The second furie reached Daimon, lashing at him with her claws, driving him back as he tried to reach Cass.
Cass looked at him as the furie she had been fighting got her in a chokehold and dragged her backwards.
Power vibrated in the air. A portal.
She craned her neck to look behind her as she grabbed the furie’s arms, cursed when violet-black clouds billowed outwards from a point only a few feet away. She clawed at the goddess’s arm, drawing blood, and pressed her hands to the crimson liquid, forming a connection between them.
The goddess shrieked in her ear as the spell seeped into her and Cass wove it with another, turning it toxic, hoping to weaken the furie enough that she could break free.
She kicked and scrambled with her legs as the bitch pulled her backwards, as the power of the portal grew heavier in the air.
Cass looked at Daimon, awareness washing through her, leaving her cold.
She couldn’t stop the furie in time.
He paused as he grappled with the second furie and stared at her, hurt welling in his striking eyes, laced with despair and hopelessness that crashed over her too.
A vicious roar cut through the night as the barrier flickered and faded.
Daimon’s head jerked up and he ducked as the furie he had been fighting released him and threw herself to the ground.
Cass stared wide-eyed as a huge lion-like creature with feathered eagle wings and gleaming talons shot past him.
Heading straight for her.
This wasn’t good.
Those talons flexed, aimed right at her.
It was going to rip her to pieces.
Chapter 37
Daimon ducked and then popped to his feet as the winged lion shot past him, heading for Cass. She froze in the furie’s grip, horror shining in her blue eyes as she stared at the beast that was zooming towards her.
Daimon had never been so glad to see the little bastard.
Mister Milos swooped upwards, grabbing the furie with his talons and hauling her up into the night air on hard beats of his feathered wings. The guardian deity growled as he sank fangs into the female’s shoulder, as he raked at her with his claws. The goddess fought him as they twisted in the air, scratching at him with her own talons, hissing and snarling the whole time.
Cass sagged to her knees, eyes fixed in a blank stare ahead of her and her skin far too pale for Daimon’s liking.
He kicked off, determine to grab her before Meadow could recover from the blow he had delivered when Mister Milos had distracted her with his overly dramatic, and extremely late, entrance.
He left the second furie in the dust as blood rained down from the sky.
The battle that raged there slowly drew Cass’s stunned gaze upwards.
Heat licked across his back and he didn’t need to look to know Meadow was on her feet and coming after him. Ares grunted as he hurled another fireball at her, and she screamed as this one connected, blasting her towards the gate.
Daimon’s breath hitched and he skidded on the grass, twisting towards the gate.
Meadow shot straight through the lingering ring and central violet disc, tumbled across the ground and rolled to a halt.
The ring shrank into the central disc and it began to grow smaller, burning brighter as the power of the gate was condensed down into a single tiny orb. That orb flashed, the violet light blinding him as it filled the darkness, and then it was gone.
Meadow scrambled onto her feet and glared at where the gate was hidden.
A pinprick of purple light burst back into existence.
“Shit,” Ares muttered and raced past him, Valen hot on his heels. “I’ll handle this.”
Daimon nodded and pivoted, hurried to Cass and helped her onto her feet.
She continued to stare up at the sky, watching Mister Milos as he fought the furie. More than just her blood was splattering them now. The guardian was taking heavy damage too. He willed Milos to fight harder, and to survive. As much as he couldn’t stand the cat, he had to make it through the battle. Cass would be devastated if something happened to him.
Someone whimpered.
And then Melody plummeted out of the sky, landing hard on her back on the grass, blood bursting from her lips as her body jerked upwards.
Daimon figured the goddess was done for.
She was still for a tense minute and then she coughed and rolled over, pressed her hands and knees into the dirt and shook her head.
Damn.
Twin orbs of twisting green and purple light shot past Daimon and slammed into the goddess, sending her flying.
“Bitch,” Cass muttered and sagged in his arms.
He clutched her to him with one arm and raised his other one, and ice shot up from the ground as Melody ran at him. The furie managed to dodge the first shard, but the second caught her calf, and the third pierced her thigh, sending her toppling forwards.
Just as the fourth jagged spear of ice shot up from the ground.
One he had intended to use to block her path to Cass.
The thicker shard impaled her chest, crimson swift to roll down it as it sliced clean through her and the pointed tip emerged from her back.
“Melody!” Meadow yelled, pain and fury in that one word.
Together with fear.
The furie cast one last look at her fallen sister and then spun on her heel, sprinting for a portal that formed just a few feet ahead of her. Ares growled and hurled a fireball at her, and lightning shot up from the ground just in front of her. She threw herself to her left, rolled and came onto her feet, kicked off and leaped.
Straight through the portal.
Keras snarled, a black growl that had Daimon focusing on his brother to see what had him so upset.
The daemons were fleeing.
It was over.
At
