Her eyes widened, but I didn’t wait for her inevitable questions as I sped back toward the others.
Aaron was shooting off rapid instructions as his team got into position. “Kai, Laetitia, Zora, you’re vanguard. Ezra and Drew, rear defense—”
“No.” Ezra strode past Aaron, joining Kai at the front of their group, blades in hand. “I’m taking the lead this time.”
Aaron recovered from his surprise in an instant. “Laetitia, take defense. Lyndon, you—”
I missed his order as Tyrone shouted at his men. The Keys had split into five teams of five and they faced the largest force, straight across the intersection—Xanthe and Xever, fifteen Keys of Solomon traitors, their twelve demons, six demon mages, and an unknown number of vampires.
How could twenty-five Keys mythics even slow that force down? The demon mages alone would obliterate them.
As I stood a few steps behind Darius, between the two Crow and Hammer teams and unsure where to go, Xanthe caught my eye. Her stare, roving across my guildmates, came to a halt on Darius.
No. She couldn’t take control of him. She couldn’t—
Darius raised his dagger into the air.
For a bare instant, everyone seemed to pause, all eyes turning to the GM. He swept the blade down to point at Xanthe and Xever.
Complete and utter blackness engulfed the enemy force—a perfect rectangle of ebony nothingness that popped over them like a light switch had been shut off. Shouts of alarm rang out from the darkness. The mythics inside it couldn’t see.
Darius’s lumina magic. He was blinding the enemy so they couldn’t attack all at once.
Twelve demons barreled out of the darkness—and the Keys teams answered with enraged bellows as they ran to meet their first opponents, their own demons heading the charge.
“Cut off the werewolves!” Aaron roared. “Before they reach the intersection!”
I turned away from the exploding battle between Keys and demons as Aaron led his team toward the oncoming werewolf pack. Ezra and Kai flanked him, weapons in hand, and the others spread out away from them.
An instant later, I understood why.
The first wolf, a huge brute with dirty white fur, sprang for Aaron—and the pyromage’s torso burst into flame. Rain evaporated in hissing clouds of steam as fire crawled over him, turning him into a flaming wraith. He slashed with Sharpie.
An inferno blasted from his blade and slammed into the attacking wolf. The pale blue blaze rocketed across the beast and rushed into the next three coming behind it.
A streetlamp exploded, glass raining down. Kai pointed his katana skyward as electricity leaped to the metal in a thick, twisting rope. He turned the sword counterclockwise.
Lighting burst over five wolves at once. The canines crumpled, limbs twitching.
And Ezra rushed in. As the shocked wolves clambered up again, he slashed downward with his blades. The air rippled—and a near-invisible wind-blade rushed away from him. It cut across three wolves, one after another. Blood sprayed.
Then the rest of the pack attacked.
I wrenched my paintball gun from its holster and sprinted to join my friends.
Our team crashed into the wolves, magic and magery flying. Aaron and Kai rained fire and lightning down on the wolves, and Ezra lunged in, using steel blades and air blades alike to cut the beasts down.
A scream—a wolf had leaped into Laetitia, knocking her to the pavement.
My gun swung around. As she kicked the wolf away, I shot at its back. The super sleep potion hit—and instead of a splatter of yellow liquid, it burst into a cloud of sparkling pink. The wolf’s head snapped toward me, foaming fangs gaping.
The cloud of colorful mist condensed around the wolf, coating its fur like oil. The werewolf crumpled to the ground, tongue lolling out.
Holy shit. Sin hadn’t been kidding that it was strong stuff.
Laetitia rolled to her feet, her bo staff spinning, and I darted behind her. As another wolf lunged out of the shadows, I fired into its face. The shot burst into mist, which the wolf lunged straight through. I backpedaled frantically, readying my brass-knuckled fist, but the moment before it reached me, the wolf plowed face-first into the pavement.
“Tori!” Laetitia cried.
I started to turn and a heavy weight crashed into my side.
Slamming into the ground, I shoved my gun up. The attacking wolf’s jaws crunched on the metal barrel, and I flung my fist into its chest with all my strength. “Ori amplifico!”
The blow threw the wolf off me. It staggered, then braced to leap for my throat.
Ezra appeared. His blade plunged into its back, piercing its heart. He wrenched the steel out, lifting the heavy body before it slid off the sword. He grabbed my outstretched hand and hauled me up—then spun toward the wolf leaping for his blind side.
In midleap, a pale blue glow engulfed the wolf. It froze, hovering above the ground, legs outstretched and fangs bared. The glow brightened, then the wolf dropped to the pavement in a heap and didn’t move.
A flash of light gray fur. An animal the size of a coyote hopped onto the fallen wolf. With a body like a weasel, the tail of a fox, and deer antlers, it was the weirdest thing I’d ever seen. Then it turned its head toward me, revealing pale blue eyes set in the face of a barn owl, framed by a thick, furry mane.
Now that was the weirdest thing I’d ever seen.
Philip ran out of the chaos, two tiny winged pixies zooming around him. He shot toward Drew, who was being overwhelmed by a pair of brown wolves, and the owl-faced fae leaped off its motionless victim to follow the witch.
I whipped around as Ezra knocked three wolves away with a single gust of wind.
I took aim. “Get back, Ezra!”
Three shots. Two hit but the third wolf ducked the paintball. As potion mist coated the first two wolves, Ezra ran the third one through.
But there were still more.
Ezra cut left to help Zora, and I backed away, allowing myself one second to glance across Aaron, wreathed in flame, and Kai, pulling endless
