He hadn’t noticed someone had landed a blow on him.
He growled, anger at the daemon who had done this to him colliding with fury aimed at himself for letting his mind wander during a fight. He swiftly checked the Erinyes, relieved to find they were still at the gate, and were no longer focused on attempting to open it.
They were struggling to defend themselves.
Marek and Keras worked as a team, using earth and shadows to drive the daemons back, taking several down in the process as they fought to reach the Erinyes.
The two blonde goddesses had closed ranks and were holding hands now, their bright violet eyes glowing in the darkness as they slowly backed off.
Behind them, the gate shrank and winked out of existence with a violent burst of purple light that dampened Daimon’s vision.
Not only had he failed to notice a daemon had landed a blow on him, but he had failed to notice the arrival of his brothers.
He cursed Cass, and then himself.
Black shadows raced from Keras, screams filling the air as they cut a path through the daemons, and then a keening feminine shriek.
“Sister.” One of the Erinyes turned a growl on his oldest brother. “You will pay dearly for that.”
But rather than attacking him, she cast a portal. The violet-black smoke rapidly billowed outwards and she backed into it, helping the other furie as she hobbled. Marek and Cal stepped and sprinted for it, and Daimon kicked off too, determined to get his hands on one or both of the goddesses.
Daemons crowded the path ahead of him and he snarled through short fangs as he threw his arms forwards. Jagged shards of ice shot up from the grass, impaling several of the daemons. The rest were swift to leap out of the way. His gaze shot to the portal and he bit out a curse.
It was gone.
On a black growl, he turned on the remaining daemons, hurling spears of ice in rapid succession, quickly taking down six of them as his brothers joined the fight again. The daemons didn’t stand a chance. Several of them scrambled to escape but Valen didn’t let them. Lightning crashed down around them, striking half of the daemons as shadows killed the rest.
Daimon pressed his hand to his side and breathed hard as the last daemon went down, needing a moment to gather his strength again.
Cal, Valen, Keras and Marek picked their way over the dead to reach him and he looked at the point where the gate was hidden.
A weight settled in his gut.
“I don’t like what happened here,” he muttered, his voice distant as his thoughts turned to Esher again. He glanced at Keras. “They attacked Hong Kong. This gate is bound to Esher, meaning it’s the one gate we can’t seal right now.”
Keras’s handsome face turned grave and he dipped his head, his green eyes revealing he’d had the same thought. “The enemy is aware of which gate each of us is bound to by blood.”
“Well, that’s a big fucking problem,” Valen put in as he shoved the long lengths of his violet hair out of his face, his golden eyes glowing in the darkness. “So the enemy knows way more about us than we thought?”
Marek nodded. “It appears so.”
“How the hell is that possible?” Cal looked between them all, the tips of his blond ponytail fluttering in the breeze that gently swept around him. “They took Esher and Marek’s blood… maybe that—”
Marek shook his head this time. “No. This is… It’s almost as if someone is feeding the enemy information.”
Which was exactly what Daimon had been thinking.
“Or they’re with the enemy.” Daimon exchanged a troubled look with Marek.
“The woman they keep mentioning?” Cal said with a concerned glance at Keras.
Keras twisted the silver band on his thumb. “I am not sure, but I shall send another Messenger to Father to see if he can think of anyone who might be working with them.”
“Last time you asked, he sent a list as long as my dick,” Valen muttered.
“So a short list?” Cal grinned at Valen when he scowled at him.
Keras raised his right hand and that was all it took to have both of them falling back into line.
Valen was right though. The list of possible enemies Hades had sent back had been hundreds of names long, far too many for their father to investigate, especially when Esher was missing and the majority of his legions were searching for him in the Underworld.
Keras’s green eyes shifted to Marek. “Are you feeling strong enough to close Rome?”
Marek was quick to nod. “Whatever it takes to turn the tide in our favour.”
“I can close New York.” Daimon lowered his hand from his side, aware that it wouldn’t be dark in New York for hours yet. As it was, Rome would only be on the cusp of nightfall. They were going to have to wait in the city for at least an hour before it was dark enough to summon the gate and close it. “We could go there after Rome. Ares and Cal could assist me.”
Keras looked down at Daimon’s side, his gaze gaining a concerned shimmer as he shook his head.
“It is best we do one at a time.”
Which was a nice way of saying he didn’t think Daimon was strong enough right now to handle it. That grated a little, but he tamped down that feeling and crushed it out of existence. His brother was right, and it was better they didn’t weaken their forces by too much. Marek being out of action for a few days would be bad enough.
He wasn’t really sure why he had been so quick to offer anyway.
He looked at Marek.
Realised that he had wanted to be the one to sleep for a few days.
Between the nightmares of Esher in the Underworld that plagued him whenever he tried to sleep, and the nightmare that was Cass plaguing him whenever he was awake, he was bone-deep tired, on the verge of collapse.
Being
