Chapter 30

Nikki swung back around as the pack of men exploded in all directions, two jumping over the bar to start smashing everything in sight, more scattering through the crowd, pushing and shoving. She didn't ask for an explanation, she just led with her fists, decking Torsten flush across the jaw with all the power of her outrage and former fighting expertise as a cop. The guy dropped like a sack of stones, visibly startling the two men flanking him, who leapt for Nikki with snarls of outrage.

A throaty scream sounded from somewhere in the center of the room, and Nikki jolted. "Sherry!" she gasped, her momentary distraction all that was needed to give the men opposite her the upper hand, I bolted forward to blast them into the next dimension, but Armaeus's sudden warning shattered my eardrums from the inside out.

"No," he commanded, and a moment later, he was at my side. "This fight is hers, Miss Wilde. It's important."

I jerked my gaze to Armaeus's face, taking in the fact that his eyes had gone completely black, only the barest hint of gold visible at their edges. He was channeling deep magic, which was the only reason I didn't move. But when two other members of Torsten's little biker gang attempted to join the "let's beat up on Nikki" party before she could recover her balance, he nodded, and I channeled my frustration into singeing their hair off with a couple of well-placed firebolts.

With that, the fight was on. Nikki's troupe of showgirls gave as good as they got, wading in with fists flying even though I noticed with grudging appreciation that Torsten's boy band didn't so much fight as shove and herd the shouting throng toward the entryways. They swarmed up on the stage, playing the part of Hulk Smash, but I got the feeling even that was mostly for show. Why were they making such a racket? And for whom? I turned and found Kreios watching it all from his position in the center of the room. He nodded as if to confirm my own suspicions.

This was a demonstration of some sort. Maybe an alarm going up? Some kind of alert or announcement—or maybe even a dinner bell?

It didn't take long for the truth to come out—because it literally burst through the walls.

With an unearthly shriek, a veritable horde of demons hit the dance floor and exploded into action. The few non-Connecteds who remained in the room screamed in terror, while Nikki and Nigel continued to fight, merely changing their targets as Torsten's crew also turned to attack the new danger. Both Armaeus and the Devil moved into action, but not to affect the fighting on the floor, merely to help get the humans out of harm's way. Armaeus was holding to his position that the Council shouldn't—couldn't interfere. Not yet, anyway.

Kreios swept up a couple of hard-charging bombshells who barely had a hair on their wigs out of place despite the fact their knuckles were bruised and bleeding. They clung to him with wide grins, as one after the other he ushered them out of the room. But there were too many humans compared to demons, I knew in a blink. This wasn't going to end well.

I hated when I was right.

All at once, it was as if a command had been given, directing the demons to a new course of action. A particularly lousy one. In the space of a breath, they turned and, instead of attacking the humans outright swarming around them, they shifted closer, intimately close. A second later, there were no more demons in the room, only humans, who turned on each other and started fighting.

"You bastards," Nikki howled.

Torsten struggled to his feet, and his men stared in patent shock as the humans turned on them and started kicking, punching, biting, flailing.

"How do we…" Torsten began, utterly confused.

"They're possessed. You can't kill them, but you can knock 'em out," Nikki ordered, seamlessly taking command. "You each get one punch. You can't get the job done in that time, you're off the squad."

The shifters roared with approval of this plan, and Nikki turned to the woman next to her, a knockout redhead in a bright green dress.

"Sorry, babe," she said, and with a roundhouse punch, she dropped the woman to the ground. But what happened then shocked me even worse—the demon slid from the woman directly into Nikki, the violation of possession making Nikki's hands go up to her own neck, as if she'd rather choke herself to death than be taken in such a way. She'd been possessed before, after all. She wasn't a fan.

I leapt toward her, but I didn't get far.

The demons inside the nearest humans howled, and then they rushed me. I wheeled back, confused, knowing that with my amped-up abilities, I stood more than a good chance of damaging their human hosts even if I succeeded in eradicating the demons within them.

"Miss Wilde,"the Magician shouted in my mind, but I was overrun. It was like being buried in a human tidal wave, a rush of heavy hands and fingers pawing over me, running through my hair, down my shirt, poking and prodding and prying. I figured out too late what they were after, of course, but it made no sense. Since when did demons care about the baubles of humanity? The answer to that was: never.

My brain was still struggling to connect the dots even as I felt my jacket being ripped away.

"Let them take the ring," Armaeus advised. "Demons are not ruled by the Moon."

Well, whoever does rule them is going to get my foot in their ass, I thought right back to him, but I obligingly let my jacket flap open and felt the heavy weight of the ring get yanked from its pocket at last.

A keening cry of triumph spread throughout the room. The humans turned toward the door, protective meat sacks for the demons possessing them, but Kreios hadn't been idle. The room had shifted during the fight, and now there was only one exit—through the main doors.

