Noah reached out and grasped my hand. “She’s shaken up but totally okay. She called Mikey, who called Lincoln. He’s there now, and killed the demon that tried to hurt her. We just need you girls to win this fight as quickly as possible, so we can get your mom, and get the hell out of here.”
My blood was boiling. The first thing that came to my mind was Grim. That motherfucker put a hit out on my mom so even if I won and transferred him the money, I wouldn’t walk away happy. I felt it in my bones. It was him.
I’d been angry before at times in my life, but never had I been so livid. My wings snapped out of my back against my will, sending Chloe scurrying against the far wall.
“I’m going to kill him,” I rumbled.
Noah looked at my wings, horrified. “Calm down. You’re….”
“Smoking,” Shea finished, pointing at my wings.
I glanced down at the tips of my wings to see black smoke curling off the ends.
Good.
Standing, I looked down at Shea. “Let’s finish this.”
You mess with my family, then you’re going to get my full wrath.
Chapter Nineteen
Nadia and Gor looked positively ready to throw down. They had tears in their clothes and some crusted blood on their body, but otherwise they looked injury free. They’d definitely had a healer demon at their disposal.
“What kind of name is that anyway? Gor?” I asked Shea as we made our way to the cage. I’d allowed Noah to do a little healing on me, but the rage and adrenaline were working wonders to keep me from feeling any pain.
The big hairy brute was disrobing, which meant he was probably going to—yep, he was shifting.
Awesome.
“It’s short for Gordon. He’s an asshole. I’m so ready to kill them both, get your mom, and go home.” Shea grunted as we moved through the crowd.
Reaching out, I grabbed her hand and she turned to meet my gaze.
“Thank you. There’s no one else I could count on for this.”
Shea smiled and I ignored the blood on her teeth. “You’re my ride or die, bitch. I love you.”
I laughed and then winced. Add a broken rib to my list of maladies.
My eyes flicked to the black panther pacing the cage, as the crowd erupted in bloodthirsty screams.
“I’ll take the Beast, you get the Mage?” I asked her. She was much more adept at handling a magic user than I was.
“Gladly,” Shea responded, tightening her grip on the semicircular blades in her hands. Purple magic flowed from her wrists and surrounded the sharp edges.
We were both tired as hell and sore and… done. This needed to be a quick and ruthless fight—I wanted it to be, anyway—but something was nagging at my conscience. These were just kids. Or young adults. Whatever. They were fighting for money and a better station in life. Granted, they were all pretty much assholes and evil, but that was because they’d had to grow up here. This shithole Demon City didn’t allow you to dream of anything else. They were doing the best they could with what they’d been given.
Oh God, what the hell am I doing? Softening my heart to these people right before I have to—
The buzzer sounded.
I was so conflicted that I wanted to throw up. Where were the new thoughts coming from?
The pink-haired mage launched a purple ball of magic right at me and I dropped to the ground, rolling away from it. Seeing me on the ground, the panther decided to pounce.
‘You’re a good person. It’s okay to feel sorry for them, but you also need to grab hold of your self-preservation, or we’re about to die!’ Sera yelped as the panther burst into the air and landed on top of me before I could get up.
She was right. What the hell was I doing having a crisis of conscience right now? I thrust Sera up into the animal’s abdomen right as his jaw clamped around my right shoulder.
Sharp pain pierced my shoulder, and the panther and I both howled at the same time.
I had to put this moral dilemma out of my head and survive the match. My fight or flight system officially kicking in, I tucked my leg back as far as I could, wedged my boot underneath the panther’s belly, and kicked out hard, launching him off me. He sailed across the space, taking Sera with him. I’d left her stuck in his gut. When he landed, he immediately pawed at her, ripping her out with one good swipe.
Plan B.
I didn’t want to do this again. Using the dark magic so often was messing with me, making me feel hopeless and depressed whenever I called it up, but I didn’t see any other way. With a deep breath, I called my black magic whip; it flared and grew out of my hand like a snake, and the crowd roared. The inky black energy that coursed along the edges of the whip sizzled as they made their way to the tip.
I reared my hand back, ready to flick the whip at the panther, when something red caught my eye. Too late, I turned to see a rosy spell crash into my chest. Shea screamed in frustration, and launched herself at the Mage while I was overcome with dizziness.
Shit.
Plan C.
The cage was spinning, and suddenly I wasn’t sure if the panther before me was truly there or off to my right. Maybe my left. Either way, he was stalking closer, and I felt like I was falling over. I spread my legs apart in an effort to steady myself, and lashed out at the spot where I thought the animal was. I missed. He was still coming at me.
I didn’t want to risk hurting Shea, so I backed up a bit farther to give myself a moment to gather my thoughts, my wings hitting the electric fence. Again. A cry of frustration left my throat, and I sucked my wings back into my body. Lashing out again, I was rewarded with a panther’s yelp as my whip connected with something.
“Dizzy spell, Shea!” I shouted, hoping that made sense to her. I didn’t have the energy to form complete sentences. Suddenly, two purple glowing balls flew through the air and crashed into me. Shea’s magic. My vision cleared at once, just in time to see the panther arc through the air, jaw open and teeth glistening with saliva.
I flicked my wrist, wrapping the whip securely around his neck in one quick movement. When I tightened the hold, he cried out, falling to the floor.
‘Cut his head off!’ Sera shouted.
His catlike green eyes bored into me and I faltered.
“I don’t want to kill you, but I will,” I shouted, pulling the whip tighter as puffs of smoke rose from around his neck.
At my declaration, the whip started to slowly turn white. A bright Celestial glowing fire left my palm, and pulsed down the whip, changing its color.
‘What the hell is that?’ I asked Sera, hoping she was seeing this even though she didn’t have eyes, and was on the floor in the corner.
‘Angel fire. Just as deadly. I told you that you didn’t need your dark magic.’ I detected pride in her voice.
I’d called up Celestial magic, I didn’t have to be dark, or use dark magic to be a badass!
The white fire licked down the rope, alarmingly close to his face.
“We submit!” Nadia screamed, her voice was heavy with defeat.
The victory buzzer sounded and the cage door opened.
We’d won.
Shock ripped through me as I called the whip back, letting it fall away from the panther’s neck.
My mom was free, and we’d freaking won. I’d never have to come back to this retched place again. I wanted to cry, I wanted a nap, I wanted so many things.
I sagged against the now unelectrified wall of the cage in relief.
My eyes tracked the Abrus demon, the silver-haired man entered the cage holding a tablet.
“Congratulations, ladies. Where would you like the money to be sent?” He was beaming with pride, and it was bothering the hell out of me.
He’s happy to give me a million dollars and watch me go back to Angel City? Why?
His eyes flicked to the corner of the cage where Sera lay. Using the trick Michael taught me, I called her to me. She floated across the cage and into my hand.
The demon’s left eyebrow raised, and a smile quirked the edge of his lips.
I pulled out the card I’d kept in my pocket that had Grim’s bank details on it.
“You can send the money here,” I said, handing him the information.
He took the card and then met my gaze. “I’ll give you ten million each to leave Angel City, and work for me.”