Chapter 27 #2
“Taking the reins off.” He winked. “Remember how hot I am now.”
“Excuse me?”
“Trust me.” He kissed me, and then the shadows lifted from his body. Those tattoos that danced across his flesh outlined his body like a visible aura, and he glowed! The man actually glowed as his shadows snapped out like flames dancing around him.
He held his palm out to me, and a string of shadow passed from him to me. It formed a ring around my midsection, spinning like an automatic hula hoop.
Then, he took off. Raymond danced in and out of the shadows.
Every time he appeared, he had a different man in his clutches.
Most looked close to humans, but some of them did not.
I watched him closely, holding my position as he fought.
But I couldn’t stay there long because eventually, the shadows brought the fight to me.
A shadow opened to my left, and a hand reached out, but the spinning barrier around my waist shot out, slapping the hand away from me.
“Oh, shit.” I watched as it pulled back to me, then I searched for Raymond again. Just ahead of me, I caught sight of his hair as he stepped back into the darkness. “Okay, let's do this.”
It happened again. Another attempted attack, another defense from the shadow Raymond lent to me.
Let’s get it, girl!
Something inside me clicked when I saw Raymond disappear again. He was holding his own, and I had to do the same. I wasn’t going to let him or anyone else be distracted by the human on the field.
It didn't matter what came at me. If it attacked, I swung, I fought, I did whatever I had to do to survive. I hoped like hell I didn’t accidentally hurt someone who was on my side. Even though I defended myself, I tried not to kill. Injure, take them out of the fight, sure, but never kill.
I couldn’t say that for the other members of my team.
The shadow walkers danced in and out of the darkness, going in and out of view.
But more often than not, when they returned, it was our men on top.
The ones they fought no longer moved. Those who couldn’t use the shadows fought in plain view, and it looked like the opponent had some non-shadow walkers on his side as well, because most of the demons I fought ran right at me. No shadows to assist them.
I cut through a purple guy with a golden fringe hanging from his face. As he ran at me, heavy fists poised to crush me, I shocked him and ran straight at him. I dropped to my knees, sliding across the floor and activating the blade. It lit up just in time to cut through his ankles.
He fell and cried out as he grabbed his ankles and realized his feet were no longer attached.
“Sorry about that.” I shrugged and ran off. Hopefully, he can grow them back. Is that a thing?
My thoughts raced as I moved back to my position where Raymond left me. I don’t know why, but it felt like I had to protect it. If it was the entrance to Talkeen’s level, I couldn’t let anyone get there.
As soon as I returned to my position, I saw flashes of Olian and her orange demon.
They worked together in unison, like a pair who had been together their entire lives.
If I hadn't known any better, I would have thought he was the love of her life.
He supported her, protected her, even assisted her in her offensive moves.
I appreciated it when he tossed her in the air so she could cut down a demon who flew above us, spitting down fiery shots that took out two of her men.
And at the farthest end of the massive room, where the main entrance was, Metice held his position.
His body, it grew, and I don't mean he flexed.
I mean the man literally expanded to the point where the clothes he wore ripped away from his body, and he stood there naked and fighting off everything who came at him.
He was a good fighter, though. He was almost too much for them. It seemed like every blow he launched landed harder, crushing those strange creatures beneath the weight of his force.
And Piko was right there with him, only he was no longer a cutesy little blue demon, instead a massive beast that honestly terrified me. He looked the size of an elephant and used sharp teeth to rip away at anything he could get close to.
All I could say was I was glad they were on our side.
It looked like we would win, like that full twenty-five minutes wouldn’t be necessary. The opposition, while stronger than we had prepared for, was failing. I should have known better than to let that thought go through my mind, because the second I had, everything changed.
The ground beneath our feet shook violently, trembling with increased intensity, and then, with a guttural roar, massive stone spikes erupted from the ground. A thick, sticky orange slime that glistened in the light coated each one.
“Be careful.” The furry one appeared, pulling me away from the spike that shot up next to me. “Those things are poisonous. One prick, and you're dead.”
I nodded. “Thank you.”
Simple enough—just dodge the daggers coming up from the ground and watch out for random creatures coming out of the shadows.
No problem. I quickly noticed there was a pattern to where the spikes shot up.
Faded spots marked the ground, and at first, I thought it was dirt or just a fault in the stone, but I was wrong.
As I looked closer, I realized they were shadows fixed in place.
Once I noticed it, they were easy to avoid, but even that wasn't enough.
Above us, the roof opened. A slit opened down the middle, and as the two halves slid apart, large stones like boulders fell into the room.
So not only were we avoiding spikes shooting up from the floor, but now, we had freaking bricks falling on our heads.
And that's when the tide completely turned against us.
A large piece of stone damn near hit me in the head, but that shadow defense system Raymond left me with turned into an umbrella above me.
The stone bounced off it and landed right on top of one of the spikes that shot up.
I jumped away from it, nearly stepping on top of another spike.
When I shifted my weight, avoiding it, I saw Metice drop.
Several of the large stones fell on top of him, nearly burying him.
Piko quickly dug him out, but as Metice returned to his feet, smaller than before, he was far more vulnerable. He turned his back at the wrong time as a demon that looked like a bulldozer charged him. I screamed out his name, but when the impact landed, it wasn’t Metice who took it.
It was Raymond.
He shoved the large man aside, the impact of the blow sending him sprawling as he took the full force of the hit. His body slumped to the ground with a thud.