Brock cracked his neck, the fingers of both his hands wiggling, ready to grab the guns at his sides. He could have them drawn, aimed, and shot in seconds.
‘Ready?’Cass asked me.
‘Go for it.’
And go for it Cass did. I wasn’t sure what I’d been expecting since I hadn’t really thought things through. But if I had thought of it, I’d probably have pictured Cass using his illusion magic to project a threatening monster or something. He didn’t have his hoverboard, so he couldn’t zip around them to distract, and with his hands bound maybe his magic was limited—his signature red magic balls all originated in his palms.
Regardless, I hadn’t expected what he actually did, and I was pretty sure I could say the same for every single person and creature gathered in the clearing next to the gate to the underworld. As one, we all stared at my furry best friend, whose cuffed hands were above his head while he undulated his entire body side to side. He started to hum his own music while wiggling his hips to the beat. With his shiny gold Speedos in place, it was hard to miss any of his movements.
“Badum, badum, badum,” he sang, eyes closed as he danced to the beat of his own drum, stepping into full view of the Akuma. He flicked his pelvis forward a few times in moves that would have made Michael Jackson proud, circling his hips while he did a slow turn for his captive audience.
Cass made his hot pink fur, potbelly, horns, and tiny wings work to the max for him as he gyrated.
‘W-what is he doing?’Brock spluttered into my head.
‘Isn’t it obvious? He’s distracting.’The only problem was that I’d also let him distract me.
Shaking every part of his body at once, he really got into his groove, humming even louder, working his booty like he was born for the role. He was moving like a tiny demon imp stripper, and for the first time I was glad that his hands were bound. If not, he might have taken his task of distraction to levels none of us but Tianna were ready for.
“What the hell?” The Akuma holding my dad watched my bestie in horror, his knife hand slackening as the shock of seeing a random stripper imp settled into him.
“Baboom,” Cass sang, and rocketed his hips in one direction, shiny gold blazing the way.
I burst from the ground and whipped my sword the rest of the way from its holster and up in one smooth motion, lunging at the Akuma threatening my dad. The demon spun his head in my direction, but by then I’d skewered him straight through the side. I wrenched my katana free from his abdomen, and while the Akuma gasped in pain, his eyes blazing fury, Brock shot him straight through the head just as he was moving to bring the blade across my dad’s throat.
One quick glance over my shoulder told me that Tianna and Cho had managed to deflect the hold their captors had over them as well. Both women now faced off with an Akuma, the demons palming their obsidian blades that no longer posed much of a threat.
Cass ceased his dancing and ran to my side.
“I’m okay,” I said quickly. “Go help Tianna.” Not that Tianna looked like she needed the help. The Amazonian fae-witch was angrier than I’d ever seen her; even the Akuma seemed nervous as he sized her up.
“Go help Cho,” I told Brock, though Cho’s mouth was moving so fast that she’d have a kill spell ready in no time. Still, I had this demon under control.
Black blood dribbled from the side of his head as he lay weakly on the forest floor, dying.
A lopsided grin pulled at the corners of his mouth. “Blue … harvest … moon.”
My eyes snapped to the sky, where a full moon glowed.
Oh. Fuck.
I’d forgotten that Calista had been waiting until some special moon in order to be able to open the gate. This was that day. The day that she and her sisters would have the power to open it themselves. But it must be a challenge for them or they wouldn’t have asked me to do it for them in order to release Cass. So maybe I had some time before they’d get it fully open without my help.
“An army of demons are on their way. You have doomed humanity,” the dying Akuma commented coolly.
Like hell I had! I was done with this scumbag.
“I killed one of the triplets.” It was my turn to grin. “And another one of them is sporting a gunshot wound to the gut.” Pressing the blade of my katana against his throat, I pushed slightly.
His face faltered for a moment before returning to a smirk. “Doesn’t matter. Calista can do it herself. She’s”—he turned his head to the side and coughed—“powerful.” He wheezed, black blood dripping from his mouth.
Enough of this shit. I needed to close that gate once and for all. I raised my sword.
“So am I.”
Without hesitation, I roared a final time. With a swift downswing, the motherfucking demon’s head rolled, black sludge oozing from his open neck, pooling onto the ground.
Immediately, I looked to my friends. Cass, Tianna, and Cho were already staring at me, wide-eyed. Even the calm Cho looked shaken, her gaze flicking back and forth to the little construction flag marking the gate. I looked to my dad; his mouth was pressed into a hard scowl and his warm, brown eyes spoke of defeat, though we were surrounded by our dead enemies.
