Chapter Fight Back
Fight Back
DAMON
“Shit, shit, shit!”
I look over at my twin as he slams his palm on the dash of the car hard enough to pop the fucking airbag. “What the hell, Ang?”
“Nothing ever goes smoothly in this town,” he growls as he turns to me with the demon in his eyes. “Put the pedal to the metal, bro. I’ll have to throw a portal ahead and hope to fuck it’s strong enough to get the car and us through.”
That’s not something we normally do, and he’s already done it once this week; he shouldn’t try it again.
“Why? What the fuck is going on?”
Angelo cracks his neck and then his fingers as he stares at the road ahead with intensity. “Rogue and Arch have some sort of unnatural weather shit building on the road to the house. They’re fairly certain it’s an attack, and they won’t make it to the secure perimeter in time.”
“Motherfucking Belial’s dirty bib…” I mutter as I hit the gas hard and the car shoots forward like a rocket. “I’m tired of this shit. Tell me how to help you make this portal stable. You’ll need it since you’re doing it a second time.”
My twin sucks in a deep breath and holds his hands out, chanting in Latin under his breath as the demon takes control.
I watch for a moment, then let my demon rise so my tail pops out to hold the steering wheel.
Once the car is stable, I lift my hands and mimic my brother as the color of my magic blends with his to rip the fabric of reality ahead of us.
Fuck, I hope this works.
The engine revs as we appear on the road that runs from the main area where our house is located to the entrance to our private drive.
I feel shaky and shocked that we managed it, and Angelo looks paler, but unharmed.
That kind of transport is a lot when you don’t do it often, and we do not, simply to avoid common mistakes that lead to human bullshit.
Our father makes it crystal clear he won’t bother with be-spelling or wiping the minds of folks who see things they shouldn’t, because he doesn’t want the Council breathing down his neck.
Angelo and I give a shit if innocent people are murdered, so we err on the side of caution with this sort of display.
That saves others, but makes us rusty at magic that requires consistent training.
Like portalling two people and an entire fucking car way the fuck across town.
“Step on it, D,” Angelo says in a raspy voice. “We have to get there before whatever is coming traps them. I know our girl can fight like a champ, but Archie is less violent and not trained to do battle the same way she is. He’s her weak spot.”
I love that he doesn’t say the man Rogue and I share is weak, but that his lack of training weakens her.
It’s Angelo’s way of admitting how fucking strong she is, but also how deeply she cares for the people she loves—enough for it to be a chink in the armor.
He’s also not making Arch sound bad for not being a warrior like him, Reb, Rogue, and to a small extent, me.
“Do you think Rebel contacted Javier, too? That’s another question mark in a fight, you know.”
“I’m sure he did.” Angelo frowns as we fly toward the house, his eyes on the road to watch for our mate and Arch’s car.
“He’s definitely one of the soft ones, too, but phoenixes are born to do other things in battle, Damon.
The big concern I have is if he does his thing in front of Rogue; she’s never seen that before, and we have.
She might be distracted enough to get injured. ”
“He can’t exactly yell, ‘I’m going to immolate myself to destroy everyone; don’t worry, I’ll be back’ across the fight, Ang.
” I smirk a bit, trying to use humor to take the edge off the worry shooting through my body.
“It wouldn’t be very stealthy. He should have told her when they mated; the dumbass has had a million chances since then, too. ”
“None of us has been raised to talk about emotions, strengths, and weaknesses with others except for our fluffy lion. You know that. He’s the only one with sane parents and non-whacked expectations of him.”
Angelo might be blunt, but he’s very insightful when he chooses to be.
“Yeah, but we should do better about overcoming that crap so we aren’t blindsided like this. That’s especially important when you think about how huge this is—holy fuck!”
The massive storm system in the sky wasn’t as apparent as it is now, and I almost drove right into a tree that’s been ripped from the ground. Swerving around it, I speed up, my gut telling me that tree isn’t the only thing that got beaten by the howling wind.
“D, there’s a car off the road up there.”
I squint, then floor it even harder—as if that will help—shifting as the car pushes to the limit. “It’s Archie’s car; no question.”
“I can’t see it well enough to—”
“Ang, don’t be a dipshit! Of course it’s their car!
” My frustration leaks out of me as I chastise my brother, and I know that it’s because I’m worried about my people.
This fucking attack, whoever it is, targeted the two most important people to me right now, and I’m ready to let every part of me burst free and rip something to goddamn pieces.
“Hey, bro… keep it calm, man.”
How the fuck am I supposed to do that when people I care about are in danger? For that matter, how is he?
“Angelo, you’re the one with the temper. How are you controlling this shit?” I grunt as I maneuver around a flying bit of debris. “I don’t get it.”
“Because I’m saving my rage for whatever or whomever is doing this. Wrecking the goddamn car will not hurt them—only us. Let it simmer, but keep it reined in until we get to the battle.”
