43. Tacita
Tacita
The first goes down before they even see me coming. My blade slides right between the third and fourth vertebrae of his spine. He drops to the ground with a sickening crunch and an explosion of feathers. Another dragon roar cuts over the night as Wyatt takes to the sky.
My immediate concern is if the Angels manage to get Milo through the portal. I have no idea what will happen when I follow but I have already made the decision that I will be going through before they can close it.
My knife lands back in my outstretched hand as I dive left to find an opening on my next target.
Fire erupts below, and I chance a glance at Wyatt, he’s being bombarded by over a dozen of the Angel soldiers.
They’re trying to get a grip on his wings, his tail, even on the spines along his back to throw him off balance.
Zafihra, in the sky above, roars in retaliation.
I know she’ll come to Wyatt’s aid, as will the other guards.
But, Zafihra is the only one that can’t get cooked if she gets too close to the constant stream of flames Wyatt is spewing.
I launch my dagger again.
“Fuck!” I yell as it misses, before I can remember I shouldn’t be vocal if I don’t want to be recognised. It doesn’t kill the Angel but instead plunges into his shoulder. It must sever the nerves as his arm releases its grip on my human, but he lives on.
Recalling the blade again, I’m waiting for it to streak across the sky as the Angels suddenly pull up on their trajectory towards the portal they control.
Black smoke explodes in front of their flight path and Hades's form becomes visible as the smoke dissipates. His magnificent wings, which he rarely shows, flap to hold him steady, their black so deep they’re almost iridescent.
“You’re not going to win this time, Camael.” Hades’s voice reverberates throughout the whole valley, halting several of the Angels and Demons alike as he announces his appearance.
“Aren’t we? You’re rocking up rather late to the party, Hades,” the shorter, stockier Angel answers.
“Leave with your legions now and I won’t annihilate you all.” The threat is a serious one.
The blade in my palm feels heavy, correctly weighted for me to take a shot, but I hold off whilst I wait to hear their reply.
It’ll only piss them off if I kill another one of them and with Hades now here, I have to fall to his command.
As much as my entire being feels like it's being wrapped in barbed wire, I have to wait out this verbal standoff.
“Let us pass and you have a deal.” Camael’s eyes narrow in challenge.
“Give me my contestant and you can go.” Hades holds out a hand towards Milo, who is still hanging limply between the two Angels.
“Ha!” Camael laughs. “You think this is your contestant? He’s one of us. We’re simply bringing him home.”
Hades’s eyes track to me for the quickest of seconds. I’m glad for my mask so he can’t see the extent of the lie in my eyes. But he knows that I knew. No matter that it was a matter of hours, I can tell he’s pissed.
“He entered these games like everyone else here. And from what I’m told, has excelled. So if he wants a place in my realm, he deserves the chance.” I have no idea whether Hades is telling the truth or simply bargaining to keep Milo here so he can punish him for the double cross.
The hairs on my neck stand up, forcing me to look away from the standoff happen between my leader and the fuckers trying to steal my human.
With the pause in the battle, the Angels are reforming their lines.
They’re doing it slowly, but those in the air are drifting into formation and as Hades and Camael talk.
I see the more willowy one of the trio holding Milo close his eyes.
His brows knit in concentration, he’s using his mind magic, communicating in the silent way they seem to have with every single white winged being here.
I need to find a way to alert Hades without drawing attention to myself, I’m being watched by no less than fifteen Angels now.
Looking around for Garrick, I find him still with the other three panthers I left him with, but they’ve managed to get to the edge of the dormitories.
He isn’t looking at me, however. He’s not even looking at Hades.
I follow his line of sight and see Khaos.
Dressed in black, he’s near impossible to spot as he stands amongst the rubble.
His hair is a vibrant green now and the only way I can tell it’s him from this distance.
Straining my eyes, I see him signing. I cannot tell what from here but slowly a few of our team who are closest to Khaos cross the space to him and take something–glass vials filled with swirling liquid.
The potions are then distributed amongst the others as they fan back out and pass the bottles around to those standing further out.
