“You-!” I started, but clenched my teeth, unsure what to say to express my anger as he plopped down next to me. His appearance due to freakish detective skills was going to make it that much harder to do what I needed to do. Harder to leave him.
“Me, what?” Luke challenged, sticking his chin out at me, which really made me want to strangle him right then. “You think you could just march off into danger and I won’t be right there with you?”
I clenched my teeth in enraged frustration; angry that he could see that was exactly what I was doing. Here I was, all ready to walk straight to my death and this idiot wanted to follow me?
What an asshole!
“It’s better this way.” I told him through my teeth.
“You can’t seriously be talking about taking on that lunatic by yourself.” Luke asked incredulously.
“Don’t.” I bit out instantly. “Don’t talk about my brother like that.”
“No, you know what?” Luke shot back. “That guy is a pissbag and I think I can talk about him however I want to talk about him.”
“Do you understand how fucking complicated this is? Like, at all?” I hissed lowly, halfheartedly trying not to disturb the other patrons of the diner. I could feel my anger getting the better of me, but unfortunately I wasn’t in any position to rein my temper in. “There is no one sitting on the Throne of Witches and we are this close to hell on Earth. Something is terribly wrong with what little family I have left and all of this won’t go away with the healing power of your dick!”
“I didn’t say that, Danny!” Luke growled, jabbing a finger at me. “Cale wanted power and he killed people and hurt you to get it. Now you’re just going to go back alone? No. You don’t get to decide this shit for me. You can’t decide what I do. That’s not how this works.”
“No.” I said firmly. “No, no, no. You don’t get to act like you know what’s best after knowing me for five goddamn minutes. I have been fighting this war for my entire life.”
“You involved me in this.” Luke ground out.
Ouch.
I sat back in stunned silence, my jaw slack as I stared at him. His words stabbed painfully into me. He closed his eyes, looking disappointed with himself, but it was entirely too late for that to make a damn bit of difference to me.
“Well, goddamn, Luke. I’m so sorry.” I growled sarcastically through my teeth, trying to keep how hurt I was out of my voice.
“I didn’t mean it like that.” Luke explained calmly.
“Do you think I meant for all this to happen? To fuck all this up so bad?”
“I didn’t mean it like that!”
“Then how did you mean it?” I hissed confrontationally as I faced him.
“I meant it like you’re the best fucking thing that has ever happened to me. I meant it like I need you more than I thought I could need anything.” Luke looked desperately into my eyes, wrapping his hands around my knees. “I meant it like after five goddamn minutes of knowing you, I want to spend forever with you and I can’t do that if you’re dead!”
I sighed harshly against the emotion that choked me at his words.
“That’s kind of reckless, don’t you think?” I asked him quietly, a wobble in my voice. He didn’t look away.
“Maybe I’m the kind to jump without looking.” Luke answered evenly, his face close to mine.
“That’s a terrible idea. Don’t ever jump anywhere without looking first.”
“Danny-“
“Nobody else can die because of me.” I grabbed his wrists and held them there to center myself, pouring meaning into my words while stubbornly keeping eye contact with him and leaning into his space. “There are things I need to do and I don’t know if I’m going to…I can’t lose anybody else. And I can’t…I can’t…”
His eyebrows drew together as he waited for me to find the right words.
I huffed out a frustrated breath, finally dropping my eyes to the collar of his t-shirt. He slid his hands up my legs and gave my thighs a gentle squeeze, sending some of his power into my hands. I grasped his wrists in return, trying to swallow the lump in my throat. “I’ve lost so much and…it took me so long to find you. I can’t lose you, too. I won’t.”
There was a silence between us, terrifying and magnetic.
“Don’t do this alone.” He breathed as his eyes bore into me. “Please, don’t leave me.”
I felt the two of us breathing each other’s air. His face was tense and desperate. I clenched my jaw, my heart squeezing in my chest.
