Zak’s crystals hung around my neck. My force-amplifying brass knuckles were already on my fingers. My back pouch was empty—I’d left orb-Hoshi with Kaveri where she’d be safe—but I’d added the Carapace of Valdurna to my left pouch instead.
Ezra’s head came up. His eyes half-lidded as he concentrated. “They’re coming.”
Nodding, Darius turned to the empty intersection. “Remember, we must hold this line. Protect the guild.” He glanced back across us, a spark of bleak amusement in his eyes. “And don’t die.”
He made it sound so simple.
The chill breeze washed over us, its quiet rustle the only sound. Everything was still and empty, the police’s neighborhood evacuation thorough and complete. Justin had been texting updates to Sin, and with his final “it’s done” message fifteen minutes ago, we’d formed our line outside the guild.
A raindrop landed on my nose, cold and wet. Another plopped on my cheek. As the light rain fell, reflecting the glow of the streetlamps, shadows formed in the distant darkness.
They came from all four directions, striding confidently across the pavement. Nearly all male. Big, strong, muscular. Cold, hardened faces and hungry leers. Weapons of every kind. Mythics of every kind.
My stomach turned over with growing dread as more and more Keys men appeared. Fifteen mythics approached from the east, fifteen from the west. Fifteen more from the north, and yet fifteen more from the south.
Sixty. Sixty. That wasn’t four teams! That was most of the guild split into four attack squads.
The rain increased from a light sprinkle to a steady patter as the four groups reached the intersection. Their lines combined into a single arc of men, weapons, and impending violence.
I sucked in rapid breaths, my head spinning with panic. We’d expected sixteen or twenty men. Instead, we were outnumbered three to one.
A man near the center of their line stepped forward—tall, heavily muscled, thick beard, and wide-set eyes. He carried a two-handed sword as long as he was tall.
“Darius,” the man rumbled.
“Nicolas,” Darius replied coolly. “You’ve moved up in the world since we last met.”
“‘Met,’” the Keys GM repeated, his tone thoughtful. “Is that how you describe murdering my predecessor in front of me?”
“Nothing personal. Business is business.”
“As is this. Do understand that we can’t accept the surrender of anyone from your guild, as demon mages could be hiding among your members.”
My gaze darted over my shoulder, where a handful of familiar faces were visible in the pub’s windows. Did the Keys intend to kill all our non-combat members sheltering inside too?
“There are no demon mages in my guild,” Darius said.
“Men like you never change.” Nicolas heaved the point of his sword off the ground, and his guildeds shifted with restless anticipation. “You shouldn’t have sent your pets into my guild. Did you think you’d get away with murdering four of my men?”
“Ha!”
I didn’t realize that sharp, humorless laugh had come from me until Nicolas’s gaze snapped to my face.
“Something funny about the deaths of my men?”
Sixty murderous glares attempted to flay the flesh from my bones. Oops.
“Death is never funny,” I called. “But it’s funny that you think we murdered them. Can’t you count?”
“Count?” the Keys GM growled.
“Yeah. You didn’t notice the fifth guy? The total stranger killed by … wait, what was it?” I pretended to think. “Oh right. Demon magic. Just like Piotr, Anand, and Chay were killed with demon magic.” I crossed my arms. “But no, go ahead and blame us.”
Kai groaned almost inaudibly.
“Were you there, girl?” The GM bared his teeth. “You’re one of the cowards who killed my men?”
Oh. Double oops. Now the entire guild would try to kill me first.
“Have you given any thought to what my guilded is saying, Nicolas?” Darius asked calmly. “Demon magic killed your men and killed the stranger in their midst, and you have no questions about that?”
“My only question is how you snuck your demon mage into my guild.” Nicolas raised his fist in a wordless command, and every Keys member who didn’t already have a weapon in hand drew one. Crimson power flashed over and over—two dozen demons taking form among the mythics.
Two dozen demons. They had more demons than we had fighters. I clenched my hands into fists to hide their trembling.
“I told you there are no demon mages in my guild,” Darius said, his quiet voice rolling through the streets. “And you’re about to take innocent lives at your enemy’s bidding.”
“I do no one’s bidding, Darius.”
Nicolas swung his arm down to signal the charge—and the earth trembled.
Behind the Keys’ line, the pavement split open. A pillar of dirt and concrete shot upward, rising two stories and halting when it reached the top of a nearby building.
A man stood on the roof, glaring down at the gathered mythics. He stepped onto the pillar and it sank back into the earth, carrying him downward like an elevator. He thumped his wooden staff into the pillar’s top and it went still, three feet above the road.
“Blake?” the Keys GM growled. “What—”
“Are you out of your mind, Nicolas?” The terramage yelled. “You’re about to slaughter an innocent guild!”
Nicolas snorted. “You’re the one out of his mind.”
His gaze sweeping across the assembled Keys men, the terramage struck the earthy pedestal with his staff. “We faced Enright together. We fought a battle more horrific than anything we had ever seen, and we lost friends and comrades. It was worth it because we were stamping out an evil force before it could grow any larger—but that’s not what happened. We didn’t stamp out the cult.”
“Shut up, Blake!” someone shouted. “You’ve lost it!”
“I was in there when Russel, Anand, Piotr, and Chay died,” Blake roared. “They were part of the Enright cult! Russel had become a demon mage!”
A man laughed, the sound cruel and mocking.
“Get off that rock, Blake,” Nicolas yelled. “You need medical attention.”
“I needed medical attention after Russel blew a hole in my chest, not now.” Blake pointed his staff at the GM. “Four weeks ago, a Crow and Hammer team showed up at Enright. They were