Wyatt has returned to the ground too, although his tail swishes slowly and he’s crouched as if ready to launch once more, as soon as he can. I half wonder if Hades’s power is blocking him from taking off.
Feeling more eyes on me, I return my gaze to Garrick to find him now looking directly at where I’m hovering in the sky.
His ears flick back, trying to tell me something.
I tilt my head subtly to convey my confusion and he opens his mighty jaws, his tongue licking over his teeth.
It makes my wrist tingle as the feeling of him sinking into my skin resurfaces.
Is he trying to tell me that we might need our connection?
Is he planning something by which he’s going to be separated from me by more than the air between us right now?
I wish we could communicate properly.
Growing frustrated, I flap my wings a little harder. My own tail flicking at the inability to understand him. But then he shifts and worry overshadows my anger. He staggers on his broken ankle before he gets his weight onto his good leg.
He makes a hand gesture I can interpret.
Portal.
I think he’s going to make a portal.
Words said in anger echo across the valley. “I see trying to sort this out civilly isn’t going to work, Camael. Kill them.” Hades’s order bursts everyone into action.
I have less than a second to decide who to fire my dagger at first. The dozen or so Angels that had been watching me, descend.
Releasing a growl because the first kill can’t be one of the bastards currently trying to kidnap Milo, I throw my knife, tearing it through the jugular of the nearest enemy, making her death slow enough she’ll remain conscious as she loses strength and falls from the sky.
Recalling my blade, I send it into the eye socket of the next as I snap both wings of another.
The legion of Angels crowds in, our wings batting against each other as they try their damndest to get a grip on me.
Fuck.
Feeling the blade back in my palm, I keep it in my hand as I slice across the throats of three more before snapping my wings in tight and falling from the sky.
It works to get me out of the worst of the crowd but I have to bank quickly to avoid others from my own side that have come to my assistance.
Rio and two of the guards clash with the remaining Angels, engaging them in hand to hand combat.
I want to offer assistance but I’m not wasting the opportunity they’re giving me.
My priority is whatever is happening to my two humans and my panther shifter below.
Hades has released more of his power, demonstrating his strength by taking out five or six Angels at a time with his shadows. Black smoke engulfs them, and does fuck knows what, but only mangled corpses fall to the ground like rain.
The substance in the vials Khaos was handing out becomes known as our guards on the ground uncork them and throw them towards our enemies.
Some appear to melt the skin of their victims, others render the recipient frozen until their throats are slit.
It’s an absolute bloodbath as I swoop across the courtyard, circling underneath where Milo is now being held between just two of the original group of Angels.
Camael has moved forwards to engage Hades directly.
Stupid move if you ask me as Hades toys with him, sucking him in with his magic as Cameal tries to use his lightning power to strike the Lord of the Underworld.
Taking advantage, I turn sharply, and shoot upwards, tucking my blade to my thigh to free my hands.
With the next beat of my wings my arms are locking around my human and snatching him from the grasp of our enemy and shooting both of us higher into the sky.
Not expecting it, the two Angels dart to the side.
“Now!” I somehow hear Garrick’s command but don’t slow down as I climb in altitude.
Milo is heavy in my arms with the awkward way I grabbed him so my wings have to work extra hard to keep up my fast pace.
I’ve got my arms locked tight around his middle, my only goal to get him as far away from the Angels as possible.
Garrick had given me an idea. As soon as I was able, I was going to open a portal of my own and get Milo to safety. It would land me in a heap of trouble, and is a huge risk, especially as I planned on taking my human into the city of Elysium.
It’s technically illegal and previously, I’ve been the one to end the lives of demons who have snuck humans into the demonic hub, but fuck the consequences.
I just didn’t think about the tiny detail that I need my hands to cast the portal into existence.
There’s a drag on the air behind me, which causes my velocity to waiver. I risk a peak over my shoulder and nearly drop Milo as we’re charged by a giant scaled beast, its snout bulldozing into us.
Screaming as Milo is nearly wrenched from my grasp, my wings are battered against my body as our speed upwards increases. I manage to look ahead just in time to see the purple shimmer of a portal opening as we barrel through it.