And not just her. Oliver.
Rune howled as her claws scraped across the ground. Oliver cried out, the wire digging into his boot and dragging him back toward the infected Damned. I threw Glory at both wires. It struck. The metal didn’t melt. I tried Hellfire. Nothing.
The male. I needed to take him out.
Glaze-eyed infected surrounded him. I threw fireball after fireball, recycling his minions. But with each one that fell, another stepped into the gap. They were protecting their asset.
Rune and Oliver’s agonized cries rammed into my ears hard enough to knock the breath from my lungs. The wire tugged, tore, shredded their feet. My throws became wild. Desperate. Blue fireballs and flaming arrows joined them. My feet twitched to run after them, but Aspen was at my back, and the bond wouldn’t let me leave him.
Hadrian charged after Rune. Fireballs from the enemy flew through the air, bouncing harmlessly off his bones. Vines tore through the earth, wrapping around his feet. He ripped them apart with his claws and kept going until he bit down on the wire and yanked.
The male stumbled into the infected in front of him, caught off guard. Hadrian did it again. Oliver and Rune’s cries quieted. Then the infected Damned wrapped their molten, black-bleeding hands around the razor wire and heaved.
Wails. Shrieking howls.
The sounds gutted me.
I spotted Xavier near the Spinewalker, cleaving his axe through infected Damned necks and skulls. He whirled, dodged, and cut a path toward us.
“Xavier! Do it now!” I shouted through the melee and twisted just in time to meet Aspen’s gaze.
Aspen nodded once, short and sharp. This wasn’t what he wanted, but we’d agreed on it. Then he faded among all the other Aspens. He dropped to the ground as if he’d been hit, joining the other illusioned Aspens and infected Damned lying unconscious, and opened his emotions to me.
The bond drew back its claws just a little, giving me slightly more control as Aspen’s determination and frustration poured into me.
“Remember what I told you. Whistle!” I called, and relief bloomed as the infected Damned began fighting each other. They all wore Aspen’s face and uniform. They were all targets.
Razor wire released Rune and Oliver as he was forced to attack the minions that had been protecting him.
I rushed over to Aspen-Oliver. Another joined me, whistling, though she didn’t need to. I knew who she was from the giant sword in her hand.
Oliver panted as Ichi and I lifted him off the ground, pain in my side twinging and seeping. Oliver’s soft whimpers flooded my mind with rage and, with it, my beautifully deadly music.
We pulled him away from the main fight and near the real Aspen, though not directly beside him.
“Stay here,” I barked.
Then Ichi and I ran back into the thick of it to somehow haul Rune out.
Vines twisted around necks. Water enveloped heads. Rocks smashed into bodies. The ground opened and closed. Weapons, spikes, acid, fire, and ice flew through the air toward my whistling squad and demons alike.
Rune struck with wisps of shadow, hitting charging infected wearing Aspen’s face and forcing them into a deep sleep.
Hadrian guarded her exactly how I imagined he’d guard Aspen if we’d allowed it. He jumped atop the infected, shredding them with his claws. He snarled, snapped, and attacked anything that dared come near.
Ichi and I fought back-to-back, soon joined by MJ with her bow. I used my flames and stabbed with ice. Ichi blasted water to shove infected back, then ran through it and cleaved necks with her Soul Sword. MJ released arrow after arrow. Zera blasted infected into Dusty and Matt’s holes.
The Dreads on the outskirts thinned the gap between us, and the infected minions continued fighting each other. Easy pickings. We were winning.
Almost to Rune and Hadrian, metal flashed in my peripheral. I luscelered in front of Ichi. Razor wire wrapped around my waist.
I screamed.
The sky darkened, and thunder rumbled.
He was here.
Seething through my teeth, I wrapped my flaming purple hands around the wire, and ice shot down the metal. Before he could release me, it struck his hands and crawled up his arms. It would’ve reached his throat, but two gold-and-black blades crossed through his neck, shredding tendons and spurting blood. Then he became ash, sifting into Ronen’s blades and revealing an angel of death.
