22. Raven

Raven

T he horse under me shifted, stomping a front foot and huffing a breath that blew out in a cloud of vapor before scattering in the brisk night air. I didn’t take my eyes from the amassed army on the shoreline of the Werewolf Territory. This was Diana’s home, and I would defend it for her.

I just couldn’t believe who we were facing.

Malach, king of the demons, stood at the prow of a warship. The front figurehead just below his feet was that of a gorgon, her hair made of snakes streaming outward, her head thrown back in a silent scream.

The King pointed his finger, sweeping his arm to encompass all that had gathered to oppose him. “You will give me your queen, or I will destroy you all!”

Dominic’s hand on my arm was the only thing that held me back. I snarled at him. “Let me go so I can cut his head off and feed it to the sharks! Maybe that psycho witch can speak through one of them instead.”

“Hold it together, man. We cannot defeat them. There are too many.”

His assessment was not far off. There were hundreds of demons, and within their ranks I saw Malach’s general, Algrin.

He caught my eye and shook his head. He knew as well as I did that Malach was being controlled by Lilis, but there was nothing he could do about it. He was bound to his leader, the same way the vampires had been tied to Edmund.

Malach took a few steps forward. “And while you’re at it, give me the girl who speaks to dragons. I want her too.”

Whatever calm had settled on Dominic was gone in a snarling flash. “You dare threaten my mate?”

Malach laughed. “They both belong to me. Their lives are mine! ”

Wrong words.

Lochlin stepped in front of Dominic. “Our queen is indisposed, or she would speak to you herself. Regardless, she’d tell you the same thing. Get stuffed, Malach.”

Not exactly the height of diplomacy, but it got the point across.

Malach laughed, his skin moving independent of his frame, as if something crawled beneath it.

“I will rule all. And those bitches are MINE!” The words were howled, a feminine shriek on the last word that I felt all the way to my bones.

Lilis was getting pissy.

“General Algrin,” Dominic called to his peer. “This is insanity. Surely you can talk sense into your king. He’s clearly not of his own mind–”

“Do not speak as if I am not here!” Malach strained forward, as if he were barely able to contain himself, his face white in the dark of the night. One wing hung at an angle, and he looked even worse than we’d seen him in his throne room. As if he were slowly falling to pieces.

General Algrin again shook his head. “You will all die if you do not surrender. While you carry strength and speed, you do not have magic. Not as we do.”

Fucker was just rubbing it in now.

But that was not what started the fight. Nope, weasley, fucking chickenshit Maverick managed to do that all on his own.

“You aren’t taking her! I won’t let you!” His voice drew everyone’s eyes as he rode hard across the beach, his horse churning up water and sand at a flat gallop. As he drew level with Malach, he swung a crossbow, hidden from the king, pulled back and loosed in a single smooth motion.

The bolt sailed true, driving straight through Malach’s throat.

He garbled and flailed, ripped the arrow out and bellowed. “KILL THEM!”

The demons paused for a half breath, then surged forward.

All Maverick had done was throw the rest of us into the oncoming path of our enemies. What a fucking moron.

I leapt to the sand and sent my horse away with a slap to the rump. I was no cavalry man. Pulling my two swords free, I met the first demon head on.

The water at the edge of the ocean turned red in a matter of minutes as the demons fell in front of me. Over and over, they came in waves.

“I’m here. We’ve got this.”

Dom’s assurance as he stepped beside me gave me another jolt of energy as we cut through our enemies. These were the infantry, sent in to slow us down, to fatigue us before the trained fighters descended from the skies. Blood splattered across my face, but I restrained myself from biting into a neck or two.

For now. When that time came I needed to be ready to end it all.

I dared a glance to where Algrin and his men waited well above the water. Most of them stood on the high rigging of the ships, out of range of the arrows that flew.

Slowly but surely, I fought my way to the ship where Algrin stood. He watched me approach, but didn’t do anything to stop me.

