Imps & Angels

by Indra Frost

  “Damn it. I knew I shouldn’t have gotten attached,” the words were a curse as I said them.

  Something flashed through Blayze’s eyes, something I wasn’t expecting. Understanding. Because for all my talk earlier, now that the threat had found them, I wouldn’t leave them without a fight. This odd group of men had managed to get me to trust them, to grow attached. I wouldn't leave them to fight this evil on their own. Not even to save myself.

  “Alyth, I’m-” my eyes widened, stopping Blayze’s words as I felt an odd pressure shift through the air.

  It was a sound as much as a feeling, a looming disaster coming too fast to stop. I tried to conjure a shield, but I knew it would come too late.

  Pulling on my speed, I used my strength to grab Blayze and I turned us, throwing him at Reed who was coming up fast. The others not far behind.

  My magic flared, and this time I didn’t fight it. It was time that I stopped hiding, even if I survived and had to deal with the consequences. I would rather deal with what would happen than see them dead.

  The world seemed to slow down as I watched the others coming. The idiots. Seeing their concern, and how ready they were to defend me made something inside me release. For the first time in my life, I decided to embrace it. To embrace this feeling of caring for others, and everything that would mean.

  Flame exploded out of me and circled all the men in front of me as three different colored rings of fire held them where they stood. I barely managed to conjure the flames when it hit me. Something large and sharp slammed through my back with enough force that it pushed out through my stomach. I jerked forward with a cry, hovering over Blayze as he looked up at me in horror. I was pinned to the ground, still hovering three feet above the cement.

  The others stopped, shocked as I stood there, a spear running through my middle. I couldn’t breathe, the air knocked out and the pain so intense my vision went white around the edges. The spear tip was lodged in the ground, but I could tell there was still about a foot sticking out of my back. The small grooved handle lodged against my ribs.

  I had no doubt that the attack was intended for them, though I’m sure he wouldn’t mind that they had gotten me instead.

  As long as I didn't die, he would consider it fair game.

  “What are you doing? Stop this! Let us out!”

  I wasn’t sure who was yelling what, and I couldn’t concentrate enough to figure it out.

  The flames I had surrounding the men disintegrated, leaving only the thin line separating me from them. It didn’t matter though; the threat wasn’t dealt with. He was still here. I could feel him watching us, waiting. Laughing.

  The pain was horrendous as I grabbed the spear coming through my stomach and concentrated on burning it to cinders, using my flames to cauterize the wound as I did so.

  I screamed as the flames burned through me, usually not affected by the heat, but it burned worse than usual. I stumbled now that the spear wasn’t there to hold me up, barely able to catch myself before I face planted onto the ground in front of Blayze.

  “Idiot,” Blayze’s voice was full of awe, and confusion, as well as some sorrow thrown in for good measure.

  I wanted to talk to him, but I didn’t have the time. Now that his attack had failed, Selasi wouldn't stay back. He would be coming for us.

  I looked at the demon, knowing I would need their help, but not wanting to put them in more danger by doing so. They were already in this mess; I wasn't going to stop them from fighting. I just hadn't wanted to see them get killed by their useless attempts to protect me. Especially when they were the ones that were being attacked.

  “Is he your master?” I asked the hellhound.

  Again, that odd look came over him before he shook his head.

  “He isn’t my master,”

  The way he said it was odd, but it didn’t ring with an untruth, so I nodded and sent the last of my flames away with a sweep of my hand.

  “Then please, help me fight him?” The words were hard to say.

  I didn't like asking for help, and it was hard knowing I was intentionally asking someone to put their life in harm’s way. But I couldn’t think of a way that I would make it out of this alive, that any of us would, if I didn’t ask for their help. I looked at the men in front of me, meeting all their eyes. I wanted to tell them to run, but I fought the urge, knowing I couldn’t take him on my own. Especially not injured.

  “Of course,” Reed nodded, looking angry and concerned all at once.

