18. Chapter 18

Chapter 18

Mari thought they were still headed toward the ground much too quickly when Cisco flexed his wings again, shooting them upward.

After a few more dips and climbs, they leveled off and Mari risked a peek. They were gliding between the towers of the Palms at an unbelievable speed. The lights of the city spread out below them, sparkling and luminous. Mari had never seen her city look so beautiful.

"Beautiful, isn't it?" Cisco murmured to her. "When things settle down a bit I'll take you to my favorite perch. It's magical."

She relaxed her death grip on his neck slightly. "I can't wait."

Beyond Cisco's shoulder, Tilly flew beside them with a big grin on her face. Her feathered wings stroked powerfully, though with a very different rhythm than Cisco's. Tilly suddenly dove into a corkscrew spiral and Mari instinctively tightened her arms, but Cisco didn't make the same maneuver.

After a few seconds, Tilly surged upwards again, coming up ahead of them. At the same time, the both of them pulled in their wings and angled downward. Their speed increased so quickly that Mari had to shut her eyes as the ground blurred under them. When Cisco resumed flapping, she looked again.

"You're using gravity like a slingshot," she said, her voice shaking only a little.

"Mmhmm." Cisco's eyes focused ahead of them as he concentrated on getting more height. "Neither gargoyles nor harpies can fly particularly fast in a straight line, but if we have the space to do this we can really move."

Mari didn't have the math necessary to calculate their speed, but she knew they'd long since left the touristy section of town behind. The urban sprawl near the Strip had given way to the calmer streets and residences on the west side of the city and up ahead she could see the foothills where she had lived her whole life.

Ahead of them, Tilly banked hard and came up next to them an instant later. "Head around the back," she said. "There are some vehicles that shouldn't be there up ahead."

Cisco growled. "Mother fuckers were going to ambush you."

In perfect synchronicity, Tilly and Cisco tilted and headed toward the darkness beyond the city and out into the hills. Mari held on for dear life. Something about moving so fast and heading out into the darkness scared her more than dodging between tall buildings in the city. Nara darted over them and executed a hard turn, her head swiveling to keep an eye out above and below them, though Mari couldn't see details on the ground any longer.

"Are we sure this is safe?" Mari asked, breathless.

"We can see just fine," Cisco said, just before they all banked again. A huge shape faded into view along the path where they had been headed and Mari shut her eyes again.

They swooped closer to the ground, and Mari could smell moisture. She steeled herself and opened her eyes. They were in the compound now, surrounded by her father's palm trees and tropical bushes, the lighted paths flashing by so close that if she could have held on any harder, she would have.

Cisco must have heard her gasp, because he made a soothing noise. "We're okay. Little bit of a bump and then we're home." He tilted sharply to get his legs under them and then curled his arms around her just before they jolted to a stop. He held her for another few seconds while her breathing settled, and then put her on her feet with one steadying hand on her elbow.

She swayed a bit, leaning into him for support. "That was incredible."

"As soon as you're settled, I need you to call Rio and ask him where they are."

Shit. How had she forgotten about the ambush? She nearly fumbled her phone out of her purse.

"Hey, beautiful," Rio said after only one ring. "You home?"

"Yes, where are you? There are some cars at the bottom of the road. Cisco thinks they're setting up an ambush."

"We're on Flamingo over by the park."

She relayed the location to Cisco while Rio told Dante about the situation ahead of them.

Cisco touched her arm. "Find Kima and tell her what's going on."

Mari nodded as Tilly and Cisco both surged into the sky together. "Cisco is on his way to you now." She bent to unstrap her heels. "I'm headed to find Kima."

"We're slowing down to let Cisco find us."

She jogged toward the barracks barefoot. "Remember what I said about being angry?"

"Whatever they've got set up is expecting three of us, not the whole crew."

"Just bring you and Dante home safe. I love you."

"Love you too. We'll see you soon."

She hung up and picked up her speed. When she reached the door of the break room, she was panting.

Inside, Kima sat at the table playing cards with Samar and the twins. Karma was nearby reading a book. All of them looked her way when she skidded to a halt.

"Rio and Dante are on Flamingo on the way back in a car. Cisco is headed there right now. On the way back, Tilly saw some cars at the bottom of the drive that shouldn't be there."

Kima took a handful of seconds to process what she said, then nodded. "Dash, go round up as many guards as you can find. Rest of you, arm up and meet me at the front in two minutes."

They all broke in different directions at once without saying a word. Kima stopped in front of Mari, checking the chamber of one of her guns and then the other before holstering them at her sides.

She pulled a radio from her cargo pocket. "Everyone on duty meet me at the front. Grab anyone you see." There were a handful of replies before she stowed the radio. "Not going to be able to convince you to lock yourself in your room, am I?"

"No."

"Then come on, stick to my ass and don't wander." Kima looked her over skeptically. "Where the fuck are your shoes?"

"I was out on a date. I was wearing heels."

Kima grumbled. "We'll stop by the pool house."

Two minutes later, Mari was lacing up her sneakers at the front door as guards filed into the hall.

