Lean On Me
ROGUE
Damon is close to Angelo, so he’s easy to locate.
He’s projecting his injured state onto everything around him—not that he knows it—but even in shock, chaos demons can’t stop radiating their own brand of metaphysical static.
I find him curled around himself, shivering, eyes wide and blank like he’s watching three movies at once and they’re all terrifying.
I have to duck random objects and debris that seem to be under his control, but his demonic power working better than his twin’s is promising.
“You’re not dead. Get your ass up.” D doesn’t blink, and I look over my shoulder to see that Angelo has finally pushed himself to his knees. “If you’re done with your nap, get over here,” I yell.
My sarcasm is helping me keep my fury about my injured mates at bay, so they’ll have to deal with it for now.
He flips me off but lurches over, dragging a leg.
Once he’s close, I gesture at his twin. Angelo sighs, peels back Damon’s eyelid, and hocks a mouthful of black blood directly into the corner of his eye.
His twin spasms, arches, then sucks in a breath and rolls to his side.
Ang flops on the ground to rest, allowing D to press against him for strength as his body processes the infusion.
“That was disgusting, and I had no idea it was what you were going to do,” I grumble. Damon clutches at Angelo and tries to shrink into his shadow, and the elder twin shrugs.
“I had blood there, and I didn’t have to reopen something. It was convenient.”
“Men.” The look on my face conveys my opinion of that method, but I lean down to slice the cut on my wrist open again with one of my nails. Holding that against D’s lips for a moment, I drip my essence into his mouth as well, hoping the combination will speed this up.
I don’t like the aura of this crater, and I want out of it as fast as possible.
“Something’s wrong,” Angelo says, his voice a rough whisper now. “The pedestal must have had a spell to obfuscate healing if it was a destroyer. That’s why this is so slow; it’s still draining us. At least, I think. D would be a much better person to explain it, but he’s not lucid yet.”
“Great,” I say, because obviously nothing can be as simple as blowing up the villain.
I rock on my heels, weighing my options.
Tiny Bird Javi has stopped biting me through my shirt and is now trying to escape as I ponder.
I resist the urge to throw him—after all, he did neglect to tell me his plan—and clutch the small phoenix more tightly against my chest.
“We need to get Archie,” Damon mumbles as the wheels in my head turn. “Weakest link. Easiest to target.”
“Welcome back, little D,” I say as I look down at him in relief. “You’re right, but I seem to be the only one who was left with enough mojo to get around. Your brother had to crawl over here, and I’m not even telling you how he shared blood for healing.”
“Not the spit thing again?” The younger twin shudders and closes his eyes. “Ang, you’re so gross.”
Angelo shoots back a retort, but I’m distracted by analyzing the shit surrounding us more closely.
The blob I believed to be our enemy is gone, and the pedestal is in ruins, but I can feel the power through the soles of my feet.
We didn’t kill it with Javier’s sacrifice; we merely fucked up it’s focus and physical manifestation.
That means Angelo is probably correct that a reverse spell or enchantment on the thing that we blew into marble chunks is why we’re having a bitch of a time getting ourselves back to semi-normal.
“Why do you look so pissy, Princess?” Angelo asks, bringing me back to their demon puppy pile on the ground.
I glare at him, not ready for him to be cute yet. “The next person who keeps a tactical nuke-level ability secret from me gets to walk home in a mayonnaise jar,” I respond.
My comment was definitely heard and understood by the bald baby bird. He makes a noise that pierces my eardrums and I squeeze him a bit tighter on purpose until he squawks again. “That meant you, Angry Birdie, but also the rest of these clowns. Don’t be salty.”
“Understood,” D and Ang chime in together.
I suppose being healed enough to do the ‘twin thing’ should make me happy, but it doesn’t.
It takes a bit for the two of them to regain enough power and energy to move, but once they finally can, we head around the crater’s lip.