  He stepped closer, raising a hand before stopping a few feet away. He looked like he wanted to come closer, probably to heal me as angels were prone to doing. But with me already weakened it wouldn’t be the smart thing to do. He needed to save his strength to fight, not waste it on me.

  I looked to the others, wanting to make sure they all agreed, and not wanting them to feel pressured into it. Reed agreed to help me, but that didn't mean that they had to fight as well.

  The others nodded, Walker almost seeming to be in a daze, though his eyes met mine with an unusual awareness before he blinked, and it was gone. Magic surrounded Jesse, though he didn’t shift, and Copeland bared his fangs at me in a smile.

  Even Blayze was standing, and I wondered if he was going to run. He could. If Selasi wasn’t his master, then this wouldn’t be his fight. But he stayed, ready to do his part. Heat poured off him, flames surrounding him and a strange dog like shape outlined in the shadows. Hellhound indeed.

  We didn’t have much time, and we needed to make a plan that would help us deal with what I knew was coming. I could already feel him getting closer.

  I shivered with fear. I wasn't ready to face him. I didn't want to face him.

  "Hey, Alyth, it's going to be alright," Walker said, coming closer to me.

  I could feel how badly he wanted to offer me comfort. But he was wrong, and he knew it. I nodded, though neither of us believed it, but because I realized that I would need to get myself under control.

  I wouldn't be able to fight him if I was too scared to move.

  "Right," I said, looking over the guys who were willing to stand with me.

  Even when they didn't have to.

  "Right," I whispered to myself, forcing my fear back into the box it had escaped from.

  I may not survive, but with their help I had a fighting chance.

  That's all I could ask for right now.

  “Hello, Little Bird. Did you miss me?” The words, and the voice they belonged to, sent terror running down my spine.

  Fear held me captive, as memories long buried tried to press forward. But I was stronger now, I wasn’t a child any more, and Selasi wasn’t going to defeat me. I shoved the pain in the same box as my grief and fear. Then, I took a deep breath and turned with much more swagger than my body could handle.

  The beautiful man before me smirked in a way that made my fear spike. His honestly good looks just made this so much worse. He was fit with dark hair and the red eyes that all demons possessed. His hair was a little longer and pushed back from his striking face. Standing with his shoulders back, confidence and power radiated from him. He was wearing a suit, which was odd to me, but he looked like a high-power CEO ready to squish the competition. Probably literally.

  His right-hand man, and the one probably responsible for throwing the spear, stood by his side. Roark had been with him for as long as I could remember, and he was an odd demon. He didn’t fear his master, and while I thought it was stupid not to fear a demon that would kill for fun, he wasn’t dead yet, so he must have been doing something right.

  I looked Selasi over again, something odd about what I was seeing. His looks were the same, he hadn't aged a day in eight years, but his energy levels were off. Either I wasn’t remembering right, or he was much more powerful than the last time I saw him. I was pretty sure I remembered right, so something else had happened. Something that would mean bad things for me.

  “Aren’t you that demon that tried to make a deal with my fat
her?” I was trying to be sassy, but my voice was too breathy to pull it off.

  Despite that, my words seemed to hit their mark as his expression filled with fire and hatred at the mention of my father. But there was something else there I didn’t understand. He looked like he was ready to murder me on the spot. It was scary, but I had to hand it to him for controlling the urge to kill me for the comment. He had killed others for far less.

  But that meant he still wanted me for something, which was worse. Wanting me dead was easier for me to deal with, wanting me as a broodmare was my own worst nightmare.

  “Careful, Little Bird. It’s been a long time since I’ve heard you sing. Let’s not be too hasty.”

  I gulped the memory of him saying that phrase over and over, memories of how he tortured me running through my head.

  Walker stepped closer laying his hand on my back and I felt the others close around me as well. Selasi gritted his teeth as he glared at the men behind me, possessive anger in his gaze. He didn't like that they were here, that they were touching what he considered his.

