“Don’t worry,” Wade said. “Jono called all the packs to Manhattan. Estelle’s people won’t get far.”
Patrick flexed the fingers of his free hand, took a breath, and forced a mageglobe to form, pouring magic out of his bruised and damaged soul. “They’re not going to make it out of the park. Órlaith? Make me a hole.”
Órlaith looked over at him and nodded, doing what he asked. Patrick’s head pounded, but wavering vision didn’t matter when the targets were so numerous. Patrick let his mageglobe fly toward a group of retreating hunters, some part of him wondering if any of them had been in the underground challenge ring in Hamilton Heights, watching him get possessed. It didn’t matter, because the hunters didn’t get far. When their bodies got ripped to pieces by the magical grenade, the demons they’d sold their souls to fled unscathed.
Deals with the devils never paid out.
29
Jono hadhis prey in sight and wasn’t about to lose them.
I want the kill, he told Fenrir as the god spurred his wolf body to a faster speed.
Fenrir’s answer was a wordless growl, but Jono knew in this, he would get his way.
Estelle had shifted when her god pack had surged forward, lost in a wave of claws and teeth. Fenrir had her scent, and there was no hiding from a god, with or without a demon in her soul. She carried Andras again—willingly—and Jono would never forgive her for bringing demons to New York City.
Not after what Andras had done to Patrick.
Fenrir raced through the trees and bare bushes, his prey going just as fast up ahead, looking for an escape. Jono saw flashes of movement out of the corners of his eyes—werecreatures fighting, and the ghostly blurs of Night Marchers. Some of the werecreatures tried to intercede on Estelle’s behalf, to give her time to escape, but Fenrir was having none of it.
He clawed his way through them without pause, leaving bodies behind.
They were running toward the southern end of Central Park, taking the West Drive rather than the more direct route over Bow Bridge. The hawthorn path was near there though, and the fae had guards in that location. Jono didn’t know where she was running to until magic exploded through the air, rippling away from a point too close for comfort.
Cernunnos, Fenrir said, tasting the air with Jono’s tongue to parse the magic.
That was another god going on his shit list.
Fenrir put on a burst of speed as they left the trees for Sheep Meadow, the skyline breaking through. Jono could taste the coldness of Ginnungagap between his teeth, the primordial void a companion he didn’t mind so long as it was on their side.
They closed the distance between Estelle and Andras and would’ve taken her down if not for the hellfire that exploded between them, scorching the brown grass. Fenrir vaulted over it, fur getting singed, and faced off against Hades on the other side while Estelle and Andras made a run for it.
“Move,” Fenrir growled, voice coming out of a throat not meant to speak in that way.
“No,” Hades said, raising his hands that dripped with hellfire.
Before Fenrir could attack, an explosion ripped through the air behind them, Estelle’s pained howl mixing with Andras’ scream. Fenrir spared a glance in that direction, seeing a small crater in the meadow and a shadow darting forward with preternatural speed. They carried no soul, only a godhead, and ozone crackled in the air like a warning.
A startled expression crossed Hades’ face, and the god half turned to assess the new threat and still keep Fenrir and Jono in sight. Fenrir howled, releasing more of Ginnungagap, the primordial void covering Sheep Meadow as it had the Great Lawn. Hades summoned more hellfire to light the area, face washed out in the glare.
“The demon was right,” Hades said, voice coming out clipped and uneasy. “You did come back.”
Ashanti stalked forward on her ironshod bone hooks, herding Estelle and Andras back toward Jono’s teeth with her sheer presence. The malevolence she exuded was primal and vicious, the stuff of nightmares that lived in the dark, what humanity had hidden from for thousands and thousands of years.
A goddess even demons were wary of.
Behind her came Lucien and Carmen, the only vampires Jono could scent. Sunset hadn’t arrived yet, which meant the other Night Courts would be the cavalry if they didn’t finish this fight soon.
“Did you think I would stay dead?” Ashanti asked with a low laugh, never taking her eyes off Estelle’s wolf form.
“I would think you’d choose the winning side for once.”
“You’d give Earth over to a madman and let my children starve. I want no part of that story.”
“I’m doing it to savemychild.”
“You should have found a better way than stealing what doesn’t belong to you.”
