Chapter 18

Chapter Eighteen

LYRE

Close-quarters fighting wasn't Lyre's strong suit, but he had one advantage. Grabbing the chain around his neck, he activated his defensive shields—new ones, replaced by Reed's spell delivery. The closest daemon, wielding a short dagger, tried to ram his blade into Lyre's chest. It hit his invisible shield and skidded off to the side.

Lyre coated both hands in one of his favorite little weaves—a shield that also enhanced force—and slammed his fist into the daemon's jaw. The guy flew six feet backward and collapsed. One down, eleven to go—except the original dozen was rapidly growing into twenty as more bloodthirsty daemons headed their way.

That was the problem with daemon instincts. Once a fight got going, those who were aggressive by nature didn't simmer down when the initial conflict was over. They craved bloodshed.

Lyre took a few blasts of magic straight on as he dealt more punches to anyone who got close enough. Three beefy Overworlders closed in on him, and he dodged a blow that would have hurt even with a shield. Hands raised defensively, he darted backward—and thumped into someone else.

He looked over his shoulder and found himself back-to-back with Ash, Overworlders surrounding them on three sides.

Ash glanced at him, a sword in each hand, then lunged forward to meet the oncoming daemons. Blood sprayed, and a daemon went down screaming—no mercy from the draconian.

Jaw clenched, Lyre sprang at his assailants. Clio stayed in the background, magic flashing as she cast multiple spells with ambidextrous perfection, whipping them one after another at the attacking Overworlders.

Lyre pummeled his way through a couple more daemons but found himself encircled. He slammed his fist into one daemon while dissolving the shield on his other hand so he could cast. His binding spell slammed into the second daemon.

Someone grabbed him by the back of the neck. Fear shot through him. His defensive shields protected him from blows and flesh wounds, but it had to be flexible so he could move—which meant his attacker could break his neck. He started a rapid cast.

Clio flew out of her corner and charged straight at the huge daemon holding Lyre. She sprang off the ground and let her fist fly—her hand wrapped in a perfect copy of the force-enhancing weave he'd been using.

Her fist connected with a crack. The daemon's hold vanished, and Lyre was flung away. He landed on his feet and staggered, grabbing for the nearest support—Ash's arm. Ash staggered too, missing his next strike, his blade glistening with blood. Jumping back a step, Lyre whipped around in time to see Clio jam another punch into her victim's throat. The daemon keeled over backward.

Lyre blinked. Two steps away, Ash had also turned, and he stared at Clio with a slightly bewildered crease between his eyebrows.

Clio whirled toward them, her eyes wild. "Watch out!"

Lyre and Ash spun around at the same time. Two griffins, their blond braids streaming like banners, sprang at them with casts forming in their hands. Ash slashed with his swords, forcing them back, and Lyre cast a bubble shield—covering himself and the draconian. The griffins' attacks exploded harmlessly against the barrier.

Ash leaped forward, and Lyre dissolved the shield before the draconian hit it. Ash tore into the lead griffin, and Lyre jumped in behind him. As Ash whipped toward the second daemon, the griffin threw up a shield. Lyre flung a dart of magic that shattered the shield, and Ash's sword plunged into the griffin's chest.

The daemon fell, and Lyre glanced warily at Ash. The draconian's eyes were unreadable, his face mostly covered.

Clio raced over and put her back to them. Ash promptly turned away, and Lyre put his back to theirs as they formed a defensive triangle to face the brand-new horde of angry griffins moving into position around them.

The griffins clearly didn't appreciate the slaughter of their comrades, and these guys—unlike the idiots he, Ash, and Clio had mowed through—weren't your average daemons. The griffins moved like soldiers. A few punches with added magic wouldn't stop them .

Ash raised his sword, pointing it straight ahead, and the air crackled with the gathering weight of his power. Eyes widening, Lyre looked over his shoulder.

Ash met his look, calm and cold, and flicked his gaze toward the ceiling.

Lyre glanced at the interconnected domes formed of steel framing and thick stained glass. He snatched the chain around his neck and grasped for the right gemstone. The air hissed as energy built around them.

Ash swung his sword up to point at the ceiling.

Power exploded out of it, racing up the steel and bursting into spirals of howling black fire. The whirling blasts crashed into the stained glass, ripping it apart, and a thousand pounds of steel and heavy glass shards plunged toward the platform.

Lyre activated his shield. The golden dome snapped over the three of them an instant before the lethal deluge hit. Screams erupted as glass and metal impaled daemons. The griffin soldiers frantically shielded, and every daemon went down, shielded, or jumped for cover.

As soon as the debris had stopped falling, Lyre dissolved his barrier and whirled to face Ash. The draconian was already moving—but not to run his sword through Lyre. Instead, he sprang over the nearest daemons and sprinted for the stairs.

Realizing Ash had the right idea—their reprieve would be over in seconds—Lyre grabbed Clio's hand and bolted after the draconian. As they reached the stairs, a blast of magic hit the wall, spraying concrete chips across their path. Lyre didn't look back to see how many griffins were on their feet again.

He and Clio charged up the stairs. As they came to ground level, Lyre saw the closed doors. If Ash had gone through them, they would have been swinging—but they remained untouched. To his left, the lobby bent in on itself and another staircase ascended into the building that sat atop the metro station.