Kima scrolled through a tablet that had the security camera feed. She looked up at the assembled guards. "Three cars at the bottom of the drive, just outside the range of the wards. We're moving out now. You're cleared to shift if that's how you feel most comfortable fighting." She watched the guards begin to file through the door and then tapped her earbud. "Go for Kima."

"She's here," Kima said and met Mari's gaze. "Cisco says go to the pool house."

Mari shook her head.

"She says no." Kima winced. "Don't growl at me." She hung up. "He's your problem to deal with after this."

Mari followed the lion shifter outside. Out front, the guards were forming themselves into groups. Some of them shucked out of their clothes. The huge forms of the shifted hellhounds already bounced and growled, calling to their friends to join them. As she watched, Karma, Samar, and a handful of others transformed into their shifted forms.

Dasher and Dancer led the way in a mad dash down the drive.

"Keep up," Kima called and set a hard, but not impossible, pace after them.

Just before they hit the curve at the bottom of the drive, the gunfire started. Mari gasped.

"Buck up, princess. Shit's about to get real." Kima dashed ahead of her, pulling one gun from its holster as she rounded the corner.

The gates were thrown open, and several of her guards that were still in human form took shelter behind the concrete columns of the towering fence. Three cars were parked on the far side of the cul-de-sac, outside the range of the magical protections that surrounded the compound and blocked the way in from the street. Dark shapes were hunkered down on the far sides of the cars, lit only by muzzle flashes when they fired.

She watched, mute with horror, as the convertible she had ridden in earlier in the night barreled up the street and showed no signs of stopping. At the last moment, the car jerked sideways and crashed into one of the cars that formed a blockade, sending some of the attackers flying and trapping others between the cars.

Mari froze and couldn't even draw a breath. Dante and Rio were in that car. She knew shifters were tough, but were they walk-away-from-a-car-crash tough?

Cisco landed in front of her, fangs bared and wings flared. He scooped her up in his arms and bounded into the air, landing a dizzying second later behind the fence. "Stay behind cover," he growled before taking off again and disappearing into the fray.

She moved carefully toward the gate and peeked around. The guards who had been there before were gone, moved into the heart of the fight. Beyond the gates lay a field of chaos. The gunfire continued, though more sporadically now. Mostly the fight had progressed to hand-to-hand and teeth-to-claws.

Cisco landed on the roof of one of the attacking vehicles and roared. Mari knew immediately that he was trying to draw attention to himself and by doing so to give cover to Dante, Rio, and the rest of the guards. The gambit worked, because the gunfire centered on him, but that didn't ease the terror that gripped Mari's chest.

She scrambled for her magic, and in this moment of fear and bloodshed it was impossible to find. A terrible sense of futility filled her. If she couldn't protect those that were hers when it mattered, what good was all the power she had?

The uselessness stung. Maybe Cisco was right and she should have waited somewhere safe, rather than putting herself in danger when she wasn't going to be able to help.

Rio peered over the top of the crashed car, taking in the fight around him. He half-dragged Dante with him as he bolted for the gate. Blood stained Dante's tank top, but he was still moving partially under his own power. Bullets tore into the hood of the convertible as one of the gunmen turned their fire on the fleeing shapes of her men.

Hers .

No one had a right to them but her. White-hot anger bubbled up from the place inside her where the goddess slept. Magic burned along her nerves, branching out from the center of her until her fingers ached. Her need to protect Rio and Dante drove her magic. She used what Pricilla had done around the car as an example and wove a shield of magic around them that bullets couldn't penetrate.

Dante felt the touch of her magic and looked up, meeting her eyes and then urging Rio toward her.

Mari focused on the battlefield again. She spun another shield around Cisco with a flick of her hand. Tendrils of her magic shot out toward the nearest attackers, binding them as they tussled with her guards. The goddess demanded their blood for daring to harm what was hers, but Mari shut down the call for vengeance hard, remembering that Kima had once stood opposed to them because she had been forced. Her father and those who had allied with him manipulated people to gain their compliance, using friends and lovers as leverage.

The enemy here was Vincent, not anyone else. She surveyed the battlefield looking for him, but he wasn't present. The goddess inside her growled discontentedly.

Rio and Dante finally made it to her a few seconds later and Rio eased Dante into her arms before turning around to head back into the fray. Though she wanted to call him back, she understood that he wouldn't leave the fight until Cisco was also safe.

Dante gasped in her arms as Mari's magic shot through him, healing his wounds in an instant, though they had been well on their way already thanks to his shifter physiology.

A hellhound who looked like the twin of the one who had confronted Rio at the bar materialized in front of her, eyes glowing red as he towered over her. The alarm klaxons blared a warning that was much too late. He could grab her and teleport her away before anyone else could react.

He placed a hand on her arm and she felt the tingle of his magic trying to transport her. The world around her started to fade from view.

She struck out with her magic, wrapping him tightly in knots even someone of his significant strength couldn't break and jerking his hand away from her.

Rio pounced on the man from behind, driving him to the ground at her feet. "Stay down, Halcyon."

She silenced the alarm and surveyed what was happening around her. The fighting had mostly subsided. The hellhound's escape with her had been the backup plan when it was clear they wouldn't win.

She didn't let herself relax until Cisco landed next to her, safe and whole. Then she fell apart in Dante's arms.