Chapter 15 Showdown
Showdown
Drew hurried across campus, running late for his morning class after Zach had delayed him with a blow job that morning.
The past couple of weeks had been non-stop for him, between uni assignments ramping up and Kensington demanding more and more of his time for training.
He’d finally mastered the basics of wielding his power and had moved on to more advanced magic.
It was absolutely exhausting and there was very little time left over for any bedroom shenanigans.
He’d absolutely not been complaining when Zach had pushed him against the back of the door and dropped to his knees after breakfast, but it was a little inconvenient now he was so late.
Zach’s voice thundered in his head commanding him to STOP! and he staggered to a halt.
“What is it? What’s wrong?” Drew asked out loud, his head twisting from side to side to try and see where the danger was.
Something’s wrong, Zach said, wriggling his cat form out of Drew’s backpack and climbing onto his shoulder. Can you not feel that?
Drew concentrated, tuning out the noise and commotion of the busy university campus. Then he felt it, the change in pressure of the atmosphere surrounding them, but it was coming from all around him, not just one direction, which is why he hadn’t noticed it. “Magic? But who? Why?”
“Drew!” he heard being called out from behind him, and he turned to see Gwen and Dom crossing the quad, waving at him. In their wake trailed a sullen Edward, clearly annoyed that the others were trying to act like he wasn’t there.
He didn’t bother returning the greeting, too busy trying to figure out where the magic users were and what they were doing.
“Is something wrong?” Dom asked as he noticed Drew’s expression.
Drew nodded but didn’t—couldn’t—explain, his eyes continuing to dart around.
It’s all around us. Should I call Kensington? he asked silently.
It wouldn’t hurt, Zach agreed.
Sending a quick text off to the sorcerer, not really wanting to explain out loud while other people were around, Drew pocketed his phone and tried once more to narrow down where the magic was coming from, but it was too noisy, too busy. There were just too many distractions.
“What the hell is wrong?” Gwen asked, picking up on the vibe. “You look like you’ve seen a ghost.”
From one side, there came a loud noise, and they all turned to see what it was. The concrete under a seating area was cracking, breaking apart as the ground beneath it began to lift.
From the opposite direction came the sounds of screams, and when Drew whipped his head around, he saw the lawn was erupting, chunks of dirt and turf flying high into the air. It was then that he caught a glimpse of someone nearby, a book open in their palms, and they appeared to be chanting.
“Oh, fuck,” he whispered.
Oberon. Zach said the name as if it were a curse and then he was leaping from Drew’s shoulder, transforming into his normal form, his eyes blazing.
“Werecat!” Edward squealed, pointing at Zach, eyes wide.
Everyone ignored him, too busy being horrified as the ground around them continued to churn and break apart.
Then there were more screams as hands appeared, clawing their way up and out of the ground.
The bodies of the demons followed, some of them human-looking the way Beelzebub and Asmodeus had been, others with deformed bodies and hellish features.
Panic broke out as students began to run for their lives.
“Go, get out of here!” Drew told his friends. “Run!”
Dom grabbed Gwen’s hand and they started to run away, but then stopped as the earth in front of them broke open and something else began to emerge. Gwen screamed and they turned, but by now they were blocked in, with no escape.
Two beams of bright light shot through the air and Drew breathed a sigh of relief as Kensington and Simon appeared next to them. The Grand Master took in the situation with a single glance and looked over at Zach. “Friends of yours, I assume?”
“They are no friends of mine,” Zach snarled.
Drew grabbed Dom’s arm and tugged him and Gwen behind him then, feeling generous, he also grabbed Edward and pushed him back as well. “Stay behind me,” he instructed.
“What the hell is going on?” Dom asked, his voice shaky.
“Long story short . . . Zach is an angel who was trapped in hell by an asshole fallen angel, and it looks like he’s come for him.”
“Ah, right, okay.” Dom looked around. “Not the answer I expected, but given the evidence before me it kinda makes sense.”
“If they want Zach, just give him to them!” Edward cried, eyeing the approaching horde of demons with fear. “There’s no need for us to get caught in the middle!”
