Laurent held on to Beast’s arm. “Is that a bomb?”
Beast remembered the explosion a few months back all too well, and just like that time, the pleasant hustle and bustle of laughter and conversation, devolved into screams.
“No, no just fireworks,” he uttered, scowling when visitors left the stands and games behind. He looked back at Rev, who approached him with hands clasped at the back of his head.
“Holy shit.”
The festive gathering turned into a chaotic mess. Parents picked up their children and ran, and while Beast’s first instinct was to stop them, to say it had only been an accident and the party could proceed like normal, the potential for injuries was too great. Teenagers were already taking out their smartphones to record the fuckup, and the sudden migration of their guests toward the vehicle that still had explosives sparking inside made him act fast.
“Guide everyone away. The party’s over,” he said sharply, before whistling to get Vars and Jake’s attention.
The picnic could have lasted longer, generated more charitable donations and more positive energy to combat Baal’s power, but he couldn’t afford to have anyone accidentally injured if he wanted to repeat this kind of event.
Vars grabbed a microphone to inform everyone the party was over while Rev and Jake ushered stubborn guests toward the cars parked along the road just beyond the hill. On the other side of the picnic site, Joker wheeled a mobile extinguisher to the smoking van. Bare-chested, he had his T-shirt wrapped around the lower part of his face for protection but didn’t hesitate to approach the cab, which still had sparks flying inside.
Beast rubbed his face and met Laurent’s gaze. “Tell the businesses to wrap it up.”
Laurent’s determined expression calmed Beast with the ease his kisses could. As soon as he was off, heading to Sweet Break’s van first, Beast stepped over the apple crates and glanced at the deserted obstacle course. At the south end of the picnic site, Shadow was helping the last of the passengers off the Ferris wheel, and people waited for those stuck on the attraction, but the party was pretty much done.
Obligation was like a collar around Beast’s neck. He knew he needed to do his part, but his tongue was so dry he headed to a stand with healthy lemonade first.
It was tasty. But only he knew how much he’d have given for a nice cold beer instead. The watermelon and mint-infused beverage trailed down his throat, but his moment of peace came to a crashing end when Gray gave a warning cry.
“Fire!”
It was then that heat tickled Beast’s neck. His hand rapidly tightened, crushing the cardboard cup and sprayed the cool liquid over Beast’s hand and T-shirt.
Flames rapidly spread over the stall with granola bars just a couple of paces away. His stomach sank, but as he stepped back to search for another extinguisher, his eyes stopped at the burning canopy above the music console.
The expensive equipment normally used during big club parties was under threat, and there was no time to evaluate how the flames could have spread so fast from one place to another, even though the answer couldn’t have been more obvious. Salvaging had to come first, finding the Trojan horse second, so Beast called his men for help and grabbed the first piece of the sound system in sight.
The huge speaker weighed Beast down but was too expensive to risk leaving near all this craziness, even if Knight was already spraying the canopy with the extinguisher. But while minimizing losses was top priority, the viper of suspicion was already sending poison all over Beast’s body. It mingled with the ache in his arms and the discomfort in his mouth, but his focus remained on dragging the music equipment to safety inch by inch.
He briefly looked around to see no remaining civilians, as at this point even the mobile businesses were evacuated, but the pale fumes exuded by the spreading fire turned the scene into a labyrinth where each man had to navigate between fallen items and equipment. The smoke burned Beast’s eyes, but he still searched for the familiar figure of his husband.
Laurent was taking away money boxes into their car with Jake at his side, so Beast ran back into the thick cloud, searching the map in his mind in order to locate the other speaker while visibility was so poor.
But the black limbs of the demonic tree remained a prominent presence despite the fog-like smoke, casting shadows where there should’ve been none and looming above the scene as if the threat of the ugly thing physically attacking was real.
The Kings were the only ones left on the battlefield, and Beast bit down on his lips until they bled when he realized the demonic plant had stopped shedding its petals.
A fresh burst of fire was followed by a female scream, and despite a second of hesitation, Beast put down the speaker and rushed toward his greatest nightmare. His whole being wanted to stay away from the heat, but he couldn’t leave someone else to such a horrible fate either.