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“Zaz, don’t keep things from me. I value your honesty. Please tell me…” I begged him.
“The last part of the vision was what scared me the most. Nonna’s and Angie’s horror stricken faces flashed by me, but I had no idea what was happening to them. The image came and went too quickly for me to get a good look.” His face fell in defeat.
My mind spun with infinite possibilities of what could have happened to my family. I put the crystal in my pocket and bolted up the stairs, so we could get Mal and leave. The guys, Michael, and Oisín followed behind me, trying to catch my attention before I reached the door at the top of the stairs that would let us into the main living space.
Diana!Ares whisper-shouted through the mindlink as he bounded up the stairs, taking them two or three at a time. He stopped me with a hand on my shoulder. “Mal is in trouble up there. I mindlinked him to tell him we’re on the way, and he said there are demons in the house. I told him to hide so we could have the element of surprise,” he whispered.
Fuck on a fence, we may not get to the casino in time. We hovered near the door on the stairs, waiting for the right moment to strike. I tuned my superhearing, listening for signs of movement.
“Sounds like there’s at least a handful of people…and they’re looking for someone. They know we’re here…” I shared.
“Fuck it,” Ares stepped in front of me. “Get further down the stairs,” he said before kicking the door in. When he ran out, there were men in red soldier uniforms with gold buttons and fixtures.
“Hell Guards. These are Red’s men. Heads up!” Ares yelled.
The rest of us ran out after him, ready to fight. Desmond took my hand from me, leading me behind a couch. “Stay there, and keep your head down,” he ordered her before shifting and jumping over the couch to slit a guard’s throat.
I listened for all of five seconds before popping my head over the couch. I used one of the tricks Oisín had taught me in training, bringing my open palm to my lips as if I was going to blow a kiss. I aimed my puckered lips at a guard who was attacking Ares and blew a line of white-hot fire at him, hitting him in the back. He had no clue it was coming, wailing as he burned alive. I ran across the room, with Zaz hot on my tail.
Diana, be careful. I have your back,he linked me.
I gave him a thumbs up, climbing the stairs to the balcony above. The view we had from up here was the perfect vantage point, allowing us to see everything unfolding below us. I threw fireballs at the guards, hitting most of my targets. Zaz shot lightning bolts at them, burning them to a crisp on impact. It seemed that every time we struck one down, two more popped up. They were seeping in from the front door as a black, opaque smoke and materialized as their full form once inside.
Zaz, you need to block the door somehow. That’s how they’re getting in,I linked him. He shifted his wings out, flying over to seal the door.
That should hold them off for a while.The foul stench of burning flesh and death wafted around me, tickling my nose as my eyes watered. Masculine groans and screams rang out around the room, immediately putting me on high alert. Those could be my guys’ agonizing cries… Zaz had to be a mind reader, because without so much as a mindlink, he knew exactly what I was feeling. He flew over the open-concept ground floor, staying as close to the chapel ceilings as he could to get a better visual on the guys.
Desmond and Bash are outnumbered two to one, aim your fire magic there,he linked me.
I dropped fire bombs on their assailants, covering them in bits of blood and bodily chunks, while Zaz flew closer, dropping lightning bolts on the guards inching up behind them. I checked on Michael, who was holding his own at the bottom of the stairs. He used water magic to drown his enemy. Ares and Oisín had severed guard heads in their hands. They lit them on fire and boomeranged them, sweeping flames across the furniture and the guards who couldn’t duck or get out of the way in time. Oisín used an enchanted purple fire that hopped from guard to guard, burning them within seconds.
His pyrotechnic tricks, along with Zaz’s door seal, turned the tide. The number of guards diminished rapidly, as charred bodies hit the floor, adding to the putrid scent of death hanging in the air. The uninjured guards and the wounded that could move somehow bypassed the wards, fading away. An eerie silence fell over the house for a minute or two, until the front door flew open with a bang.
We froze as Red strolled into the room. He was just as tall and statuesque as I remembered. His blood-red, hooded cloak hid his face, but his olive toned hands were free. Even as I physically looked down my nose at him, his powerful presence was unmistakable.
“How did you find us?” I asked him, not letting him speak first. I stood tall, refusing to cower in front of him like I had at the airport. Rounding up the magic left inside me, I readied myself for an attack.
“I will always find you, Diana. You and your band of mutinous traitors cannot hide from me,” he said. His voice sounded similar to Nick’s, but it wasn’t quite the same. It had a deeper, echoing tenor that made the hairs on the back of my neck stand up.
“Good detective work Nancy Drew. What are you going to do now that you’re here?” Maybe egging on the ruler of Hell wasn’t such a great idea, but it kept me from following the little voice of insecurity in my heart and becoming a useless, nervous wreck.
The air crackled with electric energy around us, and I knew something was about to happen.
We’re leaving–get out now,Desmond linked us all.
Everything happened in an instant. Ares vaulted up the stairs with superspeed, grabbing my hand. Zaz flew over to us grabbing each of our hands in his and picking us up. He flew right through the window on the second floor, crashing through the glass to escape. He faded as soon as the outside air hit our skin. We landed outside of a burning Fortuna’s Garden. Half of the above-ground portion was engulfed in an epic inferno, while the other half was covered in billowing smoke. I fought my way out of Ares’ and Zaz’s grasps, digging my nails into Ares’ skin so he would let go.
“Why did we leave them back there?!” I screamed.
Before they could answer, I broke into a run, right through the front doors. I heard them run after me, and I tried to ditch them, but Ares caught me. He threw my body over his shoulder like a prisoner and hauled me back outside.
“Absolutely not, Little Goddess. You’ll stay out here, where you’re safe.” He held me in his muscled arms, squeezing me despite my flailing.
“Let me go! My family could be in there!” I cried burying my face in his chest and soaking it with tears. I needed to know if they were okay.
The desperate, frantic anxiety swirling inside me was about to bust me open and burn me alive like the building before me. My men were left behind to deal with Red and could be dead right now. My family could be charred like fucking BBQ in a raging fire, and I felt like there was nothing I could do. The strong, confident girl from moments ago melted, leaving behind a complete mess.
Zaz flagged down one of Judas’ security people and asked him about the status of my family.
