“Not here,” Ashanti rasped as she vaulted over the side of the viaduct, landing lightly on her bone hooks amidst scattered skeletons.
“His absence is not a way to win a war.”
“It is being handled.”
“By who?”
“Cú Chulainn.”
Hinon pursed his lips before shrugging, the arch of his wings moving with the motion. “We can only hope he is successful.”
Whatever else anyone was going to say, it was drowned out by the screaming cries of the Sluagh breaking free of the clouds above. The valkyries still in the air let out a challenging war cry as they reformed ranks between the skyscrapers.
“Eir!” Brynhildr called out.
“I’m almost done!” Eir shouted back, not taking her hands off Sage. She and Marek knelt on the road with Wade hovering protectively beside them while Eir used her power to heal what modern medicine couldn’t.
Brynhildr spun her spear to get a better grip and tipped her head in Thor’s and Hinon’s direction. “We will hold off the Sluagh.”
She pressed her heels against her pegasus’ ribs, urging him into the sky. He vaulted into the air, wings flapping, and they flew through the rain to lead the charge against the Sluagh. Thor didn’t watch her go, hefting Mjölnir around to call forth lightning and send a bolt into the horde of zombies coming their way on the viaduct from Grand Central Station.
“What is the plan?” Thor asked.
“We walk amongst Ethan’s altar. We must find his sacrificial circle and destroy it,” Ashanti said.
“Don’t destroy the city. We live here,” Wade protested.
“It won’t matter if we do not win.”
Fenrir growled agreement while Jono stared at where Sage was getting to her feet with an ease she hadn’t had before. The sickly paleness of her face was receding, and the pain that had saturated her scent was rapidly fading.
Eir stood, glancing over her shoulder at Jono, the cat-eye makeup she wore staying put despite the storm. “I removed the spell prohibiting your dire from shifting.”
“Thank you,” Marek said fervently, relief thick in his voice.
Sage kept a hand on Marek, meeting Jono’s gaze. “He’s coming with us.”
Jono wasn’t going to fight her on that request. There wasn’t anywhere safe in Manhattan right now. Marek’s status as a seer was something they couldn’t afford the other side to claim.
An explosion sounded so close Jono’s ears rang like a bell had been struck right beside him. The Park Avenue Viaduct shook in a dangerous way, all the warning they got before it started to collapse underneath them. The shattering of asphalt, cement, and rebar rolled like a wave through where they stood.
“Get clear!” Thor yelled, his voice booming like thunder through the air.
Eir vaulted onto her pegasus, and Wade scrambled up behind her. Sage shoved Marek into Hinon’s arms before racing with preternatural speed toward the teetering edge of the viaduct. Fenrir reacted before Jono could, vaulting onto a car and using it to propel himself off the viaduct for the ground below.
Leon landed a mere second after he did. Jono forced Fenrir to stay still long enough for Sage to get a good hold of his scruff before they ran from the collapsing viaduct. The ground shuddered beneath them from the impact, dust rising into the air despite the rain. He didn’t know if the cause of the collapse was their side or the Dominion Sect’s.
They ended up by an abandoned barricade. It provided enough momentary shelter for Sage to shift without risk of getting shot at. Jono and Leon guarded her position while Hinon and Eir flew toward them with their charges.
A mageglobe streaked through the air, causing Eir to veer sharply upward, the pegasus’ wings flapping hard to escape the attack. Wade’s startled yell was met with Sage’s weretiger roar, different from the howls of wolves.
“War arrives,” Thor said, staring south down the street.
Jono stared at the shifting fog and the figures marching through it—more hunters, along with Dominion Sect magic users led by a god carrying a short sword and round shield, a golden helm on his head. The rest of his clothes were modern tactical gear, though he carried no guns.
“Cousins,” the new god said.
“Ares,” Hinon said as he deposited Marek behind the barricade. “I’d heard you’d left your spine in DC.”