“Luke-“
“Hey, kids. Trouble in paradise?” A very familiar voice asked, breaking the spell between the two of us. I knew who it was even before I saw Luke groan and roll his eyes.
“Oh, Jesus, Carl.” Luke turned toward his partner, breaking contact with me. “How did you even find me?”
“Tracked your cell phone.” Carl answered easily.
“Oh my god.”
“What the hell did you expect me to do? You checked yourself out of the damn hospital after almost dying and then you don’t check in.” Carl defended.
“I’m sorry, okay? Next time I’ll call.” Luke rolled his eyes.
“There better not be a fucking next time, Kid.”
“We’re kind of in the middle of something, here.” Luke said.
“No, I think we’re done.” I answered, swinging my legs around, preparing to hop off the stool and continue on my merry way.
“Damn it, Danny…” Luke sighed in frustration from next to me. I heard him trail off as the other patrons of the diner began to murmur in concern, a few gasps rising above the noise. I stared out the front window, my back hitting the counter in a disappointed slump.
Fuck. I should have seen that coming.
Chapter 30
Luke looked at Danny as she leaned her elbows on the counter behind her, curling her lip in annoyance at the front of the diner.
“What the hell is that?” Luke heard Carl demand, a note of panic in his voice that matched the tone of the diners around them.
Luke turned around on his own stool to find the light outside was much darker than the promise of a sunny day it had been when he’d first come in. On closer inspection, the reason for the darkness became terrifyingly clear.
Knightmares spread themselves across the front of the diner, dozens of them, teeming across each other as they blotted out the sun across the windows.
“Princessssss!” Their hissing voices spoke as one, an eerie cacophony that vibrated its way into the restaurant, rattling the quickly fleeing patron’s dishes from where they sat on cheap laminate tabletops.
“You should probably leave.” Danny sighed in a deceptively calm monotone, her eyes still glued to the army of knightmares. Luke groaned in frustration.
“Would you stop that?” He demanded.
“Come out, pretty little Princessssss!” The legion’s voice called mockingly.
“This isn’t the time to argue!” Danny glared at Luke, heaving herself over the edge of the restaurant counter and landing on her feet on the other side. She searched for a moment before grabbing a wooden broom handle that had been abandoned by one of the fleeing wait staff. She hopped up on the smooth plastic of the counter top again and swung her legs back over to land next to him.
“This is a great time to argue!” Luke shot back. He pulled off his sweatshirt, ignoring the ache of his still sore and raw muscles, leaving him in a t-shirt he had hastily cut two slits in the back of before he’d left his apartment earlier.
A growl came from Danny as the windows exploded inward, allowing an alarming number of the knightmares to skitter into the diner. She threw her hand forward and Luke touched her shoulder, lending his power to hers just like he had at the pub, spreading his wings through the cuts in his shirt.
The blast from her spell sent most of them screeching into nothingness.
Most of them.
“All right! Stand down! All of you!” Carl shouted, leveling his gun at t
he remaining slimy creatures as they headed right for him. Luke felt himself panic, glancing over at Danny, who was too busy to notice as she fended off the next wave climbing in through the windows, spell after spell exploding from her shaking hands.
“Jesus, Carl! Run!” Luke shouted, breaking contact with Danny, turning to try and get to his partner.
“Flesssssshhhh…” The knightmares purred, cornering Carl.
Carl opened fire, the gunshots deafening in the enclosed space. There were three solid-sounding thunks as the knightmares took the bullets without a care, hissing their laughter for good measure.
“Shit!” Luke heard Danny curse.
“What the hell-?” Was all the Carl got a chance to say before the knightmares lashed out at him, their tendrils embedding themselves in his flesh.
“No!” Luke felt the desperate scream rip from his throat as his wings burst open and he threw his hands forward. The electric wave of power burst out of him and filled the room. When Luke’s vision cleared, the knightmares were gone.