A demon launched at me as I got waist deep in the water, seizing me around the middle and biting my hip. With a backward swing I cut his body in half, but he didn’t let go.

“Fucker!” I drove my second sword through his neck, and he finally released his hold on me.

I shoved both bloodied swords into their sheaths and grabbed a rough edge of the boat. Then, I began to climb. There were no ladders. It was hand over hand, all the way to the top. The fact that they’d run the ships aground said it all.

Malach and his friend Lilis had no intention of leaving.

I flipped myself over the rail and onto the deck. There were a few lesser demons who scattered when they caught sight of me, and I let them.

My eyes were trained on the General high above me.

Did he fucking well expect me to climb up there to talk to him?

“Algrin, stop this madness! You know who controls your king!”

“Do you?”

I spun to see the king himself behind me. He’d jumped across from the other ship.

Fuck me. Not that I was afraid of him but…he held a goddess inside of him. Controlling him.

I did what I did best. I tried to piss her off. With a mocking bow, I swept my arms wide. “I would say it’s a pleasure, Lilis, but my mother taught me not to lie.”

Malach’s face twisted and he gasped. “Your mother? Why would you speak of her to me?”

The question caught me off guard. It was not the response I’d expected, but seeing the reaction…I dug into it. “What does it matter if I speak of my mother? She was a woman of honor. Unlike you. You are no goddess, you’re just a piece of shit who has no morals.”

He snarled, his body lurching toward me like a broken wind-up doll. There was no way he could fight, no way he could stop me if I just cut his head off. I pulled a sword free and Malach flicked a hand at me, casually, as if swatting a fly.

A blast of energy sent me hurling through the air, and smashed hard into the main mast, snapping it in half. I hit the deck and rolled out of the way as the sails and splintered wood fell around me. I couldn’t breathe, wasn’t sure if it was broken ribs or just the wind knocked out of me.

Stumbling to the side, I flipped the sail off me and stared across the deck, pulling my swords free. “You cannot beat us, Lilis.”

“You know nothing!” The screamed words, the rage in them…she was close to a breaking point.

I tried another angle. “Nefir told us about you. And the stars…they watch, Lilis. They see everything .”

Malach stared at me, but I knew it was Lilis watching me. “How dare you…”

I kept her eyes on me as another figure climbed over the deck, a crossbow in his hands. I’d give Maverick credit; he was a quiet fucker when he wasn’t faking injury and limping about like a wounded elephant.

“You think we don’t know your plan?” I laughed, made myself throw my head back. “You walked right into our trap.”

Maverick loosed the crossbow bolt, the trigger clicking ever so slightly. It was all the warning Lilis needed.

Malach stepped sideways which left the bolt free to sail straight across, and right into me.

I managed to dodge just far enough to the left that it missed my heart, and sunk into my sternum instead, burrowing into the bone. I grabbed at the bolt and yanked it free before I could feel the pain of the entry.

“You think that’s a trap?” Malach laughed as he reached to the side and drew Maverick up by his throat. “This…this is a trap. I have the two men she cares for and you both came to me. She will be here to rescue both of you. Or maybe just one? Wouldn’t that be a delicious choice to force upon her? Allow one of you to live, but she must choose!”

My chest throbbed as it hit me. Lilis had no idea that Diana was still unconscious, had no idea that she was dying. That I would follow on her heels. But until then, I would defend her people and land as if they were my own.

“Nothing to lose, Mav,” I said.

Maverick’s eyes closed and even held by Malach’s hand he gave me the nod I needed.

I sprinted toward them, hit Malach square in the chest and took all three of us over the side of the boat.

Malach bellowed as we fell, I grappled for his face. Found his eyes, dug my fingers into one of them as we broke through the shallow water.

I kept on grabbing at him, trying to find his vulnerable points. Remove whatever pieces of him I could to weaken him.

To weaken Lilis.

