Closer and closer drew the enemy. Moonlight glinted on their weapons, their claws and fangs and wings.
Livia did not feel fear. Only quiet, deadly purpose.
A sound like Armageddon crashed over the field as the two sides met. Demon and Hellraisers clashed. Everything became chaos. Movement and noise.
Livia pulled fire from herself, summoning the magic of every warrior goddess she knew. Minerva, Morrigan, Artemis. She felt their power suffuse her, her body alight with energy, as though flame had replaced muscle and bone. As demons advanced, she lashed out, fiery bolts of power coursing from her free hand, the other hand holding her mount’s reins. Beasts screamed and fell, their limbs severed, holes blasted into their bodies, whilst others pushed in.
She fought to keep her horse controlled, thick swarms of foul creatures on every side. The air stank of sulfur and carrion.
She caught brief glimpses of the other Hellraisers locked in combat. Zora lashed out with a whip of fire, turning long-legged bloated demons to ash. Whit’s sword was likewise engulfed in flame, and he used it to hack down centaur-like beasts. The force of Leo’s blows sent the slithering demons scattering like leaves, and Anne used her power over air to batter at the winged beasts. She dashed them to the ground, where they lay unmoving, or else Leo would rush up and pummel the creatures until they went still.
All of the Hellraisers fought well, their faces hard with fierce determination. But none possessed Bram’s skill and art. Atop his horse, he never broke stride as his lightning-swathed blade tore through clawed demons. He cut the heads off two leather-skinned creatures and kicked away a third, then slammed the pommel of his sword into another’s temple. But his goal was clear—he fought his way toward John.
Bram was straight from the legends and myths of her time, one of the fabled warriors who founded dynasties and remade the world. He fought with brutality and purpose, and only by force was she able to turn her gaze away from him to battle back more of the demons.
A scream sounded overhead. She ducked as one of the flying demons dove for her, its grasping claws attempting to pull her from the saddle. Red pain blossomed. Using her fingers, she felt a long gouge stretching from her shoulders to the middle of her back. Her fingertips came away stained with blood.
The demon made another dive. She called for Minerva’s Shield, and the creature slammed into it before careening away. The impact unbalanced her. A dizzying, tilting moment, and she found herself on the ground. Panicked, her horse galloped away, pushing through the clashing armies.
“Livia!” Bram’s roar rose above the din.
She stood. Without her horse to raise her up, she was in the thick of the battle, demons surging around her. She crouched low to avoid a demon’s swinging blade. As she did, she cut its legs out from underneath with a flare of ancient Akkadian magic. The beast toppled to the ground, and she leapt onto it and slammed the blade of energy into the center of its chest. It screamed, then went still, eyes glassy as it stared up at the night sky.
With Minerva’s shield on one arm and the edged Akkadian spell in her other hand, she fought off more demons, wave after wave of the awful beasts.
“Livia!” Bram shouted again. As she battled back more demons, she looked for him.
He pushed his horse through the throng toward her, his brows drawn down in a savage scowl. Baring his teeth, he hacked down any demon standing between her and him. Resolute, ferocious, he carved a path to her.
Then he was in front of Livia, one broad hand reaching for her. She took his offered hand, and he lifted her up in a swift motion. Seating herself behind him, she saw the field of battle from a better vantage. The Hellraisers had managed to carve paths of destruction out of the demons’ ranks.
Bram glanced down and saw the beasts she had felled on her own. He gave her a vicious smile. “Lucky we’re on the same side.”
She struck out with a spell just as a demon charged. At the same time, Bram stabbed the creature through the throat. Hardly anything was left of the beast as it fell to the ground. “We didn’t start out that way, but it was meant to be. Besides,” she added with her own cutting grin, “no one of sense will have us.”
There was no further opportunity for conversation. Though a goodly number of the demons in this arena of the battle had fallen, many still stood.
John, too distracted by the battle to summon more demons up from Hell, hoarsely shouted orders at the creatures that had made it above ground. He kept casting alarmed glances at Bram.
“There’s my target,” Bram growled. He urged his horse toward John, but more demons blocked the way. He hacked at scaled arms that tried to pull him from the saddle, and she drove her own magic blade into the throats of two-headed, four-legged monsters.
The Hellraisers briefly converged.
“Report,” Bram commanded.
“Took out two dozen of those slithering bastards.” A trickle of blood dripped in the corner of Leo’s mouth, and he wiped it onto the sleeve of his torn coat.
“A third of those flying things have been thrown halfway to Portugal,” Anne added, looking windblown.
“Zora’s turned a score of demons to ash,” Whit said. A rip along the sleeve of his coat revealed a long, shallow cut.
“And Whit’s carved twenty into nothing but meat,” said Zora. Ash streaked the hem of her skirts.
Something was missing. Some
“Where is John?”
Bram gazed at the ongoing battle. He cursed.
John was nowhere to be seen. Rather than be comforted by this, panic gnawed at Livia. An unseen enemy was even more dangerous than a visible one.
“There.” Bram pointed to the tree line, where the woods abutted the field. John, on foot, ran into the forest.
Livia knew better than to mistake it for a retreat. A regrouping, perhaps, but not a retreat. Whatever he intended, it meant certain disaster.
She wrapped her arms tightly around his narrow waist. “You know what we must do.”
“Aye,” he answered, grim. “And I’m eager for it.”
“Go,” said Whit. “We’ll hold this end.”
Pressing his heels into his horse’s sides, Bram urged the animal to give chase. Livia and Bram raced away from the demon-choked field of combat. Death and danger were everywhere. Yet the true threat lay not on the battlefield but up ahead in the trees. The sounds of combat faded as she and Bram plunged into the dark forest in pursuit of their enemy.
Chapter 17
Trouble, almost at once. The trees grew too thick and close to pursue on horseback. Only a moment earlier, there had been more than enough room for a horse and riders. Now they crowded in on every side. It had to be John’s doing. No choice but to dismount and follow on foot.
Bram kept ahead of Livia, the stride of his long legs twice the length of her own. And she was not as accustomed to running as he. She cursed herself as she fell behind, her body already weary and taxed from the battle.
Seeing that she lagged, Bram slowed.
“No, keep with him,” she said.
“I stay with you,” Bram growled.
“He cannot have an opportunity to collect himself or summon reinforcements. Go,” she added, when still Bram lingered. “Don’t insult me by thinking you need to protect me.”
He sent her a glance that clearly indicated his displeasure with this arrangement, but, seeing that John was indeed disappearing further into the woods, he seemed to understand there was no choice. With a final, searching