  I wanted to gag at the feelings and emotions that I was picking up from him. The glimpse of the plans I was getting from his thoughts. A small whimper escaped me, and I pressed back the slightest bit.

  Selasi caught the movement and stepped closer, a wide smile covering his lips. “You sing so pretty, Little Bird; I wonder what other songs you can sing for me,”

  A spell shield came up just in time to stop the arrow aimed at my chest, pulling me from the horror that was my memories.

  Walker lowered his hand, the projectile dropping, as Selasi whipped around to see who had shot the offending weapon.

  The demon’s eyes narrowed on something in the distance, and with a wave of his hand screams rang out from a rooftop across the street.

  I stared in cold fear as the man before me demonstrated more power than I had ever seen him use before. He shouldn't be so powerful.

  Blayze sucked in a breath beside me, and I turned to meet his eyes. His own fear showed before he swallowed it down. I did the same, turning back to the threat in front of us as Selasi turned to me with a smug smile. I realized that his power level hadn't lowered, that show wasn’t even a drop in the barrel. Whatever he had done to cause this must have been horrible.

  I didn’t think I was going to make it out of this alive.

  I was a powerful half-breed, more powerful than most, but I was also used to suppressing my powers. I hadn't actively used them since I was young, and I wasn’t sure I could have taken him before this power boost.

  “See, Little Bird? See how well I take care of what’s mine?” Selasi gestured at the poor soul he had killed with pride.

  Whoever it was may have tried to kill me, but I would bet his death was much more painful than an arrow to the chest would have been.

  “She’s not yours.” Jesse’s voice was soft, but Selasi still heard him.

  His eyes narrowed at the winged panther standing at my back, and I had to fight the urge to cover him. I needed to protect him from the demon in front of me. I needed to protect all of them.

  Selasi spit out his rage with every word he spoke, almost shaking with his anger. “She's mine, not yours, she belongs to me. Her father made a deal with me.”

  He was like a child fighting over his favorite toy, but I didn’t want to be that toy. I knew what he was willing to do to get what he wanted, and that he would destroy whatever stood in his way to get it. Especially when that something was promised to him, then taken away. His pride was bruised, and he couldn’t afford to look weak to those that were under him.

  A weak demon was a dead demon.

  Something passed over his face and he got control of himself much faster than he was able to in the past.

  Something was wrong, he was too controlled. I didn’t know how to take this version of him. He was more powerful, and he seemed to be able to hold himself back. Everything I had ever known about him seemed to have been erased, and I was left holding the pieces of every plan I had ever come up with as they all shattered around me one by one.

  “A deal that is no longer valid, as you well know,” I grunted at him, trying to work through the pain in my middle and knowing that I would have to fight, scared as I was.

  His glare shifted to me as his face darkened. It wasn’t smart to poke the more powerful demon, but I was hoping that getting him angry would make him mess up. That his rage would pull the focus of his anger and attention to me, and not the guys behind me. It was all I had at this point, so I was going to use it.

  A stream of magic came from behind me and a creature made of dark red hellfire leaped past me. I didn’t give him a chance to protect himself, bringing my whip up and sending it at his neck, hoping against hope that I would be able to choke him before he could retaliate. I watched in anxious horror as the guys got in on the fight as well.

  Selasi had killed a man without moving, but something was stopping him from doing the same to us, and I didn’t know what it was. I knew he wanted to make me suffer. But was that all this was? A game he was playing to torture me?

  My whip didn't hit its mark as Selasi backed up. He used his own fire to stop Walkers spells, none of them breaking through the barrier to hit him. Blayze ran right through the fire, not hurt in the least by the flames that flowed through his own blood.

  Jesse shifted, staying smaller at first, and Reed walked forward as Copeland ran off to the side, trying to come at him from behind.

  Everything was happening too fast at the same time everything seemed to slow down. My whole life I had been training for this, teaching myself to fight, learning to use weapons, and turning my body into a tool I could use specifically to destroy this demon. But when the time came, all I could do was swing at him from a distance.