“You keep up talk like that and I’ll throw you to them myself,” Kensington growled at Edward, and then with a sharp gesture at Simon and Zach, they joined Drew and formed a circle around the three students, facing outwards towards the threat. “Zach, what’s the best way to deal with these guys?”
“Other than pray?” Zach shook his head. “They’re powerful, but they can be killed. Brute force will do it.”
“Okay, then, brute force it is.” And with that, Kensington sent a wave of magic through the air at the demons approaching from his side.
The magic hit them with a concussive force, sending them flying backward, ripping through their bodies as it went.
The demons howled, but of the five who were caught up in the blast, only two got back to their feet.
Drew reached out and caught Zach’s hand, squeezing it tightly. “I won’t let him take you back,” he promised.
Zach gave him a small smile and said, “Be safe.” Then he let go and charged at the oncoming demons.
Drew reached deep within himself, finding the spark of power he knew resided there.
He felt it curling together, building in strength, ready to be released, and he didn’t bother with grace or finesse, didn’t use any of the phrases that Kensington had taught him to channel the energy, he just let it loose.
With a cry, he flung a ball of pure magic outwards, and it flew forward, incinerating the three demons who were in its direct path.
With a hand outstretched, he hooked his hand, directing the magic to veer to the right, aiming for another demon.
It cut through its chest with as much deadly force as it had taken down the others, and so he curled his hand again and sent it curving around to take out another fiend.
By the time it ran out of enough force to inflict killing blows, eleven demons had been felled, but for each one that died, another three rose up to take its place, clawing at the earth and charging into the fray.
“Simon!” Kensington called. “We need to take out those who are summoning them, otherwise they’ll just keep coming.”
“On it,” Simon said, opening what appeared to be a portal in front of two demons and shoving them through it, only to close it before they were all the way through, severing their bodies in half.
Drew saw Simon move out of his periphery, but he couldn’t spare the attention to see if he was successful in dealing with the magic users, too engrossed in taking out as many of the demons as he could.
He still couldn’t see anyone who appeared to be in charge of them, and so he assumed that Oberon hadn’t revealed himself yet, waiting until the tide turned in his favour.
He soon found himself fighting side by side with Zach, and they moved almost as one, calling warnings to each other silently in their minds, synchronising their movements to inflict the most amount of damage on the most amount of demons.
It was like a dance—or their lovemaking—graceful and harmonised, the two of them moving about each other fluidly.
Above them, black clouds had begun to form, churning in the sky.
The scent of ozone was heavy in the air and lightning flickered and danced across the clouds.
The sheer amount of magic being flung around was creating a magically-charged storm, but Drew couldn’t spare any energy to worry about the damage it might do.
They needed to deal with the immediate threat of the demons and other magic users first. Then they could deal with the storm.
There was a bright flash of light from off to the side and Drew shielded his eyes. When he was able to see again, three winged figures stood in the quad, almost glowing as if lit from within with a heavenly light.
“Daniel?” Zach gasped, his eyes wide as he gaped at the newcomers.
A tall dark-skinned angel with pale green wings grinned. “Hey, Zachariel. Good to see you, brother.”
“What are you doing here?”
“Hashmal, Adriel, and I thought you could use a hand,” Daniel replied, gesturing to the others.
“You know, since we couldn’t help last time,” the angel who Drew assumed was Hashmal said. He was tall and graceful, with kind eyes that glowed almost as white as his wings.
“We tried, Zach, we did,” Adriel said, her words oozing sincerity. Dark blue wings flared in contrast to her white-blonde hair. “We’re here to make up for that.”
Zach threw his head back and laughed. “Oh, I am so glad to see you guys.”
Daniel grinned and then tilted his head at the battle. “Come on then. Let’s get to it.”
The three angels jumped into the fight and immediately the pressure was lessened, the tide turning. The wave of demons seemed to dwindle just a little, and Drew and Zach fought easier, still side by side.
Then a demon managed to break through their defences and it lunged for Dom, Gwen, and Edward.
Dom shoved the others behind him and raised his arms, a feeble attempt to stop the attack.
He cried out as a long claw sliced through his forearms but he didn’t back down.
He kept his body shielding the others, even as blood dripped down his arms.