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Angling his head toward the warlock, Kole wondered what secret the new Blood Coven mage harbored. “Care to share?”
“Let’s keep it a surprise,” said Miller.
Kole didn’t have time to solve puzzles. Once the Covenkirk fighters carried enough metal to build a few tanks, the Firebrand commander signaled them to move out. From their in-house portal, they tapped their chips. Next stop Lucifer’s Forge, a landing zone which was a vast sea of rolling dunes. The LZ was not a sprawling, low desert.
Once they formed in a flat depression surrounded by sandy mounds, Kole raised a hand for silence, listening to the thunder of boots in the distance. “A shitload of insurgents are coming our way. Their portal jumpers will send through no more than ten at a time. We won’t let even that many slip through.”
Rein grouped a unit on the right flank while Dax directed his warriors to take up the left. While dust stirred on the horizon, Brak escorted a small detachment to circle behind the oncoming Arisen Dawn soldiers. Alongside Kole were the remainder of his force.
Ram patted Denim’s ass before he whipped his hands behind his shoulders to withdraw two short swords.
Kole took an incoming message from Cadmon. The news wasn’t good. Nace and Jarek had arrived to encounter the tail-end of Cerberus’s soldiers on their way to Paris. The few insurgents they met were seasoned fighters, battle-hardened Aeternals who put up a strong response. And the least experienced defenders, the gaffers, had encountered larger than expected forces.
As he disconnected from the high commander, the first of Cerberus’s insurgents charged over a sand dune. The berserkers in the lead were hyped on amanita muscaria, their battle cry fierce, their visages savage, adorned with the pelts of defeated shifters. Bull horns. Wolf heads. Grizzly hides. Behind them were Aeternals of all breeds, the biggest among them animus demons like Kole, fire shooting from their fists.
Despite the deafening noise created by the onslaught of attackers, the Firebrands held their ground. They waited. They watched. They studied their opponents.
Kole’s chest expanded with pride. Rein curled his lips, baring long, sharp fangs. Dax growled, dropping into a crouch, his black hair ruffling in a slight breeze. Ram, twisting his swords in a figure eight, winked at Denim, who shook her head at her mate. Brak, the big-ass carnal demon who was hard to miss, signaled he was in position.
Sabine and Nico popped in late, arguing as usual. The warrior nymph pointed her Arkansas toothpick at her warlock mate’s neck, a threatening gesture for many but to them probably just foreplay. Some things never changed, even in the face of the enemy.
“Shut the fuck up, cuddles. We’ll finish later.” Sabine slowly lowered her dagger when she spied the number of Arisen Dawn soldiers pouring over the hill. “Fuck, Comm, that’s a shitload of muscle barreling our way.”
“We each get four as I figure,” shouted Ram. “Puts the odds decidedly in our favor.”
Kole blocked out the momentary chatter to check on his fighters. Each seasoned Firebrand led a band of raw recruits. Chay commanded a group near Rein. Thorn led newbie shifters, many flickering in and out of their two-legged form, their anxiety showing. Tyr signaled witches and warlocks to stand farther apart to cast their deadly spells.
Kole raised his arm and sliced it downward while he charged into the fray, fire shooting from his fingers, his body shimmering with electricity. Here was where he belonged. On the battlefield, unleashing his power. He was never more alive than when he released his demon, the beast who thrived on flame and energy. With a savage roar, he thundered toward a vampire, grabbed him by the throat, and squeezed. Discharging a current, he stopped the fucker’s heart. With his other hand, Kole snapped off the bloodsucker’s head. One down. He searched the field for his next victim.
An ylve whose wild, crazed eyes betrayed an addiction to Gold Dust ducked his head to charge Kole’s solid wall of beefed-up demon, obviously hoping to topple him. The idiot. Grinning at his attacker’s hubris, Kole stepped aside at the last second to let the guy fly by and tumble to the ground.
With a boot stomped on the kid’s ass, Kole almost regretted his next action. Nope. He formed a boulder-size ball of fire, flinging it at the ylve’s prone body. The soldier, if he could be called that, ignited like a rag soaked in kerosene. He burned to ash.
With brute force and fists, the stronghold commander took down a satyr and a warlock. The sound of his flesh pulverizing theirs was music to his demon ears, loud but inspiring as hell.
Thorn’s shifters battled in animal form, canines and claws dripping blood as they dismembered bodies, littering the sand at their feet with arms, legs, torsos. Some ate the spoils of war. Gruesome, but their right as victors.
Rein charged two berserkers, taking both to the ground, their shields useless against his strength and lust for blood. The vampire mix, freed of all control, roared in triumph while he buried his fangs in one victim’s jugular. Casting aside the drained body, he clutched the other Arisen Dawn soldier tight. After drinking his fill, he lifted his head from the guy’s neck. His face distorted by a manic frenzy, Rein’s only motivation now was to feed his battle hunger.
Brak’s warriors swooped over the rise to attack from the rear, blocking any chance of an escape. Chay spun left and right, his dark hair whipping around his shoulders, his war hammer striking deadly blows. Tyr took on two Arisen Dawn. With one hand, he lobbed deadly spells. With his other, he wielded his father’s gift, the sickle-sword, the blade glistening in the bright desert sun along with the warlock’s piercings.
Kole pivoted toward the sound of a Firebrand’s death rattle. The recruit was on his back with an incubus’s fist laid on his chest, feeding on his lifeforce. Furious, Kole charged. His beast fully in command, he was a blazing, swirling inferno of anger rolling along the desert floor in search of a target. The Arisen Dawn killer, eyes wide with fear, rose, attempting a one-eighty. Too late. The commander launched ribbons of fire, trapping him mid-flight, his arms bound tight to his side. The inferno which was Kole devoured the incubus.
Aeternal fought Aeternal with weapons or powers. Another death scream pounded against Kole’s eardrums. And another.
Oddly, Miller Nash was the surprise. Kole had no idea the Blood Coven warlock’s gift was so unique. So grisly. So effective. The Brit turned the tide of the battle, Arisen Dawn retreating in the face of the horror that was Miller.
The sound of clashing blades faded across the battlefield ripe with the smell of blood, guts, and bodily waste. Kole didn’t know how many of his Firebrands were down, but he mourned their last cries while he uttered a prayer to Gahya to honor their lives. But, he was sad to admit, he hoped the dying voices had not arisen from the throats of frerons he had fought beside for untold years.
This shit had to end. The good guys had to find a way to plug the flow through the portals. To bring Cerberus to his knees.
****
Dax cradled Chiara against him. She flicked a tear from her cheek, her watery eyes staring at him.
Paris had fallen to Arisen Dawn. Europe was in shock as Aeternals blitzkrieged their way across countries, feeding before retreating through portals to Scath again.
But that was yesterday. Today was the Cede where the Firebrands honored the dead. They ignited warriors’ funeral pyres to light their journeys to the Evermore. It was the ultimate cleansing of sins. They were sending off nine of their own and fourteen gaffers who had died at portals.