Luke saw Carl turn toward him, the older man’s eyes disturbingly blank, before his body gave a sickly wet slide into several neatly sliced pieces, cut diagonally, his torso falling apart across the patterned tile.
Luke fell numbly to his knees next to what was left of Carl, his jaw slack in shock.
“Luke!”
Luke spun around at the sound of Danny’s shout to see more knightmares lunging at him. Their jagged mouths were open in a grotesque smile as they surrounded him while Danny fought the last of the ones coming in from the front of the diner. In her distraction, one of them whipped a tentacle forward, catching Danny hard in the side of the head. Luke looked on in horror as she crumpled to the ground.
“Danny!’ Luke shouted, trying to get to her only to find his way blocked by more knightmares, who had all turned to circle him.
“The Queen’ssssssss Angel…” The rasped in unison, their beady pitch black eyes staring at Luke hungrily.
Luke clenched his teeth, holding his hands up and desperately trying to draw on his power again, but the energy inside of him slipped away like fine grains of sand. Bracing himself, he waited for the lashing blows of the knightmares’ tentacles to hit.
In a split second, just enough time for Luke to blink, the knightmares were gone, screeching as they fizzled away with a wave of energy that looked like a Witch’s spell. Luke glanced over at Danny and saw her still alarmingly motionless on the ground.
“It’s okay. I’ve got you.”
He looked over to see his savior jog over and offer his hand to Luke, who took it gratefully, getting to his feet. The man was tall, with rich light brown hair and kind green eyes. He wore ill-fitting clothes that gave off the distinct impression that he had either borrowed or stolen them. Luke glanced over to see the man holding a stone clenched in one fist like it was a lifeline…
…or a weapon.
“Are you a Witch?” Luke asked shakily.
“I thought that much would be obvious.” The Witch confirmed, raising one of his eyebrows.
“I’m new.” Luke explained. The Witch nodded his understanding as they sprinted back to where Danny had been battling the army of knightmares.
“Welcome to the party.” The man told him breathlessly.
“Thanks.” Luke grunted as they scrambled over to where Danny lay in a heap. Luke got to his knees and cradled her head, watching as the gash on her temple healed before his eyes. The Witch knelt across from Luke.
“Goddamn it, Danny.” Luke heard the Witch mutter, pulling open one of her eyelids with his thumb and studying the pupil dilation with a practiced ease that spoke of some sort of medical professional.
A witch doctor Luke’s mind unhelpfully joked in a voice that sounded suspiciously like Danny’s.
“Is she going to be okay?” Luke asked the Witch instead.
“Yeah, but she’ll be out for awhile.” He answered, and then his body froze as if he just remembered something. “Wait…her head…her head was bleeding, but…”
The Witch looked up at Luke, his lips parted in surprise.
“You’re…? You’re hers?” The Witch asked reverently, his eyes on Luke while he ran a gentle thumb over the now healed skin of Danny’s temple.
“Yes.” Luke answered, his eyes narrowing at the other man while his body and his wings curled a bit more protectively around where Danny lay on his lap, not sure what this stranger was going to do with his newly gleaned information.
Surprisingly, a wide, giddy smile burst from the Witch’s face before he wrapped Luke in a warm bear hug, a laugh rumbling in his chest.
“Uh…” Luke grunted, completely bewildered by the stranger’s reaction.
“It is so good to meet you! Danny’s Angel!” the Witch told him enthusiastically, a laugh in his voice as he gave Luke’s stunned body an excited shake. He let Luke go to smile at him. “My name’s Theo.”
“Who are you?” Luke’s stunned brain tried to place the very familiar name.
“I thought we just covered that.” Theo answered with a shit-eating grin.
A shit-eating grin that Luke would recognize anywhere.
“I can’t believe that happened to me twice.” Luke groaned, adjusting Danny’s head on his lap so it wouldn’t get jostled. “Danny made that same goddamn joke. Jesus, you’re her brother.”
That brought another delighted laugh from Theo as he clapped Luke on the shoulder.