  My breathing was coming in pants as I watched the guys fight my fight while I stared at the demon who had been the cause of so much pain and suffering. My brain couldn’t seem to connect, to force my feet to move. But I wasn't going to make them do all the work, I would fight. Even though each step was more painful than the last.

  Selasi brought up his hands as I stepped closer, sending hellfire at the guys as they continued to attack. Reed stepped back fast sending his own blue holy fire toward Selasi. The streams of flame met in the middle. Neither progressing as the red and blue flames fought for dominance, clashing and lighting up the darkening sky.

  Selasi wasn’t even breathing hard, while the guys almost seemed to be going full out. With every step I took, fear and determination fought inside me. I needed to do this. I had to.

  Selasi turned to fight Copeland off as he attacked, the vamp barely getting away in time. Jesse swooped down and managed to grab the demon’s shoulder. His claws leaving bloody furrows as Selasi rose the slightest bit before his skin tore away and he fell, managing to land on his feet and block Walker's next spell.

  Blood trailed down from the wounds and I took the opportunity to whip him again, catching him by surprise.

  He screamed and held a hand to his face. His eye was bleeding from the new cut that started at his hairline and flowed down to the corner of his mouth.

  He glared at me, and he almost wasn't able to avoid Blayze as he leapt to bite at him. He pounced again as Reed used his distraction to step away from the previous stream of fire and send another of his own blue flames.

  They weren’t fighting well together, though they were getting in hits, it was unorganized. They weren’t in sync with each other. I thought that we would be able to overwhelm him, with all of us lashing out at the same time, but we couldn't. He dodged us as Blayze tried yet again to rip out his throat. Selasi’s movements seemed calm, despite the rage on his face, and he looked like he was bored with the fight.

  Selasi grabbed the leaping hellhound by the neck, Blayze making a horrible, pained cry as Selasi twisted and swung him toward the line of Reed’s fire. For a moment I feared that his neck had been broken, but Blayze was still alive, flailing at th
e air.

  I watched a new horror taking root as he headed toward bright blue flames, holy fire. Reed's eyes went wide with fear when he noticed the hellhound trajectory as well.

  “No!” I yelled, lifting my hand and dropping my whip.

  If Blayze got hit by holy fire, then he would die. Most creatures from hell couldn’t take a shot of pure holy fire to the chest, same with angels and hellfire. It was what allowed balance when both races wanted to be the top dogs.

  I pulled on my magic, forcing it to work faster than I ever had before. Focusing on the blue flames. I knew I wouldn’t be able to stop them, so instead I grabbed them. I was going to take them and make them mine.

  I struggled, the fire fighting me, knowing I wasn't its master. My full focus was on those flames, the guys that were still fighting faded to the background. Pulling and pushing, I was slowly able to take control of Reed’s flames. I called them to me, not to stop them, it was already too late for that, but to redirect them. I forced them to do my bidding, corrupting them and making them do what I wanted them to. I watched with terror, not sure I was going to be able to do it.

  Just before Blayze hit the blue flames, they turned away from him, their aim redirected as it slammed into Selasi’s chest, forcing him to take a step back as he called out with pain.

  Instead of burning and killing him instantly the flames seemed to go around him after the initial hit. Red flames poured from him, forcing the blue to split off to the side, until they stopped completely.

  Reed turned to stare at me with wide eyes and I look right back, relief the Blayze had made it causing me to shake. My legs grew weak and I felt my knees shake before giving out. I had used more energy than I thought. Hitting the ground with a grunt, my stomach was on fire. My magical muscles weak after years of nonuse.

  Someone came up behind me, and Reed gave them a nod before stepping in to join the fight. The worry in his eyes was obvious. Jesse and the others were still attacking Selasi, but they seemed distracted. Their actions were uncoordinated despite how long I suspected they had been working together.