Chapter 24
I burst out of the thick fog behind Carmine and scanned my surroundings. A forest—an ancient one. I’d never been here, but the gate we’d exited—and which other demons still poured through—was a Luther gate.
These must be the lands of the human tribe.
I joined Carmine, and we held back as the army surged ahead. Whoever was waiting to greet them was about to see a terrifying sight. The myriad colors of the army only added to the chaos of their roars and snarls.
Raes sprinted past. An array of weapons decorated his belt and the sheaths on his arms and legs. He’d been promoted. Into war. Which may be the opposite of a promotion.
“Stay close,” Carmine told me.
“My king, I have her.” Steth jerked a rope, and the human on the other end cried out and crashed to her knees on the forest floor.
The human had red hair that simply didn’t exist in the demon realm. When she lifted her furious face to glare at Steth, I could see she was beautiful. Young.
Feral as shit. Despite her human status, wariness trickled through my chest.
She spat in Carmine’s direction. “Motherfucker!”
I liked her.
This had to be Rhona.
“You know what to do,” Carmine told Steth, who jerked on the rope and led the human away.
I couldn’t save Rhona. I’d made that choice earlier.
If I tried, then I risked my freedom to communicate with the alliance.
Any strategy to save her from the others could never thwart a full-strength Carmine.
Rhona was hardly in a position to defend herself either—dressed in filthy rags, unwashed, underfed, and with her hands trussed up in rope.
Carmine would use her to control the people she loved, though, and I did have a problem with that. Because I could just as easily be in that position. If that were me, I’d want a fighting chance.
I focused on the throwing knife in the leg holster of a passing crimson, then banished the small weapon between Rhona’s bound hands. Rhona stumbled, but quickly recovered and glanced around.
Could she free herself with the knife? No idea. I couldn’t even tell if the dagger had made it to the right place.
“They will arrive soon,” Carmine said, and in the dark, he grinned.
I shivered at the pure malice and evil in the expression.
He strode forward, and I walked in his shadow—a place I’d happily occupy to remain unnoticed while he was in this mood.
We reached the tree line, and I peered out at a large estate building. Part of the building was burned down, thanks to Carmine’s last attack.
On the expansive field between the tree line and the building, demons were locked in combat with snapping Luthers. Portals were opening everywhere, and Vissimo and Magus erupted through them to join the battle.
My breath quickened. There were so many different powers and speeds and strengths being used.
I couldn’t make sense of what was happening.
This was supernatural anarchy. This was the reason supernatural races were meant to get along—or to ignore each other.
When we didn’t, the world’s obliteration was the potential consequence.
The clash of blades and the explosion of magic speared through the trees and drummed around us. Demon smoke had spread across the field, obscuring the view to nothing more than flashes of tangled, desperate bodies with every burst of Magus magic.
Carmine’s personal guard lurked in a perimeter around us, but I doubted anyone would make it close enough to test their defenses. And anyone who did would regret meeting Carmine’s smoke.
The night sky was alight, and I felt equal parts wonder and horror because before seeing this, I hadn’t truly understood what one army could do to another.
A faint whistle met my ears an instant before Carmine plucked a dart from the air in front of my forehead.
I held out my hand, and he dropped the dart onto my palm, and I was immediately glad that it hadn’t hit me. I could tell the liquid within was a mix of human tech and Magus ingenuity, and my instincts warned that the substance shouldn’t touch me. Go, Tempest.
“This isn’t human tranq. There’s a magical quality to it,” I murmured. “I’ll inspect the dart later. You should warn the army to dodge them.”
Carmine gestured to a guard. “Hold it.”
The guard gingerly took the dart.
To another he said, “Spread the queen’s warning.”
The second guard bowed to Carmine, then to me. “Yes, my king.”
Magus barriers were going up, all of them made of four affinities. This strategy was the real game-changer for the alliance. Carmine hadn’t figured out how to get through them yet.
“Drop the barriers or she dies,” Carmine boomed.
I jumped a foot at his thunderous volume.
Even a supernatural fighting for their life couldn’t ignore the power or authority in his voice. A confused lull interrupted the frenzy of battle, and in that lull, Athira dragged Rhona out of the tree line.
Athira. Not Steth.
Ah. I had an inkling that Steth was no longer. Demon friendships 101.
“Rhona!”