I forget how much more thoroughly he’s trained for this type of shit than me, and of course, he’s on the nose. I need my demon to keep its fury intact, so I can unleash when we get to the scene. “I’ll try. This isn’t my normal M.O., and I’m struggling.”
Luckily for us, we get to the car that’s off the road within a few moments, and I whip onto the edge, cutting the engine as I look over at my twin. “Change once we’re outside?”
“Oh, fuck, yeah,” he growls with a toothy grin. “Bring it all out, little bro. We’re going to kick some motherfucking supe ass when we find them.”
“I don’t like that we can’t even see them,” I murmur with my hand on the door. “If they’ve been taken, I’m going to lose my everloving shit.”
“Then that’s what you do.”
We push the doors open simultaneously, fighting the wind and the pouring rain to get out of the car.
I round the front, and then let the chaos flow through me.
Wings, horns, armored skin… it all erupts to join my tail in a symphony of hellfire and anger.
This form is reserved for demons only or family events and one other circumstance—bloodletting.
I rarely transform this completely, but my demon is triumphant when I let him have control of us.
My head swivels to look at my larger and similarly terrifying-looking twin as I growl, “Let’s go. ”
Together, we flap our wings and push off the ground to take to the air.
It’s not easy, but demon wings are made to fly through the horrors of Hell and beyond, so we have an advantage many winged shifters do not.
Our strength and ability are comparable to dragons or other mythicals with the magic of the caster species imbued in our veins—it’s a double threat that most don’t plan for.
Swooping over the grassy field, we head to the darkest spot where the storm’s fury is opaque.
That has to be where our family is.
“Are Reb or Javi here yet?” I yell over the din, and Angelo shakes his head as he points to a spot where we may crash through the barrier of nature’s wrath. “See you on the other side!”
Entry into the eye of the storm is physically painful despite my demonic armor, and I dive toward the ground to get a better grip.
Once I see Angelo, we fight our way through the flying objects and duck small bolts of electricity as we search for Archie and Rogue.
The eye is bigger than it looks on the outside, which is a definite sign that this is not a normal weather occurrence.
It’s almost like a portal, but to my knowledge, we didn’t leave the plane or location we entered at.
“Fuck these assholes,” Angelo snarls as he raises a hand and bashes a huge tree limb heading right for us. “Pulling Wizard of Oz shit on the outskirts of Bay City when anyone could fucking see it. They’re getting bolder, D.”
“Or more desperate,” I call back as I dart around a rock formation I almost missed. “This is too obvious for people to pretend it didn’t happen. The Council will have explaining to do.”
I nod as I stomp through the gusts attempting to keep me from what I think is the absolute center. “Big time. This is news-report level shit.”
When we finally dodge and swat our way to the middle, my eyes widen as I see Rogue in full Unseelie form blasting the everloving shit out of a nebulous form.
The thing is laughing at her, its tone mocking as she keeps Archie behind her in his lion shift.
He’s much, much bigger than he normally is, and I assume that’s because he’s tapped into his mate bond to increase his size well past ‘Narnia’ level to mythological size.
“Hot damn, this is a party!” Angelo shouts before he lets out a demonic roar and grows three sizes bigger until he’s almost fully transformed.
His warning gets Rogue’s attention, and she gives him a gnarly, knife-toothed grin that makes me stumble a step.
“Get him, Princess! Rip a chunk off this fucker.”
Rogue goes back to shooting sparkly energy at the shrouded enemy, and Archie throws his head back to roar an answer to my twin.
I take a deep breath, closing my eyes as chaos emanates from my pores.
I feel the effects immediately, even without seeing them.
Lightning and objects are sent off target or into boomerang motions that go back to the being attacking them.
I grin to myself, knowing Angelo will sense my powers and avoid them as he launches his own volley.
A loud boom echoes through the space, shaking the ground and making me dig my clawed feet into the ground to hold on.
That would be Ang releasing a blast of vengeful fury big enough to level a small hill, and Rogue’s delighted laughter tells me he hit his target.
I push more chaotic energy into the atmosphere, and open my eyes as it rolls off of me in small waves.
The attacker’s cover is showing spots where the magic is waning, and if we continue fighting, we’re going to reveal it, eventually.
“Keep hitting it,” I yell to my mate and my twin. “I see tears in the shielding! If we uncover its true form, we can figure out how to fucking defeat it!”
Angelo winks at me and then takes off running as a huge, flaming Hellfire sword appears in his hands.
He runs right into the cloudy enemy space, slashing and hacking at the magical barrier like a madman.
Rogue watches for a moment, then her terrifying Unseelie visage looks pleased—especially when her Fae blade appears in her clawed hands.
I’d almost forgotten about her enchanted ‘Mary Poppins’ weaponry—too bad for this son of a bitch, because that thing is going to hurt.