Battle With Fire (Demon Days & Vampire Nights)

I’d felt this magic before. It would not, in fact, break my spine. They’d had to bring in a higher-powered elf to even make me scream, and when that wasn’t enough, they’d resorted to breaking my fingers and other bones by hand or using weapons. This pain was nothing compared to what had come later in those dungeons. I could ignore it easily.

The elf crouched in the few bushes that my magic had not yet eaten away.

Another burst of magic came at me, but I pushed back, free-falling for another moment to get into range before shifting to a hover and blasting the creature with hellfire. It seared through the illusion and the elf both, cutting a line through its chest and unraveling the bush. Whoever did up this illusion had done a bang-up job, but wasn’t trying to protect it from magic like mine.

Archion flew at me, and I turned around.

Now, he said, because Penny and Lucifer had both made us look like amateurs when they’d done this, and Penny was an amateur. We clearly had to practice with vocal cues for the time being.

I dropped onto his shoulder and nearly bounced off. He tilted to keep me on, and I grappled for a better hold.

You need to line up better, I told him.

You need to hold your hover a little stiller, he barked back.

It was clear neither of us planned to accept responsibility for that nearly failed attempt.

A spell swept a line of running elves. It sliced through them at an angle, killing a few of them immediately, and severing limbs on a couple of others. An arm blew off. One flew backward, sans right leg, and into the murky water. A wormlike creature with fins and little legs exploded out of the surface, chomping the body with its sharp-toothed maw before rolling onto its side and falling back into the water with a splash.

Archion pumped his wings to gain a bit of altitude and keep away from the water’s surface. I just stared for a moment with wide eyes. That would not be a fun way to go.

Of course, neither would facing Penny and Emery when you’d wronged them in the past.

One of the elves was trying to crawl away to God knew where, but Emery stalked toward it, his face closed down into a terrifying mask of rage.

Cahal waited behind him, his sword out and dripping. Three elves popped up from behind an unraveling group of bushes near him and ran for it, but Cahal caught up with them easily, whipping his sword around and cleaving them with a few skillful slashes. Darius went after a few others, jumping and landing on their backs, ripping and tearing.

I think they got this, I said, looking over the island. There were still a few spots of vegetation to the south, the west, and the east, where Vlad should be fighting. Beyond, no boats filled the swamp and nothing walked the paths.

Let’s go check on the other group.

We flew that way, and I realized just how much three dragons could tip the scales in a battle.

Vlad had a dozen or so upper-middle-tier vampires. They were strong and fast and experienced, and yet their battle hadn’t ended. They still fought a dozen or so elves, Vlad moving incredibly fast—swiping at one, turning and sticking a second in the chest, and launching at a third, teeth ripping at the jugular.

A band of elves had broken off, racing for the path.

They are probably the track-and-report squad, I said as Archion sped after them. Or else they thought they might intend to do some damage to the unicorns and the vampires already on the way.

I guess we’ll never know.

He bore down on them, offering them no way to dodge or scoot around the outside. His flames rolled over them, blistering in intensity.

It’s almost too easy, I thought as he made a loop around.

Half of the demons in the Underworld won’t be bothered by fire, and I can’t kill with Glaciem magic. Not to mention that they have dragons as well. Very experienced dragons. If we are battling them, it won’t be easy at all.

I blew out a breath. There was that. And also the fact that the more powerful elves might be able to knock him out of the sky with their magic. We’d have to cross that bridge when we came to it.

Vlad and the vampires were too close to the enemy, all of them spread out, so I wouldn’t be able to shield them if Archion did a fly-by flaming.

I’m headed down, I thought. Kill whoever you can, however you can.

The vampires, too?

I laughed. Tempting, but no.

I leapt off and free-fell a good ways before putting on the air brakes. My feet touched down, and then I was running, throwing air knives at the nearest elves. The first knife sliced an elf in the neck, dropping it to a knee. The second missed, and I disintegrated it in midair.