I wasn’t alone in looking for the source of the shout, and I quickly located Andie trying to force her way through the demon army to reach her sister. They looked so alike.
I had a sister too. I understood what her pain would be.
Sometimes there was no good end to a story.
“Drop the barriers,” Carmine boomed again. “One minute, or the human dies.”
I’d given this strategy to the council. Use the hearts of pack and Magus against them.
This particular application of that strategy wore an extra layer because if the Magus didn’t drop the barriers, then one of their ally’s people would be killed.
That could bring political strife to their alliance.
I may hate Carmine, but he was smart.
Rhona had about thirty seconds to saw her way free and… make it through a demon army to safety. If she’d wanted to get away, her window of opportunity to do so had been in the forest. Even then, I held no illusions about a human escaping Athira.
I’d given her a knife, but no real chance.
The barriers retreated, and I heard the hitch in Carmine’s breath. This would alter the outcome at last. Here was a chance to win.
A strangled cry echoed through the tense battlefield that had reduced in volume to panting recoveries and the impatient shifting of boots and weapons. I wasn’t alone in searching for the source of the strangled cry.
“No!” Andie screamed.
I followed her horrified gaze to Rhona, then gasped at the knife protruding from under Rhona’s ribs.
“You won’t… win,” she slurred at Carmine. “Demon… fucker.
A buzzing filled my mind as her hand slipped from the hilt of the knife I’d given her. Rhona’s knees buckled, and when she toppled sideways, the light had already left her eyes.
Chaos erupted, overwhelming Andie’s tortured howl.
Magus barriers snapped back into place.
Rhona’s sacrifice had filled the other supernaturals with fury.
Demons were falling everywhere.
Carmine stepped forward and unleashed his crimson. A barrier swept his efforts aside, and I squinted through the smoke and the flash of magic to see my sister and Wild on the opposite edge of the battlefield.
Carmine renewed his attack, and Tempest cast out more strands of her magic than I could count. Each strand speared into the chest of a demon.
Cool. This was how she’d made them kill each other during a previous battle. These demons were goners, and I could tell that some already knew it.
My gaze landed on a demon with purple scales. A strand of Tempest’s magic speared him in the chest. Raes!
In a blur of instinct, I opened a portal and stepped through. With only the blind thought to sever Tempest’s connection to Raes, I blasted power into the strand of her magic speared into his chest.
My magic met my twin’s magic.
And the world exploded.
I was aware of spinning through the air in a blur. I was aware that my body wasn’t responding to me. My mind was nothing more than a passenger on a train, and I could only curiously observe the screams and roars of the army, and the ring of battle tangling with the cries for help.
Arms caught me. My chin was seized in an iron grip to force my face upward. Carmine’s face filled my vision, and when I blinked a few times, his body relaxed.
He straightened from his crouch with me in his arms and shifted his focus over my head. I turned my head with difficulty to look.
Wild was crouched over Tempest, and she looked about as good as me. Worse, even.
Whatever I’d done had taken us both out. My body was only just returning to me. Magical shell shock.
My gaze landed on Kyros, who was looking from Tempest to Carmine. His furious gaze settled into cool intent. The demon king had left the safety of his army, and the king of Vissimo couldn’t pass up the opportunity.
“I can stand,” I whispered.
Carmine’s hold only tightened around me.
The Vissimo charged, and my mind protested his speed. Carmine funneled crimson smoke at Kyros, but Sascha was there to intercept the attack. I hadn’t seen the Luther approaching from the side. He didn’t show any sign that the smoke affected him.
Kyros dodged around the werewolf to continue his charge.
Too late to open a portal. The Vissimo king was upon us, savage fangs gleaming.
“The coward comes out to fight,” Kyros hissed.
Carmine wasn’t a coward, but Kyros was an idiot. This wasn’t part of our fucking plan. The plan was that I would sever the mating, steal Carmine’s power source, and then the others would polish him off.
Kyros was going to screw this up by getting himself killed. He’d gone rogue, and the fallout could potentially include my son’s life.
Carmine set me on my feet, then planted himself in front of me.
I stared at his back as he said, “Your father couldn’t defeat me, and you are far weaker than him.”
Not only that but Tempest was still out for the count. I could feel her magic thrumming, and Wild was healing her.
Kyros dodged forward and Carmine whipped out an arm to grab the Vissimo king by the neck, like an adult might grab the scruff of a child’s neck.