Someone else joined in, and I groaned under the strain. Doc leaned against me and pressed his fangs into my neck. Moments later energy poured into me. It was Doc's energy laced with the demon magic and even some of the magic Nikolai and I had given him.
"Don't wear yourself out," I said.
He couldn't reply but he tightened his hands briefly on my arms.
The boost helped, and though two more mages joined the onslaught against our shield, I held it.
Sweat streamed down my back and matted my hair to my head and my muscles shook. At some point Doc removed his fangs from my neck, but the connection remained.
"Got it," Nikolai groaned, collapsing to the ground next to us.
"Are you okay?" Doc asked the mage.
Nikolai nodded. "But now we need to fight our way out, and we're all exhausted. Releasing Ash was much more difficult. Magic was quite ingrained."
"Is he okay?"
"Will be," Nikolai answered. "Unconscious still." Nikolai took a deep breath and heaved himself off the ground, kneeling next to me. "I've got it." He poured his energy into the spell protecting us, and I gratefully took a rest.
Doc eased the connection between us and I collapsed to the ground, my limbs dragging me down like lead. The cool concrete floor pulled some of the heat from my body and the sweat chilled until I shivered so I forced myself up until I was sitting instead.
Doc had his fangs buried in Nikolai's neck, and I could see them sharing energy, so I crawled over to Ash.
His chest rose and fell. I brushed some of his long hair off his face. His skin was so warm my hands felt icy when I touched him. I took his arm in my hand and looked at the deep scars on his wrists. They looked raw and painful so I spared a bit of my energy and pushed a bit of healing strength into them.
He gasped, eyes fluttering as he woke. He zeroed in on me, and gathered his powers, anguish twisting his handsome features and darkening his husky blue eyes.
"Ash, you're free." I didn't want him to blast me on accident.
His eyes narrowed and he held up his arms and stared at the ugly scars on his wrists. He darted his gaze back to me, disbelief warring with suspicion on his features. He glanced around and saw Doc supporting Nikolai as the mage held up my shield, though both looked at least as tired as I felt.
"Before you pull on your magic any more than you already are," I said as something I had noticed but not really acknowledged, clicked into place. "Feel the magic around us. I think they were prepared in case we did manage to free you. The wards will trigger to your magic."
His jaw clenched and he nodded, expression darkening. Ash rolled to his feet, coiled tension in all of his muscles. He still hadn't said anything, but he hadn't attempted to kill me on sight either, so I took that as a good sign.
Ash stalked over to Nikolai and Doc and knelt behind them. Nikolai glanced at Ash when he put his hand on both of their backs. Magic flowed from him into them and I could feel their flagging energy strengthen. Filtered through Nikolai, the magic shouldn't trigger as demon magic.
Fortunately, Alex had given up on his descriptive tirade, focusing instead on taking down our shield.
Unfortunately, even with Ash, we were all tired, though I suspected I had more energy than Nikolai at the moment now that I'd had a chance to catch my breath.
I tapped him on the back and he let me take over the shield.
"So, what now?" I asked.
"Cavalry is on the way," Nikolai said quietly.
"Did you call in the wolves?" I did not like that idea at all.
"No," Doc said. "But they did tell us that Adriana and some others had just arrived."
"That was quick," I muttered.
"Suspect they were in area," Nikolai agreed.
For whatever reason they happened to be close, at the moment I was grateful. The slight worry that they weren't on our side tried to tickle at my brain, but I pushed that away. We were screwed if that was the case. Or, someone would be anyway. I suspected that if Ash, Nikolai, and I really wanted to, we could level this place, even as wiped out as we felt. We held back now, but if it came down to it, we would fight.
"See if you can wake that demon up," we heard a female voice order over the crackle of magic against our shield.
I shivered. The voice was familiar, but I wasn't sure who it belonged to. Maybe Alex's grandmother? The woman who looked like she could be his older sister. However she had managed to extend her life and youthful appearances, I doubted it was ethical.
"Ash, wake up." The words were simple enough, but the note of command in the tone and the push of magic caused Ash's head to go up and his eyes to narrow. His coiled muscles tensed more and I hoped he wasn't about to lose control. I wouldn't blame him, but I didn't think it would help at the moment. Hell, if it had been me, they'd have to hold me back. I couldn't do anything but watch as I concentrated on the shield.
Doc put his hand on Ash's shoulder. "There will be a time," he said quietly.
The demon's expression eased slightly, and he nodded, platinum blond hair falling into his face.
The magical assault on my shield grew and I dropped to my knees on the hard concrete. Sheer determination kept me from giving under the onslaught. We'd either be saved in a moment or have to unleash everything we had.
Ash's hot hands touched my back and supported me as he poured some of his energy through me into the shield. I groaned as it washed
