Chapter 25 #2
“Actually, let’s not,” Kira squeaks. “We need him in this fight.”
“Seriously, darling.” Draven chuckles. “That’s the only reason you don’t want her to maim him?”
“He can be pretty annoying. Sometimes I want to maim him myself,” she says, unapologetic.
“Hey, what is it with girls and saying mean things and threatening death?”
“We’re demigoddesses. It comes with the territory.” I shrug.
“You’re supposed to be the noble one who cares about the world and you agree with them?” Dax points an accusing finger at me.
“Sorry to burst your bubble, buddy, but in the beginning, I wanted to maim you daily.” I shrug.
“Okay, that’s fair. You had good reason to want to maim us both,” Draven says and glances away.
“These two on the other hand are talking about maiming like it’s a punishment for petty squabbles,” Dax scoffs.
“Guys,” Jayden shouts over the chaos. “Guys.”
I turn to glance out the windshield to find two huge men covered in coarse fur and noses like snouts with razor-sharp teeth glinting in the afternoon light, but there’s a sticky red substance dripping from their teeth.
“Raven, Beth, stay in the vehicle,” Jayden says as he puts it into park and steps out. “I mean it.”
“Did he just order us to wait in the car?” I ask Raven.
“He did.” She nods.
“You know what that means, right?” I ask.
Raven is already nodding. “We wait until he’s distracted with the fight and get out anyway.”
Kira shakes her head at us but doesn’t rat us out. That’s a good friend. We aren’t going to jump into this fight, as much as I hate sitting on the sidelines. Jayden is right. I need to trust them to fight some battles on their own if they’re all going to survive what’s to come.
“I hate this,” I say.
“Same. They don’t get to outvote us like this ever again.”
“Agreed. It’s a dictatorship now when it comes to battles.”
“Come at me, ugly.” Dax’s shout pulls my attention to the fight.
He has a fucking battle ax in his hand which appears to be the favored weapon of the sons of Ares, even through it’s not always the most practical weapon in every fight.
The giants glance at my group of friends, scanning each of them in turn, looking for someone. Hmmm, guess it’s probably a good thing I stayed in the SUV.
“Looks like they’re looking for something,” Raven says, narrowing her eyes.
“Yup, my guess would be that they’re confused I’m not there fighting them.” I cross my arms.
An arrow slams into one of the brother’s eyes and I scan the group, finding Adrian several feet away, ducking behind a tree providing cover for our friends. Hopefully no one gets in the way of his arrows like my dumbass did.
Jayden’s hands swirl in a mass of shadows that he sends out at Orios, hitting him in the chest like a battering ram.
“Whoa, what was that new trick?” Raven leans forward in her seat.
“He’s obviously been practicing making larger shadow objects solid,” I say, mesmerized by my mate’s powers.
“That could be super useful.”
“It already is. He practically knocked Orios out.”
“How do you know which is which?” Raven frowns and tilts her head to the side.
“I just assigned them names in my head. I have a fifty-fifty shot that I’m right.” I lean against the dash.
It’s slowly killing me that I’m not out there with them but despite everything else, they are really holding their own.
Agrios lifts a huge meaty paw, about to slam down on Kira’s head, but Dax is there with his battle ax and horror fills me as he hacks off Agrios arm and ichor sprays in a gushing torrent over Dax, Kira, and Draven. Adrian jumps out of the way just in time, but Thad isn’t so lucky.
“Fuck, fuck, fuck.” I shout and jump from the SUV with Raven hot on my heels. “This isn’t good. Shit. See what happens when we don’t fight?”
“It’s not the end of the world, B. It will just give them a power boost.” Raven jogs next to me.
I call my whip and slash it along the gaping cut still spewing ichor all over the place, cauterizing the wound. With my sword alight with flames, I cut Agrios’ head from his body. Instead of blood, a bird flies up into the trees, squawking angrily.
Beth, I swear to the gods I’m going to turn that ass pink. You were supposed to stay in the SUV, Jayden growls into my mind.
I had to do something. He was spraying ichor all over the damn place, I respond in his mind.
“You guys okay?” I ask, turning to the others while Jayden, Adrian, and Greyson fight Orios.
“This wasn’t supposed to happen, was it?” Dax points to his face. “This is the ichor you were dosed with. What’s going to happen to us now?”
“You will have to watch your power levels for a while and you may get aggressive and territorial for a little while until you level out.” I wring my hands together.
“This isn’t your fault, Beth,” Draven says, eyeing me warily.
“Isn’t it, though? I’m usually the one front and center. It never should have gotten all over you guys.” I shake my head.
Thad steps forward. “We made the call to go into this battle. We made the call to keep you out of it. This isn’t on you and maybe this will keep us all alive in the final battle.”
Thad reaches out to grip my shoulder but stops himself when he remembers there’s ichor all over him. “Maybe we should find a place to clean this up.”
“Probably a good idea.” I take a step back from them.
“I swear, you are the only person I have ever met who believes more power is a bad thing,” Dax says.
“Um, not the only one.” Raven raises her hand.
“I already knew you were weird, though.” Dax chuckles.
Raven pulls a dagger from the ether and Dax raises his hands in surrender and takes a step back.
“That’s what I thought, brother.” Raven glares at him.
“There should be some bottled water in the bags in the back of the SUV.” I point to the vehicle but Jayden already has them and is striding toward us. “Thanks, baby.”
He tosses the bottles to everyone with a grimace, not wanting to get too close to them either. We have enough power and we honestly have no idea what it will do to us a third time.
I can only hope that this doesn’t negatively impact my friends because I don’t know if I will survive losing anyone. It will destroy me.