This was what he’d missed. His blood sang with adrenaline as he cut down a halfling and dove into a roll. The fight was chaos. Hawk and Accardi had joined him, and, he realized as he whirled, others were emerging from the skating rink. Demons and humans alike were helping to take out these interlopers. Maybe they weren’t friends with all demons, then. Were there different factions? He supposed it made sense that there would be in-fighting and disloyalty among their kind. They thrived on chaos, didn’t they?
“Ah!” someone cried out in pain, and his eyes landed on Accardi just as he went down with his hands over his stomach.
Oh crap.
Julian rushed toward him, falling to his knees and applying pressure to the wound.
“It’s okay, you’re going to be okay,” he said mindlessly.
Through his pained grimace, Accardi looked at him in confusion. “Julian? Julian Heroux?”
“Yep, that’s me,” he replied, his eyes scanning the fight around them to make sure no one was about to turn on them. Most of the remaining halflings seemed preoccupied. The numbers had turned in their favor when the others from the rusted-out base joined them.
“What the hell are you doing here?”
Julian winced. “Disobeying, maybe, a little bit.” He wasn’t supposed to let them know he was there. He certainly wasn’t supposed to jump in and help them fight their enemies.
He met furious red eyes from several paces away, and the strange halfling raised a gun toward him. He reached for his second knife, but he already knew he was done for. A bullet would be faster than a knife. His lungs filled with a sharp, panicked breath, and he braced himself for the pain.
But it never came. Something like a whip made of pure shadow appeared in the air, wrapping around the halfling’swrist. With a yank, it lifted him into the air and sent him crashing to the ground twenty feet away.
“Oh fuck,” someone from the enemy group muttered. “Run!”
“Get down!” one of the black-eyed ones shouted, and all of the sentinels and their demons hit the ground. Julian decided it was probably best to listen to them, hunching his shoulders and shielding Accardi with his body as more of the strange shadow-whips cut through the air. They didn’t just grab and throw their enemies. One of them bisected a halfling completely. Another cut the head off of one. Black blood and viscera splattered the pavement.
“What the hell is happening?” he shouted.
Accardi grabbed him, like he was afraid Julian would be dumb enough to stand up, so he just closed his eyes and waited for the pandemonium to stop.
When the last body fell, silence descended around them. Julian raised his head. Standing apart from the rest of them was a massive man in nothing but a sleek, knee-length black skirt that looked like something an ancient Egyptian might wear. He stood barefoot on the craggy asphalt, and the shadow-whips returned to him, wrapping up his muscular body and merging with his pale skin like ink-black tattoos. They swirled and undulated on his skin like living things, curling around his limbs and dancing up his neck and even over his bald head. Glowing, violet irises regarded them all coolly, and he took a slow step forward.
Nearby, one of the traitors’ demons cursed quietly. They were afraid of this newcomer, and Julian tensed, preparing for another fight.
“Paladin Heroux,” Accardi warned. “Don’t.”
He didn’t listen. It was his job to protect people from demons, and this was a demon they obviously didn’t know ortrust. Maybe he would die, but he’d die doing the right thing. He pushed himself to his feet and moved to meet the demon.
“Don’t be an idiot, paladin,” one of the demons said as he stepped between the newcomer and the others.
“Stop right there,” Julian said firmly, ignoring the pounding of his heart and the way his hand shook when he raised it.
To his surprise, the demon stopped. His head tilted, like he found Julian curious.
“I helped you,” the demon said. His voice was deep and hypnotic, and Julian was surprised by how viscerally pleasant he found it. Like his body perked up and said,‘oh, we didn’t know we needed this.’
“Why?”
“I have some questions for the ones behind you.” The demon lifted his chin toward them.
Julian hesitated. “Are you going to hurt them?”
The demon studied him for a long moment. “You are a holy warrior.” He nodded at the holy blade hanging loosely in Julian’s grip.
“I am.”
“But you would care what happens to these demons?”
He took a breath to respond—and stopped. These demons were supposed to be his enemies. Why had he gotten between them at all?
