My wolf fed power in a constant stream, but it wasn’t enough to clear it out.
“You don’t seem so powerful now, Little Wolf Girl,” the Queen said, her voice slick and devious. “Looks like I will win after all.”
She made a move, but I grabbed her wrist, forcing my muscles to react. I focused on her through the darkness. “Give me your power,” I ground out. “Help me fight this and I will give you mine. We will fortify the ward and send these assholes back to the Underworld.”
Her irises shot silver. This was her chance to kill me. “Why would I possibly do that now?” she spat. “Feeding you to the demons works perfectly for me.”
“Because I just saved you,” I said, still fighting the power, “again. And you have honor. You chose this path over another. And no”—I grit my teeth—“god is without honor.”
She sucked in a breath.
“Yes, I said god,” I gasped. “I know what you want and there’s only one way to get it. We could’ve solved this twenty minutes ago, but you”—I struggled to get another breath in—“chose to be difficult.”
“Fine.” She hissed, placing her palms on either side of my head, “But if you do not survive this, it is your fault, not mine.”
“Deal,” I managed.
The shock was instantaneous.
Her power entered my system like a white-hot light, infusing every cell in my body. But instead of coupling with my own power, it reverberated around my mind like a giant pinball of energy on steroids, threatening to short-circuit me as the black continued to fill in around it. We have to merge our power together. Neither of our magic is strong enough to defeat this on its own.
It took everything I had. Eudoxia’s magic was heady, but I managed to grab hold of it, but only for a moment. It was enough. As I forced my gold to meld with her white, I rolled off her onto the ground. Starburst lit behind my eyes and I convulsed. Once they were connected I shot the magic forward, obliterating the black mist in one explosion of power.
I blinked.
I could see again.
Gunfire blasted around us.
The witches were firing on the Prince of Hell.
Eudoxia was already up. The vampires had moved back. Seeing their Queen alive and well had improved their attitudes greatly.
“I will take my prize or I destroy this place,” the Prince of Hell intoned.
“You’re not taking anything,” Tally called. “You’re not welcome on this plane and we’re prepared to send you back.”
“That’s interesting indeed,” it said. “And how exactly are you planning on sending me back, lowly witch?”
I stood. The vamps were in front of me, but I could see the Prince of Hell from my vantage point.
“We know your rules.” Tally’s voice was confident. “And I came prepared.” There was some clanging and shuffling, and then as one, the witches lobbed spelled grenades at all the Demon Lords.
As the devices exploded, the Demon Lords disappeared one by one, popping out of existence like firecrackers, leaving behind a trail of smoke.
Tally was right.
She’d come prepared. Whatever was contained in those explosives had been enough to send the Lords back to the Underworld.
Except for one.
“You may have temporarily sent my comrades back to our home, but your spells do not affect me, witch.” Everything quieted as the Prince of Hell strode forward for the first time. He wasn’t confined to a circle, and that was enough to make everyone take notice. A deep feeling of unease hit the yard. “I will take what I came for, and only then will I leave this plane.”
Its eyes scanned the grounds and landed on me.
One of the witches lobbed another hand grenade. It flew directly at the Prince, who reached out and plucked it from the air and crushed it into dust.
“Well, crap,” the witch said. “That was my last one too.”
“I’m not going anywhere with you.” I stepped forward, the vamps parting for me.
It knew I’d been struck down by its power and it sized me up, its eyes narrowing. “You will come of your own volition, or I will destroy this place.” It crossed its arms. “And everyone in it.”
Rourke moved to meet me in the middle, his face set, his energy palpable. Instead of forming a rebuttal, I asked, still moving forward, “Why are you here? You said I had a court date, and my trip to the Underworld would be nonnegotiable. If that is true, why come here at all?”
“I needn’t explain myself to you or anyone else,” it said. “You are a criminal. An outlaw in our world. We apprehend those who act against us. It is our way.”
My father, still in his wolf form, paced up behind me as I stopped, growling and snapping his jaw. He was ferocious, and it was nice to see him back to his full power.