their light. Coupled with our power, they hit their mark. Two demons crumpled to the ground. One soul flew into the waiting Eye, the other wafted away into the darkness.
Bailey cried out, flipping from the ground with surprising agility. She swiped my thrown blade up, defending the life of a fellow witch as Jonathan stabbed the demons to either side of him.
Fiona and Cedric blurred past the rival lines before the enemy could even register what had happened. I lurched forward, drawing two knives from their holsters. I blasted past an easy front line of lessers, slicing through their mottled ranks with ease, but our surprise attack had only stunned our enemy, not stopped them.
Nikolaos stumbled back and away from our advance, his mouth working. “Kill them!”
My lungs seized to the cries of victims tearing through the night’s sky. Some of the witches had used the disruption to escape their abductors, but others fell by the knife. A roar of voices from both sides erupted. The ground thundered as immortals and demons alike cast themselves into battle.
The witches that survived the initial attack ran to the protection of The Three or the huddled circle of residents.
Upon seeing the Demon’s Eye, the lessers scrambled away. The Destroyer—the supposedly unattached dark leader—called their ranks to order by a powerful command that I did not hear but felt. Fear rippled through their subconscious link from him. Despite my attempts to block, that fear connected to me, slipping down my spine. With their Destroyer’s rule, the lessers and Fallen regathered their confidence.
For a split second, I allowed myself a glance his direction.
Blood dripped from the nose of the demon the Destroyer possessed, its ability to hold something that strong exhausting.
“Do not engage him,” Darius said over his shoulder as he passed. His long legs sprinted ahead. He picked off a handful of demons.
With the Heralds at my wings, I bounded over the barrier of lessers, my immortal strength catapulting me into the fray. I thrust my father’s blade into the chest of a Fallen, then spun, slashing through the stomach of another.
I met demons on all sides, fighting four, sometimes five at once. Still my energy did not wane. Haunts and ghosts fell easily beneath my knife. The Demon’s Eye consumed them with a ferocity unseen. D
arius circled me. He was my cover at every angle, deflecting any foe to come my way. He saw everything. Was everything.
The days of weakened immortals were over.
Laith and Elisa ducked and weaved in sync to the rhythm of their own music. Fiona and Cedric—even though they didn’t fight side by side like my two best friends—were power in motion. Fiona was a fierce, wild warrior. Her mate, her opposite in all things, was more proficient with his moves, structured in the art of war. But their power didn’t come from that of fighting. With little more than a touch of their hand, they healed the wounds of those that could be saved.
While the others’ strength was less than mine, their skill dwarfed mine after decades of combat experience. Demons came upon them in hordes and were beaten back, tossed like ragdolls, like they were nothing. The enemy pressed upon us like a disease. After killing one, three more took its place. I lost track of time.
My personal demons were everywhere and nowhere at all. Violet protected the mortals, barking orders to the security team that listened to her every command. Jonathan leaped over the line, fighting at my side along with Darius. Even in the dark, light glimmered from a patch on Jonathan’s shirt where blood soaked through at his stomach.
He caught my questioning stare, shaking his head. “It’s nothing.”
It was a lie. I scanned the throng of warriors for the Healers, but he grasped my hand. “The mortals need them. I don’t.”
I growled. “You promised not to do anything stupid, remember?”
“Do you know who you’re talking about?” Darius asked. He swooped down, picking up an enemy knife. He tucked the extra weapon into a holster then ran, attacking three lessers together.
“Go.” Jonathan spun me around and gave me a shove, directly in the line of sight for my next opponent.
A Fallen stalked toward me, his body built like a bulldozer. I glared at Jonathan’s backside, then faced the mammoth. The demon grinned before striking.
A cry from Cheryl caused me to freeze for a split second. That moment’s hesitation was all he needed. I braced against a downward strike that slipped past my defenses. The tip of his blade cut into my shoulder. I cursed out loud, shoving him back with a kick. Ripping the knife from my flesh, I plunged it into his heart. I blasted past The Three, back toward the residents.
Lessers had made it through the struggling security team to the mortals. Terror seized my breath as I searched for Cheryl. She stood back to back with Emily. Each fought their own demon.
I cut a line straight to them, but something caught my attention. Peter ran through the clearing, his sight trained on his mortal wife. I opened my mouth to scream a warning, but with a ferocity I recognized in my Guardian, he cut down both demons and pushed the women behind him. And with that, Peter had switched sides. To defend God’s children or protect Emily alone, I didn’t know or care. Emily clutched at his arm, holding her dagger at the ready.
The Destroyer’s anger vibrated from his perch, but I ignored it.
I hurriedly assessed the battle front, searching for the security team. Mortals were being injured. Demons were everywhere. Haunts filtered from the growing mist, gathering their courage with the strength of their numbers.
Fiona and Cedric had already healed too many, their powers less effective. Meanwhile, the Destroyer stood on one end of the field, Nikolaos on the other. Annie paced between her old mate and new like an animal trapped in a cage.
The Heralds pushed the surviving witches behind them.
“We need to do something,” Elisa said, her breathing hard.
“We need to take care of them,” I said, jutting my chin the direction of the main problems.
Cutting off the head of the snake was impossible since that snake was the Destroyer himself, but stop Nikolaos and Annie, and the battle would be over. Nikolaos stood away, a cowardly general who watched as his soldiers did all his work. But Annie was a different story altogether. She followed the onslaught with crazed eyes. A small hope grew within me: if I could involve her, she would activate her new mate.
