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My eyelids lifted and I yanked the long fur at Bane’s neck. “You’re both imbeciles.” I scowled at the demon, wiping gritty cave dirt from my face.
He snickered, “You sound just like Lorcan.” His expression morphed into one oozing extreme annoyance. “Brother, have I told you lately that you’re a fucking imbecile?” Ezra’s apparent hilarity transcended the sound barrier as he bent in half, shaking with silently amusement, his shadow releasing Bane.
Pointedly ignoring the bleak alien landscape for now, my eyes bounced from the giggling demon to Bane, his lips twitching, then breaking into a bemused grin. I should’ve known he couldn’t resist the lure of a kindred, manic spirit.
Ezra jumped to his feet and held out a hand palm facing up, curling his fingers as if he meant to tell us a secret. “Playing jailer isn’t all that straining as everyone says it is. Come, I’ll show you.” He rocked on the heels of his fuchsia and black striped high-top sneakers and grinned.
CHAPTER 39
The Fall
BANE
The demon led us up a short hill, its brown, rocky terrain tapering into a plateau at its peak. Ezra whistled, shaking his head as he peered at the group of witches, bound and gagged with shadows and huddled at the edge of a pit spiraling deep into the earth. “Awesome, right?”
Miko scoffed, adjusting her position in my arms. She could wiggle all she wanted, no way in all that is holy or unholy was I letting her put weight on her busted ankle. Plus, selfishly I couldn’t stand the thought of not touching her right now, Honeybee was the only thing that kept me grounded.
“Do you mean that foreboding hole in the ground or your shadow magic? I’m fairly certain you had nothing to do with creating the makeshift oubliette,” Miko uttered flatly.
Ezra shrugged. “I meant my cache of hostages, held effortlessly by my shadows while you two chatted me up.” A playful smirk tilted his lips, punctuating his arrogant statement.
“Cocky arsehole,” I laughed.
Godsdamn it, I might actually like the demon, Hell royalty to boot.
Miko quirked a brow. “Fair enough.”
“Ezra,” Gideon called from the mouth of the portal as he marched through, dragging a lasso of Hell Fyre with him, “I’ve collected all the witches from the ice. Clear the path.”
Appearing to follow his brother’s order, for once, Ezra gestured for us to move to the side opposite the shadow bound and gagged witches, wiggling his dark eyebrows. Moments later, Gideon crested the hill, dumping his burden in a heap just shy of the pit’s jagged, gaping maw, and his brother secured them to their coven mates. My head tilted as I realized that neither of the demons showed any sign of stress or exertion. In fact, they almost appeared bored while casually expending massive amounts of power to subdue the HHC.
An arc of overcooked spinach colored magic tore across the expanse, striking Miko in the chest. I about swallowed my tongue as the spell rebounded off her armor and directly into the face of a bound witch. She screeched behind her gag and my stomach rolled, watching the skin melt off her bones.
Ezra chortled, mending the gap in his shadows caused by the dead witch. “Hey, Brother? You missed some.”
Gideon’s expression remained blank, yet my eyes caught on the way his fingers tapped on the side of his leg. “So, I see. Thank you for the helpful observation.”
The mate bond hummed despite the rising tension as Little Red and two of her cohorts slunk from behind a rock, hands wreathed in noxious magic.
Little Red cackled, shoving a body hard onto the ground at their feet. Grimnyr peered at us through bloodied strands of shaggy hair hanging over his forehead. I sucked in a breath and growled, pushing Miko further behind me.
“Did you really think you could defeat us?” the red cloaked female asked haughtily. “We’ve been gathering the Heechus magic for centuries.” She sighed, sharply nudging the witches by her sides with her elbows. “Even with sisters like these idiots, I still managed to beat you.”
Ezra bounced on the toes of his sneakers. “Oh, fuckity-fuck, Gid, my favorite part! It’s the villain monologue.”
Everyone ignored his statement, frozen bodies and hard eyes trained on the three witches. I folded my arms over my chest, an unsettling thought forming. Why haven’t they attacked again? A few heartbeats later fate answered my internalized question.
My mate tugged at the hem of my shirt at the same time as she plucked our bond. “Did Grimnyr just wink?” she whispered so low it would have only been audible to the demons, the shifter, and I. My gaze whipped to the Grimnyr, and this time I didn’t miss the subtle flash of a smirk before it vanished.
“What are you waiting for? Kill them all,” Little Red demanded and marched forward, boney hands clamping around the upper arms of her sidekicks, dragging them with her, then booted the shifter hard in the ribs. “Now.”
Grimnyr released a barking cough, and I grinned as it transitioned into deep laughter.
“There’s something wrong with all of you,” Miko grumbled quietly.
The witch’s leg rose as if she meant to kick him again, however, from one blink to the next he shifted into a mammoth wolf, his sharp canines sinking into her calve. My mate flinched against my wings as the telltale sound of a bone cracking met my sensitive ears. Little Red fell to the ground and the other two witches clung to each other, backing away on shaky legs as she tried to grasp their ankles.
The more their leader struggled, the harder it became to stifle the dark satisfaction bubbling behind my ribs. Ezra had no such qualms, snickering openly as he collared her companions with shadows, pinning them face first to the gritty dirt. I watched with amusement as Little Red’s face turned an ugly puce, her eyes bulging. Distracted by the gruesome sight of her limb trapped in Grimnyr’s wolf maw, I didn’t spot the magic forming between her curled hands.
