“I call first in the door,” Isaac rushed out, drawing his sword.
“Fine, fine,” Nathan said, rolling his eyes heavenward. “Let’s move.”
The humans fell into a similar formation they learned at the guild, two marching side by side. Daniel was beside Nicolas with Julian and Ira at their backs. Alex and Luke were in front of them, with Nathan and Isaac leading the group.
Nicolas’s heart pounded as they approached the factory. The demons hung back, waiting for them to breach the building first. It had been a long time since he’d worked with a team he didn’t hate. Energy crackled in the air around them, their steps near silent on the asphalt as they rounded the factory toward the side door Ashmedai had pointed out upon their arrival.
Isaac tried the knob first, glancing back grimly and shaking his head. It was locked. Breaking it open would ruin any element of surprise they would have had. Once it was open, the clock would be ticking. They’d have to move quickly. They had no idea how many paladins were guarding this place.
Isaac backed up a step and kicked open the door. Nicolas heard a shout from within as they all streamed inside. Two paladins, Kyle and Tucker, whom he only knew in passing, were standing guard on either side of an open doorway. They jerked to attention as the door flew open. Kyle drew his sword, and Tucker yanked the door they were guarding shut and locked it.
Nicolas watched the fight unfold while Ira invited the demons across the threshold behind him. Two against eight was hardly a fair fight. There wasn’t even enough room around them for all of them to crowd in and exchange a blow or two, so he hung back with Daniel and Julian and Luke, letting Isaac and Nathan and Alex handle it.
Nathan dispatched Tucker quickly, giving him a mercifully quick ending that left his blood pooling on the concrete floor. Isaac, on the other hand, disarmed Kyle and got him in a headlock, whirling them around and shooting the group a savage grin.
“Ashmedai, you hungry?” he asked.
The demons had filled in around them, and Ashmedai turned to look at Nicolas, as though for his blessing. Nicolas nodded, and Ashmedai’s fingers brushed his cheek tenderly for a moment before he stepped forward.
“No, no, no!” Kyle shouted. “You’re supposed to be dead!”
“What are you guarding?” Ashmedai asked as he approached.
“W-What?”
“What are,” Ashmedai said slower, “you guarding?”
Kyle looked from face to face, lingering on Nicolas for a long, inscrutable moment. “We’re guarding those teenagers. Alvarez, I think their names are.”
On Julian’s other side, Luke sagged with relief.
“Good.” Ashmedai grabbed Kyle’s face.
“No—what-what are you doing? No!No!” His face contorted as that strange shadowy stuff emerged from his face, sucked up under Ashmedai’s shrouded hood. His body withered before their eyes, his skin graying and his body curling in so hard that his bones cracked.
Nathan turned away, looking pale. But Nicolas couldn’t take his eyes off Ashmedai. The body was an afterthought as it fell. When he straightened, power crackled around him, and his glowing eyes were bright with renewed energy. Nicolas’s eyes trailed down the long, lean lines of his black-clad body, his spine steeled with fresh strength. He was ethereally beautiful.
“One more downstairs,” Ashmedai rasped. “I can sense a dark soul.”
“Let’s go, then,” Nicolas said. “The kids are probably down there.”
The staircase was behind the door that Kyle and Tuckerhad been guarding. Rather than use the key Tucker died holding, Isaac kicked it open with a gleeful grin and led them all down the narrow staircase. It came out in an empty room with a single door.
Nathan tried the knob and glanced back at them. “It’s locked, too.”
“Well, what are we waiting for?” Luke said. “Let’s kick it down.”
He didn’t wait, pushing his way to the front of the group and slamming his boot into the wood beside the handle.
Time slowed. Nicolas glimpsed a paladin—Ashton—inside the room beyond the door. He raised one hand toward them, and Nicolas realized he was staring down the barrel of a handgun.
“Take cover!” someone shouted.
Clawed hands grabbed Nicolas and hauled him out of the way as the pop of gunfire set his ears to ringing. Everyone dove away, and Nicolas turned to make sure no one was hit?—
Daniel was a hair too slow. One minute he was mid-step, and the next he was spinning, blood spraying from a wound somewhere dangerously high. He lost his grip on his sword as he fell, his head crashing against the unforgiving concrete.
“Danny!” he screamed, lunging toward him.