“Oh, I think I’m going to like you.” Theo said so warmly that Luke felt a small smile tug itself onto his face despite the situation. “What’s your name?”
“Luke.” Luke offered his hand and Theo shook it heartily. “ Luke Harper. Good to meet you, Theo.”
A distant hiss grabbed Luke’s attention before the conversation could continue and judging by the sudden disappearance of the grin from Theo’s face, the Witch heard it as well.
“Shit. Danny, c’mon. Wake up.” Luke’s thumb stroked Danny’s cheekbone. His face grew pinched when her eyes stayed closed.
“They’re coming.” Theo glanced over his shoulder, then back at Danny and Luke, his eyes calculating. “They can’t find her. Under any circumstances.”
“Okay, we’ll have to make sure their attention is somewhere else.” Luke looked at Theo. The Prince once again nodded his understanding.
“Distraction?” Theo suggested.
“Lead them away from Danny.” Luke agreed. “Help me hide her.”
Theo and Luke carefully carried Danny behind the counter and laid her down. Luke grabbed his discarded sweatshirt and pillowed it beneath her head, tenderly stroking the side of her face before getting to his feet and following Theo.
They ran out of the gaping hole in the front of the diner from the knightmare’s attack, jogging until they got to the middle of the deserted street before skidding to a stop.
“Here they come.” Theo said.
The next horde was on its way, their tentacles lashing out and grabbing hold of the pavement, pulling their grotesque bodies forward with surprising speed. The sight of it filled Luke with dread as he tried not to think about what those tendrils were capable of.
Luke spread his wingspan to capacity, bracing his legs as he beat them once at the knightmares. The strong gust of air sent a thrill through him as his powerful wings worked. Theo raised his hand and sent a spell crashing against the horde, vaporizing a few, but getting the rest of their attention without a doubt.
The creatures altered their course so that the teeming body of knightmares headed right for them.
“Okay, now what?” Luke asked, terror squeezing his chest as they got closer.
“Hope you can keep up, my man.” Theo smacked Luke on the shoulder once before turning and running away. Luke scrambled after him, folding his wings neatly against his body once again.
Luke’s heart pounded as he and Theo sprinted away from the quickly approaching horde. He could hear the viscous sound of their slimy bodies slithering just a few feet
behind the desperate pounding of the two men’s feet against the pavement.
Out of the corner of his eye, Luke saw someone round a corner as he and Theo ran past.
“Go back! Get out of the way!” Luke shouted over his shoulder at the bystander.
The man gave him a confused look before the knightmares were on him, wrapping around him and consuming him. He barely had time to give a choked-off scream.
Luke gritted his teeth as he turned and kept running, trying to ignore the turn of his stomach. He pushed as much power as he could into his legs and knew by the goopy sound of the knightmares behind them catching up fast that it wouldn’t be enough to outrun their monstrous pursuers.
“We’re not gonna make it.” Luke grunted at Theo.
“Just keep running.” Theo ground out, keeping pace with Luke’s lengthy strides.
Luke tried to stay calm as he looked around for some sort of solution. In the distance, if they altered their course just a little, they would go by an underpass. He glanced back at the quickly approaching knightmares and threw a knuckle against Theo’s shoulder to get the Prince’s attention.
“We’ve got a better chance if we split up.” Luke told him.
“How do you figure?” Theo asked between gasps.
“One of us getting away is better than neither of us getting away.” Luke grunted. “You go right and I go up when we reach that bridge. Meet back at the diner.”
“Okay.” Theo agreed distractedly. His steps faltered slightly in surprise when he apparently realized what Luke had implied. “Wait! What d’you mean ‘up’?”
“Just do it!” Luke shot back.
He heard Theo’s groan of disapproval as they sprinted toward the overpass.
A few yards before they reached the stone barrier, Theo veered away to the right, followed by a few of the knightmares.
“Danny’s gonna kill me if you die!” Theo shouted over his shoulder.
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