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Grant lifted one hand, all cockiness and confidence.
Kase nodded, hands folded at the small of his back, reminding me a bit too much of Lucifer’s demeanor.
Troy, however, was always the odd man out. Discomfort showed in his stance. Where Hunter and Grant lived for the affection, and Kase seemed comfortable with it even if he didn’t puff his chest, Troy looked as if he’d rather fight any of the other team if it meant he didn’t have to endure being the center of attention.
Then again, he wasn’t a fan of his other form, and a fight like this required it. No wonder he didn’t relish the activity—he had to show an entire group of people a part of himself he loathed.
“I wonder what they want,” Lucifer said when the teams filed out and the shimmering image appeared before us, this time of a slightly different but similar arena.
“What?”
“Your team. I know they came for you, but I wonder what they would request as their favor. The favor belongs to the team member who makes the killing blow on the final creature they face. My bet would be on Hunter, given he has done this before, but Kase killed the creature in the first round. What will they ask for?”
“How would I know?”
“Because I suspect nothing they do here is for themselves. Being here benefits them little.”
“If we can’t deal with the spirit mess, I think that involves everyone.”
“Not really,” he said.
“Pretty sure the whole living and afterlife bleeding into each other is a big scope problem.”
“They’re more adapted to such aworld than mortals. In fact, they may prefer it.”
I shook my head. “No more humans, no more new immortals. And you keep proving you know more than you let on.”
“Everyone knows more than they let on. Anyone who shows their entire hand is a fool.”
“Sohelpme already, would you? You’ve wasted my time, risked my life, and for what? For something you think I can do?”
He twisted to look at me despite the teams walking into view in the arena, as if the competition had little value to him. “Believe it or not, I don’t want the world to end, either. I rather like the living realm, and my power would be lessened were the barrier between the afterlife and the living world broken.”
“Sotellme what I need to know already. Stop playing games.”
A screeching from the arena drew my attention back, and in the center was something I didn’t recognize. A woman creature, sort of, but with elongated arms and legs and pointed nails. White hair flowed around her in an almost ethereal way, as if it defied the laws of gravity despite appearing corporeal.
“What is that?” I asked.
“A banshee.”
I frowned, trying to recall if Gran had ever taught me anything about them.
Nothing.
Lucifer huffed, as if my lack of knowledge were an annoyance to him. “They scream when someone is about to die. Of course, they are often the cause of death. See, that scream? It is something that can be lethal to the living and the dead. Banshees exist in the living world, but their screams cross the barrier into ours.”
When she screeched again, I covered my ears even though I’d bet the barrier filtered some out.
Sure enough, two from blue team collapsed to their knees, and Troy shook his head, stumbling backward.
Grant waved his hand, his lips moving, before walking up to Kase.
Kase nodded, though I couldn’t hear what they said to each other, and opened his mouth. Grant ran his thumb across Kase’s fang, then use his bleeding finger to leave a smudge of red on each of Kase’s ears. He did the same to himself, to Hunter and Troy, and as soon as he did, as soon as he left that blood mark, the screaming didn’t seem to affect them anymore.
“This is why I dislike mages in my games,” Lucifer said, a clear pout to his voice. “They like to ruin my fun.”
Lucifer’s frustration was my gain, and I leaned forward to watch.