Standing at those doors were the demon enforcers of the Syx. Their commander, the Hierophant, might not have put in an appearance, but that didn't mean his enforcers couldn't be put to the task.

"Leave the humans behind, safe and sound," Warrick announced. "Or end up as an oily streak on the floor. Your choice."

One of the demons held up the oversized moon ring, howling with triumph. With another shrieking cry, the demons abandoned their human hosts, leaving them in sprawling piles as they shattered into nothing and disappeared in a blink back to wherever they'd come from.

Nikki slumped back, right into Torsten's arms. He took her weight easily and kept her from sinking to the floor.

"You never get used to that," she muttered, her voice a throaty sigh that barely reached my ears. "I thought I'd gotten over it from the first time. No such luck."

My heart twisted. I remembered when Nikki'd been forcibly occupied by a demon, courtesy of Viktor Dal—it had been a bad, bad time. I wouldn't wish that trial on anyone.

Torsten stood back and surveyed the room—the remaining Council members, Nigel and Nikki, the Syx. He bowed, this time more respectfully.

"It's good to do battle again against dishonorable foes. It has been a long time," he said.

Warrick of the Syx strode deeper into the room. "These demons weren't controlled by a witch. Their commands went higher than that."

"Humans?" the Magician asked sharply.

"I don't think so," spoke the second of the Syx, a blue-eyed charmer named Finn. "It felt slimier than that, and more powerful too. You got any of your Arcana Council members dabbling in demon magic? Because that shit ain't gonna fly. We've got enough problems with idiot humans getting into that game."

A third member of the Syx, his red eyes flashing over his cocky grin, held up a finger. "Well, technically, the shit just did—"

"Shut up, Stefan," Warrick and Finn said together.

I'd recovered my jacket by this time, or what was left of it. Sure enough, the ring was gone.

"Why in the world would they care so much about that moon ring?" I muttered. "Roland wasn't that good an artifact hunter. They could have taken it from him at any time."

"Maybe when Roland had it, it wasn't such an interesting item," Armaeus said.

Torsten lifted his head, his brows furrowing. "That ring belongs to Celestine. She needs it. She wants it."

"So, maybe the demons wanted the thing because the Moon did. But why?" Nigel asked. "They have no need of the world's magic. Why would they care about this?"

"They wouldn't," the Magician said thoughtfully. "Which makes this all…very interesting."

Torsten looked around, seeming to notice for the first time that the room had been set to rights. "We destroyed that entire wall," he growled. "I enjoyed that."

"Yeah, well, maybe you should be a little bit more discerning about the shit you decide to break," Nikki advised. She straightened her sequined gown, somehow managing to look even more beautiful with a split lip and charred shoulders. "I know you guys have been stuck under a rock for a while, but even in Atlantis, they should have taught you better manners."

Torsten stared at her in momentary confusion that only deepened as Nikki wiped her jaw and shook the blood from her fingers.

"You're not afraid of us," he said, then eyed the bombshell brigade now downing shots at the far bar. "None of your people are."

"Child, my people could eat your people for lunch and still be hungry by happy hour," Nikki informed him, and he blinked again.

A new sound rang out, making me jump. It was shrill beeping, and Nikki cursed, plunging her hand into her bodice and pulling out her phone as Torsten's eyes goggled.

"That's Dixie," she said, worry instantly crossing her face. "And it's late. I'm not thinking there are any newlyweds lining up at the Chapel of Everlasting Love in the Stars at this hour."

She swiped through what had to be other messages, her eyes shooting wide.

"She's got company for sure." Nikki scowled at Torsten, then me. "A woman with white hair, pale skin, big eyes, and not a stitch of clothing strolled into her chapel twenty minutes ago, she says, and now the place is surrounded by demons. She says it looks like they're pals."

The Syx disappeared in a rumble of colorful cursing.

"No, no, no, that can't be right," Torsten insisted, even as the Syx vanished. "Demons don't attend the Moon. We had plenty of them in Atlantis. They're like oil and water. They never cross paths with us if they can avoid it. Celestine cannot abide it. She would no sooner draw demons to her than she'd slit her own throat."

He spoke with such sincerity it was impossible not to believe him. "Do we know anything about this Moon?" I demanded of Armaeus. "Is Dixie in danger?"

"I can tell you that the wards around Dixie's chapel have been strengthened, easily ten times over," the Magician said, sounding bemused. "Not by Simon either. Interesting…"

"Well, Death is right next door," Nikki offered. "Maybe she gave Dixie an upgrade?"

"Perhaps," the Magician allowed. "Either way, we should go. Now."

And without another word, smoke billowed through the room, catching us all up in it.