Chapter 45 Celix
Iwas hoping Nero would snatch Sydney and keep her inside, but she was already up and marching towards the door. Without an ounce of magic in her veins and wings that could come out at any minute. Damn it. We didn’t even know who was outside.
The princes had to be making their move because demons just weren’t dumb enough to attack another prince on their behalf. And I didn’t think the other princes were dumb enough to attack Satan’s house, but I guess everyone was feeling stupid today.
“Oh, fuck no,” Wrathhog swore, firing off a text and portalling outside.
She was going to hate me, but I hoped she got it.
“Keep her safe,” I growled at Nero and portalled out with Wrathhog.
I should have asked Nero to knock Kujo out, especially when I got outside and saw an army of Furies with his mother at the helm.
What the fuck were they doing? Furies’ only loyalty were to other furies.
They were publicly Team Satan, but their loyalty to anyone else was mercurial.
It depended on who they thought was going to win at any time.
They wouldn’t come at a fallen directly because they’d just be cannon-fodder, even if they were upper demons.
The Furies would do just about anything in the shadows for someone they thought could elevate the Furies even further, but they’d never do anything that could come back and bite them on the off chance it didn’t turn out how they thought.
So, why the fuck were they here? And why hadn’t I asked Nero to knock Kujo out?
Kujo took one look at his mother and all the Furies she brought.
His wings snapped out, and he snarled. Kujo hated the Furies with the passion of a thousand suns.
Like, way more than he hated everyone else.
And he hated his mother more than anyone in Hell.
I snapped my arm across his chest when he lunged because he would have tried to take them all on and gotten himself killed.
We had to play this really carefully because Furies could fuck up your mind.
We all knew how to throw up mental shields against Furies, but Sydney didn’t.
And this many Furies could tear through our mental shields with enough pressure.
Nero could have knocked them out with just a thought, but the Furies would have pressed charges and Satan might not have been able to save him.
“Do you know what you are doing, Salvon?” Wrathhog said. “You wouldn’t be able to come back from this.”
“I’m just here to fetch my property. I’m not attacking a Prince of Hell or his child,” Kujo’s mom said innocently.
“I quite assure you that there is nothing of yours here.”
“She means me,” Kujo snarled. “This is how they take me off the board.”
Clever. It was suicide to attack Sydney and Kujo while Satan was looking after them and Abaddon was on their side and could choose to come off the bench. We couldn’t find Lucifer without Kujo and right now, Sydney wasn’t a threat. Even once she got her wings and magic, most of Hell didn’t know her.
Except children weren’t property, so Salvon couldn’t force Kujo to leave with her unless she attacked. She had the numbers, but we had Wrathhog and Nero. If Satan showed up and gave him permission in front of the Furies, he’d knock them all out.
“A little birdie told me that my half-breed runt finally made himself useful and is turning into a seer. He owes me, so I’ll be taking him now.”
Salvon always called Kujo a half-breed runt instead of his name.
I always thought it chapped her asshole that Kujo was much bigger than her purebred sons.
Kujo wasn’t the only one baring his teeth.
Sydney didn’t even like Kujo as far as I knew and she looked ready to throw down with Salvon rather than let her take him.
Where the actual fuck was Satan?
“I owe you shit. I never asked to be born, and you were a shit mother when you were forced to take me in. You kicked me out as soon as you didn’t have to care for me anymore.”
“I can just take you, runt.”
“No, actually you can’t,” Wrathhog said. “If you attack one of my father’s guests, you might as well be attacking him. You will face his wrath.”
Satan was the literal Prince of Wrath. No one was that stupid.
Salvon was arrogant, so that probably made her stupid.
I didn’t know if she was fully entrenched in this plot and knew exactly why she’d been pointed in the direction of her son or if she was just greedy enough to start a fight she probably couldn’t finish because she wanted a seer in the family.
“Who told you he was a seer?” Sydney demanded.
Nero wasn’t touching her, so she looked a bit pale. I got it. She had the same thought process I did. We didn’t know if Salvon knew her wings were coming in and she was extra vulnerable right now. She needed to put on a strong front, and she was doing beautifully.
Salvon tsked and shook her finger.
“Family secrets, runt. Now, step away. I have no beef with any of you.”
“You’re going to start one if you don’t back off and leave Kujo alone. He doesn’t want to go with you.”
I saw how Kujo was looking at Sydney. He was changing his mind about her. Wrathhog and Sydney outranked us and they outranked the Furies. They were fighting for him, even Sydney.
“I want everyone here to remember I gave you a choice, and I never struck at you.”
Fuck. Fuck.
Salvon didn’t attack us. With Wrathhog and Sydney here, it would have been treason. It kind of still was with Kujo under a prince’s protection. Furies were very fast and lethal even if they didn’t fuck-up your brain.
Salvon knew damned well she had no claim on Kujo at his age. At most, she could ask him to come willingly and she’d ruined that. She couldn’t force him. He was young for a demon, but still an adult. If she took him, it was kidnapping.
I could feel the power of the other Furies pressing at my mental shields.
She was going to do something big and make us forget.
We all got ready to fight because we could feel it.
It would have been stupid to go for mind tricks we could feel and not attack.
I was sure they were planning on holding us off until our mental shields crumbled.
“Are you insane?” Wrathhog hissed, her wings popping out.
Nero was looking across the Courtyard. Satan had given Nero permission to use his magic, but no one had heard him outside of us.
Even if he came back later and said he did, it still might not work in Nero’s favor unless the Furies actually heard it.
Where the fuck was he? He seemed pretty invested in finding Lucifer and protecting Sydney.
“If he won’t see for his family, then he won’t see for anyone,” Salvon hissed, flinging a bolt of killing magic at Kujo.
It was Fury magic. Kujo had trained hard at fighting Fury magic, but he didn’t exactly have anyone to practice with.
He mostly learned because his half siblings bullied him.
I didn’t know if Kujo could block that particular spell.
His family didn’t want to teach him how to cast it or defend against it.
I was bracing myself for losing one of my best friends if he couldn’t block the spell. Wrathhog started taking out some of the Furies, but they were fast as fuck with their wings out.
It was almost like slow motion. Kujo was bracing and preparing to block and Sydney jumped in front of him.
I watched as the bolt meant for Kujo slammed into Sydney’s chest. Fuck.
She had no magic, and she was extra vulnerable right now because of her wings.
This could kill her instantly. And an angel couldn’t even swoop in and save her.
Sydney’s back bowed from the hit and she collapsed to her knees. Before any of us could get to her, Sydney screamed in rage and magic just exploded out of her. The Furies were blasted out of the sky and the rest of us were flung several feet away.
I tried to crawl to her to see if she was still alive, but there were black spots in my vision that were just getting bigger. I collapsed and let the blackness take me.
What just happened? Now would be a good time for Satan to show his face. We all needed healing, not just Sydney.