Damon faceplants into a splintered chunk of what used to be an electrical pole, and I have to rush forward to flip him over.
I’d prefer him not to ruin his pretty face, but I’m more concerned about him vibrating at a frequency I can feel in my teeth.
“Nice one, bro. Very graceful.”
D growls softly as I help him to his feet again and he wipes the blood off his face. “This is why I hate being in the field, you know. I’m strong, but my skills are meant to be used up close. And sometimes if I’m having trouble controlling the chaos, it boomerangs back at me… like it just did.”
“You tripped. It’s fine. No need to be dramatic, babe,” I reply with a shrug, but it comes out a bit harsher than I intended. He looks at me sadly, like I confirmed that he’s not useful, and my insides twist. I turn, jostling the baby bird Javi against my stomach, and grab Damon by the chin.
This calls for a more dominant approach because he’s feeling so out of control; he needs me to be in charge instead.
“Little D, you’re important behind a computer and lots of places, but you belong with us in the field, too.
” His eyes sweep to the ground and I give him a crooked smile until he meets my gaze again.
“I know no one ever let you be in charge, nor did they want you to fight, and that was Angelo’s mistake.
You can and will do this, especially since Archie and Javier will be looking for you to be the person for them that I’m being for you right now. ”
He blinks, then rubs the back of his neck with his hand as he flushes. “Maybe not Javi yet. He’s still ridiculous looking.”
That gets another squawk and I sigh. “I’m going to make you carry him soon. This is… just not in my wheelhouse.”
Angelo looks at me as D’s face brightens, but his color stays pale and I nod. He slashes his wrist again, letting the black trickle out and shoves it at his brother. “You need more, little brother. Take some and then some more from Rogue before she adds to your punishment list for later.”
I snort when Damon does exactly as he’s told without complaint, then provide my silvery blood as another power source when Ang is done.The combined hit works—Damon’s cheeks go from ashy to bruised-rose.
He coughs and clutches his stomach as he recovers, but the electricity that got him seems to be gone when he raises back to his full height.
“He’s fine,” Angelo says, voice raspy. “Just a bit more juice than he could handle in this state. Probably made him so emotional, too.”
“I’m gonna pull your spine out through your nostril if you don’t quit minimizing this shit,” I inform him. “We’re all seriously injured and someone is either watching or waiting for the right moment to try to finish the job. It’s not the time to be a pain in the ass, Ang.”
He snorts. “Just wait until we find Reb. He’ll piss you off even more, I bet.”
“Yeah, but I’m used to his bullshit. This situation with you and Javi and D? This isn’t normal for me and I’m doing everything I can to… hold it together. Help me out.”
“I don’t want to fit in a mayo jar, so I’m behaving,” Damon says helpfully.
Javi makes a loud screeching sound in agreement and I throw my hands up in annoyance.
Luckily, D walks closer and holds his hands out.
“You’re probably right about me holding onto the bird for a bit. Your nerves are too frayed for it.”
“The noises are killing my ears,” I mutter as I hand bald bird Javi over to the younger demon. I frown, my eyes narrowed as the bird quietly snuggles against him. “Are they meant to scare away Fae, I wonder? That sound doesn’t seem to affect you guys as much as me.”
The demon twins shrug and I sigh. “Whatever, let’s keep going. Damon was right about Archie and I’m itching to find him and my snarky-ass stepbrother.”
“He should be close,” Damon says. “I can sort of feel… something? I just don’t know what.”
We move slowly, shuffling like a gang of injured supes hoping not to keel over.
It takes longer than it should and that irks me, but we don’t have a choice but to work with what’s available—our broken ass bodies.
As we climb over some more chunks of stuff, Damon lets us know that Javi’s finally figured out how to sprout feathers, but it’s going to take a bit before the naked ugly bird look goes away.
That’s probably a guess, but I appreciate him telling us.
Naked Angry Bird is a bit freaky and I’m glad it’s not going to be his form for days on end.
