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“Wha—”
A shout came up from Wrath’s horde, and Shade spun in that direction. “Later.” He pressed a quick kiss to her mouth before turning and striding away. “What is it?”
Eddie nearly threw herself at him and dragged him back to finish their conversation.
“I’m not certain.” Wrath strode toward the demon who’d shouted. He spoke in the harsh guttural dialect for a moment before trotting over to Shade. “Someone’s coming.” He pointed to the horizon on the left. “And judging by the size of that dust cloud, it’s a big someone.”
“Arm!” Shade yelled to his horde, and both Wrath and Shade ran to the front of their hordes.
Xerxes and Cronus crowded closer to her.
“Who is it?” Eddie squinted in the direction they were all staring at, but she couldn’t see—
“Demons. A large horde,” Cronus said. “Much larger than ours.”
A faint cloud of red earth smeared the harsh line of the horizon. It doubled, and then tripled in size, moving closer at an unbelievable speed.
“Dee.” Eddie spun back to her grandmother. The urge to protect her grandmother thrummed through her blood. If there was going to be some kind of battle, Dee was horribly vulnerable.
Dee was awake and sitting up on her litter. Her head swung this way and that as she tried to work out what was happening around her.
Demons were slapping on bits of armor and unsheathing weapons all around them.
“Eddie.” Dee looked more excited than scared. “What’s going on?”
“I’m not sure.” The cloud had resolved into demon forms in its depths. “But that doesn’t look good.”
“A war,” Dee breathed. “I’m about to see a hell prince war.”
Eddie gaped at Dee. How did she not understand how vulnerable she was? Eddie had seen demons fight, even had the unpleasant distinction of having fought them. “This is bad, Dee, very, very bad.”
“It doesn’t have to be.” A demon materialized behind Dee. “It all depends on what you do next, Edme.”
Cronus and Xerxes snarled and closed around Eddie.
Three impressions hit Eddie in a tsunami. The demon who had spoken was carved, chiseled, and beautiful, with a face that would make a model weep. Secondly, he now had his perfectly muscular arms around Dee and had dragged her against his shredded chest. And thirdly, and possibly most importantly, he held a jet-black knife against Dee’s throat.
It took her brain a moment to sort the order, and then rage pounded through her. The voice that came out of her mouth sounded nothing like hers as she said in a low, deadly snarl, “Release her.”
“I don’t want to harm her, Edme.” The demon smiled. Sparkling, straight white teeth flashed in a knee trembler of a smile.
Fury kept Eddie’s knees locked and ready to leap.
“Ashe,” Cronos growled.
Eddie didn’t give a fuck what his name was, she wanted the son of a bitch away from Dee. She palmed a sword.
“Don’t,” Cronos snapped. “He carries an obsidian blade. One nick, and your grandmother will be cut from the fabric of existence.”
Forcing the battle rage coursing through her to calm down, Eddie took a deep breath. “What do you want?”
Around them, the hordes were all locked in battle with the arriving horde. The armies crashed together in a primal roar.
“I want you.” Ashe spoke as casually as if beings were not being hacked to pieces all around them. An arm flew past his face, and he didn’t even flinch. He flashed his charming smile, which Eddie would like to make him eat with his perfect teeth. “Not in that way, Edme, but I want you to come with me.”
The arid planes were filled with demons, and more were flooding in by the second. It was difficult to spot who was on which side, but the circle surrounding them grew bigger and bigger. Demons yelled, weapons flashed, blood spattered in a gory vortex of dust and destruction.
Fury washed over her in a tide, and Wrath came up behind her. “Eddie.”