Lyre chucked a raw blast of power at the doors. It blew them open and shattered the windows. Dragging Clio with him, he whipped around the corner and raced up the stairs. Behind them, footsteps thundered into the lobby, then crunched across the broken glass as their pursuers ran outside.

Not sure how long his deception would last, Lyre pushed faster. Clio's breath rasped as she struggled to keep pace with his longer stride. The stairs kept rising and he started to panic. He'd expected to go up one or two levels, but the stairs weren't ending.

Finally, they leveled out into an open plaza. Connected to the space was a pedway bridge that spanned the street, linking the building on the other side. A heavy gate, bolted shut, blocked the pedway and there was nowhere else to go.

Lyre slid to a stop. In front of the floor-to-ceiling windows, Ash was sheathing his swords. He stiffened at Lyre and Clio's arrival.

Angry shouts echoed up the stairwell.

Ash's gaze flicked to the stairs, then he faced the window and blasted the glass with his magic.

Lyre had run himself and Clio to a dead end only Ash could escape, and the griffins were closing in from behind.

As Ash's body shimmered like he'd been engulfed in a heat wave, Lyre squeezed Clio's hand and launched forward. As the distortion around Ash faded, his dragon wings unfurled and a long tail snapped out behind him. Terror hit Lyre like a punch to the gut but he didn't slow, charging across the space.

Ash glanced back, his eyes dark and horns sweeping alongside his head. Then he launched out the window.

"Lyre!" Clio cried, her steps slowing.

Lyre grabbed her under his arm, lifted her right off her feet, and sprinted for the opening as Ash vanished out of it. Lyre hit the edge and jumped, casting a push spell behind him to propel himself forward.

For an instant, they soared over nothingness. Then they slammed into Ash in midair.

Lyre clamped his arm around the draconian's waist and held on for dear life. Ash roared furiously as the sudden weight sent him spinning in the air. The pavement—farther below than Lyre had expected—whirled dizzyingly as Ash pumped his wings. He grabbed Lyre's arm to pry it off, but his talons scraped harmlessly against Lyre's shield .

They careened through the air in a wide arc, barely missing the corner of a building. As they plunged into a narrow alley and a wall rushed to meet them, Ash desperately beat his wings, but he couldn't stop their momentum.

And that's about when Lyre realized Ash couldn't control his flight with two people hanging off his waist.

The three of them crashed face-first into the wall. They bounced off and fell in a tangle of limbs and wings. A shimmer ran over Ash and his wings vanished just before they all slammed into an open dumpster.

Lyre pushed Clio on top of him as they hit, cushioning her impact with his body. Pain ricocheted through every inch of him, but he had only a moment to wallow in it before his senses registered something far more pressing: the stench.

He lurched up and unceremoniously threw Clio out of the dumpster ahead of him, then grabbed the slimy edge and hauled himself over. Ugh. Disgusting. Like dead animals and food so rotted it had turned to bubbling puddles.

Dropping to the pavement, he rushed a few steps away from the toxic cloud around the dumpster before remembering they weren't alone. Tensing, he whipped back around.

Ash swung over the edge of the dumpster and landed heavily, one hand clamped over his nose and mouth. With his more acute sense of smell, the reek had to be outright torturous for the draconian.

Ash's eyes, black with fury, locked on Lyre.

Lyre opened his mouth, but even if he'd known what to say, he didn't get a chance to speak. Ash bore down on him with violence brimming in every movement. Lyre backpedaled, but not fast enough. Ash didn't even bother to draw a weapon, just pulled his arm back.

His fist slammed into Lyre's face. His defensive weave blunted it, but his head still snapped back from the impact.

"What the fuck is wrong with you?" Ash yelled .

He drew his arm back again. Still reeling from the first hit, Lyre snarled and threw himself into Ash. He landed exactly one glancing blow before Ash tackled him. They hit the ground and rolled across the asphalt as they pummeled each other. Or rather, as Ash beat on Lyre's shield while Lyre got in maybe three decent hits on the draconian.

A dart of movement from Clio, then a flash of green light. A spell crackled over Lyre and Ash. It sizzled harmlessly across Lyre's magic defense weave, but Ash collapsed, his weight flattening Lyre.

Recovering fast, Ash shoved off Lyre. Blood ran from the corner of his mouth as he turned on Clio. Lyre scrambled to rise, but before he could regain his feet, a shout rang out from a nearby street—the griffins.

Ash jerked toward the sound, then his glare flashed across Clio and stopped on Lyre. He bared his teeth as though debating whether ripping Lyre's arms off was worth fighting the griffins.

Apparently deciding against it, he snarled another curse, whirled on his heel, and strode down the alley in the opposite direction of the griffins' voices. Ten steps away, a dark ripple passed over him, and his form faded into the shadows.

Lyre brushed dirt and bits of garbage off his clothes.

"That was crazy," Clio informed him.

"Yeah."

"And stupid."

"Can't argue there either. But at least we're still alive, right?"

She shook her head and, without another word, started down the alley into the deeper darkness. Pushing to his feet, Lyre followed a step behind her, warily searching the shadows for any sign of Ash. The sooner they left for the Overworld, the better. He didn't want to find out what would happen next time Ash caught up with him. Lyre just kept piling on the reasons for Ash to hurry up and kill him.