“He was about to tell me everything, but then this Ophidian nonsense came up, and he just took off,” Tazreel grumps.
“So what am I then? A Gatekeeper like a Grim?” I ask, but my question comes out at the same time that Nefta says, “The Ophidian? What nonsense exactly came up involving the Ophidian?”
Tazreel levels her with a look. “You tell us.”
She bristles, her amethyst-colored wings shifting at her back.
I intervene before they can get off-track with arguing again. “The five of us were attacked in the Vestibule by Outer Ringers,” I explain. “They were there to capture me and take me to the Ophidian.”
I glance over at my guys, just a physical reaction to reassure my mind that they’re all here with me.
Nefta’s purple eyebrows pull together as she takes in what I’ve told her. “Ophidian was the name of the big bad we always fought against when we were playing as children in Heaven. Only four beings would have known that name. Me, Lucifer, Sytry, and Morax. But Sytry and Morax are dead, so either it’s a coincidence or…”
I don’t get to hear option two, because all four of my demons suddenly flinch simultaneously. My head whips to the side at the sound of Jerif’s grunt at the same time that I hear a sharp intake of air come from Iceman. Echo and Crux are looking at each other, like the blood just drained from their faces.
“What’s wrong?” I ask, looking at all four of them with bewilderment and panic. “What’s happening?”
“The Gate,” Iceman says, and my gaze snaps over to him. “It’s being attacked. Our portal is about to be overrun. We have to go.”
Dread fills my chest like cigarette smoke. Seeing the panic in their eyes lets me know exactly how serious this is. My head swivels to Taz. “I need you to make us a portal to get back home.”
The Pride demon just frowns. “Delta, I am right in the middle of arguing with your birth womb about why all of your issues are her fault, so it’s going to have to wait.”
I stalk over to him, my boots clipping against the tiled floor until I get right in his face. I look down at him where he sits, because I know this position, more than anything, will piss him off. “I wasn’t asking. I’m telling.” My shoulders are back and my chin is high, and I stare down at him hard, giving every physical cue I can think of to let him know that this is deadly serious. “Make the portal and get us there. Now. You can argue with Nefta later. Guarding the Hellgate comes first.”
The muscle in his jaw jumps as he grinds his teeth together, and just like I knew he would, he quickly gets to his feet so that I can’t look down on him anymore. Not physically, anyway.
“I will make you a portal, but only because I want to,” he says petulantly. “I was growing tired of hearing Nefta, anyway.”
The Legion Colonel rolls her Concord grape colored eyes, but I ignore them both. “Get us as close as you can, Taz,” I tell him, feeling the need to hurry, solely based on how tense and poised for battle the four demons at my back seem to be.
“Yes, yes,” Taz says dismissively before raising his arm, ready to make a portal.
“You may not make a portal on Legion territory,” Nefta cuts in, one hand still holding her scythe.
Taz scoffs. “I can do whatever I want,” he says insolently.
“You absolutely cannot do whatev—”
“Stop!” I shout, cutting them both off. “You two are a fucking nightmare! Thank fuck that you gave me away, Nefta, because if I’d had to deal with this my whole life, I would have gone bat-shit crazy,” I say, shaking my head. “Now, I don’t care about your pride or your rules. Stop thinking about yourselves for two seconds and take us where we need to go so we can kick some unauthorized demon Hell Spawn ass!”
They both stare at me. Taz looks put out, offended as usual, but Nefta...I think I see delight in her purple gaze. “I see it now. Your blood sings with battle just as mine does. A family trait,” she says before she turns and shoots Taz a look. “What are you waiting for? Get the damned portal up so our progeny can go kick some ass!”
Cursing and grumbling under his breath, he flicks his wrist out to the side, and a seven-foot tall wall of a semi-transparent, metallic veil stretches in front of us.
We don’t waste any time. All four of my guys race after me as I sprint straight into it, this time welcoming the feeling of vertigo, because I know it’s going to take us where we need to be.
I land hard on the balls of my feet, immediately wrapped in the dark shroud of Sandpiper’s night sky, smack dab in the middle of Perdition Estate’s long drive. My guys get spit out of the portal right beside me, and we immediately start cutting across the grounds toward the graveyard. My arms pump as I do my best to keep up with the fast pace of the guys, but their strides are much longer than mine, and I have to move twice as fast to keep from lagging behind.
Iceman races ahead of us, his horns glinting in the moonlight, and I focus on him as my personal beacon as we charge into who knows what kind of clusterfuck. Images of Cousin It demons flash through my mind, slowly to be replaced by memories of the different demons at the Vestibule. I have no idea what we’re about to run into, but I can’t let the uneasiness I feel slow me down.
But with every step
