Page 62 of Beauty At Stake
“From what?” I waved my arm out. “Everyone, calm the fuck down!”
The chaos settled, and the noise dulled into silence. I went past Star—trying not to think about how smokin' hot he was in Demon form—and strode toward the house. The only attack she launched at us was some kind of revealing spell. I intended to find out how that un-Witch had cast it.
As I approached the house, my Demon senses recalibrated. I'd been a little focused on the craziness of our arrival and then there were the Demons with me. It was impossible for me to sense that there were more Demons nearby. Demons who weren't with our team.
They stood in front of the house. Six of them. All armed with swords and spears. Spears! Shit! I'd forgotten about the golden elephant with the spear in its side. And can I just pause here to say—that's not something you hear every day. Not even in my world.
The Demons stood before a hakhil that covered the house. As I stepped up, they settled into battle stances.
“Stand down!” Star roared as he came up beside me, his hoofed footsteps vibrating through the earth as violently as the passage of Killian's reptilian body. The King of Hell spread his thick thighs, his torn clothing flapping around him precariously,and narrowed his glowing stare at his people. “I am your king! I ordered you to stand down.”
The Demons—five men and one woman—didn't waver. They just waited in their battle stances.
“She summoned them,” I said. “They can't obey you. But don't worry. I got this.”
I laleked directly behind a Demon and grabbed his shoulder. Before any of them could react, I uncrossed him, sending the lavender glow of my magic into the Demon. Then I laleked back to where I'd been. He was my test run. I had to make sure the uncrossing would work on summoning magic.
It did.
The Demon shuddered, then focused on me. I subtly shook my head and laleked behind the next man. I grabbed two Demons this time, uncrossing them, then dashing down the line. As I uncrossed the next two, the final Demon—a woman—attacked me.
“I don't think so.” Star grabbed the female Demon by the throat. He lifted her off her feet and shook her until her weapons fell to the ground. “Seren.”
“Got her.” I grabbed the woman's arm and uncrossed her.
“Drop the hakhil,” Star said to the freed Demons. “Now!”
All six of them reached out and released the hakhil in unison. As soon as it fell, our motley team ran for the house.
The doors and windows lasted three seconds before getting churned into shards. Even those sturdy stone walls shook, raining debris as we stampeded into the house. And Imean that literally. Between the Demons and the Fairies, there were more hooves striking the hardwood than shoes. Killian couldn't even come in. Instead, he circled to the back of the house.
And it was a good thing he did.
“She's on a boat!” Kill shouted.
The rest of us dashed through the house and out to the backyard. By the time I emerged, Killian was already in the water.
“Killian!” I shouted. “Glamour yourself!”
Suddenly, the giant snake undulating through the water disappeared. But the damage had been done. Humans were out in their boats, going about their business and completely unprepared for the sight of a river monster. They screamed and turned their boats about. Then we were spotted.
It was a giant clusterfuck.
The bird-man and the winged horse flew off after the fleeing humans, cloaking themselves in magic as they went. I assumed they were going to wipe the humans' memories and collect their cell phones. The Demons likewise took to the air and vanished, but I heard Star command them to pursue Anita. With that handled, my husband became my biggest concern. Because as Killian swam after the speedboat—he may have been invisible, but the swath of disturbed water he created was not—a tidal wave rose from the river and swept toward him.
I couldn’t tell if Killian was hurt, but I saw his aura tumble through the water and strike the dock moments later. Wood splintered, and the ground shook once more.
“Kill!” I shrieked. “Killian?”
“I'm here, babe.” Killian appeared in his prime form, crawling onto the dock naked.
I flung out a hand to clothe his lower half in a pair of glowing pants made of Light and as I did, the light-show that was my body toned down and winked out. Around me, the Fey hunters who didn't have wings shifted back into their main bodies. I motioned at them and covered their nudity with Light clothes too. Rupert, the Pack Vex, had torn his clothes a little, but they were mostly intact. So I didn't have to bother with him.
The hunters made sounds of awe as they looked from their new clothes to me.
“It's only until you can get some real clothes,” I said. “Maybe you can find something while we search the house.”
“You heard the Ambassador,” Lord Pichai said. “Let's get this place thoroughly searched. Top to bottom. If you have to, take the walls apart.”
