“They are no friends of mine,” Zach snarled.
Drew grabbed Dom’s arm and tugged him and Gwen behind him then, feeling generous, he also grabbed Edward and pushed him back as well. “Stay behind me,” he instructed.
“What the hell is going on?” Dom asked, his voice shaky.
“Long story short . . . Zach is an angel who was trapped in hell by an asshole fallen angel, and it looks like he’s come for him.”
“Ah, right, okay.” Dom looked around. “Not the answer I expected, but given the evidence before me it kinda makes sense.”
“If they want Zach, just give him to them!” Edward cried, eyeing the approaching horde of demons with fear. “There’s no need for us to get caught in themiddle!”
“You keep up talk like that and I’ll throw you to them myself,” Kensington growled at Edward, and then with a sharp gesture at Simon and Zach, they joined Drew and formed a circle around the three students, facing outwards towards the threat. “Zach, what’s the best way to deal with these guys?”
“Other than pray?” Zach shook his head. “They’re powerful, but they can be killed. Brute force will do it.”
“Okay, then, brute force it is.” And with that, Kensington sent a wave of magic through the air at the demons approaching from his side. The magic hit them with a concussive force, sending them flying backward, ripping through their bodies as it went. The demons howled, but of the five who were caught up in the blast, only two got back to their feet.
Drew reached out and caught Zach’s hand, squeezing it tightly. “I won’t let him take you back,” he promised.
Zach gave him a small smile and said, “Be safe.” Then he let go and charged at the oncoming demons.
Drew reached deep within himself, finding the spark of power he knew resided there. He felt it curling together, building in strength, ready to be released, and he didn’t bother with grace or finesse, didn’t use any of the phrases that Kensington had taught him to channel the energy, he just let it loose. With a cry, he flung a ball of pure magic outwards, and it flew forward, incinerating the three demons who were in its direct path. With a hand outstretched, he hooked his hand, directing the magic to veer to the right, aiming for another demon. It cut through its chest with as much deadly force as it had taken down the others, and so he curled his hand again and sent it curving around to take out another fiend. By the time it ran out of enough force to inflict killing blows, eleven demons had been felled, but for each one that died, another three rose up to take its place, clawing at the earth and charging into the fray.
“Simon!” Kensington called. “We need to take out those who are summoning them, otherwise they’ll just keep coming.”
“On it,” Simon said, opening what appeared to be a portal in front of two demons and shoving them through it, only to close it before they were all the way through, severing their bodies in half.
Drew saw Simon move out of his periphery, but he couldn’t spare the attention to see if he was successful in dealing with the magic users, too engrossed in taking out as many of the demons as he could. He still couldn’t see anyone who appeared to be in charge of them, and so he assumed that Oberon hadn’t revealed himself yet, waiting until the tide turned in his favour.
He soon found himself fighting side by side with Zach, and they moved almost as one, calling warnings to each other silently in their minds, synchronising their movements to inflict the most amount of damage on the most amount of demons. It was like a dance—or their lovemaking—graceful and harmonised, the two of them moving about each other fluidly.
Above them, black clouds had begun to form, churning in the sky. The scent of ozone was heavy in the air and lightning flickered and danced across the clouds. The sheer amount of magic being flung around was creating a magically-charged storm, but Drew couldn’t spare any energy to worry about the damage it might do. They needed to deal with the immediate threat of the demons and other magic users first. Then they could deal with the storm.
There was a bright flash of light from off to the side and Drew shielded his eyes. When he was able to see again, three winged figures stood in the quad, almost glowing as if lit from within with a heavenly light.
“Daniel?” Zach gasped, his eyes wide as he gaped at the newcomers.
A tall dark-skinned angel with pale green wings grinned. “Hey, Zachariel. Good to see you, brother.”
“What are you doing here?”
“Hashmal, Adriel, and I thought you could use a hand,” Daniel replied, gesturing to the others.
“You know, since we couldn’t help last time,” the angel who Drew assumed was Hashmal said. He was tall and graceful, with kind eyes that glowed almost as white as his wings.
“We tried, Zach, we did,” Adriel said, her words oozing sincerity. Dark blue wings flared in contrast to her white-blonde hair. “We’re here to make up for that.”
Zach threw his head back and laughed. “Oh, I amsoglad to see you guys.”
Daniel grinned and then tilted his head at the battle. “Come on then. Let’s get to it.”
The three angels jumped into the fight and immediately the pressure was lessened, the tide turning. The wave of demons seemed to dwindle just a little, and Drew and Zach fought easier, still side by side.
Then a demon managed to break through their defences and it lunged for Dom, Gwen, and Edward. Dom shoved the others behind him and raised his arms, a feeble attempt to stop the attack. He cried out as a long claw sliced through his forearms but he didn’t back down. He kept his body shielding the others, even as blood dripped down his arms.
“Don’t eventhinkabout touching my friend,” Zach snapped, approaching the demon from behind and grabbing it around the throat. With one brutal twist, he removed the demon’s head from its shoulders and tossed it aside. “You good?” he asked Dom, wiping a spray of blood from his cheek with the back of his hand.
Dom nodded, panting in pain. “Yeah, thanks.”
