“We will not fail.” I bowed my head to hide the uncertainty in my eyes.
The fate of the realms now lay in the sisters’ hands.
5
EMBER
“Listen, you narcissistic asshat. The world is about to end, and I don’t have time for your power plays.” I know, I know. I still needed a lesson on keeping my mouth shut, but I was so done with Adrian’s shit.
I feinted, reaching my right hand toward Patrice and drawing his attention away from my left…the hand holding the fireball, which I threw against his chest. The impact knocked him back, and he tumbled down the porch steps, twisting his ankle as he hit the pavement.
His tornado fell apart, and Patrice thudded on the porch. Mayhem grabbed her arm and dragged her to the door while I thundered down the stairs and landed a swift kick to Adrian’s gut.
“This is bigger than you.” I spun and kicked him again. “It’s bigger than all of us.”
I swung my leg back, aiming my boot at his crown jewels, when he whipped up another tornado and sent me careening across the parking lot. I hit a light pole with a thwack, stars dancing before my eyes as the wind ceased and I crashed to the ground.
The heat of hellfire flashed across my skin. My vision swam into focus as Adrian hit the ground next to me, his shirt nothing more than a few scraps of charred fabric, his skin blistered and raw.
I pushed myself up on one elbow, waiting for the screaming to start. Hellfire wasn’t exactly a sunburn. It didn’t just blister; it consumed, and it should have been eating through his muscle and bone.
But Adrian didn’t scream. He didn’t even whimper.
As I watched, horror coldcocking me right in the gut, the raw, charred flesh on his chest hissed. The blisters bubbled and smoothed over, knitting back together before my eyes until the skin turned pink and unblemished. He rolled his neck, a sickening crack echoing in the lot, and stood up as if Mayhem hadn’t just barbequed him.
I sucked in a sharp breath. The amulet.
My mind flashed back to the cemetery. He’d held the damn thing for maybe ten minutes in the chaos of the battle. I didn’t think a measly ten minutes would give him Wolverine’s super-fast healing ability, but apparently, the artifact’s residual power was stronger than we gave it credit for. It was still coursing through him, amplifying his recovery and increasing his power.
“No one hurts my witch.” Mayhem stalked across the asphalt, his hands wreathed in purple flames, his eyes glowing with that lethal, possessive light that usually made my knees weak. He was about to unleash hell on Earth, and I couldn’t wait to witness it.
Adrian dusted ash off his ruined slacks, looking entirely too smug for a man facing down a demon scorned. “You fire witches and your tempers. You think brute force is the answer to everything.”
Oh yeah. He had no idea he was facing a literal Prince of Hell.
“It is when dealing with pests,” Mayhem growled. He raised a hand, a ball of concentrated fire forming in his palm, ready to turn the High Priest into a pile of ash.
Adrian flicked his wrist, but he didn’t aim for Mayhem. He aimed for me.
The air around me solidified, turning into bands of steel that pinned my arms to my sides and crushed the air from my lungs. I gasped, struggling against the sharp, invisible bonds, as they dragged me toward Adrian. With nothing more than a flick of his wrist, he could turn me into ribbons.
“No!” Mayhem froze, the fire in his hands sputtering as he realized attacking Adrian meant slicing through me.
The asshat stepped behind me, wrapping a forearm around my neck and tightening his grip until black spots danced in my vision. The wind howled around us, a cyclone of debris and power creating a barrier that Mayhem couldn't cross without risking my life.
“You want her back?” Adrian shouted over the gale, his voice amplified by the wind. “Bring the amulet to the clearing in the woods. The place where the veil is thinnest.”
“If you hurt her—” Mayhem started, taking a threatening step forward.
“You have half an hour.” Adrian tightened his hold on my windpipe, and I clawed uselessly at his arm. “Come alone. If you bring the others, I snap her neck.”
“Don’t do it, Mayhem!” I choked out, kicking my legs. “Don’t you dare give him?—”
The wind whipped into a frenzy, tearing the words from my mouth. My stomach dropped into my boots as my feet left the pavement completely.
“The clearing!” Adrian said. “Thirty minutes.”
The world dissolved into a blur of gray sky and rushing air as he launched us upward, leaving my demon standing alone in the parking lot, roaring in agony and fury.
