Battle With Fire (Demon Days & Vampire Nights)

“And there’s the problem. If we tear down the elves totally, then who would take their place?” Penny asked in a small voice.

I poured two cups of coffee and delivered them as Darius answered.

“That is the question. Vlad is hoping to climb atop that throne himself, of course.”

I huffed and poured a cup of coffee for myself, though I kind of wanted something stronger now. In my heart of hearts, I was hoping Lucifer’s forces would be evenly matched with the elves, and I would be free to tear down that damn castle brick by brick. I’d get my revenge and wouldn’t have to get between two forces that obviously needed to duke it out. But if Lucifer had more power, and he decided to take the world for himself—or worse, the vampires…

“I hate that I am thinking of siding with Roger,” I muttered. “Kinda.”

“Just think,” Penny said before sipping her coffee. She winced at the heat. “Your dad could take over and put you on the throne instead of Vlad.”

Shivers racked me as Emery and Darius’s gazes slid my way. No one said anything.

And now I knew what people really feared. It was just that no one else had had the balls to say it outright.

“What’s next?” I asked Darius, picking up my cup. I didn’t intend to dignify that with a response. “If this is starting, we’re in the wrong place. We need to get to Roger.”

“Yes. I was thinking the same thing. Callie and Dizzy will be en route soon. We need to get the dragons and head to the unicorns’ territory immediately, the Island of Eternal Light, before Vlad is called down to the Underworld. He’ll try to take them. They are herd animals, and they trust him. If we aren’t there first to give our testimony, they’ll likely follow him.”

“And paradise will await them down below, compliments of my father,” I said, feeling urgency take root. “Lucifer won’t take kindly to me heading into the Underworld to lure them back.”

“He said he wouldn’t trap you down there, though,” Penny said.

I smirked. “You don’t really understand the guy we’re dealing with. He’s not like Roger—he’s not hero material. He won’t harm me, but if I tried to mess up his plans, he would have no problem stuffing me away in luxury while he handled what needed to be handled. That should remind you of someone else we all know, and a certain desert island we all spent time on…”

“And all this time, we didn’t realize you had daddy issues,” Emery said, his good humor thankfully breaking through the black mood those things had put him in.

“Yeah, right?” I took another sip of my coffee. “The things we learn about ourselves.”

“We’ll head out tonight.” Darius piled turkey onto a sandwich. “We’ll use today to get everything in order.” He placed the other slice of bread on top, cut it, and delivered it to Emery.

“What sort of trek are we going to face once we’re in the Realm?” Emery asked.

Darius was silent for a moment. “We won’t take the longest and safest route to the unicorns, because the journey would sap the dragons, and they’d likely be tired by the time we reached the portal closest to the shifters’ territory in the Brink. My reports seem conclusive that the elves are watching that portal closely. They aim to prevent anyone from using it.”

“We’ll need to fight our way out?” I asked.

“Yes, it seems so,” he answered softly. “When we leave, we will likely have to fly over camps containing the enemy. If their fliers are faster than the dragons, we could be arriving to a host of waiting enemy, ready to attack.”

“Their fliers aren’t faster than dragons,” Penny said, “especially because they won’t see us coming. You can ride with me, and Emery can ride with Reagan. Our spells will keep us mostly hidden. If they do happen to see us as we fly over—sometimes our invisibility spells don’t work for all creatures—then we’ll burn them all. Or Reagan, you can kill them horribly. When we get to the portal…” She shrugged and finished her coffee. “Well, at this point, we’re no stranger to fighting our way out. That’s not the problem.”

“And what is the problem, Ms. Bristol?” Darius asked.

Penny looked at me. “How to get Reagan to go along with the Seers. I get the feeling she’s not going to like what they have to say.”

Eight

“Charity’s vision changed again,” Emery said as we got out of the taxis in front of Roger’s secret hideaway in the woods, which had also become the dragons’ secret hideaway. He studied a text message as Darius opened the front door with a key Roger definitely didn’t know he had. Given he didn’t need a key to open locks at all, I had the feeling he was silently boasting. “It seems this time you aren’t in the picture at all, and neither are we. The Seers are feeling very grim, even the Red Prophet. In the vision, the fae and shifter forces are overwhelmed by demons and vampires.”