Something grabbed my wrist and yanked me deeper in the water. I fought the hold as I broke the surface in water that was chest deep.

I blinked several times, not sure if I was dead already, or I was just seeing things. “Xefia?”

Her long green hair was piled on top of her head, woven around a crown of shells and gold. Her eyes flashed with a mix of pain and fury that aged her far beyond her years.

“Queen Xefia now that death took the rest of my line. I am all that’s left to rule.”

Diana would have been so happy if she knew the young mermaid was still alive…

Now to make sure she stayed that way.

“You need to go. Now! It’s far too dangerous.” I tried to push her away, turning toward where Malach had been. Only he wasn’t there. And neither was Maverick. “Xefia, go. It isn’t safe…”

A big head rose out of the water behind her, and I reached for my blade only.

“Sal?” I murmured, gaping at the water dragon.

“She saved me. I’ve gathered my remaining people, Raven. We are here to help. To join you in your battle against the evil that killed so many.” Eyes narrowed, sharp little teeth gleaming, she looked exactly like the predator she truly was.

I nodded and pointed to the warships. “Drag the boats out,” I said, “get them as far from the shore as you can.”

“We can do better than that.” Xefia flipped backward and was gone with barely a splash.

I slogged forward, heading for shore. The demons were like ants on a hill, more and more seemed to appear no matter how many were downed.

As I reached the sand, the sound of wings was the only warning I had. I spun, pulling my sword and parrying a blow from the skies, our swords ringing as they bounced off one another.

Algrin remained two feet above me. “I tried to stop him.”

“Not hard enough,” I growled as we went back and forth. He had the literal high ground advantage. But he wasn’t as fast floating in the air as I was on the ground.

I shot around him and cut a sharp blow down the middle of his back. “If you don’t want to lose your wings?—”

“I am sworn to him. I have no choice.” He dropped to the ground, wincing as he folded his wings back.

“Stand down then.”

“I can’t.” Algrin shook his head. He launched himself at me and I found myself wishing I had let him remain in the air. Because on the ground…he was easily as fast as me, and I wasn’t sure if he was holding back or not.

Back and forth across the beach we went, time sliding by, neither of us giving quarter.

But her voice…her voice cut through everything.

“Lilis! You will leave my land and free the demon king from your possession now!”

Diana.

She was alive. She was alive and strong enough to talk shit to a goddess. The block of ice sitting on my heart lifted, and it took everything I had not to roar her name.

“You will set him free, or I will make you!” Her words carried across the battle. More than a few demons stopped fighting.

I heard the question over and over as it rippled through the remaining soldiers. Was the king possessed? Was this war even his will?

Algrin lowered his sword. “Can she do it? Can she…can she free him?”

I took a step back, out of reach if he decided to try and cut me down. “If anyone can, its her.”

The demon general sheathed his sword. “Stand down! If the Wolf Queen can do as she says and free our king, then we will stand down!”

Malach stood a hundred feet down the beach, his hand still impossibly gripping Maverick, who was on his knees.

“You like this one, don’t you?” Lilis hissed the words through Malach’s misshapen mouth. “Then I will take him with me.”

The crowd of fighters parted as Diana stalked toward them. She wore her dark leathers, but her top was a flowing white shirt that opened and showed off a healthy amount of skin only…I did not think that was why she’d worn it. In the center of her chest was a mark. Like a tattoo that hadn’t been there before. Even at this distance, I could see it clearly, as if it glowed and drew not only my eye, but the eye of everyone near her.

Including Lilis.

A willow tree with its long tendrils sat between her breasts, the black leaves that of the trees that held the pathway to the dead of the werewolf clans.

Diana came to a stop in front of Malach. “Let him go, Lilis.”

“Only if I can have you.”

Diana impossibly found me in all the werewolves and vampires around her. I saw in her eyes what she was going to do, and I started toward her, already knowing I was going to be too late.

“No!”

“I agree.”