Battle With Fire (Demon Days & Vampire Nights)

Closer now, we moved into the throng of elves. The dragon Penny had hurt then helped blast the closest elves with fire, doing us a favor, and the demons fought in front of us, letting us surge in behind them.

“Got the elf magic,” Penny said, magic welling around her. “Now, what do I do with it?”

Emery shot out another nulling spell, their earlier spell still drifting closer to Lucifer. Almost there. He was clearly trying to fill the gap in time until the original spell actually hit.

The recent spell hit one demon and splashed against another to its right. Clearly the fog was needed to get around the demons and to my father. The two affected demons looked at their hands, then glanced around wildly before their wings froze up, the Penny-borrowed elves’ magic taking hold. They dropped to the ground in convulsions.

Dragons swooped in with fire, probably to keep the elves from attacking the fallen bodies. Lucifer looked at the hole I’d created. A moment later he dipped his gaze, seeing me on the ground. The fog reached him. Lights out went his magic.

He didn’t look away from me, even as the demons around him started to convulse. He tensed; I could see it. The pain of the elves’ magic was digging into him, it must be, but he was ignoring it, resisting. Probably doing a much better job than I was at fighting the effects of this blasted leg.

The thing felt like it was leeching the heat out of me, taking my energy with it. My magic thrummed to compensate, fueling me, but it felt strangely heavy and cumbersome. I was a little woozy, probably from blood loss.

I took a deep breath and pushed on, determined. The pain would die down shortly. I’d survived worse.

The demons around Lucifer fell. His wings beat fast but shallow now, then faltered. The dragons bellowed as they tried to help the fallen among the surging elves, but their efforts weren’t enough to save everyone. If Lucifer fell, they’d kill him. Shit.

“Penny, hit those elves with their own magic,” I yelled, pushing at the demons rushing in front of me, throwing fire to either side of us, drawing the notice of the closest elves. I needed them to split their forces.

“On it!”

I needed to tear down Penny’s spell and then shove Lucifer away before he could magically stop me.

I sent off fire at Penny’s spell, layered it with air, and then started picking it apart. I was an old pro at it by now, but it still took a second. A second Lucifer might not have.

Nineteen

Penny put everything she had into the magic she’d shoplifted from the elves, sweeping it over them as Emery shot spells. Cahal’s crimson-coated sword flashed, slicing into one elf after another, hacking them down. He jerked but then stepped forward, fighting their magic, it seemed.

That was when Penny felt it: a hot stab of agony ripping through her middle. Oh yeah, those dirty slug monkeys were coming at them now. If they’d just chill for a second, they’d figure out her group were actually here to help them. A fat lot of good it was doing at the moment.

Penny pushed through the pain as Reagan worked at her spell.

“Almost…” Reagan said, the words almost drowned out by the shouting and hissing around them. And then she took a step back and her face closed down in concentration. “That bastard is quick,” she said through her teeth, staggering into Darius beside her. She cried out and reached down for her thigh.

Dawning understanding prickled Penny and then fear welled up. She let go of her magic, of the spells, and turned toward her friend. Reagan never admitted she was in pain. She never gave in to it, not without throwing out some horrible violence to compensate for it.

Darius couldn’t help right her, too busy making mincemeat of an elf in front of them. Penny grabbed her upper arm to hold her steady and ducked around, slipping between her and one of the vampires to do it. She sucked in a breath.

Blood was seeping out of a nearly foot-long gash, gushing down her leg and pooling on the ground. She healed fast, but the wound was deep—with the exercise she was doing, she’d bleed too much before her body could close it up.

“I don’t know how to heal,” Penny said, looking around frantically. “You have to stop fighting, Reagan. Hover into the air. Hover out of here and get on Archion. Lucifer will let you. If you don’t, you’ll bleed out.”

“I’ll be fine,” she said in a gruff tone, back on her feet, her hands moving through the air, one shining a deep crimson from where she’d grabbed her thigh. Her spine curved, her energy clearly drained.

“How bad?” Darius said, and though the words were jumbled through his big teeth, Penny understood him perfectly.