There was only one way to find out.
When our gaze connected, I puckered my lips, blowing her a kiss.
She snapped. With a war cry worthy of recognition, she ran, her sight trained on me. I prowled toward her, distancing myself from the mortals. My legs picked up speed. I sprinted in a direct collision course.
Fallen separated me from the others. Darius called my name from behind, but it was too late. I dodged and weaved among the newcomers, knowing full well that it wasn’t Nikolaos’s power that summoned the elite warriors to this battle front.
Once clear, I angled my shoulder and tucked my head, hitting Annie square in the chest. Her arms wrapped around me and together we crashed into the ground. The earth rumbled beneath our intertwined forms. I recovered first, fisting her throat in my hand.
Her eyes grew wide and I almost smiled when she perceived my increased strength, until she hit me, raking me across the face with her nails. My knives fell from my grip. I rolled, jumping to my feet.
Ignoring the pain that surged to my cheeks, I ducked beneath her next swing and shuffled forward, landing an uppercut to her stomach and then chin. Her jaw clapped together with a satisfying crack. The sting on my knuckles fueled me.
Darius had made it through our divide. He hurtled forward, adding his force to my fight with the Annihilator… and still Nikolaos didn’t move from his vantage point. He wouldn’t come to her aid.
Coward.
The sweat on the Annihilator’s brow matched mine, but she withstood our force. Darius dodged, grabbing Annie by the arm to throw her. She wrenched back, knocking him off balance. Using his momentum against him, she twisted, landing a wheel kick to his head. He toppled to his hands and knees.
She lifted a blade to strike. I caught her wrist, but it was a clumsy move. She twisted, yanking my wrist down and landing a side-kick into my ribcage.
The force of her strike knocked me away from her. I landed face down in the grass. I shook the daze from my head.
Violet had appeared in my place. Together with my Guardian, she ducked and weaved away from each wild attack of the Annihilator.
And that’s when I sensed him.
I rolled quickly away from the threat, gaining my feet only yards from where the Destroyer stood. Even without looking, I knew he watched me.
Emily cried out. Peter fell to his knees. His eyes widened in shock at the knife that stuck out from his chest. Hector and Noah leapt forward, together vanquishing the Fallen that now threatened. Peter’s soul drained from him, meeting the outstretched hand of the Destroyer. My heart ached. There was nothing I could do.
From the corner of my eye I saw that blood leaked from the devil’s nose and mouth. The amount of energy he had used had sapped his host body. It crumpled into a heap on the ground. For a split second, I allowed myself to believe that it was over, that he had given up…
A dark shadow dashed that hope to pieces.
It lifted from every pore of the host demon’s wasted frame—the blackened soul of the Destroyer himself. I lurched away as it flew. It latched onto another Fallen in the throes of a battle with Jonathan.
I called out in warning.
Jonathan didn’t notice at first, but when the thick cloud of energy slowed his movements, he paled, halting his fight. He, along with the surrounding demons, backed away from the wracking metamorphosis. I ran to him, attempting to tuck him behind me, but he took my hand and stood his ground.
“I’m okay, Ava,” he said, averting his eyes from his previous master. “He can’t do anything to me.” Despite the intensity of his words, Jonathan already oozed blood from his middle. A slash on his shoulder added to his injuries.
I readied my blades, mentally sweeping the rest of the field. The enemy’s forces pressed against us, separating our combined efforts. In the distance, the Heralds fought the swelling ranks of Fallen and lessers that the Destroyer supplied. Cedric and Fiona both huddled over R
oman, using their combined powers to heal a deep gash to his chest—I could sense their strained powers waning with the number of wounded.
They wouldn’t be able to heal Jonathan—or anyone else, for that matter.
When the Destroyer’s transformation was complete, I could sense his shrewd eyes boring holes through me. He turned to Nikolaos, who yet waited on the sidelines. His voice shot shivers up my spine. “Kill them.”
“Look out,” Jonathan said, shoving me away from an attack. The demons nearby had rallied. My demon picked off three, leaving me with my mother’s murderer.
Nikolaos circled me while I defeated several lesser demons at once. They fell beneath my knife with barely a fight. When I finished, I wiped my bloodied blade off on my pants, then directed my energy to my hands, powering my weapons.
“I’ll admit, you’re very good,” Nikolaos said. He smiled, drawing two knives. The sound of steel against his holster grated on my nerves. “But how well will you do against an immortal with centuries of—”
Already tired of his games, I threw my blades with all my might. They flew, illuminated by a strong energy he couldn’t compete with.
He spun, but not fast enough. One sailed by, nearly grazing his ear. The other—my father’s knife—impaled his shoulder. Nikolaos grunted, stumbling back.
My pendant opened, eager for his soul.
“Did centuries teach you that?” I asked in smug satisfaction.
But he didn’t hear my remark. He quaked, his eyes wide with shock. He pointed to my pendant, speaking to the entities inside. “What is this? I’m not one of them,” he said, his voice angry and even more afraid. He shrank from the light of the Demon’s Eye, pacing a circle around me. Smile gone, he yanked the blade from his flesh and tossed it to the ground.
I lowered into a crouch. “You’re not so tough when you’re not fighting your dying ex-wife.”
With a growl he ran at me. Our blades clashed. I braced against the weight of his strength. Fear struck. His skill did exceed mine. God may have taken his gifts in seeing futures, but his strength surpassed anything I had fought yet. He kicked out, catching me in the gut.
Personal Warriors: Book 3 in the Personal Demons series Page 31