With Bijou’s help, they were able to get Elizabeth settled on the sofa in the recreation room that was in the center of the main floor. Far enough from windows and doors but still too much in the open as far as she was concerned.
“Where’s my father?” Bijou asked Oliver.
“He went with the Zenith out to fight,” Penelope informed them, her hand protectively covering her swollen belly.
Orianna watched as the young female nodded, her concern for her father’s safety evident.
Her heart clenched in her chest as she thought about Eclipse standing out there, protecting all of those within the walls.
She peered up at the sky. “Dear God …please.”
She had no idea what else to say.
Eclipse could feel the power attempting topush toward them even as they used every ounce of strength they possessed to push back.
He had no idea how long between the explosion that tore the front of the mansion clean off and the time they’d made it there, but he knew it hadn’t been long. The alarm systems had gone off, but not even those countermeasures were as effective as telepathy. Miklós had announced the explosion probably before the first rumble finished. Eclipse, having been out with Reidar, had made it back to the mansion within seconds, and he hadn’t been the first to arrive.
His first and only thought had been to protect those within the mansion. Orianna, Penelope, the humans. Clearly his brothers had had the same thought, because that was where they’d landed, wing to wing, spread out in an effort to protect their loved ones while thefiestreightore ass toward the intruders who’d somehow breached thedhira.
As they stood there, withholding the brutal force attempting to breach the mansion, no one spoke. It would require more energy than they had. But the mental conversation was going full throttle. The most he could ascertain was that Eevuhl was making a go at the mansion. How the demon had located them, he had no idea, but it didn’t matter. They’d found them, and the bastard was coming at them with all his efforts. Which, unfortunately, were vastly greater than he would’ve liked. There was a reason thetrielairhad lasted this long. They were far more powerful than the puny fucking demons.
What Eclipse couldn’t understand was why. What the fuck did he want here?
We need more power.
Eclipse agreed with Obsidian, but he wasn’t sure how they would do that. Summoning the energies of the universe would work only once, and then the mansion would be left undefended. As much as he wanted to believe thefiestreighwould be able to hold Eevuhl off, he knew better. Their efforts were best focused on whatever minions the male had brought with him, and based on what Eclipse could see, there were a good dozen or so. Which meant they couldn’t risk it.
And then he appeared, the demon in all his disgusting glory.
Eevuhl emerged from below the horizon, his enormous body no longer contained within the shell of a human. Somewhere close to ten feet tall, the thing was more dragon than demon, absolutely grotesque as he moved toward them, one earth-rattling step at a time. Nothing was slowing him down, not even the gunfire coming from a higher vantage point behind them.
“We have to hold him,” Obsidian ground out. “I will not let him get past me.”
Eclipse knew that wasn’t merely a statement, it was a declaration. Obsidian was willing to give his life to ensure Eevuhl did not get to Penelope. Eclipse understood clearly, because that big demon bastard would have to step over his cold, dead body before he made his way to Orianna.
As he attempted to figure out what their next steps were, watching that evil asshole who was aptly named closing the gap between them, Eclipse felt true fear for the first time in his existence. Not for himself, not even for his brothers. They could hold their own and would because this was their mission. No, that steady influx of adrenaline was spurred by his concern for hisereswa.
For a second, he almost lost his grip on his control, but then there was a sonic boom that damn near knocked him off his feet. But it wasn’t Eevuhl breaching the barrier, nor was it thefiestreightaking the shithead down—unfortunately.
The male who appeared before them was what those humans might call a gift from God.
In reality, he was an archangel.
A really fucking powerful one who seemed quite pissed about the situation he’d literally landed in.
“We have one chance at this,” Michael announced, facing off with Eevuhl but speaking to them.
Although Eclipse had heard his voice a million times, he’d rarely heard it in its full angelic glory, as though broadcast through a bullhorn, the tenor so deep and powerful he imagined most would retreat from the sound alone.
A round of encouraging grunts sounded.
“What does he want?” Obsidian snarled.
“The child.”
Despite therat-tat-tatand the various other sounds of a battle, Eclipse was pretty sure you could’ve heard a pin drop in that moment. At least inside his head and he could only imagine what Obsidian was hearing right about now.
The deep roar sounded from Eclipse’s left, which meant the meaning of those words had registered with his oldest brother.