“This wasn’t random, you know.” Angelo’s assertion isn’t news to me, but I’m glad someone else is saying it out loud.
“I got that memo when we figured out that this thing was programmed to keep us weak—it clearly knew we had someone with Javier’s ability to implode and reform, unlike me.”
“You want us to believe that you had no idea phoenixes catch fire and turn to ash then rebirth?” Angelo says, his eyebrows up as he gives me a doubtful look.
“I know we didn’t tell you it was going to be a tactical option, but come on, Princess.
You knew Javier’s people had the ability.
It’s not a big leap for enemies to know it, too. ”
“Don’t be a smartass,” I warn. “My patience today is stretched about as thin as it can go. But yes, I knew phoenixes did… something then fire then ashes. I just… I never really got my hands around seeing it used in battle. Their kind keeps so much from everyone so they won’t be hunted by humans and magic users alike, especially in recent years after those stupid books and movies.
People were going to make phoenix shifters extinct if they didn’t do something, the Council said. ”
My bones itch with a rage I’m barely keeping under my skin.
Whoever sent the blue nebula freak knew exactly who we were, and exactly where to find us—less than a mile from our very fortified house where we were vulnerable.
Not only that, but Javier blew up, the twins are injured, and the other two of my mates are a question mark at the moment.
I’m overloaded as hell, and I can’t even process my own damn injuries.
It’s a lot and I think I’m handling it better than most would.
We’re almost on the other side of the blast zone when Damon jerks his chin at Angelo. “Do you think Luca knew they were setting a trap?”
Angelo goes still. For a second, I see hesitation, but I know that’s not about thinking either of his parents are above that shit.
“No,” he says quietly. “He would’ve sent someone from our own organization because he’s cheap.
But he also wouldn’t have done it right after we left his place.
It’s too obvious and he’s smarter than that. ”
“You sure?” Damon’s voice is almost gentle. He’s far less connected to those two dipshits who birthed them and it’s not hard to see it when you’re looking closely. “Mom was pretty angry.”
“She’s all bluster and no bomb. You know that,” Angelo says, his face a mask of indifference.
“Plus, she wouldn’t want to be forced to provide new heirs.
It would cut into her ‘me’ time if she had to fuck Luca again.
” He shrugs as if that doesn’t matter, which is weirdly sad.
“If he wanted us dead, he’d have plans in place for the new heirs. He doesn’t.”
I don’t trust the Hell’s mob boss logic, but I know Angelo does. “Then who do we think sent this lovely little treat?”
Damon waves his hand to get my attention. “The pedestal was old and weird—definitely not made or enchanted locally. It came from another realm, probably. There were runes on it that don’t correspond to the supe languages I’m familiar with, so that rules out Faerie, Hell, and the normal stuff.”
“Deities?” Angelo muses. “Could be.”
I roll my eyes. “The gods don’t care about any of us unless we make ourselves a problem.”
My mate smirks, looking at me. “You don’t think we’re doing just that?”
I bare my teeth at him with a growl. “Not in a way they’d notice yet. Deities rarely come when the stakes are this low. We haven’t done shit besides hear that plan and I thought we did a good job of staying stealthy at the meeting.”
There’s a rustle ahead, and for a split second, my heart stops. We may be getting close to our target.
“Archie’s fine,” I say out loud, not letting any doubt creep in. “Shifters are hard to kill for a reason, and Reb’s like a bad case of the clap… We’re never getting rid of him.”
I’m trying to make this hunt for their bodies easier on all of us, obviously.
In the pit of my stomach, I know none of us are fine.
The finite rules of this realm and how we deal with the other ones are changing.
If this attack was meant for us, then the next round will be even worse because they know we’re going to try to stop this bigger conspiracy.
The problem is… I don’t know how they would have figured it out.
We’ve kept everything very close to the vest since the meeting, yet in the span of a day Archie was accused of murder and now we’ve been blown up.
Not good odds at all.